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by Steve Risner

Why is the creation/evolution debate so hotly debated these days? Why does it even matter? Can you be saved if you have the wrong idea about creation? The reason I write about this topic is how critical it is for our young people to understand what the Bible actually says and how they can apply it to their lives. It's vital that we all understand that the Bible describes a faith that is not in spite of the evidence but strongly supported by it. People, young and old alike, have questions that are frequently not answered by someone they feel is competent on the subject. The trouble is, often times, this “competent” person has no idea how to answer the question or, worse yet, they make up an answer out of their ignorance that is garbage or, even worse yet, they give a confident answer that is completely wrong because they've bought into some sort of secular or humanistic philosophy and have mixed that with their faith in Christ. How should we deal with these types of questions if asked by a young person, a friend at school, or a co-worker? I'll get into that soon enough. Let's look at some information first.

According to Ken Ham and Britt Beemer in their book “Already Gone,” they found it reliable to say that at least 45% of those who once were part of a local church but no longer have fallen away because of the secular teachings of evolution and deep time. Well over 80% of those polled said they began to doubt the Bible's teachings in high school or even middle school. Some even claimed to have doubts as early as elementary school. For nearly half, the primary reason was the teachings of evolution and deep time. For most if not all the rest, these teachings at least played a role in their decision to walk away from their faith (essentially, to replace it with another). These ideas are confirmed, more or less, by the Pew Research Center. This is because, even with their weak understanding of the Bible, they understood the clear and plain message of the creation account in Genesis. This clear and plain message doesn't jive with the currently popular but ever changing opinion on our origins that the secular/humanist community wants us to believe. These young people had a choice—believe the Word of God or the word of men and they have chosen, in my opinion, very unwisely.

Why do I say it's unwise to accept the teachings of scientists when they disagree with the Bible? In many cases, these scientific ideas are not scientific at all, but rather they are speculation and nothing more than belief based on preconceived ideas. They are also ideas that very often will change over time. To hang our hat on an idea that we know will likely be scoffed at in years to come is foolish, in my opinion. This is one of the reasons I refer to the humanist origins myth (the Big Bang and Darwinism) as the “currently popular opinion” on origins. It'll change, maybe not at its core but in its details.

Here's what should not happen if there is information out there (generally we're talking about allegedly scientific information) that seems to contradict the Bible. We should not bow to the consensus and dig into the Bible to see what portions of it can be distorted to fit this new (and likely to change) scientific data. There are Christian organizations out there that teach things like the earth is not about 6000 years old but is millions or billions of years old. There are still other groups that want to incorporate evolution and the Big Bang into the Bible's creation account. This is madness, truly. It's exquisitely inconsistent and often times very irrational. The idea with many of these groups seems to have begun with one of two different starting points: 1) they were previously indoctrinated into the secularist's idea of deep time and/or other elements of the humanist origins myth and felt they needed to fit that into the Bible, or 2) they saw the major stumbling block I noted above that so many have with accepting Christianity and the Bible, so they decided to make the Bible seem more palatable. Both of these scenarios have major issues.

The first idea, that they previously accepted deep time and/or other ideas about the Big Bang and universal common descent (aka evolution) and then forced that into Scripture doesn't make sense to me. I tried that stuff when I was younger to see if it had any merit. It doesn't. This, in and of itself, is a great reason for people to lose faith in the Bible. They see people claiming it says or means something that it clearly doesn't, so the inquisitive young person decides it's all nonsense. If you can make it say whatever you want it to say, they it actually doesn't say anything. As a person who was exposed to currently popular opinions on origins, I think that it's hard to reject those ideas after you've been taught them for so long or even accepted them for so long. It's tough to see those topics as they are—not really scientific but philosophical. They are nothing more than beliefs and, in many cases—especially with the Big Bang and Darwinian evolution—in spite of the evidence.

But they're taught as though they're scientific fact or “settled science.” I was told, “Evolution is a fact. There is no question about it,” by my biology professor at Heidelberg College. I didn't accept that or believe it, but he certainly did and many in the class were likely influenced by that statement. Statements like that really bother me because a scientist must know such statements are false. They have to if they know anything about science and how it works. But the truth is this is a worldview battle and those opposed to creation and the Bible will say or do anything to defeat Christianity. So many accepted the “science” and then, believing the Bible was also correct, tried to make the two work together by changing what the Bible plainly says. That's a terrible idea, but I sort of understand the reasoning behind it. My hope is, like most other things, that once we find Christ, He'll begin to reveal things that reside in our hearts that we need to let go of. The false teachings of deep time, the Big Bang, and evolution would qualify as things we need to abandon as believers. These things are no different in their need for removal from our lives than sins in our lives we carry with us after we find Jesus. It's the continual renewing of our minds.

The other tactic or excuse—trying to make the Word of God more palatable—is actually dishonest and likely more counter productive than the person may think. We know from the Word of God that man is opposed to His Word and to the Gospel. Jesus says in John 15:18-21, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”

James, the brother of Jesus, says in James 4:4, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Those are pretty harsh words for trying to ride the fence. In Matthew 6:4 Jesus states, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” This, I feel, is what old earth creationism or theistic evolution are about. It's an attempt to play both sides. Paul was clear in Colossians 2:8 when he said, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

To think that for thousands of years, believers have been waiting for humanists who admittedly were trying to remove God from the world of science to explain the origins of the universe, earth, and life is an absurdity I cannot even begin to understand the depths of. And that humanistic philosophy accidentally happens to be exactly how God created the universe? I think most of us are smarter than that. But so many want to be accepted by the world and look “intellectual” so they shun the Biblical account of creation and exchange what is extremely clear in the book of Genesis for something that is obviously not there.

John tells us in 1 John 3:18 not to simply say we love people but actually do something about it and to share the truth with them. Sharing the truth is critical in our expressions of love. If the world hates the Gospel message, which is rooted in a literal reading of Genesis (how it was intended to be understood), it will hate the Gospel message dressed to look more in line with secular thinkers. Why? Because it's not the message they hate but the God who sent the message. I have a great deal more to say on this matter, but, unfortunately, I've run out of space. Until we meet again...

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