How I wish this topic would go away. Not because it is a stupid debate but because both sides make claims that cannot be substantiated. In my article Science-just what is it? I address just what science can claim and what it is worth. Here I would like to tackle the issues of evolution and case Christians have with it.
This is a common claim by creationists and is simply not true. Lobbyists for this opinion often refer to Sir Karl Popper (the science philosopher) who had grave reservations about the theory of evolution as laid out in Darwanism. He felt that the theory was untestable and so unscientific, i.e. not a valid theory at all.
This was in the beginning of Popper's career in the lime-light of science. By the end of his career he was comfortably on board the evolution band-wagon. Why?
Popper believed there was insufficient proof for the theory of evolution and that it could not generate scientifically testable questions. Between him declaring these beliefs and the end when he retracted them the evidence for evolution was mounting. Transition fossils had been found between reptiles and birds as well as land animals and whales. The theory of evolution was providing a safe haven for all these observations. Whether evolution could be tested or not the theory was being supported by the evidence. Popper could not deny that evolution was a valid vehicle in which biological science could progress forward.
In the mean time Darwinian evolution, i.e. gradual evolution of one type to another and survival of the fittest has taken a knock and been replaced by several other competing theories. There is evidence that evolution (if it is the truth) can proceed from type to type in leaps and bounds; and that it is often not in the interest of the species of the fittest to always dominate. The argument has also expanded as by what we mean by fittest. Do we refer to the genes, traits, the entire organism in respect to its environment or the population of that species?
For more on this topic you can read the article Creation vs Evolution: here we go again... (45 kb PDF) before progressing further. This article was submitted as a task for my Evolution and Biodiversity Course. The Pro-evolutionary lecturer gave it 80% so it must be worth something.
So, in reference to the above article if creationists intend to challenge evolution they have to present scientifically derived evidence for their case and against evolution. I am yet to come across any such evidence that conclusively overthrows the paradigm of evolution.
This of course puts many devoutly religious people in a tight spot. How, if evolution is correct, can their religion be right? Well, if you had read my article Science-just what is it? you will recall that no scientific theory is the essential truth but rather a man made invention to explain observations of this world in a manner we humans can make sense of and use. This doesn't settle one's religious qualms though as Christian fundamentalists (and every Christian should be a fundamentalist) regard evolution as standing in contradiction to the fundamentals of Christianity. Is this so?
What are these main dogmatic issues Christians have with evolution? They are:
No serious Christian can accept that creation is a random process. As Christians we must admit that God is always in control. There could of been no random clumping of the star matter to form Earth in just the correct position. Life could not of spontaneously arose from a heated puddle on primordial Earth. The creation of the universe and everything in it must of been a calculated event.
The evolutionary biologist, Christian de Duve who has spent many sleepless night pondering the advent of life on earth, had this to say on the matter of life occurring in the Cosmos: ``Life is the Cosmic imperative.''
What does this mean? De Duve after long contemplation admits that the universe is designed to support life. Given the statistical unlikelihood of life occurring by chance the universe must be perfectly setup for the advent of life.
The word `imperative' means essential, by command. This very word, carefully chosen by de Duve, implies that life is essential in the Cosmos that it is commanded by the very design of it. The advent of life is not spontaneous, a freak occurrence. It had to happen for the Cosmos to be complete.
There is no randomness. If life had to happen, and it would of happened at just the right time too, it would mean that evolution also isn't random. Why?
For an organism to evolve it requires both the means to evolve (genetic options) and the environment to stimulate the need to evolve. As life would of occurred at just the right time it would mean that the environment would of had to be just right too and the means to evolve would of been implied by the advent of life. The end result of evolution will be directly accountable to that initial moment when life occurred.
We thus have a chain of event from beginning to end. Along the way there would of been a lot of choice but those choices would of been dictated by circumstance and the God of the Bible is a God who created circumstances for change.
If from the book of Genesis we see a old man with grey beard tinkering with life forms to populate the Earth we need only stretch out the time frame and instead of seeing careful crafting hands we need see earthquakes, storms, volcanoes, meteors etc... all of them effecting the evolution of life forms.
We believe that the dinosaurs were destroyed by a giant comet striking the Earth. Is this not a divine event? We regard the comet above the town of Bethlehem as divine? To think that for mammals to of taken over the Earth and culminated in man, the only life form capable of praising God is random is stupidity. Had that comet hit a million years later or sooner the primitive mammals may not of been at the correct point in their evolution to complete God' plan.
Evolution does not blaspheme the miracle of the six day creation it only makes a divine creation more spectacular and one by random chance even less likely.
This is just silly.
A monkey decides to come down from the trees on the African plains. It slowly evolves into a myriad of forms, one of which evolves into a primitive primate and its descendants evolves into man.
This man, now in the likeness of God with the power to create and destroy and to choose right from wrong recognizes the existence of God-perhaps by divine revelation-and want to praise Him. But there is a problem. It still has the savage selfishness of its ancestors but the evolved will to improve itself. Its nature is neither evil nor good, a sick mix falling short of the glory of God. How does it proceed?
It can a) choose to follow the instruction of God; or b) choose to go its own way to improve itself and rid it of its animality.
Genesis says man chose option b. Look at society today, we try to solve our own problems employing flawed laws and faulty models. How many criminals walk free because of the short coming of our laws? Or Humanist approach to self improvement is a dismal failure. Look at instances where man has chose to follow God and you only see success. There are many towns what have forsaken their pagan beliefs and begun to thrive!
Look at Western society. Today it crumbles because of its Humanism but in yesteryear while it still proclaimed the glories of God and faith in Christ it was a bastion for civilization.
We do not need the parable of Genesis chapter 3 to realize that mankind is imperfect and needs a saviour. Evolutionary thinking itself points out that no organism can be perfect nor can it ever be. A perfect organism would be an ecological disaster. Just think what would happen if E. coli (which has been around a lot longer than man) was perfectly adapted to its environment? It would overrun the Earth and as well as destroying us it would eventually destroy itself. Christians who believe that evolution implies that man is perfect and not in need of a saviour display their ignorance of the subject of evolution.
Evolution does not negate the need for a personal saviour. Whether the theories of evolution prove to be true or not it does not change the fact that man is not perfect and never can be. The only way for man to become perfect is to accept the salvation of Christ and his message.
It is ironic that there is a body of atheists who champion the teachings of Jesus Christ as the means for world peace and justice while ignoring his Godhood while there are many Christians who accept his Godhood but forget his teachings.
Jesus taught us not to quibble of matter of Law but do the right things and believe in him. It is not right that we divide the Church on grounds of the interpretation of Genesis. Did Peter excommunicate those who did not accept that the message should be preached to the Gentiles? Did Paul excommunicate and damn to hell those who insisted that Christians be circumcised in accordance with the scriptures? No. In both instances the reply was to do that which would honour their faith in God and Jesus and to keep preaching the gospel.
How can we preach the gospel to people who accept the correctness of evolution when our gospel excludes it? Do we not drive people from salvation on a technicality we refuse to give up?
Is Genesis a fundamental of the Christian faith?
Who wrote the book of Genesis? God, but Moses is credited with having to read it to the Israelites. Can you imagine Moses standing before a crowd of rebellious people who were very upset to of left Egypt and then explaining the process of evolution? Do you think they would of accepted they were descended from monkeys? I bet they would of fought each other for rocks to stone Moses.
The end of the world is certainly as great an event as the its beginning. How has God revealed the details of the End Times to us? He has sent a collection of prophecies that are at best difficult to interpret and of which the truth is only plainly obvious after the event. In this case Moses was given a revelation of the beginning that was also difficult to interpret if not impossible to explain to a people would not of been able to grasp simple physics principles yet alone complicated biology we can't grasp today. We can't even define what life is!
Genesis is perhaps all the truth God felt the people of Israel could handle given their cognitive abilities. Einstein has gone on record as saying ``subtle is the Lord, malicious is he not," and ``God does not play dice with the universe.'' Einstein did not believe in a personal God but could see that God would not hide the truth or play tricks on those who would seek the truth. God says that all who would seek Him will find him. Satan has places many traps (false religions) in the way but many who are given the chance to escape them do find Christ. It is my belief that as God added to the old Laws by completing them with Jesus, so he is adding to the book of Genesis. He is revealing to us the mechanism how the world is managed so we can better manage it.
All admit that the way we are managing the world now is wrong and that we are causing more damage than what the world is capable of absorbing. The only way we can manage the world correctly is by understanding how it works. Evolution is the mechanism where by life works. To manage the world we must understand creation and we must understand evolution. This is of course, not enough to save man from hell...
To be saved from Hell we must adhere to some fundamental truths about our religion: