The Revolution Against Evolution 021206am

The Revolution Against Evolution

Genesis 1:1

It is the ultimate question of all questions - Where did the universe come from? Why does it exist? Genesis 1:1 simply states,

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NASB) So the very beginning of God's word to man says man had a beginning, a divine beginning, a supernatural beginning.

Believe it or not, the Christian message does not begin with "Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior." It begins with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Bible plainly states that behind the entire creative order is God's divine hand. No natural forces exist on their own. Nothing receives its nature or existence from any other source. If that is true, then God's word is not only the source of the laws of physical nature which we study with science. It is the source of the laws of human nature, which tell us how we ought to live.

I don't have to tell you that there is a debate raging hot and heavy in our culture today that will not go away. Entangled in its web are scientists, doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers and politicians.

As you know, just recently a Federal Judge ruled that Cobb County's School Board could not put stickers on their science textbook with the following statement. "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

That one statement is the catalyst that has ignited a war that is being fought hot and heavy in many different battlefronts all over this nation.

I want you to know up front there is no way in one message that I can either disprove evolution or prove creation. In fact, neither one can definitively be proved or disproved. You can never prove or disprove any event that took place in the past. All you can do is present the evidence which is exactly what I intend to do today and then let you decide. We are going to ask and answer six very simple, but key questions that will totally help us put our arms around this great debate and understand the "Revolution Against Evolution".

I. What Is The Definition Of The Theory Of Evolution?

The very first problem in discussing evolution is defining evolution. Depending on the definition, there may or may not be a problem with the word "evolution". When textbooks say something like, "evolution has occurred" sometimes they just mean that "change sometimes happens." When that is the case, nobody has any disagreement with it. Certain kinds of limited change do occur in nature.

There are really two meanings to the word "evolution". Sometimes the word refers to what is known as "micro-evolution". Micro evolution simply states that change does take place within certain kinds of plants and animals and that there are certain varieties within different species.

This goes exactly with what the Bible says in the Book of Genesis. "And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth every kind of animal - livestock, small animals and wildlife.' And so it was. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock and small animals each able to reproduce more of its own kind." (Genesis 1:24 - 25, NLT)

The second type of evolution is called "macro-evolution" and this is where the wheels begin to fall off. This is the theory that made Charles Darwin famous. In essence, he not only said that living matter evolved from dead matter through a random process plus time, but that all animals and plants and people evolved from a common ancestor, through a random process of natural selection that ensures the survival of the fittest. To quote Carl Sagan, the 20th Century high priest of the religion of evolution, "All living things arise by blind physical and chemical forces over eons from slime..." and ..."human beings [and all the other species] have slowly evolved by natural processes from a succession of more ancient beings with no divine intervention needed along the way." Let me make this real simple so everybody can understand it. In essence, evolution says, "Explosions-R-Us."

Understand the word "evolution" is used in two ways. One word applies to "limited variation with an existing species" which nobody denies. The second word refers to "unlimited change leading to the existence of new groups from one species to another" which, as you will see in a moment, has absolutely no scientific verification whatsoever and is totally speculative. The great debate is over macro-evolution, not micro-evolution.

II. Why Is The Debate Of The Theory Of Evolution So Important?

To recap - nobody disagrees that natural selection can turn small horses into big horses and small bird beaks into longer bird beaks, but a lot of people disagree that it can turn fish into frogs and frogs into princes. Furthermore, not everyone agrees that life can come from non-life.

Here and now is where one myth about the creation/design versus evolution debate must be destroyed once and for all. The common thought is that evolution is scientific while creation/design is religion. The truth is both evolutionary theory and design theory are not about different subjects; it is not science versus religion. Instead, they are both trying to give an answer to the same question: how did life arise in the universe? The truth of the matter is this - Genesis 1:1 which plainly states that behind this universe is a divine designer deserves to be put to the test by examining the evidence just as much as the theory of evolution.

Get this down. The debate is not between fact and faith. The debate is not between science and religion. The debate is between their science and our science. The debate is between their faith and our faith.

This is not what I am saying. This is what they are saying. Dr. L. Harrison Matthews, a noted evolutionist, who wrote the introduction to the 1971 edition of Darwin's famous book, Origin of the Species said, "The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an unproved theory - is it then a science or faith? Belief in the theory of evolution is thus exactly parallel to belief in special creation - both are concepts which believers know to be true, but neither, up to the present, has been capable of proof."

Dr. Arthur Field points out that evolution is based upon belief in the reality of things never seen or scientifically verified - belief in fossils that cannot be produced, belief in embryological evidence that does not exist, and belief in breeding experiments that have never worked.

Any objective observer has to conclude that whether you believe in the biblical worldview of creation or the evolutionary worldview of creation, you have to have faith. The issue is not science versus faith. The issue is science/evolution versus science/design - all based on scientific evidence. I do want to brag on the evolutionist for a moment, because it takes far more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe in divine design, as you are going to see in a moment.

It is just this simple. If scientists can demonstrate, based on the evidence, that life has emerged purely through natural chemical processes, then there is no need for God. However, if the evidence points to a divine design, then the evolutionary house of cards collapses.

If you don't think the debate is important let me put it this way. Whether you were created for a purpose or you have no purpose, whether there is a plan for your life or no plan for your life, whether some things are right and some things are wrong (and God tells us which is which) or right and wrong are simply up for majority vote, all depend on this debate.

III. What Is The Deficiency Of The Theory Of Evolution?

There are really two basic questions to ask about evolution.

(1) Could evolution happen?

(2) Did evolution happen?

I want to take the second question first and I am only going to give you two major problems with the theory, though I could give you many more.

"Did evolution happen?" The first problem is what I call the "fossil flaw". If every living being descended from a common ancestor and people and animals were not separately created then what you would expect to find in ancient fossils would be thousands of intermediate forms of creatures that have some characteristics of one species and some characteristics of another species. For example, if it is indeed true that a fish eventually turned into a bird, then you would expect to find half fish/half bird fossils. But this is exactly where Darwin himself saw the biggest problem. He said, "Innumerable transitional forms must have existed, but why do we not find them imbedded in countless numbers of the crust of the earth?" Darwin himself was hoping that in due time these fossils would be found.

As of the 21st century, the fossil record is so anti-Darwinian that the evolutionists have now had to conjecture that evolution occurs in small groups that evidently were never fossilized. One leading fossil expert put it this way, "Evolution always seems to happen somewhere else." You see, when I was growing up, people use to talk about the "missing link". Now we know that it is not the links that are missing, most of the chain is gone! Everybody is waiting for the gap to be filled. The only GAP that I have ever seen filled is the clothing store chain down at the mall that caters to baby-boomers and baby-busters!

There is a second problem with the question of - Did evolution happen? I call this the "dead/live dilemma". There is no scientific proof that life did (or ever could) evolve into existence from non-living matter. All of the evidence points to the fact that spontaneous generation is impossible. During all recorded human history, there has never been a substantiated case of a living thing being produced from anything other than another living thing. Every living thing on this planet today had a living, breathing parent. Darwin's problem is this. He tried to explain the survival of the fittest, but he still can't explain the arrival of the fittest.

That raises another question. Could evolution happen? At the top of your notes, write down three letters - DNA. Within each cell of your body, there is an area called the nucleus which contains the chromosomes. Within the chromosomes is a structure called DNA. DNA is a super-molecule which stores coded hereditary information. It is made up of two long "chains" of chemical "building-blocks" that are paired together.

To understand DNA, it is somewhat like a computer program on a floppy disk. It stores and transfers encoded information and instructions. The DNA of one human being stores enough information code to fill 1000 books, each with 500 pages of very small, closely printed type. This information is far more sophisticated than that of any computer.

Scientists are now beginning to realize that cells containing such a complex code and such intricate chemistry could never have come into being by chance. No matter how chemicals are mixed, they do not create DNA or any intelligent code whatsoever, only DNA reproduces DNA.

Sir Fred Hoyle, an internationally recognized astronomer and mathematician and one of Great Britain's foremost scientist, said that the chance of life coming from non-life is about 10 followed by 40 zeros. What does that mean? I am quoting him. "There is about as much chance of life being spontaneously produced as there is a tornado blowing through a junkyard and building a Boeing 747." At the top of your notes where you wrote the letters DNA, put an equal sign and write these words down.

DNA = Do Not Accept Evolution

IV. Why Do Scientists Have Such A Devotion To The Theory Of Evolution?

I know what you are thinking. You may be asking a question and it is a good one. If evolution is such a deficient theory, if in fact it not only didn't happen, but really couldn't have happened, why do scientists so vigorously defend it? To put it simply, the faith of the evolutionist gets in the way of the facts of science. One of the most well known scientists in the world is Richard Dawkins. He made this statement, "Even if there were no actual evidence in favor of the Darwinian theory... we should still be justified in preferring it over all rival theories." In effect, what this scientist said was that "my mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts."

The question arises - Why? The answer may shock you, but here it is. Doctor George Wald, Professor Emeritus of Biology at Harvard University, and the Nobel Prize winner in biology in 1971 said this, "There are only two possibilities as to how life arose: one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution. The other is a supernatural creative act of God. There is no third possibility. Spontaneous generation, the belief that life comes from non-living matter was scientifically disproved a hundred and twenty years ago by Louis Pasteur and others. That just leaves us with only one other possibility...that life arose as a creative act of God. But, I will not accept that philosophy, because I do not want to believe in God, therefore, I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution."

Harvard biologist, Richard Lewontin, even while admitting the "patent absurdity" of much evolutionary theory said simply, "We cannot allow a divine foot in the door." Underneath the letters DNA, write down these three letters - ABG.

ABG = Anything But God.

Now do you understand that evolution is not primarily a science? It is primarily a philosophy and a religion. It is a philosophy that says, "this is closed universe and the supernatural does not exist." It is a religion that has Darwin as its prophet, Origin Of The Species as its bible, and the theory of evolution as its god.

V. What Is The Danger Of Believing In The Theory Of Evolution?

So what if people still want to continue to believe in the theory? What is the harm? Think about it. Either we are the accidental by-product of a random, purposeless process or we have been created in God's image with a purpose, by His design. The reason this is important is your starting point will determine your concluding point. If we are ultimately the by-product of time, chance, and random processes, then regardless of what else one says, we are really worthless creatures. But if we were created by God Himself then we are special.

If you want to know what is wrong with our culture today, the root of the problem of most of our problems that are afflicting us to this very moment are caused by the teaching of evolution. That is why it has been called, "the big lie."

Evolutionist William Provine of Cornell University was honest enough to admit that if evolution is true, there are five inescapable conclusions.

There is no evidence for God - and no need for God.
There is no life after death.
There is no absolute foundation for right and wrong.
There is no ultimate meaning to life.
People don't really have free will.

Can I tell you the problem with believing evolution in a nutshell? It is this. When God loses His preeminence, man loses his significance.

This is a battle over more than just science, because when evolution is taught in the science classroom that view will bleed over to ethics, to law, to education, to morality, to theology and philosophy. It is like a cancer in the bloodstream that will affect every vital organ of the culture.

Six of the nine supreme court justices are evolutionists…

VI. What Does Design Do To The Theory Of Evolution?

Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." (Psalm 19:1, NASB)

The Bible makes no bones about it. It says this earth was divinely designed. If you look at this creation and don't see evidence of a Creator, don't blame the Creator. Don't blame the watchmaker if you don't see him behind the watch. Don't blame the artist if you don't see him behind the portrait. Don't blame the photographer if you don't see him behind the picture.

Is this planet in this universe just accidental? Is it accidental that the inexhaustible envelope of air only 50 miles deep has exactly the right density to support human life or that water expands when it freezes while other substances contract which makes ice lighter than water and keeps it floating on the surface? Otherwise, lakes would be solid ice down to the bottom and no fish could survive. Is it accidental that the earth is tilted so that we get four different seasons? Is it accidental that the sun's fire does not generate so much heat that we fry, but just enough that we don't freeze?

Turn to the person sitting next to you and just for one second look into their eyes. The eyes that you just looked at need about 130 million light sensitive devices to cause a photochemical reaction that transforms light into electrical impulses that go to the brain. Every second, 1,000 million of those impulses are zipped to the brain through the optical nerve system. That eye can handle 1.5 million simultaneous messages. When exposed to darkness, it can increase its ability to see by 100,000 times and 137 million nerve endings pick up every message the eye sends to the brain.

DNA just happened by chance? Your eye just happened by chance? I like what one man said, "If you came into the kitchen and saw the alphabet cereal spilled on the table and it spelled out your name and your address, would you think the cat knocked the cereal box over?"

Where does the evidence lead? Ask Anthony Flew, a British Philosophy Professor, who had been a leading champion of Atheism for more than a half century and once debated C. S. Lewis on the existence of God. At the age of 81, after decades of insisting that belief in God was ridiculous, has now changed his mind and has now stated that based on scientific evidence, there had to be a super-intelligence, a first-cause, as the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature. Do you know what Dr. Flew had to admit? Design destroys the theory of evolution. It takes out chance and it puts in God. That is why the evolutionist hate the theory of design so much. Let me make this super personal to you. Only when you understand how you got here, will you ever understand why you are here. Only God can answer the basic questions of human existence.

Questions like:

Where did I come from?

I came from the heart and mind of an omnipotent, omniscient God that has a plan for my life.

Who am I?

I am the highest of all of God's creation, put here by a God that desires to have a personal relationship with me.

Why am I here?

I am here to know that God, love that God, serve that God, and fulfill His plan for my life.

How should I live?

I should live according to the commandments He has given me in His word, so that I can fulfill His will for my life.

Where am I going?

If I come to a personal relationship with Him through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, I can go to heaven and spend eternity with the God that made me.

You are not just a chance collection of atoms and molecules that just happened to come together by fate or chance. You were born on this earth physically, that you might be born again spiritually, so that through faith in Jesus Christ, you can serve, know, love and live forever with the God that created you. That is why there is a "Revolution Against Evolution" and that really is the end of the debate.

endnotes

1 CNN.com, 1-13-2005.

2 Moody Monthly, March/April 1999, p. 29.

3 L.H. Matthews, "Introduction", Charles Darwin, Origin Of The Species (London: J. N.Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1971) X-XI.

4 "In The Beginning God-Or Hydrogen", Duane Gish, Christianity Today, October 8, 1992, p. 32.

5 Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, (New York: Norton, 1986), 287. (Emphasis in original.)

6 www.myfortress.org/evolution.htmf.

7 World Magazine, February 26, 2000, p 32.

8 I thank scientist, Dr. Jonathan Wells, for this thought.

9 Philip E. Johnson, Darwin On Trial, 2nd edition (Downersgrove, IL., ivp, 1993), 1-26-27.