"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen,” [Romans 1:20-25]
“For everything God created is good,” [1 Timothy 4:4]
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning -- the sixth day,” [Genesis 1:31]
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy,” [Genesis 20:9-11]
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” [1 Peter 3:15]
As Christians, there is no way that we can honestly say that we believe the Bible AND adhere to a false religion that says the earth is billions of years old. The process of evolution claims that living organisms have evolved through a process of death. It claims that people appeared on the earth because many other weaker “branches” of the evolutionary “tree” died off so that a stronger, better species could evolve –we got rid of the “dead weight.” Evolution claims that life exists because of a constant process of death and change (survival of the fittest) and claims that this is actually “good.” This is in direct opposition to the Christian truth that God created everything good and that death is a curse that actually has ruined what was originally good. The Word of God makes many claims that God created all things good. The Word also tells us that God created the world in six days and then He rested –and that’s why Israel needed to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy –they were allowed to work for six days but had to rest on the seventh. For those well-meaning Christians who say that God created the world over millions of years using evolution and that we are not meant to understand Genesis 1 as six literal days, how can they honestly claim to believe God is the Author of life if He used death to create us –before the curse ever happened (if it happened)? I’ve talked to many such “believers” who claim that Genesis 1-11 is just a collection of myths, not meant to be taken literally. They say that Adam and Eve never really existed and that the six days of creation are just a primitive way of explaining how the world came into existence –but now we know for a fact that the world could not have possibly come into existence in this way. But if Genesis is just a collection of myths, then what of the resurrection? If the foundation of the truth is rejected, then what happens to the rest of the teachings of Christianity?
There are many who say that the origin of the universe is not a “salvation issue” and should not be a “test of fellowship.” This is one area where I strongly disagree. While those Christians or unchurched who do not understand that evolution is a misleading and dangerous teaching should be gently guided into the Truth, those who try to force Christians to accept it should be carefully admonished.
In the 1950s, our government asked why the U.S.S.R. was able to put a satellite and a manned spacecraft into orbit before we did. The conclusion is startling. Our government concluded that the Soviets were able to make advancements in science much quicker because they were not “restrained” by the moral teachings of Christianity and were “free” to pursue any path of new technology –wherever it might lead. It was this fear that the Soviets might conquer us because they were not “restrained” by Christianity that has precipitated the gradual downfall of our nation. After this conclusion, the federal government encouraged congressmen to introduce evolution into the teaching of public schools and likewise to encourage the limitation of Christian influence in state-funded schools. The result: Divorce, murder, drug use and rape all rose by 400% or more over the next couple of decades while education took a downturn. Recently, an educator asked, “Why do kids act the way they do these days?” A Christian answered, “You’ve been teaching them that they’re nothing more than animals for sixty years. Why are you now surprised that they are acting like them?”
While the reasoning the government originally used to introduce evolution into schools was that the Soviets were advancing faster than we were, what the government didn’t tell us is that the Soviets were able to make such advances because they weren’t restrained by Christianity. For example, the Soviets didn’t care how many manned rockets exploded on the launch pad. Their pride dictated that they be the first to get a rocket into space –to send a message to the entire world: We are a nuclear power, and we can deliver a nuclear payload now wherever we want. Evolution did no service to the Soviet Union. It was evolution that gave Lenin and Stalin the impetus to slaughter millions of Soviet citizens –after all, if there is no God, then why be concerned when the state slaughters millions of people like animals. This is survival of the fittest, right?
While some argue that Hitler was a Roman Catholic who was obsessed with occultism, it was evolution that gave Hitler the momentum to create a “hit list” to classify “pure races” apart from “less evolved” races. The “Aryan” race was the “pure, nearly god-like” race that should dominate the “animal” races, exterminating them or enslaving them. Hitler said that Slavic (Eastern European peoples) were half-ape, Asians were more ape, Africans were mostly ape and Jews and Gypsies were “almost completely ape.” Using his new religious drive to purge the earth (survival of the fittest), and using a militant eugenics program that lead to the holocaust, Hitler tried to enforce evolution as the new way of life. Hitler also concluded that Germany (and the rest of the world) was suffering because of genetic “misfits” who were dragging “more advanced” peoples down –only the “Nordic peoples” should be considered people.
Can we blame Hitler, Stalin, or Lenin for following through with evolution’s conclusions? If this was their religion, and if their understanding were that extermination of “lesser species” would bring health to the “better people,” then why should we condemn them if they believed in evolution? Evolution, after all, is harmless, right? Atheists have begun plastering our major cities with slogans like, “So be good for goodness sake,” at Christmas time with a subtitle, “There is no God.” The problem with this line of thinking is: How do we determine what is good and what isn’t if God isn’t God? Just ask Lenin, Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot –they can easily give you an answer: Might makes right. World War II cost the Soviet Union a lot of citizens. Millions went to the front lines and never came back alive. The Battle for Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles that the Soviet Union endured. But Stalin insisted: “Not one step back”. It didn’t matter how many people they lost (they had millions to spare), the Germans had to be driven out. When Stalin was asked, “Aren’t you concerned about how many people are being lost?” Stalin replied, “What? Have our women forgotten how to give birth?” You see, when people are nothing more than animals, it doesn’t matter how many are sacrificed on the altar of convenience. While the U.S. encouraged statements like, “No man left behind,” (based on a Christian ethic), atheists can easily say, “It doesn’t matter who gets left behind; we’re all just animals anyway.” To the Christian, death is unnatural and a curse, a disease, and we need a cure. To the evolutionist, death is necessary, death is natural, and death brings about a better quality of life for the survivors - people are considered a “cancer” on the earth that needs to be limited -the usual figure given is “under 500 million”.
Only Jesus offers life. That’s why He is called the Way, the Truth and the Life. Any alternative to Him is ultimately the same: Death. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God in Christ is eternal life… This is how we know the truth –it is truly good. An even better world is yet to come. It is crucial to understand that God is the Author of Life, not the author of death. That author goes by a different name. If we allow the foundation of our faith to crumble, then the whole building comes tumbling down. But our God… is VERY Good.
On the Solid Rock we stand!
George