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by Steve Risner

A member of a group I visit from time to time on Facebook, a theistic evolutionist who quite literally says some of the craziest things I’ve read on the topic, had some interesting things to say. (Remember, a theistic evolutionist is someone who wants to be a Christian but rejects the creation account in the Bible, adhering to a view similar to that of an atheist on the matter of origins.) To be fair, I believe he vocalizes what most theistic evolutionists actually think but won’t say. He saw a meme in the group that troubled him. It was, as he calls it, an “anti-evolutionary meme.” It’s uncanny how bizarre people like this are. But in case you come across similar backwards thinking, you might be able to at least identify the wolf in sheep’s clothing and credit his arguments as such and also respond so as to shine light on the darkness he or she is spewing as truth. It truly is a masquerade.

I wasn’t privy to the meme, but I believe it was something like this:

Now, it’s true that universal common descent violates most if not all of these ideas and more. But this theistic evolutionist wanted to educate us on how creationists, especially “young-earthers,” are twits and have no idea what science actually has evidenced. What’s funny is that “young-earthers” developed modern science, and he is standing on the shoulders of these, some of the greatest minds of science, in order to discredit what they did for us. Let’s take a look at his introductory statements before he gets into the nuts and bolts of the meme.

He prefaces his response to these points with this amazing statement: “While everything I said is valid and well supported, it also must surely read like an angry fist-waving, wild-eyed John the Baptist assault to a young-earthist.”

This is hilarious to me. He’s claiming to feel like an Old Testament prophet because he’s telling people not to believe what the Bible clearly teaches us. And I have no reference in the Bible that I can find of John the Baptist “assaulting” or responding “wild-eyed” or with “angry fist-waving” to anyone. This opening statement from this theistic evolutionist is just odd. What’s even more odd is the irony. After saying, “Everything I said is valid and well supported,” he makes a statement that is invalid and not supported. Such are the arguments from those who are humanist fundamentalists who proselytize for the humanist origins myth (that of the Big Bang leading up to abiogenesis and universal common descent). They generally talk in circles or don’t know that they’re committing numerous fallacies in their arguments.

He goes on to say: “How do we approach the apostasy of anti-evolutionary folks with love?”

This is quite possibly the most peculiar thing I’ve seen stated by a person in the creation/evolution debate. This person frequently says things similar to this in nature—just weird and nonsensical in my opinion—but this one, for me at the moment, takes the cake.

Words have meanings. Apostasy in this sentence is completely out of place if his claim to Christianity is to be taken seriously. However, if he’s admitting his real faith is in the secular humanist worldview and all its trappings, then fine. But apostasy in the sense of being out of sync with normal, traditional, long-held Christian beliefs is, of course, preposterous. Apostasy means the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief. This man wants us to think he’s a Bible-believing follower of Christ. Where is evolution (more specifically universal common descent—that we all share a common ancestor after life spontaneously erupted from non-living matter) found in the core doctrines of the Church? Where does the Bible reveal these truths?

I know for a fact that creation and God’s immeasurable power over all of creation is written throughout Scripture. Nowhere do we find even a vague eluding to universal common descent or the deep time required for it. He has shown us all of his cards here and likely the cards of many who believe as he does—that God (he wants this to be the God of the Bible but many others just assign the term ‘god’ or the supernatural to it) used natural processes and evolution to create the universe (which means He really didn’t create it at all) and the various life forms on earth over eons of time rather than the clear teaching of the Bible especially in Genesis but throughout the Word of God that says otherwise. But we, those who believe God’s Word and believe it means what it says, are apostate?

He’s right, obviously, that approaching in love is the better way to go. However, keep in mind that Jesus, while I believe He loved the Pharisees and was saddened by their rejection of Himself, vehemently opposed the religious leaders of His time on earth, pronouncing the 7 woes (Matthew 23 specifically verses 13-33) on them before all the people. In the Word, it is said that God is love, so treating others in this regard is not only good but it’s the best way to approach an unbeliever. We must also keep in mind, as I’ve said, that when Jesus spoke to those who thought they were superior in their faith and were prideful in that belief, He was not kind to them. Sometimes showing a person how wrong they are can be abrasive to them, and that’s okay. So at least this theistic evolutionist and I agree on this point: we should treat each other with love as we discuss topics such as this.

I had no idea before starting this writing that I would not even get to the end of this evolutionist’s preface before he gets to ridiculing the above meme (I try to stick to the policy of never arguing with a meme). I suppose that means we have the birth of a series here.

We will spend a little time discussing 2 Corinthians 6 in this series. In verses 14-15 Paul writes, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?”

Paul is emphasizing that joining with anti-Biblical teachers to preach what is quite obviously contrary to the Word of God is a very bad idea. Theistic evolutionists and, unfortunately quite often, old earth creationists will frequently join hands with atheists and other non-Christian people of faith to speak out against the Biblical worldview and the Biblical teachings on origins. It’s such a disheartening thing to witness. In this passage, Paul begins to call the Corinthians out for not being separate from these unbelievers. He is warning against idolatry, telling the Corinthian believers to come out from these unbelievers and don’t act like them or believe as they do. Those who have determined they will try to walk both sides of the creation/evolution debate and incorporate the false teachings of the humanist origins myth (that of deep time, the Big Bang, and the evolution of the universe all the way up to the formation of earth and life starting on earth from non-living matter and changing over time from very simple to more complex and specified organisms) with the true teachings of Scripture are very close to if not already lost.

I realize that’s a big statement and please hear me: I am not saying you cannot be saved if you believe these things. However, I have found many who are clearly not and many others I’ve watched walk down that slippery slope of distorting the Word to fit a preconceived idea. Eventually, it can easily lead to a loss of faith, though not always, of course. When you mix the purest water with water that has a little salt in it, what do you get? You get salt water, right? Mixing the truth with a little false teaching means you have a false teaching. That’s a fact. No matter how little salt you started with, you still have salt water in the end; it’s no longer pure. Please keep this in mind as we press forward. Trust God and allow every man to be a liar. He is Truth and has clearly shown us what He wants us to know in His Word and in the world around us.

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