Jan Young
www.jansbiblenotes.com
WHY AS A CHRISTIAN I CAN'T ACCEPT EVOLUTIONGrowing up, I had been taught that the Bible was God's word, inerrant and infallible. I believed that God created the world in six days and that there was a worldwide flood. But at the Christian college I attended, my biology class taught evolution and a local flood; I never heard a biblical defense of creationism. I concluded that an educated Christian was more "open-minded" and "enlightened" than to take the creation story literally, so for a number of years I was uneasy with the Genesis account. I was somewhat satisfied with the Gap Theory as a means of reconciling evolution with my belief that the Bible is true.
Then in my 30's a pastor introduced me to the Institute for Creation Research. I got on their monthly mailing list and devoured everything they sent me. In college I had also learned to think critically--to question, to research, to compare and contrast. I borrowed books from my pastor's library and started my own creation library. I read every relevant book and magazine I could find in our local library plus many other things they special-ordered for me. I didn't just study Christian sources; I read what the evolutionists said. I was especially interested in how each side critiqued the other's views, and how each side answered those criticisms.
I was so excited to find that the scientific evidence did support the Bible and did not support evolution. Yet as I enthusiastically shared my new knowledge with other Christians, many were skeptical and looked at me like I was into conspiracy theories, because questioning the scientific establishment seems heretical. It was hard for them to accept that scientists might not always be truthful and trustworthy, but filtered their conclusions through their humanistic belief system. For some reason, if a scientist says something is true, people accept it unquestioningly--even if what they say conflicts with the Bible. People are afraid of being unscientific, so they accept what scientists claim about evolution, because they don't know all the facts.
Even though my faith was personally satisfied by what I had learned about the recent six-day creation and the global flood, I continued to educate myself on the issue, because I suspected that for many people, Genesis 1-9 was a stumbling-block to believing that the Bible was true and trustworthy. I wanted to know how to present the facts in an understandable way.
Another development in my life after college was the discovery of Thru the Bible Radio and that wonderful man of God, the late J. Vernon McGee. The impetus to read, study and accept the whole Bible was just what I needed following the "open-mindedness" (i.e., skepticism) that I had picked up in college. As I began to find many passages throughout the entire Bible that confirmed the account of creation and the flood, my new conviction was strengthened--that all of Genesis was literally true.
Many Christians take the view that it doesn't really matter if you take Genesis literally or not. Does it matter? The more I studied the Bible, the more I realized that if you compromised on Genesis, you would find yourself in a pickle, because Genesis is foundational to the rest of the Bible. The ripple effect was doctrinally devastating. Yet many Christians, and many churches, by accepting some form of evolution, are saying that the Bible is not completely true. And if it is not completely true, it is not true--period.
What are the compromise theories that try to accommodate the Bible with the long ages necessary for evolution?
DAY-AGE THEORY:
This theory assumes that each "day" was millions of years long, even though they are in the wrong order for evolution, and each is said to have a morning and an evening. Which day was the sun created? Plants? Which came first, plants or animals? Evolution requires sun before earth, animals before plants. How could plant life exist for long ages before the sun was created (or evolved)?GAP THEORY:
This theory assumes that there is a gap of millions or billions of years between verses 1-2, even though the Bible does not say this. It is assumed that there must have been an earlier creation that all died, leaving their remains as fossils in strata, even though the Bible does not say this.THEISTIC OR PROGRESSIVE EVOLUTION:
This theory assumes that God "used" evolution to create, even though the Bible does not say this. Some also assume there were pre-humans before Adam and Eve, but when God breathed the breath of life into them, they became the first humans.Strata contain fossils-dead animals. If long ages, and death, occurred before Adam and Eve, death was in the world before Adam and Eve. Which does the Bible say came first, death or sin? If death is not the result of sin, then Jesus did not need to die to save us from the eternal death that results from sin: Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 53, Romans 5:12, I Corinthians 15:21. This is the most basic truth of the Bible; if any form of evolution is true, you might as well throw out the Bible, because it is wrong about sin and salvation.
Did the six days of creation literally happen that way? Or are they allegory or poetry? Might the Bible not really mean six 24-hour days?
No! See what the Bible teaches about the Sabbath in Exodus 20:8-11. The Sabbath was of key importance in the Old Testament; if the days were not six regular days, this weekly reminder would be meaningless. There are many references to the fact that God created in six days and rested on the seventh day from His work of creation; He did NOT work for six periods of thousands or millions of years, then rest for the seventh period. In the Old Testament God frequently identifies Himself as the God of creation--His defining act in the Old Testament, as the resurrection is His defining act in the New Testament.
These theories are trying to accommodate the supposed geological "evidence" for long ages--strata and fossils. However, if you choose to believe any of these theories, then you must say the Bible isn't true--that it doesn't mean what it says. None of these theories can be true if the Bible is true, because this is NOT the way the Bible says it happened.
Here is a problem: if words can be interpreted loosely here, then they can be in other places too. You start down the "slippery slope." Miracles might not have really happened, and Jesus might not have really been born of a virgin, and He might not really have risen from the dead, and there might not really be such a place as hell… Anything hard to believe can be rationalized away. If the Bible doesn't mean what it says, you might as well not read it or claim to be a Christian. You can't really say you believe the Bible if you don't believe it all.
Could Adam and Eve be the result of ages of evolution? Read what Jesus said in Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6. Might Jesus be confused, or lying? The Bible says God cannot lie, and that Jesus is God.
Evidence at Mt. St. Helens proves that strata can form rapidly; strata do not need thousands or millions of years to form. Because of Mt. St. Helens (and much other evidence), we can be confident that we do not have to compromise the truth to accommodate geologic evidence or to accept faulty radioactive dating. The effects of the worldwide flood described in Genesis can account for the strata and the fossils, which could not have been buried slowly over long ages because they would have decayed first. Fossils do not support the theory of evolution, but rather rapid catastrophic burial of animals--such as during and following a worldwide flood. Species appear suddenly in the fossil record, showing no change over time. Evolutionary scientists are stumped by this fact and try to explain it away. Much evidence that refutes evolution and supports the biblical account of recent creation has been compiled by many creationist scientists.
Here are some passages that deal with the creation/evolution issue. Either the following Scriptures are true, or Jesus, Peter, Paul, etc. were wrong, confused or lying:
Adam was a literal person: Luke 3:38, Romans 5:14-21, I Corinthians 15:22,45, I Timothy 2:13-14, Jude 1:14
Eve was a literal person: II Corinthians 11:3, I Timothy 2:13
Abel (son of Adam and Eve) was a literal person: Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51, Hebrews 11:4, 12:24
Every word of the Bible is true: Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:5-6, Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17, II Timothy 3:16, Revelation 22:18-19
The world-wide flood was literal: Matthew 24:37-40, Luke 17:27, II Peter 2:5, 3:3-6, Isaiah 54:9-10 (flood followed by tectonic upheaval)
God created everything (He didn't use evolution): John 1:3, Hebrews 1:10, Psalm 100:3, 146:6, 148:5, Isaiah 48:13
Evidence that God could/did create a world/universe with the appearance of maturity (the appearance of the passing of time): John 2:1-10
If you can't trust what the Bible says about earthly things, how can you trust what it has to say about eternal life? John 3:12, John 5:46-47
All creation is under the curse because of sin: Romans 8:20-22
Man did not evolve from animals: I Corinthians 15:39
Job (probably written as early as the time before the patriarchs) speaks of creation, the flood, the early world: 12:7-10, 12:15, 14:11 (water receding continually after the flood), 14:18-19 (rapid geologic change after the flood), 38:4-11, 38:25 (channels for run-off following the flood), 38:29-30 (Job was aware of the Ice Age that followed the flood), 40:15-41:34 (dinosaurs still around in the early world following the flood)
Psalms: 18:1-19 (Noah and the flood), 29:10 ("flood"--this word only used here and in Genesis 6-9), 77:16-19 (the flood?), 104:1-4 (creation?), 104:5-9 (the flood?)
Creation is proof of who God is: Isaiah 45:6-7, 11-12, 18-19
RESOURCES:
Read my online book: Evolution: Fact or Philosophy?
This is a non-religious critique of evolution geared toward the junior high/high school level reader.Institute for Creation Research There are other good creationist organizations, but be careful in your research--some claim to be creationist, but accept long ages, and therefore some sort of evolution.
Thru the Bible Radio
Austin, Steven A., ed. Grand Canyon: Monument to Catastrophe. Santee, Calif.: Institute for Creation Science, 1994.
Coffin, Harold. Origin by Design. Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Assoc., 1983.
Denton, Michael. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Bethesda, Maryland: Adler & Adler, 1985.
Johnson, Phillip E. Darwin on Trial. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991.
Johnson, Phillip E. Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1997.
Johnson, Phillip E. Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995.
Morris, Henry M. and Gary E. Parker. What is Creation Science? El Cajon, Calif.: Master Books, 1982.
Whitcomb, John C., Jr. and Henry M. Morris. The Genesis Flood. Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publ. Co., 1961.
Copyright 2010 Jan Young