Theistic Evolution

A huge debate going on right now is on the topic of Naturalistic Evolution (also known as Neo-Darwinism) and Intelligent Design.

Advocates of evolution seem to have the popular view, or at least they are the loudest, since if you ask most people they assume that evolution is the only theory on the origin of species. According to the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, even mentioning another side of the argument can cause many to lose their job, which continues to promote the idea that evolutionary theory is the only theory out there.

But there is another theory, Intelligent Design (I.D.). Intelligent Design is often times viewed as a "religious" or "theological" view, but it isn't. It is a scientific theory that states that certain things in nature are so complex that it is impossible for them to come to where they are in a fully natural way. This tends to be a common belief among Christians as Christians believe that the God is the designer.

One other theory, called Theistic Evolution. This theory states that God used evolution in the creation of the world. This is mainly a way to try and merge what the mainstream scientists believe with what the Bible says.

Theistic evolution however, is nothing more than an attempt to harmonize God’s perfect Word with man’s imperfect thoughts. Let's look at what the Bible states on this issue.

Origin of Man

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

According to this passage man is an intentional creation from God, made in a distinct way different than the rest of the animal kingdom. None of the other animals were ever created with the description of being made in the image of God.

Another interesting point, is that when God created every animal, He spoke them into existence, but man, God formed man with His hands, and then breathed the breath of life into them.

Genesis 2:7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

According to evolutionary theory:

Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens as a distinct species from other hominans, great apes and placental mammals.

Where the Bible says that Adam is a specific man created by God distinct from all the other animals where evolution says that man emerged from other animals in the animal kingdom and eventually became a distinct species. These views are completely in contradiction. Jesus mentions Adam as being a specific individual, so if we say that Adam was not an actual created person then we say that Jesus is lying.

So when your world view challenges what the Bible says, which will you decide is right?

Origin of Death

Pay careful attention to this point, because it involves one of the basic fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

The Bible is clear that Death is a product of sin, a product of one man breaking God's laws. This world was intended to exist without death, and one day we will return to the perfect state of the world.

The theory of evolution states something quite different. According to evolution, death has been around for millions of years, and it is necessary for natural selection to take place. Death is a natural process a part of the natural world.

Don't miss that point, according to evolutionary theory, death is a natural process necessary for life to evolve, but according to the Bible death is unnatural, it is a product of our sin. If death is a natural product that God created from the beginning for the process of evolution then Jesus' death would be in vain, because it would not be a penalty for sin it would be a natural process.

Jesus knew no sin

Hebrews 4:14-15

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 53:5, 12

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So if you believe in Theistic evolution, then Jesus' death was for nothing, it couldn't have been a penalty for sin, it couldn't be Him paying that penalty for us, and we are lost still. This whole concept is deeply important to our salvation. In the old testament it was the slaying of a lamb that would be sufficient as a sacrifice, again, the death of an innocent would cover the sins of man.

So when your world view challenges what the Bible says, which will you decide is right?

7 Days of creation is in the wrong order

Day 1: God creates the world and light
Day 2: God creates the sky, and separates it from the ocean
Day 3: God creates dry land and plants
Day 4: God creates the sun and moon
Day 5: God creates sea creatures and birds of the air
Day 6: God creates land animals and man
Day 7: God rested

Some say that God used evolution but that each day was really a representation of a long period of time, thousands or millions of years per day. But we have a problem here, plants are created before the sun is, and we all know plants can't survive and reproduce without sunlight. Also, Birds of the air are created before land animals, and according to evolutionary theory birds evolved from land animals.

So does this mean that man lived with dinosaurs? Just read the last two chapters of Job where God talks about 2 "prehistoric" creatures that Job is actually looking at, or search or lake beds where we find men's footprints along side dinosaur footprints.

Also, when God created the plants, and each animal, He commands them to reproduce according to their kind. According to neo-Darwinism each animal reproduces and eventually creates a different kind, this is completely against what the Bible says.

So we have a big discrepancy here, these two accounts of creation cannot mix at all.

Biblical Age of the Earth

Genesis 5 gives us a detailed account of how old the age of the earth is. This gives us 2 important pieces of information. For one it shows that the Bible considers these people to be literal humans, giving them specific dates that the were born and died on. Neo-Darwinism blurs the line of when the first human appeared, there are several stages of advancement and there is no distinction of when the first human appears in history.

Also this tells us clearly how old the earth is. We know that Adam was created on Day 6, "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth" (Genesis 5:3).

Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old, so he was born in the year 130. "Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh." (Genesis 5:6). Enosh is born when Seth is 105, since Seth was born in the year 130 we can easily calculate the year that Enosh is born (130 + 105). Enosh is born in the year 235.

This process can be repeated, Genesis 5 goes all the way to Noah, and then you can continue through other chapters of the Bible such as Genesis 10 and Matthew 1. Not all chapters give an exact date, but you can easily estimate the life of one person. Through this process you can estimate that the Earth is aproximately 6,000 years old. Obviously not long enough for macro-evolution to create life.

If the Bible meant for the Genesis account to be taken as an analogy or a symbol, then it wouldn't give such details. Doing this research is very interesting, you can see how the lifespan of people was much larger before the flood, so we can assume that something major happened in the flood that changed the climate so humans couldn't live as long. These are all interesting topics to consider and research but they are outside the scope of this blog.

The point is that the Bible is clear on the creation account, it gives specific details and the gospel message itself is founded on the very beginning, that God created us unique and different than the animal kingdom, making us with souls where other animals don't have souls. It is because of our sin that death is in the world and it is for that very reason that Jesus was able to come and live a sinless life, and die taking our place on the cross, He took our place under God's wrath.

Conclusion

Theistic evolution however, is nothing more than an attempt to harmonize God’s perfect Word with man’s imperfect thoughts

The main reason people do try to mix these theories is because evolution is popular right now, but the popular scientific theories are not always correct. We need to rely on God and not man.

For those who think that this means we check our brains at the door and follow the Bible blindly, you couldn't be further from the truth. There are many websites on Intelligent Design that talk about the science that proves that there must be an intelligent force behind the creation of everything. We as Christians know who that intelligent force is.

Check out some other resources such as http://apologetics.org, or subscribe to a podcast called Darwin or Design where they discuss these issues and interview some top scientists on a weekly radio show. If you have questions feel free to ask us at http://www.EternalTruthMinistry.com

Don't compromise your beliefs just because someone says they have evidence to the contrary, we know from courts that both sides have evidence, but both are not correct, just because you have evidence doesn't mean you have all the facts about the evidence. Look into all sides for yourself, know the facts for yourself. God gave you a mind, use it.

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Evangelism Outreach

On my other forums (ETM) we have a discussion going on how you evangelize and outreach in your church. What one of the members said just blew me away.

Check it out.

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Before I start, I'd like to say that I am definitely in full support of outreaches and all the efforts different churches in the body of Christ to reach the lost.

However, I came to a point in my relationship with God where I couldn't just limit my evangelism to only during scheduled church outreaches. I heard a man preach something one evening that really rocked me. He explained that we shouldn't need to switch gears from normal life to reaching the lost. If it wasn't a lifestyle that lived, then I wasn't living for Christ. His message turned some people off, but God really did something in me. He started telling testimonies of how more people were getting lead to the Lord by his church members outside the church than in the church. People were getting healed, delivered, and saved in their local mall like crazy. And when people came to him and asked him "when and where do you meet for your mall outreach? We have heard all the testimonies of people being saved, healed, and delivered in your local mall." His response was "Mall outreach? We don't have a mall outreach, just church members who shop."

It got me thinking. I don't need to schedule a time to reach the lost, I need to develop a lifestyle of doing it in normal life. Ever since then, though hard sometimes, this is the main approach I have taken for evangelism, making it something I try to do everyday whenever an opportunity comes up.

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Biblical Interpretation

Everywhere you turn you find countless number of denominations, and different sects of Christianity. Churches split up, people are told they are not saved because they go to a different church, or read a different version of the Bible. Many people are pushed away from Christianity because of these issues and more, can you blame them?

If you ask people why, it boils down to one thing, everyone has a different interpretation of the Bible. Let's look into this a bit.

Is how you interpret the Bible important?

This is a pretty easy question to answer. A person's life, every decision they make is entirely based on their beliefs, and for a Christian, those beliefs come from what the Bible says. Do you agree with capital punishment, abortion, how is one saved, how should we live, all of our ideas on this come from how one interprets the Bible.

Where do different interpretations come from?

Symbolism - A lot of passages in the Bible are symbolic, especially those passages talking about the end times. Passages talking about dragons, moon turning to blood, earthquakes, these all require some form of interpretation to find out what they are really referring to.

Historical and Cultural context - The Bible was written by a culture that is much different than ours. Their language was different, traditions were different, and many other things that separate them from us today. Which of these still apply to us today and how do they apply to us?

These are just a few examples of why different interpretations are created. Another big reason for interpretation is simply that we don't like what the Bible says, and when that happens, we change what the Bible says into something a bit more to our own taste.

Pastor Shawn Wood of Seacoast Church puts it like this:

The problem is that we are spending too much time interpreting the Bible, and not letting it interpret us. The big problem with our understanding of God's word is not an academic issue, it is moral.

It is not that we don't understand the Bible - it is that we don't like what we understand.

Is there one correct interpretation of the Bible?

This question is a bit harder to answer. Let's look at what the Bible says about it, for the Bible should give us instructions on how to interpret and read the Bible, right?

2 Peter 1:20-21 "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

The Bible was written by God, not men. God is perfect and timeless, never changing and concerned with truth. Since God does not change, His word can't change, since there is one God, with one purpose, one intention, who does not change, than how can the Bible change? If the Bible cannot change, how can there be different meanings and interpretations?

There can not be different interpretations. There can only be one interpretation of God's word. It can be applied to our lives in many ways, but there is only one interpretation.

I will not say that I have the correct interpretation, for my views of doctrine have changed a lot over the years, as I spend time studying the Word of God and growing closer to Christ. The more I do this, the more my views become like His. And since God only has one view, that of Truth, all Christians should start becoming more alike in doctrine and in actions.

When you read the Bible, and you find something you don't agree with, what are you going to do? Twist the words around to change the meaning? Just toss it out as not being an important part of Scripture? If we do that, where do we stop? Can the passages about baptism be thrown out? About punishment? About homosexuality? About sin? About Jesus' death and resurrection?

If you determine what passages can be interpreted or are irrelevant to today, then you have just placed yourself above God. You have decided that what God thought was important and true you don't agree with so it shouldn't be that way, making yourself one that can change God.

When faced with something you don't agree with, or with something you don't understand, it's best to admit that you are the one that is wrong, and you need to change yourself to match what God says.

Read the Bible and interpret the Bible using the whole thing, in context, not just focusing on a certain passage that supports your view. If you look at everything as a whole you may discover that you were close, but not totally correct or you may even discover that you were completely wrong in how you interpreted the Bible.

The problem isn't in the Bible, the problem is in us.

Why do we need the correct interpretation?

We need to know the correct interpretation of the Bible so we know God's will and instruction for our lives. We need to know what sin really is, what repentance really means, what God's grace really means to us. We really need to know the truth about how to deal with those living in sin, and with our own sin. We need to know how we should view and treat others, regardless of if they are poor, homeless, rich, or unborn.

Most of all we need to know how to grow closer to God! We can't do that if we have a false interpretation of Him. If I had a false view of who my wife really was, then I wouldn't know how to do things to please her, or how to act when I'm around her. It is only by knowing the real person that I can begin to draw close to her and really start to connect and communicate. It is only this way that I can have a real relationship with her.

God loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us, shouldn't we at least make sure who He is so we know how to worship and serve Him? How to love and have a relationship with Him?

Study the Bible, repent of your sin, do whatever you can to have a closer relationship with the real God.

One last thing...

The Bible gives very clear instructions on some things, and on others it is vague and left open to personal decisions. This is what is commonly called personal conviction. Is it wrong to watch movies with violence or magic, is it wrong to eat meat or drink wine, or is it wrong to worship God on any day that isn't the sabbath? These things the Bible is not 100% clear on, and some feel a conviction that it is wrong, which is fine. If you feel it is wrong, then to do it would be a sin, but be careful that you do not place your own personal convictions on others. Something miner that you think is a sin, may be allowed for someone else. This is what quickly turns into legalism.


It takes studying the Bible and being close to Him to know the difference between a personal conviction and an actual command. Study the Bible and have a close relationship with God. Admit when you are wrong and learn how to properly interpret the Bible. Don't buy the lie that everyone interprets the Bible differently. They may, but most are wrong. Know that your own beliefs on many things are wrong and you will only learn this as your relationship gets closer to God. I know that I'm usually wrong and I'm willing to admit that most of the time. Pray for a humble heart and God's understanding when you read the Bible that you may interpret it correctly.


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