Other than the Bible perhaps no other book has influenced so many areas in American society, in the last 150 years, than Charles Darwin’s, The Origin of Species. If you think that Darwin’s influence in our culture, as well as around the world, is not very profound then consider the following:
In December 1999 the cable TV network A&E aired a series called, Biography of the Millennium: 100 People-1000 Years. In the series many famous scholars, politicians and theologians were interviewed in an attempt to identify those individuals who most impacted our world, for better or worse, from 1000 AD to 2000 AD. A list of the top 100 names were compiled. Guess who was selected as the fourth most influential person in the last 1,000 years – you guessed it – Charles Darwin.
Darwin’s theory of evolution represented a paradigm shift in the way people viewed how our world and you an me came into existence. Before Darwin the Bible in American society was the book that most people referred to on questions of origins. But today the majority of scientists have cast the Bible aside in favor of evolutionary theory as the answer to the origin question.
Now as I have shared in earlier devotions on the Bible vs Darwin my main contention is that it takes far more faith to believe in evolution than in the God of the Bible. Human beings are so infinitely complex that to think they could have evolved by blind random chance is utterly preposterous. In fact (Genesis 1:1): “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” is far more intellectually appealing than the evolutionary mantra of “nobody times nothing equals everything.” If it is so obvious to Christians that the theory of evolution is totally bankrupt and downright silly then why do so many people still cling to Darwin and his theory?
May I suggest several reasons. But before I share these reasons we need to dismiss the theory of theistic evolution. In this compromise theory it is maintained that God does exist but He used evolution as the mechanism to bring human beings into existence. My friends this is the worst of both worlds because the theory states that God used millions of years of death and decay, trial and error to get it right – meaning bringing mankind into existence. There are so many holes in this theory that in a future devotion we will discuss this theory in detail. But suffice it to say strict Darwinists believe that there is no God and that evolution is purely a result of unguided blind chance, natural selection, and survival of the fittest.
Reason 1
By admitting there is a God, Darwinists would be admitting that they are no longer the highest authority when it comes to truth. In today’s society our scientists are regarded as the highest authorities on truth. To admit that God is the final authority on matters of truth would mean that these scientists would have to relinquish their hold on superior authority.
Reason 2
According to Geisler and Turek: “…By admitting God, Darwinists would risk losing financial security and professional admiration. How so? Because there’s tremendous pressure in the academic community to publish something that supports evolution…So there’s a money, job, security, and prestige motive to advance the Darwinian worldview.”1
Reason 3
But without a doubt, I believe, the main reason Darwinists don’t believe in God is because if God doesn’t exist then there is no moral accountability. Without God there is no absolute right and wrong and we are free to define what is morally acceptable. For example, adultery is fine if both married parties say it is! Without God Darwinists are free to live without the moral restraints that are found in the Bible.
In a Darwinian world where God doesn’t exist man become the supreme arbiter of right and wrong. If we are only here because of chance collisions of molecules then we are no longer made in the image of God but in the image of amoebas, and mammals. And sadly, what’s worse, when we die we go back to dust instead of to an eternity with Jesus; if we have invited Him into our hearts. I don’t know about the world but I prefer my future destination to be bliss not dust!
1 Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), p. 162.