How Evolution and Belief in God are not Compatible – Part 2

Contents

False Assumption Three: Evolution is Compatible with Belief in God—Part 2

Perhaps if we show why evolution and biblical teaching are incompatible, then we can see that theories, which attempt to harmonize them, however well intentioned, are doing a disser­vice. For example, if evolution is true, Moses was certainly in error when he wrote the creation account of Genesis. Thus, in order to “accommodate” evolution, harmonizing theories usually impose a figurative or non-literal interpretation on Genesis 1-2. But more than a dozen other biblical books also interpret Genesis literally. They, too, are implicated with error for falsely interpreting the book of Genesis.^[1]

It is always a mistake to interpret Scripture in light of dubious theories, scientific or other­wise. Properly interpreted, Scripture will never conflict with any fact of science simply because God is its author. After all, God not only inspired Scripture, He made the creation itself.

Nevertheless, consider a few examples of how these theories raise more problems than they solve.

Genesis 1-2: God created the entire universe, its flora, fauna and our first parents, in six literal days. Lexical, grammatical, contextual and hermeneutical considerations simply do not permit the “days” of Genesis 1 to be vast periods of geologic ages, as indicated, for example, by the commentaries on Genesis 1 of such Old Testament scholars as Keil, Delitszch, Leupold and Young.^[2] (See Exodus 20:8-11; 31:17).

Genesis 1:27: God created man and woman directly on the sixth day of creation. But if evolution is true, God created men and women indirectly after billions of years.

Genesis 1:31: God pronounced everything He created, including man, “very good.” But if evolution is true, God pronounced millions of years of human sin and death, “very good” (cf. Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:26).

Psalm 148:5: Creation is by instantaneous divine fiat, not millions of years of gradual evolu­tion (cf. Genesis 1:3, 11, 14, 20, 24).

Matthew 19:4-5: Jesus taught that God made man and woman “at the beginning.” This is an indisputable reference to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But if evolution is true, men and women would have appeared extremely late on the evolutionary time scale—not “at the beginning” (cf. Genesis 1:1; 2 Peter 3:4). Was Jesus in error?

Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22: Sin and death entered through Adam. But if evolution is true, sin and death had also existed for hundreds of thousands of years prior to Adam (cf., Romans 6:23).

Jesus Himself accepted divine creation (Mark 13:19); Adam, Eve and Abel (Matthew 19:4- 5; Luke 11:50-51); and Noah’s Flood (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27). For Christians, at least His authority is supreme. The bottom line is this: if evolution is true, the Bible, literally interpreted, cannot be true and therefore cannot be considered reliable, let alone the Word of God. Conversely, if the Bible is God’s Word, then it is evolution which cannot be true.

Yet, in spite of the harmful effects of evolutionary thinking as to personal belief in God, and the terrible effects in the modern era, it is new discoveries about the creation itself that are almost forcing modern scientists to reconsider God. Indeed, as a medical doctor and computer specialist points out, “For centuries scientific rationalists have maintained that believing in a Supreme Being or Creator God is akin to committing intellectual suicide. However, the twentieth century has supplied an abundance of scientific discoveries which point to a transcendent Creator who ordered and energized the universe. This evidence is so powerful that numerous prominent scientists have begun to speak openly about the existence of just such a Being.” Further, “In this twentieth-century age of skepticism it is indeed ironic to discover that more evidence has accumulated for the existence of a transcendent Creator in this century than any time in the last 1,900 years.”^[3]

As one example, we may cite the text Cosmos, Bios, Theos, produced by sixty world class scientists, including twenty-four Nobel prize winners. Co-editor and Yale University physicist Henry Margenau summarizes the logical conclusion for open-minded scientists as they face the incredible complexity and design of the universe they live in. Margenau reasons that there “is only one convincing answer” to explain the intricate complexity and laws of the universe— creation by an omniscient, omnipotent God.^[4]

NOTES

1. ↑ In The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, Appendix B Henry Morris lists 77 New Testaments references to Genesis 1-11, pp. 99-101.
2. ↑ Keil and Delitszch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1978), p. 51; H. C. Lupold, Exposition of Genesis, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker, 1978), pp. 57-58.
3. ↑ Mark Eastman, Chuck Missler, The Creation Beyond Time and Space (Costa Mesa, CA: TWFT, 1996), pp. 83, 212.
4. ↑ Henry Margenau, “The Laws of Nature are Created by God” in Henry Margenau, Roy Abraham Varghese, eds., Cosmos Bios Theos, (LaSalle, IL: Open Court, 1992), p. 61.

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