Pope John Paul II issued a statement last week calling evolution "more than just a theory." He went on to say that it was "more than a hypothesis" to be studied on a par with "the opposite hypothesis." What he said may have shook and surprised some but many realized that this represented just another large denomination capitulating to atheism, and giving up on the Bible. Deciding that science has somehow outpaced scripture many are abandoning even the pretense of believing in the Bible.
Is that inevitable for even New Testament Christians? From time to time one will hear statements like "Isn't evolution a proven fact?" and "Who knows how long those days in Genesis really were?" from Christians. Those statements just show that already faith in the creation account is eroding away. What is needed today is more understanding of the dangers of accepting evolution as a theory of origins, and more realization that Genesis and evolution are absolutely incompatible. Let's think about each of these significant points.
In some ways Genesis 1 is the most important chapter in the Bible. It affirms that God created everything and everyone. This is significant because this gives God authority. We are the created, He the Creator. We are the clay, and He is the potter (Romans 9:20ff). Why do we obey God? We do so because we were made for obedience. We were created to submit to and obey our Creator. Therefore any teaching or philosophy that tries to rob God of His place as Creator must be emphatically refuted and denied. Such teaching seeks to tear down God's very right to rule.
Yet some today, like the pope, think they reconcile evolution and the Bible. Believing that Genesis must be harmonized with science (as if God, the Creator of all science, could be out of harmony with science!) they argue for theistic evolution. Theistic evolution teaches that evolution is the process by which all life came to be on this planet, but that God started and nurtured the process of evolution along. Genesis 1-2 are termed a "hymn" or "poem" and written off as figurative language. The pressure of the scientific community constantly pounding away (through a willing media) with "Evolution is a scientific fact" and "All reputable scientists now accept evolution as fact" has taken its toll. Evolution is more socially acceptable than creation, and so theistic evolution tries to live in both camps at the same time.
It cannot be done. The Bible teaches God created everything miraculously in six days. It is certainly true that God could have created everything through any means or mechanism He chose. However, none of us were there when He started things up. Therefore, we are completely dependent upon what God tells us about our beginnings. Hear the words of divinely inspired scripture: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11). "You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You" (Nehemiah 9:6). The Bible is clear that creation was an instantaneous miraculous work of God. Any interpretation or idea that tries to stretch that work out over millions of years, or change it from a miracle (the suspension of nature law) to a natural process simply cannot be true. If we take the Bible seriously we have to admit that creation is what the Bible teaches about origins. At least the atheist is consistent enough to admit that evolution and the Bible can't be reconciled. The theistic evolutionist is forced to deny the Bible so he can continue to believe in his "scientific" theory of origins.
More problems for theistic evolution are encountered when Genesis introduces us to Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that Adam was the first man: "And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.'" The Genesis record concurs, showing us that Adam was a fully developed man. He could tend the garden (Gen. 2:15), hear and understand divine law (2:16-17), name animals (2:19-20), speak (2:23) and make moral decisions (3:6). Adam is not evolution's ape-man, Homo erectus, Homo habilis, or even Neanderthal man. Those men were not, according to evolution's teaching, well developed, or capable of speech and communication. Thus what the Bible teaches again conflicts with evolution. Evolution says the first men were barely above apes. The Bible teaches a fully functioning man, Adam, was first. Which will the theistic evolutionist choose?
Then Genesis further complicates the theistic evolutionist's position by having Eve come directly from Adam (Gen. 2:21-23). Evolution teaches that the sexes evolved simultaneously. Eventually when evolution progressed far enough the two sexes, who just happened to develop in the same part of the planet (what luck!), mate and the evolutionary process takes a new turn. Usually theistic evolutionists offer that Eve is just a mythical figure. Really? Jesus didn't seem to think so when he spoke of Adam and Eve in Matthew 19:4. Paul also didn't get the word on Eve being mythical, as he speaks of her as a real person in 2 Corinthians 11:3 and 1 Timothy 2:13. What about Eve? The Bible says she was the first woman, while evolution says she didn't exist. Which should the theistic evolutionist believe?
Finally, the death knell of theistic evolution comes when we understand that the Bible teaches the world was made in only six days. The hero in evolution's story is time. Given enough time, we are told, anything can happen, and did. Change after change, and not just within a species, but changes from one kind of animal into an entirely different kind of creature can and did occur over the billions of years this world has (supposedly) been around. Fish grew legs and lungs, and became lizards. Apes learned to walk upright and became men. Theistic evolutionists have jumped right in here, arguing that the term "day" in Genesis 1 can mean a long period of time. There we have it, we are told. The Bible is giving a simple, figurative account of evolution.
Hardly. Naturally, we realize that "day" can have many different meanings, such as the period of light or a twenty-four period. Yet in Genesis 1 the days are numbered. Nowhere in scripture is that done if it doesn't mean one twenty-four period. Note as well that Genesis tells us that plants were crated on Day 2 (1:11-12) but the sun was not created until Day 4. How did plants last millions of years without sunlight? Other evidence pours in: Adam was made on the sixth day, but his age is listed at only 120 years when Seth is born (Genesis 5:3). Exodus 20:11 uses the six days of creation in the context of a calendar week. The Bible's teaching is again very clear: the world and all in it were made in six days. Evolution demands more time. These two different views of origins cannot be ever be reconciled.
It is clear that theistic evolution is a compromise that will not work. The Bible doesn't teach evolution, and evolutionists cannot believe the Bible. These two views are at war with each other now, and will always remain so. Too much is at stake for us to join with the pope in a half-hearted surrender. Hear and believe the words of Jesus: "And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female?'" (Matthew 19:4). So Jesus affirms, and so must all who follow Him affirm.
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