Creation and EvolutionFrancis Schaeffer once said that if he had an hour on a plane with a person who did not know the Lord, he would spend the first fifty-five minutes talking about creation and where that man came from, and the last five minutes presenting the gospel. Genesis 1-3 is vitally important to our whole understanding of God and His ways. We propose therefore to start a series of articles dealing with Beginnings. But first we must look at the conflict between some scientists and the Genesis account. Evolution Triumphs How is it that many Reformed thinkers, who fought vigorously against liberalism, accepted a form of evolution without a whimper? The Princeton theologians particularly surprise us. These excellent men laboured day and night to defend the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch because the Bible taught it, but when it came to the origin of the world they readily accepted the idea of an ancient earth and, in the case of Warfield, a form of the theory of evolution. They seemed to have a blind spot. Looking at the world today, we would argue that the greatest single cause behind the widespread unbelief is that people doubt creation and, therefore, their responsibility to God. Why fear Him if the world came into existence by chance? Perhaps the theologians felt out of their depth when it came to science. Calvinists have always led in scientific development. They wished to be forward looking rather than obscurantist. They could readily see the weaknesses of liberalism as it was in their own field but when it came to science they preferred to leave it to the "experts". Rather than examine the weak arguments used to support evolution and in this way display their faith in God's Word, they expended considerable energy in trying to reconcile the Bible with the supposed facts of science. The Gap Theory This is the idea that there is a gap of millions of years between verses 1 and 2 in Genesis 1. Thomas Chalmers popularised this theory. The gap was used to explain the apparent great age of the earth and the formation of fossils. This Theory was popular at the turn of the century but is now almost totally discarded. Verse 2 states that the earth was without form and empty. There was no sun and therefore there could be no life. These are not the conditions in which fossils can develop. Death and disintegration entered the world only with the sin of Adam (Rom.5:12ff). "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is" (Exod.20:11). Long Days Here the explanation is that the six days are long periods of time, perhaps many millions of years. "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years" (2Pet.3:8). But it is important to notice the little word "as". One day is not the same as a thousand or a million years. Further, the sun and moon were not created till the fourth day yet no reputable scientist would regard them as millions of years younger than the earth. Also, each day is defined by its "evening and morning" (Gen.1:5). The fourth commandment states plainly that the Lord created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day and if the day we are to keep holy is a twenty-four hour day then the normal rules of exegesis demand that the other six days referred to in that verse are of the same length also (Exod.20:11). Poetry or Myth This is probably the commonest approach nowadays. It is argued that Genesis 1 is Hebrew poetry and therefore the account is not to be taken literally. But no less an authority than E. J. Young of Westminster Seminary states: "Hebrew poetry had certain characteristics, and they are not found in the first chapter of Genesis" (In the Beginning, p.18). Others have argued that the language is symbolical (myth) rather than history. If Genesis 1 is poetry or myth what about chapter 3 with the talking serpent? If the fall is mythical should we not regard Abraham also to be such? Does it not raise a question over the whole of Scripture including the virgin birth and resurrection of our Lord? Professor James Barr of Oxford makes the point very strongly when he says: "So far as I know there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who does not believe that the writer(s) of Genesis 1-11 intended to convey to their readers the ideas that: (a) creation took place in a series of six days which were the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience; (b) the figures contained in the Genesis genealogies provided by simple addition a chronology from the beginning of the world up to later stages in the biblical story; and (c) Noah's flood was understood to be world-wide and to have extinguished all human and land animal life except for those in the ark" (Creation Research Quarterly 1984). Marcus Dods had earlier stated that all such attempts to reconcile Genesis to the "facts" of science "do violence to Scripture [and] foster a style of interpretation by which the text is forced to say whatever the interpreter desires" (Expositor's Bible, p.4). Though liberal, these two men make valuable points. Problems for the Evolutionists Sometimes it is thought by the ignorant that evolution has been proved and that the account we have in the Scriptures is obviously wrong. However, Michael Denton, who is not a professing Christian, writes that after a century of intensive effort: "The fact remains that nature has not been reduced to the continuum that the Darwinian model demands, nor has the credibility of chance as the creative agency been secured" (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, p.357). Colin Patterson, senior palaeontologist of the Natural History Museum, once stated: "Darwin's theory of natural selection is under fire and scientists are no longer sure of its general validity. Evolutionists increasingly talk like creationists in that they point to a fact but cannot provide an explanation of the means". As time passes, and our knowledge grows, the problems for evolutionists are becoming more obvious. Indeed the only reason why people continue to hold to the theory of evolution is that the only alternative is creation which is unacceptable to humanistic man. 1. Where has the universe come from? If it began with a Big Bang, what was there to bang and what caused it to bang? 2. With all the sophistication of modern science and technology it has still not been possible to make in a laboratory the most simple single cell organism from chemical elements. So how could living cells originate by chance? 3. Millions of fossils have been discovered and studied. Why then are the missing links still missing and why can a gradation from one species into another not be shown? 4. If fossils take so many years to form, how is it that we have so many fossils of soft-bodied creatures perfectly preserved, when normally, within a short time, they would have been eaten by other creatures or have disintegrated? Surely there is evidence for such a catastrophe as the flood? 5. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy (amount of disorder) in the universe is increasing. Evolution directly contradicts this by arguing that order emerges from chaos and that highly sophisticated creatures develop from simple ones. How can the Earth Appear so Old? 1. The Mature Earth Theory. When God created Adam he was not a baby. Looking at him you would guess that he was at least twenty years old. So when God created the world it was not a ball of molten rock. Rather it was a mature earth where man could live. It had soil where things could grow. The scientist looking at it might guess that it had been around for a long time. 2. Dating. The atomic methods of dating depend on the speed of light being a constant. Evidence has emerged recently, however, which indicates that the speed of light may be decreasing exponentially. If this is the case then the calculated age of the rocks is drastically reduced. Recommended Book Creation and Change by Douglas F. Kelly, published by Christian Focus Publications, provides an excellent defence for Biblical creation as taught in Genesis. Much of the above material comes from this book. [Professor Macleod and Ordination Vows][Intimidation][Concern for Justice][True calvinism] Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the Editor. [Back to Reformed Christian Pages][Back to Free Church Foundations] |