October 24, 1996 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Pope John Paul II, in a message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences this week, has stated that the theory of evolution is more than a hypothesis and that it must be taken seriously by Christians (Vatican Information Service, October 23, 1996). The Pontifical Academy's annual meeting, being held at the Vatican October 22-26, is dedicated to the theme "The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Reflection on Science at the Dawn of the Third Millennium."

The Pontifical Academy was founded as the Accademia dei Lincei in 1603. When the institution was restored in October 1936 by Pope Pius XI, it received its current name.

The pope reminded the Academy that the Roman Catholic Church has long given tentative approval to the theory of evolution. He cited a 1950 papal encyclical entitled "Humani Generis" by Pius XII, which "considered the doctrine of 'evolutionism' as a serious hypothesis, worthy of a more deeply studied investigation and reflection on a par with the opposite hypothesis. ... Today, more than a half century after this encyclical, new knowledge leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a hypothesis. ... The convergence, neither sought nor induced, of results of work done independently one from the other, constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory" (Vatican Information Service, Oct. 23, 1996).

The pope attempts to reconcile the Bible with evolution by claiming that while the world was made by the process of evolution, the soul of man was "directly created by God." Pius XII described this theory in these words: "if the origin of the human body is sought in living matter which existed before it, the spiritual soul is directly created by God."

This is an impossible position. It is impossible to reconcile the modern theories of evolution with the Biblical account of creation. If one is true, the other is a myth. Consider the following reasons why the Bible-believing Christian must reject evolution:

FIRST, WE MUST REJECT EVOLUTION BECAUSE IT DENIES THE BIBLE. The pope is not the only one who thinks there is no serious contradiction between the Bible and evolution. Multitudes of modernistic theologians take this position. Even many who claim to be Evangelical have taken this path. Kitty Ferguson, in The Fire in the Equations published in 1995 by Eerdmans, claims that "one is free to believe that God invented the process of evolution in order to create." That is nonsense. Evolution denies the plain and literal statements of the Bible. Let me list five of these plain Bible statements which directly contradict the theories of evolution.

(1) Genesis says God created the world and everything in it in six literal "morning and evening" days. To read "eons" of time into the six days of creation is to turn language on its head and to make the Bible incapable of being dogmatically interpreted. If the Bible does not mean what it says, there is no way to know what it does mean.

(2) Genesis says all creation was made in a mature state to reproduce after its kind. The statement "after their kind" is found nine times in Genesis chapter one. This is precisely what we observe in the world. Dogs reproduce dogs and frogs reproduce frogs and birds reproduce birds and peanuts reproduce peanuts. This is biblical, but it is strictly contrary to what evolution requires.

(3) Genesis says man and animals were distinctly different creations. The animals were made to reproduce after their kind, but man was made in the image of God and made a living soul. Man has a spiritual aspect which no animal has. The animals were made to relate to man and to provide his enjoyment and needs. Man was made to relate to God, to fellowship with, serve, worship, and glorify Him. John Leslie wisely noted, "Now, if it has been found impossible--a question which I have put from time to time, but which still waits an answer--if it has been found impossible to change one species of bird into another species of bird, or one kind of animal into another kind of animal, how much more impossible would it have been to have changed an animal into a man? Or if, in other words, the blood or life of one species of animal is so radically different from the blood or life of another kind of animal, how much greater must the difference be between the blood of an animal and that of a man?"

(4) Genesis says the world was created perfect, then fell under sin and God's curse. This is consistent with everything we can observe. Everything is winding down. Everything is proceeding from order to chaos. Everything is corrupting. Evolution would require the exact opposite.

(5) Genesis says everything was created to fulfill God's purposes, the world and everything in it, as well as the planetary universe. Teleology is the study of final causes, of the purposes of nature. It is a fascinating study, because regardless of how minutely one studies the creation, one is struck with a sense of wonder at the brilliant purpose behind every detail. Study the eye, the ear, the leaf, the atom, light, sound, air--everywhere you find purpose and design. That is what one would expect if God created the world precisely as the Bible says He did, but it is not what we would find if evolution were true. If the latter were true we would find incredible chaos and happenstance and haphazardness. We would have a world filled with monsters and unpredictable madness, part one thing and part another, a fish becoming a bird, a frog becoming a rat, a lizard becoming a bird, partially formed beaks which do not yet have a purpose, partially formed feet, partially formed wings, partially formed eyes, partially formed brains. We would have no fixed absolutes from which and with which to work. We would have no atomic clock because the atom would not be stable. We would have no sure guide across the trackless oceans because the heavenly bodies would be in fluctuation. Praise the Lord that evolution is a lie and the Bible is true.

SECOND, WE MUST REJECT EVOLUTION BECAUSE IT DENIES GOD. The god of evolution is certainly not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is intimately involved with His creation. He did not make some primordial soup and then invent some strange evolutionary process and stand back and wait for pre-man to slither out of it. If that is your idea of God, you don't know the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible lovingly formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life so that he became a living soul. The God of the Bible walked and talked with that man from the beginning, and He lovingly and patiently prepared the way for man's salvation after his fall (having prepared it in eternity). The God of the Bible not only created the world, He intimately sustains the world. "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). The God of the Bible is involved with every detail of creation. He says "I know all the fowls of the mountains" (Psalm 50:11). It is God who "visiteth the earth, and waterest it" (Psalm 65:9). Jesus said not a sparrow falls without His knowledge. Every detail of creation was designed to bring glory to God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork" (Psalm 19:1). This, friends, is not the strange, happenstance god of evolution.

THIRD, WE MUST REJECT EVOLUTION BECAUSE IT DENIES SALVATION. If Genesis 1-3 is not literal history, the rest of the Bible and the doctrine of Christ and salvation is a fairy tale--because it is all based on a supposition that these were real historical events. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the creation of woman and the institution of marriage (Matthew 19:8). Paul said that sin entered the world through one man, Adam (Romans 5:12-14). Paul said Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Eve was deceived (1 Timothy 2:13,14). There is not a hint anywhere in the Bible that Genesis 1-3 is not literal history. Man was created in God's image on the sixth day of creation and set in the Garden of Eden as the master of the world. Man was given a commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The man and the woman disobeyed; they sinned; they fell. They were judged by God and evicted from the Garden and condemned to toil and to suffer and to die. But they were also given the offer of salvation through the Atonement which would be provided for them by God's own Son. If Genesis 1-3 is not literal history, there was no fall. If there was no fall, salvation is a myth.

See also "The Pope and Evolution Follow-Up"

David Cloud dcloud@wayoflife.org http://www.wayoflife.org/
1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277

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