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by Steve Risner

Last week, we began looking at some peculiar things I found written by a theistic evolutionist (a person who believes in some sort of God/god but also believes in the evolution of the universe and life on earth through natural processes) in a group I occasionally visit on Facebook. Initially, I quoted him saying that Christians who are not believers in evolution are participating in “apostasy.” This means to reject a religious teaching or political view. I mentioned how this term is completely inappropriate if we are to believe he’s a Christian since the Big Bang and evolution from a single common ancestor are not long-held, traditional, and overwhelmingly adhered to beliefs in the Christian or Jewish faiths. It wasn’t until recently that deep time, the Big Bang, and universal common descent were injected into the Christian faith initially by a small number of people. These are historical facts. Let’s take a look further.

He follows up questioning how to deal with “anti-evolutionary apostasy” with this question:

“Should we even share science or the Bible with young-earthists or simply say, ‘You are wrong, and your statements do not fit with the Bible. Would you like to know why?’”

My first question is why would you not share what you feel is factual or important information with someone who disagrees with you? In this case, he’s confused, and it’s certainly not just him. So many are so lost when it comes to what science is and can do, what facts are, what data is, and what the interpretation of that data is. People actually think if you collect data and after someone provides their interpretation of that data that all discussion is over and no one else can have a say. They will literally call you a liar if you use the same data and interpret it differently. They don’t realize that a “lie” has a specific definition. It’s unbelievable. How often do we see it happen? There is a finding and then huge headlines are blown up all over the world: “This rewrites human evolutionary history” or “This places this event in Europe rather than Africa” or a hundred variations. Six months later, we find they re-evaluated the data and found it actually had no connection with the claimed headline. Interpretations change, and in some cases no one’s interpretation can be verified. This means there can be multiple takes on the same information. In fact, I think it’s a healthy sign of strength when there is diversity.

Science is about collecting information about the world around us and considering how and why it’s this way. Far too many think it provides information about historical events that we can’t possibly understand or know the conditions of—like the formation of the universe, earth, or life from non-life. We can gather information and make assumptions based on that data concerning these topics, but science cannot tell us what happened eons ago. It simply cannot. It might help us make a guess, but there’s no way to confirm that guess is correct. Confusing the “facts” with the “interpretation” is all too common, and it leads to a great deal of misleading headlines and such. Most people, being unfamiliar with the limitations of science and this obvious misapplication of science, will accept the story told by the person in question, not realizing it’s just a tale they’ve thrown some facts at and nothing more. It’s literally science fiction.

Literaryterms.net defines it this way: “Science fiction, often called ‘sci-fi,’ is a genre of fiction literature whose content is imaginative but based in science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings, characters, themes, and plot-lines, which is what makes it different from fantasy.” This is the Big Bang and all its trappings as well as abiogenesis and universal common descent. Let’s not forget that. Let’s call it what it is and stop disrespecting science by calling the humanist origins myth “science.”

So I say, “Share away” with the science. As a Bible-believing follower of Christ, I have no issues with science. I do take serious issue with false religions like humanism that try to force their origins myth on us all—the Big Bang being the start of it and universal common descent. But that’s not science. That’s a religion—a false religion—masquerading as science so it can gain some credibility. Many have fallen for it including a lot of Christians, but it’s just another religion attempting to hijack the Truth of God’s Word.

This theistic evolutionist then moves from what he calls “science” to the Bible. He, a person who does not gather any of his beliefs on origins (creation and the origins of life and man’s fallen state) from the Bible, wants to tell us, those who believe the Bible as the true Word of God, why the Bible supports his views and not ours. It’s like we’re in the Twilight Zone. Granted, this sort of thing is happening all over our culture today—people saying the exact opposite of reality and trying to be serious about it—but that doesn’t make it okay. We are in real trouble because people like this can presume to say whatever false thing they like, and most people just go along with it. I suppose it’s a symptom of postmodernism.

I am anxiously awaiting word on where universal common descent, deep time, abiogenesis, and the Big Bang are found in the Scriptures. I’ve read through the Bible numerous times and have not found anything in all those readings that would even vaguely hint at these things. I’ve been engaged in this debate for over 28 years now and have yet to find an argument, especially one from the Bible, that comes close to being persuasive regarding these heretical teachings. It does not exist.

So I say, “Share away” with the Bible. You can present your humanist origins myth to us as much as you like. Try to use the Bible to support it. I know you cannot do this, but I’m hoping you’ll try.

The second half of his statement is this: “…your statements do not fit with the Bible.” This is terrific. My beliefs on origins either come directly from the Bible or are founded directly in the Bible’s narrative on creation and the Flood. I say this because things like glacier formation or tree rings aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Topics like “How the Grand Canyon Formed After the Flood” or tectonic plate movements are not specifically mentioned. Where the dinosaurs went isn’t mentioned. But what I believe about these things is based on a direct reading of the Scriptures. I will readily admit that what I think about these topics could be grossly in error because there is really no way to know most of these things. We can only speculate. I do try to make sense of what we see in nature and align my beliefs about nature with the Word of God. But I know for a fact that the humanist origins myth is wrong because it disagrees directly with the narrative of creation found throughout the Bible.

My first authority is not fallen man’s skewed interpretation of a corrupted universe. My first authority is the Bible. Theistic evolutionists cannot say this. If they do, they are 100% lying. I don’t say that lightly, but I can’t see another alternative. We can easily see and understand what the Bible says and what thousands of years of Jewish and Christian believers understood it to mean until humanism fundamentalists hijacked Christianity about 200 years ago. It must be true that they’re being deceptive if they say their basis is in the Bible, however, because they know their first authority, especially when it comes to origins, is “science.” I use quotation marks because it’s not really science they love. It’s the humanist fundamentalist interpretation of nature they stick to so strongly.

Creationists use science. We see the same data that everyone else does. We interpret that data differently, and that’s fine in my opinion. That’s how data and science works. But if your worldview has already committed to accepting billions of years of the universe evolving and billions of years of life developing here on earth after it sprang up from non-living material (none of which is remotely demonstrable scientifically), you’ll interpret the data to fit this preconceived idea. It’s the way it works. Creationists view the data in light of Scripture. Others view it with their own bias, but we all have bias, nonetheless.

It's unexplainable that a Christian is looked down upon and even, in this case called apostate, because he or she will view the world around them through the lens of Scripture. Sure, I can see why a secularist or any unbeliever would do this. But for a Christian brother or sister to demean the beliefs of another follower of Christ because they view and interpret the world through the lens of Scripture makes no sense. In fact, perhaps it’s fair to say, at least in a number of cases, that such people are wolves in sheep’s clothing—the very people Jesus warned us about in the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t fear these people and certainly don’t accept their unbiblical worldview. You’ll never be wrong if you stick to God’s Word and base your beliefs on it.

We have lots more to discuss next time. Until then, be blessed.

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