One of the most asked questions by Christians about this issue of creation/evolution is the question “Is evolution compatible with the Christian Faith?” To many the answer is “Yes”. But is this being consistent? What does the Bible really say about such issues? We will explore this topic now.
The first question to ask is “What is Christianity?” It is always best to establish what we a
re discussing to begin with. Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia describes Christianity as “ The religion based on the teachings, life, and death of Jesus Christ.” This is a rather good description, and one that describes the fundamental point of Christianity. That is it has to be historical. It is a fact based religion. Without facts, the entire belief system falls apart. The religion teaches that Christ died and then rose again on the third day. Again, if this did not happen, then the entire belief is a fantasy, and we Christians are to be pitied, as we have a blind faith. You see, Christianity is a “No facts = No faith” religion. You have to have facts in order to hold the belief system up.
The second question to ask is “What is evolution?” A simple explanation is simple things becoming more complex until you eventually get human beings. It is a molecules to man theory. But is it supported by facts? Well the place to get evidence for evolution from is the fossil record, as it is a record of things that lived in the past. And one of the biggest proponents of evolution, National Geographic, had this to say about the fossil record, “Illuminating, but spotty, the fossil record is like a film of evolution from which 999 out of every 1,000 frames have been lost on the cutting room floor.” – National Geographic, November 2004. Evolution uses processes such as natural selection, mutations, survival of the fittest, struggle and death. You see, all this requires a faith. An extraordinary faith. You see, it is not the Fact of evolution V the Faith of Christianity, rather, a Fact based Christian Faith V an Extraordinary Evolutionist Faith.
So, onto the next part, compatibility. Is evolution compatible with the Christian Faith? You see, Genesis signifies how both life and death came into being. Romans 5:12 says “for just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, thus death spread to all men.” Verse 18 continues, “For if by the one man’s offense judgement came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Here the apostle Paul is trying to lay out a legal augment. In fact some theologians do not like the book of Romans, as the logic is so tight. He is auguring that one sinful man’s life brought death, so one sinless man’s death brought Life. You see, if evolution is God’s chosen method of creating the world, when was there ever one man in order for him to sin to bring death into the world? And when did death come about?
The entire purpose of the Bible is to proclaim the following message: God Created, God warned, Adam sinned, Wages of sin is death, Jesus died to gain Life for all His children. According to the Bible, death is not a biological necessity. Death is not good. In fact, in 1Corinthians 15:25-26, God calls death the last and greatest enemy. The question is, if evolution is true, and Genesis is not about death, and death is a biological necessity, then why did one Man’s death (i.e. Jesus’) make the slightest difference?
So why is death not natural? And why is it not good? Well, to answer this Biblically, we need to find out what the Bible’s definition of “good” is. The word ‘good’ is mentioned 6 times in Genesis 1. Perhaps this is a good place to get a definition. God describes what the world was like in the beginning, the world He called ‘good’. No death. No evil. No carnivores. No struggle. No death of the unfit. The problem is, all of these concepts are necessary for evolution to occur. The Bible makes sense on its own. Adam sinned, God cursed, and as a result, death came into the world. But with an evolutionary worldview, the curse began when evolution began. and if evolution explains how we got here, then you have a serious compatibility problem. But it gets worse.
What is the New Testament’s description of good? Look at Acts 10:38. It says the Disciples went around doing good. Jesus also did good. What did Jesus do? He fed the hungry, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind,stopped natural disasters, and gave life to the dead. The strange thing is is that all these are used in the process of evolution. What good God would create the world through death and suffering, then call it good, then go against that, and call it bad? Evolution is cruel, not good.
One last thing. What is the Gospel promise? Read Revelation 21:1-4. This is good! No more death, no more suffering, no more curse. And by the way, this curse is the same curse named in Genesis. This only makes sense if you read the Bible literally. If God created the world through a process of evil, then called it good, then there is every possibility that, if this is God’s definition of good, Heaven will be an eternity of death and struggle. The chief concept is; Creation = good, Jesus = good, New Heavens and Earth = good. = Biblical ‘good’ does not fit with evolution. No version of evolution is compatible with the Christian faith. Put as bluntly, but as kindly as I can, to merge evolution with the Christian faith is to invent a creator-god that you make up as you go along. And if you look carefully, you see the more you try to squeeze evolution into the Bible, the more you have to add to the Bible. Only a literal interpretation of Genesis fits with the Christian faith.
You must log in to post a comment.