A while back there was a Christian song out by Geoffe Moore and the chorus of his song went like this: "I believe in evolution, the changing of the heart, renewing of the mind. It's the only possible solution, God is always working changing lives". I think that this is an interesting way to understand "evolution". I believe that through Christ, every person has the ability to "evolve", if you will, into the likeness and image of Christ...to become better and stronger than they were without Him.
Now with that said I would like to point out some of the absolutely ludicrous "beliefs", if you will, of Darwinian Evolution.
First, let me tell you a little story. I recently watched a video clip about the discovery of the "missing link", her nick name being "Lucy". Lucy was believed to be one of the first prehistoric, human-like, ape-like, ancestor of humanity. The video was talking all about this discovery, and how this proves the theory of Evolution because our human ancestor was once ape-like with human features, and so on. In this particular clip, the narrator said something to the effect of, "The pelvis bone of Lucy was originally that of a human, and after Lucy died, an animal probably accidentally stepped on her pelvis bone ultimately breaking it apart. After her pelvis bone broke apart, the bones fused back together in the shape of a chimpanzee's pelvis bone..." And my response to that was: WHAT?!?! Look, I'm not a scientist, and I'm not the smartest person in the world, but what is the likelihood that after Lucy died an animal like a deer stomped on Lucy's bones, well, specifically just her pelvis bone (apparently none of the other bones had been stomped and broken apart) and then Lucy's DEAD bones which had been dead for a long while FUSED back together to cause her pelvis bone to now resemble a chimp's. Now, this may be a silly question, but how do dead bones fuse back together??? They're dead! They can't do anything but continue to decompose, right? Perhaps Lucy was actually a chimp, and not a human-like, monkey-like, ancestor of humanity. In fact, scientists later admitted that Lucy's bones were the bones of a chimp. So what does that prove? Chimps were always chimps! They didn't evolve from something else. Birds were always birds, they didn't evolve from a lizard with wings!! And yes, humans were always human; we did not evolve from amoebas. The evolutionary process is nothing but historical scientific speculation. There is a difference between historical science and empirical, observable science.
Empirical, testable, observable science is comprised of what we can actually see and hypothesize, then test and prove. Evolution, since it cannot be seen or tested, is then historical science, in other words: fiction.
The Darwinian theory of Evolution developed from the mind of Charles Darwin. Actually, Charles Darwin's grandfather first began postulating about the evolutionary theory years prior to Charles' work. Charles Darwin was the son of a Christian minister, and Darwin at one point was actually attending a seminary, studying to be a minister himself. He gave that up, however, to study the sciences. Darwin went to South America and studied and observed the plant and animal life in the jungles there.
This was also during the same time that he wrote his "Origin of a Species", which actually has an original title that is much much longer, and it includes phrases dealing with the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon "race" (which true Creationists believe that there is no such thing as "race", since we are all descendants of Adam and Eve).
Darwin gathered that all animals (and humans as well) had evolved and that the earth was actually millions and millions of years old (which again, is not testable). Another silly question: How can one determine that all animal (including human) life once evolved from something as simple as a single-celled organism by merely observing insects, lizards, iguanas, snakes, monkeys, etc., in the jungles of South America? How can I arrive at that conclusion by simply watching a lizard run around, eat stuff, mate, reproduce, etc., and then automatically know that it evolved from an amoeba? Certainly, I can look over the skeletal structure of a dead lizard that has fully decomposed. But again, what does a skeletal structure show me about a so-called evolutionary process? A leg is a leg, a foot is a foot, a skull is a skull, and so forth.
What I also find very interesting, is that various reputable science magazines that talked about the findings of different "missing links" stated that certain ape-like skeletal fragments they found proved that there were apes that walked upright. So when I read that I thought, "Okay, if you can prove that go ahead. Perhaps the leg/feet/spinal bones can prove that this ape-like creature once walked upright." But just take a wild guess as to which bone these scientists said proved that this monkey walked upright.....? The skull. That's right: the skull. Again, I'm no scientist, but how in the world does a skull tell us if the animal walked upright or not? If there were some evidence in the leg, feet, spinal, pelvis bones and what not then maybe I'd believe it! But that's just crazy!
I do, however, fully believe in such a thing called speciation. This is when differences appear within a particular species. For example, say that two brown dogs mate and reproduce, and they produce a bunch of brown dogs, and then those brown dogs continue to mate with other brown dogs, but then eventually a lighter colored dog is produced, or perhaps a black dog. This explains variations within a species...and that is observable and testable...I have no problem believing that this occurs because the bottom line is: although the dogs' color may have changed as a process of speciation, one thing holds true: THEY ARE STILL DOGS! The dogs did not evolve into something else such as a blue whale.
Here is another HUGE problem with the Evolution theory aside from the fact that it is not provable or observable, it was one of the major proponents of "racism" and biggotry within the United States, and many parts of Europe. The Darwinian Evolutionary theory supports the concept of "survival of the fittist", and this idea centered around the prejudicial belief that people with various nationalities, skin colors, and cultural backgrounds (aside from the Anglo-Saxons) were a "lesser" race, inferior to the Anglos. Sadly, many people within the Christian Church in the States bought into this lie. It was primarily because of the Evolutionary Theory that many people began to detest people from various countries; mainly any and everyone that did not have fair skin. We also know that Adolf Hitler (while some Evolutionists claim that he had a Catholic background/upbringing) was an Evolutionist; makes sense, right? He felt that his "race" was superior to that of the Jews and the blacks. Again, the Darwinian concept of "survival of the fittist" reared its ugly head.
So what does the Bible teach about the origins of life? Well, read the book of Genesis, specifically chapters 1-3, and you will see that God spoke the universe and all life within it, into existence. He said it, and it happened. God has existed all along, from before time began, so I'm going to take His Word for it! On the 6th day, God created Adam and Eve, the first woman and man ever to have existed. I thought it interesting to point out that in recent years many scientists have noted that all the various nationalities and people groups of the earth all descend from one man and one woman. Interesting that they just recently discovered this, but the Bible has told us that all along! All the animals and plant life were created as we see them today. As it pertains to "race" and "survival of the fittist", the Bible does talk about "race", it talks about "running the good race, and fighting the good fight". Referring to the life that Christians are supposed to live, fighting the good fight of faith in the face of a culture and world that some times preaches that to believe in something higher than ourselves is ludicrous. Fighting the good fight of faith means believing the Truth of the Gospel, and the Truth of Scripture, even when such unbelievable and evil concepts as Darwinian Evolution arise.
The Bible teaches that all of human kind descended from one man and one woman (Adam and Eve), and as such there is no such thing as many races. There is only one race: the HUMAN RACE! The Evolutionary theory promotes bigotry, prejudices, and cannot be proven scientifically and yet so many people buy into its lies, even those that call themselves Christians! We need to get back to the basics. We need to start believing that the Bible is true. The Bible is not some story book of people and events that are fictional; the Bible is the greatest historical, religious, philosophical, theological, book ever written! It is completely and totally true, and if we say we are Christians and that we believe in God. then we need to start believing in the Bible, and living it out.
In conclusion, I do believe in "evolution"; the changes that takes place within the hearts and lives of all those that put their faith in Christ, and repent of their sins.
My name is Rachel Dyer (B.A., M.A., in ministry, Bible, counseling). I was a middle school teacher, and am still closely involved with counseling and education. I have a ministry, B.A.R. (Believe And Repent) Ministries, Inc. (http://www.barministries.yolasite.com/) and I am available for speaking engagements at churches or conferences.
