by Steve Risner
Today, we’ll look at another wonderful example of poor logic, poor theology, and a terrible misunderstanding of both the arguments Biblical creationists make for their position and against the position a person who believes in abiogenesis and universal common descent (we call them evolutionists but this description as to what they believe is more useful, I think). We’ve discussed for some weeks the statements made by a theistic evolutionist and, frankly, how crazy much of what he says is. You can find the previous installments of this series here, here, here, here, and here. We began by outlining his initial statements and then, as he described what he felt were some inaccuracies concerning some arguments a meme had made about his beliefs.
We touched on entropy in our last two posts (linked above). I’ll wrap that up quickly and move on to biogenesis, this theistic evolutionist’s next argument. He finishes his critique of the claim that the second law of thermodynamics is violated by abiogenesis and universal common descent with this statement:
You'll note that this principle is so well established and provides such a clear source of increasing order for evolutionary purposes on planet earth that even the major anti-evolutionary organizations warn against using the argument that evolution violates the law of entropy. It's just too easy to point out that the argument is a falsehood.
He's right, you know. The principle of the second law of thermodynamics is one of the most well established in science. But it has nothing to do with “increasing order for evolutionary purposes on planet earth.” Not only does it not do this, but he didn’t even try to explain how.
He goes on to say the case is so strong (although he failed to tell us how) that “major anti-evolutionary organizations” (do you see how universal common descent has become an idol for this man?) tell us not to use this argument. Again, he’s right but not in the way he thinks. There are applications of this argument that are not profitable. They don’t seem to work. However, much of the talk on these “anti-evolutionary organizations” websites is replete with arguments explaining how abiogenesis and universal common descent require massive disruptions in this fundamental law of science. He provided a link (which I didn’t post here) that doesn’t work. It was nice he tried to offer some evidence for his claim, but the evidence is apparently outdated. Let’s move on to biogenesis and get the ball rolling with it.
On this topic, this theistic evolutionist, probably joined by most if not all others who share his beliefs, says:
The theory of evolution cannot violate ‘biogenesis,’ if there were actually a law of biogenesis. Evolution requires some sort of living, reproducing organism. Evolution requires biogenesis. Christianity requires abiogenesis, as well as biogenesis. The Bible clearly states (whether read figuratively or literally) that the first living organisms were generated from non-living matter. We came ‘from the dust.’ Other organisms are described as arising from the sea or the soil. It is also simply reasonable to think that the first living organisms were made of previously non-living chemical precursors. Hence an argument that evolution violates some requirement of ‘biogenesis’ is both a falsehood and an argument against the Bible. You have provided another piece of evidence that young-earthism and other anti-evolutionary notions are anti-biblical.
Biologyonline.com tells us that the law of biogenesis is the principle stating that life arises from pre-existing life, not from nonliving material. Now this evolutionist wants to act like this law isn’t real. Biologyonline.com disagrees. Medical-dictionary also disagrees, telling us it’s “a term given by [Thomas] Huxley [known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” due to his fierce advocacy for Darwin’s theory] to the principle that life originates from preexisting life only and never from nonliving material.” There were numerous other definitions on that page that essentially stated the same thing. Some seem to think that biogenesis is certainly a concept to be understood by biologists and laypersons alike. And to be honest, I don’t know a single person who has ever witnessed this not being the case. There has never been, in the billions, or more likely trillions, of organisms we’ve witnessed on this earth, a single time a living thing—whether a single cell or as complex as you’d like to imagine—has come from something not alive. They’ll sidestep this issue by claiming this was only applicable to spontaneous generation but doesn’t apply to abiogenesis. That’s hogwash. In fact, if you look at the definitions of those two ideas—spontaneous generation and abiogenesis—they are nearly identical.
Oxford defines abiogenesis this way: “the original evolution of life or living organisms from inorganic or inanimate substances.” Notice how they accidentally slipped the word “evolution” in there. Our theistic evolutionist doesn’t think the two are related. Oxford says that spontaneous generation is “the supposed production of living organisms from nonliving matter, as inferred from the apparent appearance of life in some supposedly sterile environments.” Do you see how these two definitions are very similar? They are, really. Huxley (mentioned above) changed the term from spontaneous generation to abiogenesis for the exclusive purpose of getting away from this backward, naïve, thoroughly proven false idea. Oops. It’s still the same thing, no matter how you change the name.
I think this is a good place to rest. Next week, we’ll look at the rest of his comment on the law of biogenesis, which evolution gets a pass on. Is abiogenesis a foundational pillar of Christianity? We’ll take a look at his theology here and use some of our resources on Hebrew to discover what the deal is. Thanks for reading and may God bless you richly.
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“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” -Hebrews 11:8-12
Abraham is considered to be the father of the nation of Israel, as many Sunday School children know from the catchy song (“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham…”). While we could point out the technicality that Abraham’s grandson Jacob was the one whom God renamed Israel and whose sons’ descendants became the tribes, Abraham was the one to whom God gave the promise of becoming the father of a great nation.
This is why the author spends so many verses on just this one person when reciting the great heroes of the faith. The section on Abraham actually spans verses 8-19. The author of Hebrews seems especially fond of Abraham, as he’s mentioned ten times over the course of the letter. Abraham is clearly a great example of faith in God; he accepted God’s promises even though he really had no earthly reason to assume that they would be fulfilled. Yes, a few faithful men had come before him, but we know from Genesis 11:10-32 that it was multiple generations from Noah until Abraham lived.
For today’s passage, we start at the beginning of the story of Abraham that we have in the Bible – when God told him to leave his homeland and move to a new land. You can read about this part of Abraham’s story starting in Genesis 12. God told Abraham to move to a different land, and Abraham went. When we move to a new place, we typically know where we’re going – probably many details about the new place, too! But Abraham did not know the destination when he packed up everything to move. He simply trusted God that God would keep His promise to show him where to settle.
But even when Abraham God to that land, he wasn’t able to truly settle there; he lived “like a stranger in a foreign country” (verse 9). The land had been promised to Abraham and his descendants by God, but it was not theirs to possess just yet. Even Abraham’s son Isaac and his son Jacob were not permanently settled there, as they lived in tents there during their lives also. We know from later in Genesis that Jacob’s sons and their families ended up in Egypt after the famine, and it was not until the time of Moses when the people (by that time a huge nation) even began to travel back to this promised land.
Why was Abraham okay with this situation? “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (verse 10). To the original audience of the book of Hebrews, the city was considered the highest form of civilization. The foundations mentioned likely refer to the strong spiritual foundation of the promises of God rather than the physical foundations of a city. God is both the designer and the one who constructs this perfect city. Many scholars believe this is a reference to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. Abraham wasn’t just looking forward to the promised land or even the future city of Jerusalem that would be built there but of our future perfect dwelling with God for eternity. That is the only place that God truly designed and built that encompasses God’s perfection.
Verse 11 may represent the author embellishing things a bit, or perhaps remembering the story of Sarah more fondly than how it actually happens. The author portrays Abraham’s wife Sarah as being fully faithful and having confidence in the promise that she would bear a child, even in her own age. But in Genesis 16, we see Sarah losing faith in God’s timing, so she uses her servant Hagar to try and give them a son. Then in Genesis 18, Sarah laughs when the visitors say that she will bear a child in her old age. Neither of those sound like having faith that God will do what He promised to do!
But we know that God was faithful to His promise. Even though Abraham was “as good as dead” (verse 12) because of his old age, God gave him and Sarah a son, from whom came countless descendants. Because God promised and Abraham believed, God’s promise was fulfilled. Abraham’s faithful obedience resulted in blessings beyond what they could count - more numerous than the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.
I know I am thankful that God does not often call me to do things that require as much faith as Abraham packing up and moving to a land he didn’t yet know. But God still does work in our lives today, often without letting us know all of the details. Years ago, I heard this idea interpreted in light of Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” A lamp or a light on the path are not considered to be very bright. Often, they would only serve to illuminate the next step, not the whole path. God often only gives us the next step we need to take, and we need to have faith in Him that He knows the whole path that He is calling us to.
Abraham was called to take that next step in faith – move to a land that God would show him – and he did, knowing by faith that God would work it all out. Abraham was called to believe in the promise God gave him that he would have numerous descendants, even while he was getting old and still childless; by faith, Abraham believed that.
What next step is God calling you to take in your life by faith? Listen for God’s voice in your life, through prayer, through other believers speaking into your life, through reading God’s Word, or even through the voice of God speaking directly to you. And when you discern what God is telling you, have faith that God will fulfill what He promises you!
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One of the great tragedies of our modern American Christian culture is we have totally lost the sight of God in regard to worship. We no longer do things the way God wants them to be done but rather how we’d prefer to have them. In a way, we have turned our Sunday services into something little different than the pagan rituals of the Ancient Near East, where we seek to “appease a god” with our works, our singing, and our words (messages). We seek church congregations that offer what we are looking for and for what will satisfy our wishes and desires. Then if the church no longer provides that, we leave and move on.
I was raised in a home that taught loyalty. When you went to a church or a job or a ministry, you stuck with it until it was clear you were to move on. I have been part of 4 churches in my life now and don’t even know the beginning of how to go about church hunting. I’ve been at my current church for about a year now, and I love it. We are called “The Old Paths Christian Church.” This church, after seeing all the modernized attempts to be “seeker-friendly,” decided to go back to the old ways of doing things and get back to being what God wants us to do.
Now, God is not so specific that you have to do absolutely everything the exact same way in a legalistic manner no matter the time, culture, or language, but at the same time He does have guidelines on what genuine faith, genuine worship, and genuine religion are to look like. When Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, she complained that everyone had to go to Jerusalem to worship whereas she, as a Samaritan, had been raised that you could worship God on the mountains (the high places where the golden calves of Jeroboam were placed). Jesus said the day would come where both Jew and Samaritan could worship in spirit and truth. The problem today is that we have taken the first part of this teaching (worshiping in spirit) but we often ignore the truth part.
When I was on the mission field, we had a team from Houston, TX that was from a very legalistic church. Every boy wore a tie, and every girl wore a dress, regardless of the circumstance. As a staff, we debated if we would do the same just so we would not offend them. They were offended by the training videos we used because they had a guitar for background music. They wanted only organs for music. We actually thought they would not come, but they did. When they came out of that week, they learned that it was possible to worship God in a different way than they were used to and even if it wasn’t their preference, that it was okay to not do things exactly that way. It turned out, many from that team soon left that church.
Legalism is definitely not the way to go regarding living the Christian life, but neither is its equal and opposite twin: antinomianism. While legalism would say, “You have to absolutely everything exactly my way,” antinomianism would say, “You can do whatever you want to do.” Both extremes are very dangerous. When a man began doing ministry using Jesus’ name, the disciples wanted him to stop because he wasn’t “one of them.” Jesus said, “This guy is acting in faith and believes Me. Don’t stop him. He’s on our side.” The disciples were an example of legalism. We often think of the Pharisees for their legalistic approach, however Jesus rarely chided them for legalism. Rather, He chided them for hypocrisy. In their attempt to over-control things so people would not sin, they themselves frequently did not do the very things they preached.
But the Bible lists the problems with antinomianism even more than it does legalism. We have to worship God the way God wants to be worshiped, and we cannot do things our own way and think God will approve of them. The first time man sought to do his own thing was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve made their own clothes, covering themselves with fig leaves. Not long after, after God showed them the correct way for a sinful person to worship, their sons made their first sacrifices. Abel brough the best of his flock, a blood sacrifice, and Cain brought fruit of his own labor. It wasn’t merely the heart attitude that made God reject Cain but also the type of sacrifice. It wasn’t what God wanted and how God wanted it. God wasn’t being picky; He was making a point. You can’t worship God just however you want.
Nadab and Abihu, the eldest sons of Moses’ brother Aaron, had been commissioned as priests. As the first born, Nadab was in line to take Aaron’s place as High Priest. They did not follow God’s instructions and offered strange fire before the Lord. God burned them to death and did not allow Aaron to even mourn for them.
King Saul saw the worship of God just as the pagans around him did – a means of appeasing the gods, which is why he felt he could justify offering the sacrifice when Samuel tarried. This cost him his throne. David, the man who sought after the things of God and the heart of God, knew God’s heart regarding sacrifice and refused to offer that which cost him nothing. However, when bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, in his excitement, David did not obey the Lord in how the Ark was to be carried. He put it on a cart rather than on the shoulders of Levites, and when the oxen stumbled and the cart was about to tip over, Uzzah, in his zeal to protect the Ark, touched it and God smote him on the spot.
If you think this is just for Old Testament times, read the book of Acts. Ananias and Sapphira thought they could worship God by joining in the giving to the pot by selling their own property. But they kept some of it and declared they gave everything. They lied to God and to the church, and God smote them for it. Simon the sorcerer saw what God was doing and asked for the Holy Spirit’s baptism so he could have this power, too. Peter pronounced a curse on him, too, but Simon at least somewhat repented of that.
Today, worship is often no longer worship as God defined it. The singing is more of a concert than it is actual worship. The sermon is not about proclaiming God’s word but rather about giving a motivational speech. And the church is seeking to draw people in instead of seeking the worship of God. If we believe Christ is the head of the church, then He should operate as the head of the church, meaning Jesus should dictate what our worship should look like. It’s not about appeasing what each of us wants; our opinions have no weight here whatsoever. But when was the last time that your church actually sought the will and mind of Christ in how the congregation is to worship God? Or did they rather seek what the congregation wanted or what church leaders wanted?
Church is to be done God’s way and not based on our preferences. My church does its singing differently than what I am used to and even different from my general preferences in terms of style. If I had my way, I’d prefer the modern contemporary style, but fit with better doctrine. But my former church and current church don’t do that. And guess what? That’s fine. Because they aren’t worshiping me in either case.
But where is God in our worship? What role does He play? How have we consulted Him in what He wants? Few churches are asking these questions. My current church has, and they are going after what they believe should be the best for their congregation. Is it perfect? Of course not. But at least we are pointing the right direction. Worship is to be done God’s way. He has told us how He prefers to be worshipped, and we need to be obedient to those principles.
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“By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.” -Hebrews 11:4-7
In the first section of chapter 11, we learned about what faith is – “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1). That introduction was necessary so that all of these stories that follow will make sense. In today’s passage, we look at the first few of those stories, which demonstrate the faith of those who lived before the Flood.
The first example of faith that the author of Hebrews chooses is Abel. You can read more of Abel’s story in Genesis 4. The highlight of Abel’s faith was that he brought a different offering to God than his brother Cain did. Abel, who kept the flocks, brought the best portions from some of his firstborn. Cain was a farmer, and he just brought some of his harvest as an offering to God, not necessarily the best parts as Abel did. God was pleased with Abel’s offering because he offered up the best, but God was not pleased with Cain’s offering. This made Cain jealous, so he killed his brother – the first recorded murder, and in only the second generation since the perfection of the Garden of Eden.
The author of Hebrews reports that God commended Abel as righteous (verse 4) because of his faith. Abel believed that God deserved his best, and it was that attitude that showed his faith in God. Even though Abel has long been dead, his faith is still important for us to consider today. We, too, must have the right motivation when bringing our offerings to God, whether they be offerings of our time, money, or talents.
The next example that the author of Hebrews gives in verses 5-6 is Enoch. We don’t know a lot about Enoch from the Biblical account, but what we do know about him can be found in Genesis 5:18-24. He is also mentioned in Luke 3:37 and Jude 14. The important fact about Enoch is that he was “taken away” from this life. The author of Hebrews believes this means that he did not experience physical death. Why did God not let Enoch die? We know that God was pleased with him and he walked faithfully with God, but other than that, it’s a mystery to us.
The author of Hebrews elaborates a bit on this concept of pleasing God by telling us that it’s only possible by faith. We have to have faith in God in order to believe in Him and seek Him, and when we seek God we will be rewarded by Him. That doesn’t mean that we’ll all be simply taken away from this world rather than experience physical death, as rewards from God can come in many forms. But it is impossible to please God without faith, so faith is essential!
The next example we see is that of Noah (verse 7). Noah’s story can be found in Genesis 6-9. Noah was warned about the coming flood that would bring God’s judgment to the whole world, but God also gave Noah instructions about how to save himself and his family. Noah had no way of knowing about the coming flood other than God’s warning, so he had to take it all on faith that he needed to build the ark. Noah’s faith in God led to the salvation of his family.
Noah’s building of the ark was an outward sign of his internal faith in God to keep His promises. Noah was obedient to God, and in that respect, he condemned those who were disobedient to God. Even if God didn’t give the command to others, they would have seen what Noah was doing and had the opportunity to ask him about it so Noah could have shared his faith with them. But when the wicked people of that time didn’t listen to Noah, they were condemned to die in the judgment of the flood.
Because of Noah’s faith, he was called righteous. In fact, he is the first person in the Bible to be referred to as righteous (Genesis 6:9). He believed what God said, and he acted on it, which made him right in God’s eyes.
What can we learn from the examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah? We need to have the right motivation when giving back to God. We need to be faithful to God in all that we do, and to have faith in God even when we can’t see Him or understand what He’s doing. When God tells us to do something, we need to act on it to live out our faith. Our faith is not just an attitude, but it’s a way of life – being obedient to God in all that we do, to the best of our abilities.
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Growing up, one of my favorite songs was by Michael W. Smith titled “Cross of Gold.” I mostly enjoyed the beat then. When I heard it again now as an adult, I see the song in a totally new light, and I see how important that message is today. The gist of the song is addressing the person who wears a cross on a necklace and is asked why they are wearing it. Is it just a symbol? A piece of jewelry? A fashion thing? A charm? Or is there something much more to it?
I have asked multiple times: “Why do we call ourselves Christians?” The ones who are truly born again and regenerated with the new nature know why. Those who are fakers will not be able to answer that question correctly. Why do we wear Christian T-shirts? Why do we have a cross as a piece of jewelry? Why do we even carry that Bible around? American Christians have turned our symbolism into superstition, and we aren’t the only ones.
What do I mean by turning the very symbols of our faith into superstitious items? It’s not anything new. We see a clear example of this in the history of Israel. Israel sinned in the wilderness and God sent fiery serpents to kill people. He then had Moses forge a bronze serpent and hang it up on a pole so that anyone who looked upon it would be healed and saved. This would be a picture or an image of Jesus on the cross. Several hundred years later, king Hezekiah began to do some reforms and he sought to clean out the nation from all its idols (and they were many). One of the idols he had to destroy was this very same bronze serpent. Why? Because Israel had turned it into an idol, a superstitious symbol and image that they turned to for hope and help and healing instead of God.
When God showed Himself at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19, He came in thunder and smoke and fire, but He did not take any physical form. Why? In Deuteronomy 4, He said He would not take any physical form because Israel would take that form and create an idol out of it, turning to the idol instead of Him. God knows the tendencies of mankind.
Israel didn’t just fail in this regard. They turned even the Law into religious superstition. They turned the sacrificial system into a superstition. The purpose of the sacrificial system was to constantly remind Israel of the severity of their sin and to look forward to the eventual Savior who would do it once for all. Yet, it did not take long for the sacrifices to be nothing more than ritualistic rites and essentially superstitious means of getting God’s favor. That was king Saul’s excuse for disobeying God twice. He offered a sacrifice, something only a priest/prophet could do, not the king. Then he used sacrifice as a cop-out for being caught in disobedience. Saul never saw the weight of the system. David, on the other hand, did. When he sinned by taking the census, he went to make his sacrifice and he made sure it cost him something. He understood the mercy of God, but he also took the wrath and high standards of God seriously.
Today, we fall into the same traps. We turn to physical images to give us hope and encouragement. We go to church as routine and as religious rite, but how often do we actually go to church to meet God with other believers? Why are we even going to church to begin with? The majority of Christians today no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and they believe that you can get to heaven by doing good deeds (recent polls put these figures at 60+%). They think that by going to church, they will please God and He will let them in to heaven. It’s the same religious superstition of the Ancient Near East. They sought to win the gods’ favor by sacrifices, prayers, praises, and good deeds. Ultimately, their idea is to use their good deeds to strongarm the gods into granting their favor. Today, it’s no different. We have this thing called “The Law of Attraction,” which essentially is a way to attempt to make the world’s energies come give you want you want. It’s half pantheism, half demon worship. And yet our most popular preacher in this country, among others, openly teaches this. It’s superstition, religious rite, and completely devoid of their purpose.
A friend of mine, Jody Ayers, made a very interesting comment on this issue. She pointed out that all these rituals, talismans, symbols, idols, and even things like circumcision, the sinner’s prayer, or whatever are all cheap replacements for genuine repentance. We seek these things to ‘protect ourselves’ instead of seeking God with a broken heart and calling upon His grace and mercy to save us.
Christianity is NOT one of these other religions. It tells us explicitly to never place trust in an icon or a picture or image. Those are idols. It also tells us to avoid any religious rite that is done by routine. There are religious rites that we Christians have: we have the Lord’s Supper and baptism. Each of these have instructions on how they are to be taken and carried out. Sure, each local church congregation has its own methods, procedures, etc., but so many of these things are done because “we’ve always done it that way,” not because “we want to follow what God wants us to do.” That’s one thing I like about my current church. We definitely do some things that other people will find weird. We have an elder ring a bell (a triangle) to signal the start of the service and to prepare our hearts for worshiping God and hearing the sermon. We then have someone bring the Bible up down the aisle up to the pulpit for the “call to worship.” I often feel like it’s marching the U.S. flag to the stage for an event. We do things with purpose, and we have Scripture to support why we do what we do (for these two cases it is to treat the gathering of believers seriously and the Word of God with reverence). But we do not do these things as though they give us any special standing with God, nor to garner nor earn His favor. We do it as a means of setting our hearts right to do things God’s way, not our own.
Why are you a Christian? Why do you look to that cross? Why do you look at a picture of Jesus? Why do you take Communion? Why do you go to church? Is it because you actually are a Christian, because you love Christ and seek to do things God’s way? Or have you simply created your own superstitious religion in hope to “get in,” seeking God’s blessing but not seeking God’s face? I know I’ve done church too many times by rote. God will not be pleased with mere religious ritual. He wants a heart that longs for Him. Calling upon some kind of talisman will do you no good. Only the true God can save you. This sounds so basic, yet most of our churches today are not teaching this stuff. I’m going to continue exploring this as I continue this series.
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by Steve Risner
This is a follow-up on my last post concerning entropy and, hopefully, we’ll be able to leave it be for a time. I’m writing in response to some strange (what I’ve even regarded as crazy because, frankly, some of it is the whackiest stuff I’ve seen an evolutionist say) things a theistic evolutionist said in a group on Facebook. I love the group because, while it is truly an atheist’s troll den, it serves to provide me with information to write on. This information can be things they say Biblical creationists say. It might be things they think are great arguments for their position. Or it might be arguments against the Bible or creation. Either way, I get a great deal of material from such groups, although they can try one’s patience a great deal. Honestly, I need to work on how I respond to character assassination and personal attacks. I need to cool it, but I let it get away from me sometimes. Jesus is working on that with me and I’m grateful. Moving on to the point…
Entropy is a measurement of how much energy can be used for meaningful work in a system. Basically, as energy gets used or transformed, some of it is always wasted. Eventually, no energy will be useful for work. That’s called “heat death.” If you ask Google what heat death is, it will say, “a state of uniform distribution of energy, especially viewed as a possible fate of the universe. It is a corollary of the second law of thermodynamics.” It just means energy is dispersed such that it cannot be used for anything useful. This results in “death.” Associated with the Second Law of Thermodynamics (which talks a great deal about entropy) is the idea that a natural system will tend to degenerate into a less organized state as time goes on. I believe these two things work against abiogenesis and universal common descent. I’ve explained a little as to why in my last post.
Basically, the idea is that simple chemistry in a warm pond (or where the currently popular version of the humanist origins myth says abiogenesis happened) will not, with the application of undirected energy, produce the sophisticated, highly complex structures that are essential for a life form to exist. The difference between even amino acids (which are fairly complex in comparison to water or salt) and proteins and DNA in their complexities is astronomical. But we are to believe that undirected energy (that’s critical) can cause amazing amounts of order from a disorganized soup of chemicals. It’s a hard case for them to make, in my opinion. I realize many will want to suggest it’s settled somehow. But it really is not settled at all on any factual basis. It’s just settled in their imaginations.
To highlight what I feel was an important point from my last post, consider that while those who propose we should all believe the humanist origins myth (the Big Bang, chemical, stellar, and cosmic evolution and abiogenesis leading to universal common descent) will say entropy (that measurement of disorder that always tends to increase) only applies to closed or isolated systems (depending on which person you talk to—closed or isolated). But the Second Law of Thermodynamics works in all systems that are left undisturbed. Dr. John Ross of Harvard University states:
“… there are no known violations of the second law of thermodynamics. Ordinarily the second law is stated for isolated systems, but the second law applies equally well to open systems. … There is somehow associated with the field of far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics the notion that the second law of thermodynamics fails for such systems. It is important to make sure that this error does not perpetuate itself.”
So be sure not to fall for this trick of the evolutionist. And while order can increase slightly in a system because it decreases elsewhere, there is a major difference between order and complexity. A complex system of data storage and retrieval is not the same as crystallization (this is the example I’ve been given numerous times of order increasing naturally). A crystal is an organized lattice work of a particular chemical makeup. Google explains it as “a piece of a homogeneous solid substance having a natural geometrically regular form with symmetrically arranged plane faces.”
If you smash a crystal, you get smaller crystals. If you cut it into pieces, you get more smaller crystals. This is because it’s a repeating pattern of chemicals organized in a very plain and predictable way. This is not true of a life form. If you smash a cell, it’s no longer a cell; it’s a number of complex parts that no longer function together. If you cut a turtle into a million pieces, you no longer have a turtle. It’s not a repeating pattern of order. It’s a highly specialized, complex, and orchestrated number of processes and structures that make it what it is. You lose that if you smash it or cut it up or whatever. Do you follow? Do you see the difference between order and complex?
Applying energy to the system will cause the breakdown of order to occur more quickly. We are supposed to believe that applying energy to a warm pond caused it to organize and become highly complex. This defies science and experience as we all know this isn’t how applying undirected energy works. And undirected energy is all the naturalist has. They cannot call on anything supernatural or unnatural because that violates the major crux of their belief system. So, they are left holding a bag of miraculous events—everything I listed above as tenets of the humanist origins myth—but cannot explain them naturally so they make up very interesting ideas on how some of it could happen (which is usually wishful thinking) but doesn’t help them explain that it did happen.
The high level of order and complexity we see in living things and, quite likely, the universe as a whole, can only be accounted for by a Creator—a Designer. How foolish to say a watch has a maker but a watchmaker does not. One is a complicated machine that cannot be accounted for without an intelligent cause. The other is an astronomically more complex machine that not only built the watch but imagined its design and created it from raw materials. But one has a maker while the other doesn’t. Do you see the contradiction? Do you understand the absurdity of the humanist origins myth? It’s self-contradictory.
Without an intelligence behind it, energy cannot be employed to create high orders of complexity. Without intelligence to harness and utilize available energy, regardless of the type of system, we see the universality of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is a plus for creation and not so good for anti-Biblical origins tales. Paul writes for us in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Unbelievers are without excuse. But I think believers are as well—believers who can read the Word of God and know exactly what it’s saying but reject that and accept something completely unbiblical. And to think this whole discussion was brought about by a Christian who thinks he’s doing a service for the Lord by preaching a message contrary to the one we find in Scripture. It’s bizarre to me how some people work.
In this regard, I think it’s important to note that the Lord warned us against hanging on to the philosophies of the world while living the Christian life. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a 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? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” And then in verse 17 he tells us, “Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’” We are to avoid blending our faith with the faiths of others. We are to avoid joining our faith with foreign ideas that are completely contrary to what Scripture tells us.
What else are theistic evolutionists doing but this very thing? God has called us out of unbelievers. Of course, our origins beliefs will be contrary to those of the world. They hate God and anything associated with Him. Creation can only exist because of the Creator, so they make up silly stories about expansions and the evolution of everything that defies science, reason, and experience. But they have to because they must reject the Creator, no matter how foolish their stance is. Richard Lewontin said this on this topic: “…we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.” At least he was good enough to admit it.
More next time – I’ve run out of space again!
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by Eric Hansen
Fellow Worldview Warriors blogger Charlie Wolcott wrote a post on New Year's Eve talking about the movement of creating a theme for a given year on how God will bless you. As someone who isn’t a part of the “Word of Faith” movement, yet does set a yearly theme, I thought it would be beneficial to provide a side thought on this topic.
Charlie makes a great directive in adding “how God will bless you” to his topic. I think as Christians we should acknowledge the blessings God does give us, but they are within His will, not ours. There are definitely areas where people will make statements such as, “2022 is the year God will give me a million dollars a month!” Of course, we know God is not an ATM or a vending machine as it’s not scripturally supported anywhere.
But instead, I implore you to determine if having a theme for a year, month, or day is chastising the concept of faith.
Since 2019, I’ve personally had a theme for each year. I reflect near the end of the year to see what areas I’m weak in, and I pray to God about what He wants me to strengthen in the coming year. It may not even be an area I see, such as the first year it was patience. During my reflection, I didn’t see an issue with my patience, but God did.
What we need to do is evaluate what the purpose is of our actions. As humans and Christians, we should be growing, expanding, and looking forward. I’m just as guilty as the worst for staying complacent; it’s why I was in a relationship for 3 years too long. That experience alone taught me, even before I truly believed in Christ, that I need to grow and learn from experiences.
If you’re someone who needs or enjoys structure, it may benefit you to have a theme for a season. Due to my ADHD and introvertedness, I’ve discovered journaling has helped me. While the structure of the journal can change, I have some foundation. For example, for the month of January, I’m tracking my mood in the morning and evening, along with making a conscious effort to be a better husband. I’m doing this by structuring the expectations I set for myself. If you’re familiar with the bullet journal method, you’ll quickly understand.
I look at each year as being a season, and within that season there are sub-seasons. So in 2019, my main season was growing in patience, and I experienced various flows that either helped or regressed my growth. But each one taught me yet a new lesson on pivoting. Sometimes the pains were pleasurable; other times I felt like quitting. But, my focus wasn’t on me but on God.
While I can’t remember what my theme was for 2021, in thinking back during that time I can easily see where I did and did not grow. God definitely ran me through the ringer so to speak a few times, and there were times I regressed. But the only expectation there was of God was His forgiveness and blessing of strength and guidance.
There’s no reason either for this to happen only on January 1 each year. If you end up reading this post at any point of the year, start then if you like. Just like exercise, the best time to start may have been yesterday, but today is only tomorrow’s yesterday.
For me, any theme for any intent should be Jesus-centered. Things like “self-development,” “self-esteem,” or anything else prefixed with “self” is idolatry. We are made in the image of God, meaning at each of our core is God in some fashion; this is NOT, however, saying we are “little Gods.” To get a better sense of what I mean, Rick Lawerence wrote a great book I recommend reading: Jesus-Centered Life.
If you’re interested in starting a process like this but are not sure where to start, prayer and petition to God is where I would start. Ask for Him to soften your heart, open your eyes, and guide you in the process. Once God directs you to an area to focus on, seek His guidance on how to accomplish change. Journal if you like, start off running if you want, or go at a comfortable pace if you feel that’s best. It’s a very personal journey that people can only support you on, not tell you what to do.
Ultimately, it’s up to us on an individual level to listen to the Spirit on whether we should embark on any situation, how to navigate it, and when to pivot. God didn’t call us to stay still and keep complacent. We should continuously look to grow in the Spirit, Word, and love of God. If that includes theming a Jesus-centered development, then let it be so.
For me, my 2022 theme will be “Jesus First”:
Do you have a theme or word for the year? Share it in the comments!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
