Creation matters—that is, belief in creation as it is presented in Genesis is foundational to our faith. Currently we have two prevailing sources of information concerning the origins of the world and some people see the need to reconcile them. The religious community points to God as the source of creation while the scientific community points to evolution as a way of explaining creation. The problem is both communities can offer persuasive explanations so people do not want to discredit either. This leads to the question, “Could God have used evolution as a way of creating life as we see it on earth?” People do not want to decide between religion and science so they try to combine the two by incorporating evolution in to creation. This unfortunately presents some problems.
The concept of God using evolution as a part of creation is commonly referred to as theistic evolution. Occasionally it is also called intelligent design; however intelligent design can also refer to studies and research in creation without the inclusion of evolutionary theory. Whichever way you label it, the acceptance of evolutionary theory creates several theological problems, or problems with our view of God and His relationship with the world. First it distorts the place of God in creation. Second it has implications about the role of sin and death. And finally, it has major implications on morality. Let’s evaluate each of these problems individually.
First we must note that there are several variations of theistic evolution. One suggests that God used natural forces in all aspects of creation. Basically God designed the natural laws and then let nature do all the work. This would mean God used secondary forces to do everything. For example: the creation of the continents happened through tectonics and life evolved from a collection of amino acids and proteins into the complexity we find today. God let nature work everything out without getting involved Himself.
A second variation, called front-loaded creation, says that God placed all of the potential for the diversity of life into the first single-celled organism and then allowed evolution to fill the earth with the diversity of life we see today through natural selection. This approach emphasizes evolution as a tool of God.
Besides negating the clear biblical account of creation presented in Genesis, both of these theories take God out of the center of creation. They paint God as uninvolved. God is now aloof to human affairs. He is no longer the sustainer of life. He has now only provided the opportunities for life instead of creating it Himself. These theories do not account for God interacting in human history. This is a major problem because we have records of God miraculously intervening in history throughout the entire Bible.
Interaction with our history is one way God reveals Himself. God personally set the plagues on Egypt and parted the Red Sea to rescue Israel from slavery. God delivered Jonah to Nineveh by appointing a giant fish to swallow him. Our salvation is founded upon God being involved with his creation. He came to earth as a human being in Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins. How much more involved can you get? If you take away God’s involvement with creation, you take away salvation.
There is a third variation of theistic evolution that attempts to solve this problem; it is described as descent with design. What this means is that God used evolution as a tool for creating life but still finds places to reveal Himself and interact with history. This theory is just another attempt to reconcile “science” with religion.
While this theory tries to keep God involved with creation throughout history it still negates the Biblical account in Genesis which presents the seven days of creation. This theory also tends to make God a god of the gaps. This means that God is only the explanation for everything we cannot explain with science. This may sound good at first but we soon find out God’s dominion erodes. As technology advances and we discover more about our world there is less we cannot explain and thus God gets smaller and smaller. With this assumption, God diminishes as technology increases. This theory again displaces God from His intimate involvement in all of creation.
All three of these theories also hold a misunderstanding about death. All three theories assume there was death before Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. You cannot have evolution without death. Evolution requires the diversity of life to develop through countless generations of progress through the means of death. This again clearly contradicts the Genesis account. Genesis 3 contains the consequences for the fall. Verse 19 says we are dust and to dust we shall return. The actuality of death is just then being established. God pronounced it as the punishment for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This happens after creation not before or during. Evolution requires death before the fall.
If you accept theistic evolution you distort the role of death in our lives. With evolution death is no longer a punishment, it is a necessity. Evolution changes death from a consequence to a means. This is contrary to our faith. Death is the enemy; death takes away life. Evolution views death as a means for creating new life.
This realization leads to the final consequence evolutionary theory has on religion. Evolution can become a slippery-slope. It starts with an attempt to explain aspects of life. It tries to account for the diversity in life. It uses the means of natural selection, or survival of the fittest, as its catalyst for change or progress. When that means is carried to its logical conclusion it has severe implications for morality and ethics in society. If the motivation behind life is now adaptation and the progression of life into better, more capable forms, then we have to make some changes to the way we view the world. With evolution as the source for life, death becomes a means of perpetuation. This makes abortion and euthanasia desirable means to carry out the next stage in the life process. We should no longer devote time and resources to caring for those who are afflicted with disease or disfigurement. People with disabilities are now devalued. Anyone who does not measure up to the standard is no longer human.
Adolf Hitler was employing this idea when he began to slaughter Jews, people of African ancestry, and individuals with disabilities. Hitler was trying to create a master race by weeding out all the “undesirables” of society. He was trying to force an evolutionary change. This is the logical end to evolutionary theory. The world becomes amoral, the preservation of life is no longer a virtue; it is a hindrance. This sounds a bit extreme but we have a clear case in history where it is the truth.
So why does this happen? Why do people try to reconcile evolutionary theory with the religious explanation? It starts with good, devote intentions. Many people who promote theistic evolution believe they are protecting God. They see aspects of nature they cannot immediately understand so they try to synthesize a theory to protect God from scrutiny. Thinking that God needs to be protected or that there are aspects of creation that God did not ordain, limits the power and wisdom of God. It puts God in a box. “Protecting” God elevates man’s wisdom over God’s. God is omniscient, He knows everything. He is omnipotent, He is all powerful. He is in control. He does not need us to defend him. God has implemented a plan that includes every aspect of creation, even the things we have not discovered yet. He knows what He is doing far better than we do. We must let Him be God and we must be content as His creatures. We need His help, He does not need ours.
“Putting God in a box” is what leads many evolutionists to atheism. They cannot understand why God would design so many similarities into very different animals; like the commonality of a five “fingered” appendage, or all DNA being made up of the same four proteins. Some cannot understand why God would leave apparently useless material inside his creation; like the human appendix or “junk” DNA. They see these things in nature and it does not fit with their conception of God. It is not how they believe God should have created the world. So instead of changing their view of God to being truly all powerful and all knowing, they simply conclude that He does not exist. This is the fundamental argument for atheists who promote evolutionary theory. They claim this is an argument based on scientific research but in actuality it is a theological argument. They are making claims about God not claims about science.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment