Category: At Issue (page 9 of 14)

Evolution vs. Biblical Christianity

Many Christians today do not believe in evolution but cannot offer sound scientific or Biblical reasons for their stand. Some actually believe that God used this process in His creation. The Bible says that we should always be ready to make a defense for the hope that lies within us with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15). In this essay, I will briefly explain why evolution cannot be true from both a Biblical and a scientific viewpoint.

There are some basic Biblical reasons why God did not use evolution. Scripture states plainly in both Testaments that man’s sin brought death into the world (Gen.2:17 and Romans 5:12). If evolution is true, then death was in the world for millions of years before any human did any wrong thing. Progressive Creationists believe that only human death occurred after sin, but plant and animal death was going on for millions of years (with survival of the fittest creating better species over time). If true, then God used death and suffering to create better species. I choose not to worship a god that would do his creating in that manner. The God of the Bible created everything good from the beginning. In fact, Jesus Himself said that Adam and Eve were made at the beginning of the creation (Mark 10:6).

I would hope that all Christians believe that they were “regular humans” and not some mix with animals. Adam had a language and could give names to animals. This sounds intelligent to me.

The Bible also states that each kind (species) was created after its own kind and that their flesh is not the same flesh (1 Corinthians 15:38-39). Evolution says all flesh has common ancestry (common flesh). Did animals die before Adam’s sin? No, because Romans 8:22 states that all creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth. This includes animals and plants. However, the Hebrew word for “life” is different for plants than for humans and animals. Therefore, plants did “die” before sin. God told Adam that He gave the green plant as meat in the Garden of Eden for him to eat. If Christians try to force evolution into the Bible, they run into serious problems. In my view, they are believing in secular mankind’s thinking too readily and then interpreting the Bible from what man says, rather then letting the Bible determine truth. Man’s science changes every second. The Bible never changes.

In fact, evolution is becoming doubted by many scientists as more facts are discovered. There are serious scientific problems with the idea that all living organisms came from a single, living cell. The first problem is abiogenesis, life coming from non-life. Science today says this is impossible, but due to evolution bias, scientists are forever trying to demonstrate this possibility. They have failed miserably. The famous Miller-Urey experiment in 1953 never did give much hope that life can come from non-life, although from what science books say about it leaves one thinking it was a grand success. One thing it did prove is that in order to have life (or try to have it) high intelligence is necessary to form every molecule perfectly, along with all systems and parts of systems working immediately within the living organism or cell. If one part is not fully functional from the beginning, life cannot exist. Life also needs oxygen, however, if oxygen is present at the
time of creation it kills life! There’s a strange paradox indeed. Lastly, if evolution is true, where did the complex DNA code come from?! Codes demand a Coder. Even simple codes that lead to functionality do not come from mindless chance.

Furthermore, with our expanding knowledge of DNA, we now realize that in order for a dinosaur to evolve into a bird, which is what evolution insists happened, there are tons of genetic informational changes required to produce such a miracle. That info is not there. Also, if body parts changed into other kind of body part slowly over millions of years, how could those parts function and preserve life when they were only partially changed? If some creature was evolving from water to land, at some point it would have half a fin and
half a leg. Now it can’t swim or crawl, and would be the first to be eaten by other predators! How does survival of the fittest work here? The same can be said for legs changing into wings and scales into feathers. There is just too much of a change needed from the DNA to orchestrate such huge changes and any super gradual changes would hamper function and would be lethal to that species. Therefore, in scientific terms,
evolution truly lacks a mechanism (scientific procedure) that could cause slow evolution and would support survival.

The fossil record does not show all the necessary gradual changes. Those imprints all look exactly like those critters look today. Evolutionists claim there are millions of transitional fossils, but they define “transitional” in such a general way that anything could be viewed as one. It’s ridiculous. A bat today still looks like a fossilized bat that supposedly died millions of years ago. Public school science textbooks fail to mention these basic problems. All those chapters on evolution give students is smoke and mirrors.

I have merely provided the tip of the iceberg as far as providing both Biblical and scientific reasons why evolution is a deception to get people to reject the authority of the Bible, God’s Word. Evolution stands as a modern-day Goliath strutting its boastful intellectualism against what our Creator has said. Goliath did the same. He strutted his arrogant confidence against the God of Israel and His people, so God defeated him with something small (a boy and a stone). Some evolutionists equate Bible-believers as “flat-earthers,” as if facts are not on our side and that our faith keeps us ignorant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Throughout history, several Christians contributed to the modern scientific method and other contributions. Fairly recently a strong creationist named Raymond V. Damadia designed the MRI machine. Many great scientists also reject evolution—you just never hear them being quoted in worldly literature. There does exist,
however, an arrogant spirit in science ever since the Age of Reason in Europe that stereotypes people who believe in the Bible, and it works hard to suppress truth. But remember what Jesus said about these types: “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (Matt.11:25). Today, Christians need to be destroying speculations and
every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5), but with gentleness and reverence.

Feedback:

DM – Awesome. I will just forward this as I was not equipped to have this conversation. You are a true mentor!

Dave to DM – Thanks for the feedback and may the Lord anoint those words for whomever sees them – “Not by power nor by strength, but by My Spirit saith the Lord.”

NF – Right on Dave and happy Father’s Day to ya!

CL – Good concise deliverance of your immense body of knowledge!

Dave to CL – Thanks, and let’s hope and pray it gets out to others who are open to the Lord.

RV – Absolutely not throwing any stones here or trying to correct anything. I love your e-
mails. A couple comments:

  1. Assuming it is true, the most convincing thing I ever saw against the idea of evolution/life from non-life was the segment from the Truth Project about cell biology. Humans, scientists included, seem to be arrogant concerning things too small to see. A cell is not remotely a fundamental building block. Breaking down a cell, there’s a whole host of sub-cellular mechanisms that must pre-exist for the cell to function, yet have no function outside the cell. That speaks clearly to the engineer in me 🙂
  2. You made one statement that is kind of dangerous: “I choose not to worship a god that would do his creating in that manner.” Depending on what we eventually learn from God, that could be a bad thing to choose. I heard Bob Lonsberry say the same exact thing concerning “any god” who would allow Jeffery Dahmer into heaven. Unfortunately for Bob, God is the only one with a say in the matter. Without finding any fault with anything you assert, I think there’s plenty of room in scripture for God to someday say to us “What made you think you could possibly understand any of this?”
  3. Christians have worked hard to earn their reputation for being “flat-earthers.” Ultimately, whatever is actually true really IS actually true. I’m sure Christians have found ample biblical evidence to support an earth centered solar system, or anti-semitism or racism or slavery, and they clung mightily and embarrassingly to those errors (celibate priests anyone?). Better we embrace a stance that says we could be wrong on some details and that if something turns out to be an error we’ll embrace the Truth. Just like science can be a idol, trying to disprove it can be too.

Dave to RV – Thanks for your feedback and the spirit in which it was delivered. Your points are well taken. On your first point, I am very familiar with Michael Behe’s book “Darwin’s Black Box” in which he articulates his “irreducible complexity” assertion. Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, claims that each cell is highly complex and all mechanisms need to be fully formed in order for the organism to live and reproduce. We cannot go backward and keep assuming that all body mechanisms had a more primitive physical state as evolutionists do, because that state cannot keep the organism functioning alive. It seems to me that Behe would conclude that the only way we can have life exist as we know it is to have a “sudden poof” and then species can adapt and have some degree of variation within each kind. All this, of course, fits the Genesis account like a glove.

TL – There is a basic form of evolution that does happen – over time a species does change due to mutation and the available genetic pool. But that is a far cry from how evolution is portrayed by most today – originating everything and changing species to another species. It is beyond my comprehension how so many buy into the “evolution did it all” explanation. One day nothing was sitting around pondering nothing and decided to become – something – the universe. Nothing up my sleeve – presto – the universe and all its laws.
Now in this created from nothing universe we get just the right combination of soupy elements, add a little lightning – and you guessed it – presto – a living, single cell. Now quickly this first, single cell decided in its first second of life – I’m lonely – I need to find some company – another me! I’m going to find some way to divide in half – and presto – hey there twin sibling. And the amazing prestos just continues – I want to be more than one
cell – presto a two-celled critter. And at some point ol’ two cell was thinking – hey I don’t have anything to think with – one of us should become – a brain cell! And from there nothing could stem the cell’s (pun intended) creativity – deciding then adding new types of cells, then organs – to naturally wanting to climb out of the water, become an amphibian – no a reptile – no a mammal. And once you conquer changing from species to species – well a chimp isn’t bad, but I want to be a man. It really does take more faith to believe in this form of evolution – than to believe God created it all.

Dave to TL – It is great to hear from you again. Hope all is well. We think alike on this evolution issue – it does indeed take more faith to embrace Darwinism. It sadly demonstrates how and why some humans do this – “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5) and “And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their
deeds were evil” (John 3:19). There are spiritual reasons why people trust in the theory of evolution. Unbeknownst to most, science has little to do with it. A revealing quote from a famous evolutionist in Darwin’s time confirms Scripture: “For myself, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.” – Aldous Huxley, “Ends and Means,” p.270ff.

The “basic form of evolution” that you mentioned is not Darwinism, as you rightly pointed out. In fact, it should not even be categorized as any form of evolution because that serves as a smokescreen to deceive students in science. Adaptation is what this is. However, what the evolutionists, as well as the science textbook authors, do is define “evolution” is such general terms that they can get away with this. Defining “evolution” as “change over time” is far too general and is misleading. As we know, God put adapting ability into each species knowing that a fallen world would include environmental stresses. This, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with common ancestry.

The best definition of evolution comes from the the late Father of Biblical Creationism Henry Morris, author of “The Genesis Flood”: “UNKNOWN chemicals in the primordial past…through UNKNOWN processes which no longer exist…produced UNKNOWN life forms which are NOT TO BE FOUND…but could through UNKNOWN reproduction methods spawn new life in an UNKNOWN atmospheric composition in an UNKNOWN oceanic soup complex at an UNKNOWN time and place.”

Thanks so much for your feedback and please keep in touch!

Our Testimony

We all have a true story about how and why we became followers of Jesus Christ. These stories are powerful witnessing tools that should not be neglected. In today’s world, there are many forces working against Christianity and they are out to stifle our story as well. Therefore, encourage yourself in the Lord and watch with anticipation for opportunities to share with someone your story. Pray and think about how to phrase concepts that are vital to their minds to understand. Keep it simple and speak with a love for the person to whom you speak. I’ve had many cultists share their beliefs with me since I surrendered my life to Jesus in 1970. Not one time did I ever get the feeling that they really cared about me as a person. Rather, they only wanted to make me believe what they believe, which is the spirit of error.

This is my story in brief. I was raised by parents who believed in the Bible and in Jesus, and they made me go to church. But by 8th grade, after I formally joined a protestant church in Lockport, NY, they stopped attending…much to my delight. I found church boring. So when God is not in the center of a human heart, something else will be. For me it was sports. They came easy for me and I gained self-esteem from being successful in ice hockey, soccer, and baseball. The trouble was that I had no idea of how much of a sinner I was until I read the Gospel of Matthew during my senior year in college. Although the Jesus Christ Superstar Album of 1970 portrayed a wrong Jesus, there was enough Biblical truth contained in that rock opera to get me curious about what the real Jesus said. I started reading Matthew. Well, Jesus’ words excited me and I wanted to know more. By the 13th chapter I surrendered my whole life and future to Him. Then the change came, and I was on my way…or I should say on His Way.

Falling in love with Jesus and totally giving up our life to Him are the key elements to real salvation. They will not only humble us (which every soul needs) but also produce love for others, even strangers. Months later, I asked God to fill me with everything He’s got so that I would never be faked out by some false way. Instantly I felt something enter my body and mind and I knew at that point that I had really arrived and cemented into His Kingdom, and that He would never let me go. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and was on my (His) way again. Within two weeks two cults tried to make me into one of them, and it was God’s sovereign protection over me that prevented me to yield to their errors. It was not because I was smart enough to see deception because I did not know the Scriptures well then. It was totally God’s protection over me. I recall at one point the two cultists had me ready to become one of them. Rather than “sealing the deal,” they just looked at each other in confusion as to what to do next! That was the end of 1970 and He still has me going strong in Him. I stand strong only because of Him.


Feedback:

P.T. – Thank you Dave for sharing your testimony, I never tire in hearing someone’s testimony. I also thought it was important you pointed out how some “cults” were ready to take away your joy in becoming a Christian. I’ll never forget a Billy Graham crusade in KC I attended that ended with many responses to the Gospel, but it was what Billy Graham said to those who just confessed Christ (I paraphrase), “As soon as you leave this stadium there will be an attempt by Satan to steal away what you heard tonight.” I too had many temptations to pull me away from Christ when I became saved. I think Satan really hates to lose one of his own.

G.R. – My testimony is almost disturbing to me. I had so many ups and downs with the Lord and in my life, I cannot count them all. My Father died when I was 5 months in my mom’s womb so I never laid eyes on my biological dad. He was a devout Catholic so I was baptized at Sacred heart in 1947. My mother remarried in 1950. My step-dad hated my mom’s 3 kids and showed no interest in any part of my formative years. I grew up with a step-father who despised me because I was Italian. He was an atheist and made fun of all the church people we lived with. I joined the Boy Scouts at Greece Baptist Church and became an Eagle Scout. I was reintroduced to God and earned the God and Country award. I was going to church regularly but later stopped going. My step-father finally wore me down. In 1965, I got married young, had a BAD marriage, and never thought about God and church. I met Kathy in 1979 and she was a devout catholic, and we started going to church occasionally. We married in 1983 and a strange thing happened. Kathy and I traveled a lot and we started seeking out churches and cathedrals to visit. The one on Martinique was phenomenal and the one in Caracus even better. Nothing can top San Francisco though. We were searching I think. My life was a pile of sin. I had a big-time drinking problem. I had a lying problem. I was a piece of junk. A woman named Lisa asked me to go see Tim Lee at the Kodak theater. He is an evangelist. Both his legs were blown off in Vietnam. Tim changed my life, and Lisa led me to the Lord in 1994. I did not really start attending church again regularly until 1999, and then the twins were born. Since then we have joined First Bible Baptist Church and I am now a Deacon. I LOVE the word of God and I LOVE our church.

A.R. – My testimony is quite different from the one above, but it’s ok, it’s different from a Lot of people. Raised non-traditonally in a home that became broken by the time I was in middle school. I was exposed to New Age thinking, the Catholic faith (nearly started the path toward becoming a nun), the Hare Chrishna movement, the Mormon faith, a Presbyterian choir, and a Methodist youth group all Before college. There I hung out at Campus Crusade for Christ with my then boyfriend (now husband :D), I also had friends in Hillel. Was saved by The Lord after Him drawing me through a lovely kind hairdresser and a walk-in visit to CCC in Brockport. 😀

The Sabbath Day Today

Sabbath insights from Isaiah 58:13-14 deal with attitudes toward the 7th Day when God tells us to cease from our ways and words, and delight in Him. In stark contrast, people who seek their own pleasures on the Sabbath Day are dishonoring God. I’ve heard some guys say they feel closer to God on a golf course on Sundays than in church. I’ve wondered if this is during or between using swear words after poor shots. According to Isaiah, the god they worship is not the God of the Bible. Our culture does its best to lure people into doing their own pleasures on Sundays – kid’s sporting events, pro sports (it’s known as “Super Bowl Sunday,” not Super Bowl Saturday), every PGA Tour Final round is on a Sunday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc., etc. Everything but God’s Day!

Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is becoming rare, even for Christians. This issue has nothing to do with salvation, but does have something to do with respecting what God has said, and it’s even for our own benefit. Just like soil needs to be left fallow every 7th year (before modern chemical fertilizing) so the nutrients can be replaced, so too, human bodies need rest and a change of pace one day out of seven.

The Old Testament Sabbath was Saturday. The early Christians celebrated Jesus’ resurrection on Sundays so that day became “the Lord’s Day.” Years later, the Roman Catholic Church officially changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday believing it had the power from God to do so. The idea of change via that Church stemmed from Emperor Constantine, who, in 321 AD, made the change mainly because he was a sun worshiper. To this day we wonder if his conversion to Christ was real or just a political angle working in his favor for power.

Under the New Covenant, no day is holy or holier than any other day (Romans 14:5). We are to walk in the spirit each day as Christians. Every day is Christmas and Easter morning for us. I recall a person walking by my classroom during my break and she heard Christmas songs from my CD player in the month of March. This struck her as being odd, so she stopped and commented. I simply said that every day is Christmas and Easter for me. She thought about that (and hope she is still thinking about it).

I do see a need, however, to honor God’s Word by being aware of what we do on Sundays, since this is the day we consider the Sabbath. We should not become legalistic about this and begin to draw rigid lines about proper and improper behavior or activities for Sundays. Certainly attending a church should be part of the day. When possible, we should also take it easy the rest of that day. Sometimes work is not avoidable, but when it can be, it should be. When it comes to kids’ sports, playing on Sunday morning should be avoided unless it is a rare occurrence. So, to allow a child to play a sport, especially tournaments, once in a while on Sunday mornings is reasonable to me, but not if it is every Sunday for a long period of time. What’s better for the child, valuing sports (doing what he/she wants to do) or valuing growing in Christ by putting Him first?

Now the Seventh-Day Adventist Church contends that Saturday is the Sabbath and it was wrong for anyone to change that. I say honoring God on Saturday is fine, as long as they grasp my comments in the previous two paragraphs. Honoring God one day out of seven is a good thing, but it does not make anyone holier than others and should never turn into a legalistic mindset. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day; things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

In today’s culture, we need to be ever aware of the things that this world offers us that will vie for our affections and take our hearts away from loving Jesus and serving Him. Beautiful, sunny golf courses may cause us to think about the Creator, but they do nothing to cause us to grow spiritually. Let us delight in Him each day and celebrate Him with others on that one day out of seven, and keep church attendance as the priority on Sundays (or Saturdays).


Feedback:
T.L. – An excellent tool in the world’s attack on attending church is the “swing shift.” One of every 3 Sundays is literally working. The second Sunday one has just worked all night and is ready to sleep – not stay up to go to church. And by the time the 3rd Sunday comes around it is easy to be out of the habit of going.

C.L. – This concept is so important that it is one of the 10 Commandments. Jesus made it clear that the Sabbath was for made for man (not the other way around) so I feel there are many layers of truth concerning even ‘health” reasons to know God’s heart – He could start being very specific with us if we determine to hear and obey…Jesus IS our Sabbath – that’s another scriptural concept or implication – there’s probably a lot to this – more than we’ve acknowledged in this present day culture. Great topic. I need to meditate on this one more!

J.A. – After hearing a message about the Sabbath, I decided to avoid any shopping or eating out on Sundays. The difference was remarkable. No more struggling to find a parking space – no standing in long lines – no groceries to unpack and put away, etc. I remember when life was so much less stressful because everything was closed on Sunday. That day was reserved for church, dinner, watching your father fall asleep in his favorite chair and hanging out with family and friends. Now Wegmans and most restaurants do their biggest business on Sunday. How sad.

R.E. – For 20 years Bob & I were very strict about not working on Sunday – e.g. no homework or housework, no shopping, etc. (I got my entire master’s degree without ever once doing homework on a Sunday). And we were often given a hard time about it. There were a lot of put-downs, a lot of mockery, a lot of trying to force us to do something on Sunday that really didn’t need to be done then, as if we didn’t have the right to decide what would and wouldn’t be done in our own house. To our amazement, however, 99% of that was from Christians! Unbelievers usually (tho not always) acted like, “We don’t agree, but we’ll respect your beliefs.” Christians were far more likely to act offended. I sometimes got the impression that they assumed we looked down on them for not doing the same thing we did, no matter how hard we tried NOT to give that impression.

At one point, however, a Christian couple said, “This rule of yours causes a lot of tension at times. We’d like to respectfully request that you ask the Lord if you’re handling the Sabbath the right way.” And by searching the Scriptures, we did indeed realize that in our efforts to honor the Lord, we had become rather legalistic. Note that one respectful request did what 20 years of mockery could not do!

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