July 15, 2003, Vol.3, No.14.
Two new articles every two weeks.
Bible Question? E-mail
us. THIS ISSUE: "God
or Evolution?" (see below)
and "The Creation Model"
God or Evolution?
guest article by Harry E. "Buddy" Payne,
Jr.
Where
did you come from?
If you will think carefully about that question, you will
see that any answer you give (other than some answer like "I
don't know.") will be based on the testimony of someone
or something else. You can trace your immediate family tree only
through human witnesses (your parents, grandparents, etc.) or
documents written by human beings (birth certificates, etc.).
You probably cannot trace your personal family tree back more
than a few hundred years. Beyond that it becomes the history
of a nation or group of people which may be read in the ancient
writings of that nation or group. Eventually your search will
have to become a search for the beginning of mankind itself.
This search will reach into the distant past; past the time of
recorded history. "Reading" things like ancient pottery
and fossil remains is much less certain than reading written
documents. It is open to much interpretation and error. Clearly
no answer to the question above can be based on direct observation.
The Bible claims to be the inspired testimony of the Creator
Himself.
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God..."
(2 Timothy 3:16)
"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of
God." (Romans 10:17)
To those who have come to believe that the Bible is the inspired
word of God, the answer to the question above is based on the
faith that the One Who created us has told us about it.
"Through faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were
not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)
"So God created man in His own image in the image
of God created he him; male and female created he them."
(Genesis 1:27)
Such a faith need not be "blind faith," because
there is an abundance of evidence that the Bible is God's Word,
as you will see in this series. (This belief system could be
called "Biblical creationism.")
Many have come to believe that mankind and life itself must
have been created by a Supreme Intelligence (God) without basing
that faith on the testimony of the Bible. The testimony of the
world itself and human reasoning about the testimony have led
them to their faith. (This belief system could be called "the
theory of special creation.")
Others have come to believe that mankind and all living things
evolved from a common ancestry which in turn arose from non-living
matter by natural means, without the necessity of a Creator.
These too, base their faith on the testimony of the world and
their interpretation of it. (This belief system is called "the
general theory of evolution").
Every possible position you can take in answering the question
"Where did you come from?" is a belief, a position
of faith, faith in the written testimony of the Creator, or in
the human interpretation of the testimony of the world, or both.
Every possible answer to the question can also be classified
under one of two world views, supernaturalism (theism) or naturalism.
"Naturalism" is the view of the world that says everything
we observe can be explained by the interaction of matter and
natural forces. There is no need to believe in anything supernatural.
This world view is well illustrated by the following quotation
from the Humanist Manifestos I and II:
"We therefore affirm the following:
First: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing
and not created.
Second: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature
and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process...
Sixth: We are convinced that the time has passed for theism,
deism, modernism, and the several varieties of new thought."
(page 8)
"We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence
of a supernatural...As non-theists, we begin with humans not
God, nature not deities. Nature may indeed be broader and deeper
than we know; any new discoveries, however, will but enlarge
our knowledge of the natural." (page 16).
Supernaturalism (theism) says that nature itself cannot account
for all that we observe. There must be a Supreme Intelligence
(God) beyond nature. We know that a great work of art, such as
the dome of the Cistine chapel, was not produced by the materials
from which it was made. The forces of nature acting on the concrete,
plaster and paints would never have produced the painting on
the dome. The painting on the dome required an intelligence (a
man named Leonardo da Vinci) who placed the marks of his genius
on the materials. In the same way, those who accept the world
view of Supernaturalism believe that the universe and life bear
the marks of a Supreme Intelligence (God) whose omniscience (i.e.,
unlimited knowledge) is beyond our ability to understand.
The two world views can be summarized with the following equations:
Naturalism
(associated with the general theory of evolution)
Matter + Energy + Time = First simple life forms.
(which is eternal)
First life + Energy + Time + Mutations = All life
forms
Supernaturalism
(associated with the theory of special creation
and/or Biblical creationism)
Matter + Energy + Time + Information = First simple
life forms
(which was created)
First life + Energy + Time + Information = All life
forms
Note that the difference between these equations is information.
The believer in Supernaturalism claims that the information referred
to in the last two equations must have been supplied by an Intelligent
Creator (God). Life forms would not have arisen from matter or
even from first life without information supplied from God just
as the painting on the dome of the Cistine chapel could not have
come about without information from Leonardo da Vinci. The believer
in Naturalism claims that all life forms arose by natural means.
Which of these seems more reasonable to you?
There are those who believe God made the first life forms
and then all other life forms evolved from these simple life
forms without any further help from God. These people, usually
referred to as "theistic evolutionists," would accept
the first equation above under Supernaturalism and the second
equation under Naturalism. This mixed view which accepts the
necessity of God at one point, in the origin of the first life
forms, but rejects it at other times is not supported by the
evidence from the Word of God or the world.
A person who believes in special creation because he believes
the Bible is the Word of God cannot accept theistic evolution
for at least the following reasons (see Genesis 1 and 2):
1. The Bible teaches that God created distinct kinds of living
things. There is no indication that one kind gradually changed
into another kind.
2. Each kind was to reproduce after its kind. While there
was potential for variation, there could only be variation within
each kind.
3. Man, unlike any other living creature, was created in the
image of God. He was a special, distinct creation.
A person who believes in God because of the testimony of the
world cannot logically accept theistic evolution either:
1. It is illogical to accept that an Intelligent Creator would
leave matters to chance and "create" all life forms
from the first simple forms by means of evolution through random
mutation and natural selection.
2. The evidence from the world of living things supports only
change within limits. The most logical interpretation of the
evidence is that certain basic kinds were created to vary within
limits.
3. If the theistic evolutionist believes in an all-knowing,
purposeful God, it seems completely illogical that He would allow
nature to wander aimlessly along random paths of evolution for
billions of years until man emerged.
The most reasonable answer to our question at the beginning
of this lesson is that you came from human beings who were originally
created by God. All other "kinds" of living things
were also created. The testimony of God's Word and His World
agree.
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