What do they say about the origin of man?
Putting the Bible against the theory of evolution need us to understand what both sides are saying before we can compare and make any conclusion. Thus this article should now simply describes both worldviews.
Evolution of Evolution theory
When we think of evolution, the first person we think of is Charles Darwin. But, Darwin did not start the idea of evolution. The conception that species may change overtime has appeared since the ancient Greeks, ancient Romans as well as ancient Chinese. But it became more obvious when the biological taxonomy was well accepted in the 17th century. Darwin built up his theory based on his predecessors. The first fully formed theory of evolution was proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck with his theory “transmutation of species” that was published in the book “Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation”. These previous theories however, did not receive well receptions and did not survive for long. Not only because they tend to be an incompleteness thesis. But also because these theories did not fit with the worldview where God exists. Lamarck’s evolution theories still consider the existence of God as the initial creator of the source creatures. He proposed that even though God created the creatures, these created species could then evolve into another species. Unfortunately, having God in a theory would make the theory subjects to the test of both science as well as the test of theology. And so far, all the previous evolution theory does not pass through on both tests.
In 1859, Darwin published a book that was going to change the course of science history. Darwin’s evolution theory suggests that all living things shared a common ancestor. Therefore, ultimately, the origin of all the species we see on earth comes through evolution instead of from creation. Darwin’s famous book, titled “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”, ignites big controversy upon creation, theism and miracles. Darwin theory runs away from the theological test by proposing that perhaps there is no God to begin with. Since Darwin theory evolution proposes not only the scientific hypothesis but also denies the existence of God altogether, his thesis becomes somewhat immune to theologian’s criticism. As a result, Darwin’s evolution theory gives a strong wind of support for naturalist and atheist since it provides another route to explain our existence without the need of a God. What Darwin offered through his theory is not only a scientific breakthrough, but also a worldview breakthrough.
Darwin’s goal was to show that life was not the result of divine intervention, but simply the work of blind naturalistic processes. Darwin claimed to have arrived at this truth by working strictly with the facts apart from any preconceived ideas, and this is exactly how most people today perceive Darwinism. The Nonconformists have argued that Darwinism is not deductive science, but an atheistic/materialistic worldview that Darwin superimposed on nature, where the facts were searched later for the facts to support his theory. A study that was done on Darwin’s writings, especially his posthumously published private notebooks and personal communication, reveals that Darwin was indeed an atheist and his theory of natural selection was formulated to replace a Creator with naturalistic processes.
In a nutshell, Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on some facts and some hypothesis. Below are some of the points that were suggested by Darwin’s evolution theory.
1) Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived to reproduce the population would grow (fact).
2) Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size (fact).
3) Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time (fact).
4) Therefore, a struggle for survival ensues (hypothesis).
5) Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another (fact).
6) Much of this variation is inheritable (fact).
7) Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce and leave their inheritable traits to future generations, which produces the process of natural selection (hypothesis).
8) This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species (hypothesis).
The hypothesis is that selection occurring by natural means, given time and the right environment, causes new species to arise. Science has somewhat confirmed each one of these points: biologists have found that life on Earth today acts as if evolution were true. They continue to make the hypothesis more and more detailed—turning it into a framework of ideas, or scientific theory—and theory continues to be fully compatible with evidence. Thus, Biologists today can carry out their profession securely within the theory of biological evolution. By some these theory have even been considered as fact.
It is very interesting that even in his book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”, Darwin manage to include a chapter that expresses his own doubts of the theory. On the chapter 6: Difficulties on Theory, Darwin, ask himself these hard questions (which are valid questions):
“If species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined?” Shouldn’t we see much more species, which shows the transitions between the old one and the new ones? If it takes millions of years for a fish to evolve to a frog, wouldn’t we have much more variations of species that show the transition between fish and frog?
“Is it possible that an animal having, for instance, the structure and habits of a bat, could have been formed by the modification of some animal with wholly different habits? Can we believe that natural selection could produce, on the one hand, organs of trifling importance, such as the tail of a giraffe, which serves as a fly-flapper, and, on the other hand, organs of such wonderful structure, as the eye, of which we hardly as yet fully understand the inimitable perfection?” while the plants may grow tentacle and mouth to improve their food processing processor, what caused it to develop eye(s). What guided these evolutions to create a need to “see”, or even to see in colour, more so facing forwards?
“Can instincts be acquired and modified through natural selection? What shall we say to so marvellous an instinct as that which leads the bee to make cells, which have practically anticipated the discoveries of profound mathematicians?” while all the bees have the instinct to make a bee hive, did they evolve therefore their instinct got change along the way? Or did the instinct get changed and so they evolve to accommodate it? Both answers will still lead to further questions: “what caused it to change? Is it natural selection?”
“How can we account for species, when crossed, being sterile and producing sterile offspring, whereas, when varieties are crossed, their fertility is unimpaired?” if we all come from a single ancestor why is when we cross breed a Dalmatian with a Pit Bull, we will still get a dog with unimpaired fertility? Why is it then not possible to cross breed dog with a cat with reproduction capability?
“The foregoing remarks lead me to say a few words on the protest lately made by some naturalists, against the utilitarian doctrine that every detail of structure has been produced for the good of its possessor. They believe that very many structures have been created for beauty in the eyes of man, or for mere variety. This doctrine, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory. Yet I fully admit that many structures are of no direct use to their possessors” why do animals evolve into a fragile butterfly? Or why is that human baby is so fragile compared to other mammals? Why do human brain evolved (if ever) in a way that enable us to appreciate beauty? why do we only filter in waves around 20Hz- 20kHz into our ear and then interpret these waves into beautiful melody? - these range somehow enable us to hear the beautiful bird singing but at the sametime ignores whatever noise the bats are making. Why do human eyes when receiving certain wave frequency is then interpreted by the brain as all the beautiful colours as we see it? where does the concept of red, orange, yellow, purple and all the other colours comes from?
Darwin shared all this doubts to the readers in his book. But, Instead of using this doubts to destroy his own thesis, he used these questions to make an appeal “if you have trouble accepting my evolution theory, I understand, I find it hard to understand too. Even though this theory is so hard to believe, it is true.” As I was reading his book, I was hoping that he would eventually answer these questions that he made himself. Sadly, His explanation through all these questions is back to his own hypothesis that suggested that there is an evolution and that billions of years required for evolution. He is hoping that future scientist will fill the gap on his theory and is convinced that the remaining unsolvable gaps on his theory are results of species extinction during those billions of years. “On the theory of natural selection we can clearly understand the full meaning of that old canon in natural history, 'Natura non facit saltum.' This canon, if we look only to the present inhabitants of the world, is not strictly correct, but if we include all those of past times, it must by my theory be strictly true”
Of course, since then, there have been a couple of variations arising from the original Darwinian evolution theory, however, at the core this theory simply suggests that all the animals and plants that we see today, including human, evolves from simple microorganism. Over billions of years this simple organism, something like a bacteria or some sort, evolves into plants, starfish, worms, or simple fish like creature. Gradually (after few billions years later), this fish like creature became a fish that we know now. After billions of years again, this fish slowly evolved and grow legs into amphibians. After millions of years, these Amphibians slowly evolved to reptiles, then to various kinds of dinosaurs. Some of these dinosaurs slowly grew some wings and became the birds’ ancestors, while others grow a bit of fur and become more like mammals of various kinds. Out of this various mammals, the ape like mammals slowly become smarter, and become human.
Notice that this theory originally addresses how new species arise, not how life came to be in the first place. The question of the origin of life is not part of evolutionary theory. But since, the hidden agenda of this theory is to propose an alternative for the theistic worldview. Evolutionist have tried as hard as they could to also explain where the life comes from, where did the first simple microorganism comes from as well as where the whole universe come to exists in the attempt to make evolution a holistic worldview.
Our existence according to the Holy Scripture
Now let us explore what the Bible says about this universe and our existence and compare the two later. According to the Holy Scripture, in the beginning there is God. God is eternal and has been there since eternity. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says: “"God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth”. God exist before all things and through Him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made (Romans 11:36, John 1:3, Colossians 1:17).
Let us understand, what this description of God actually means. By the above description, we should understand that God is not a limited being like you and me. God does not have a beginning. In fact, He is not limited by time and space. God is the source/creator of all things, including time, space matter, universe, and even nature’s law. Now here is how the scripture describe how God created the universe.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
According to the Scripture, God created the universe. God created the Sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and mankind. God also sustains the creation until now. God design and set the nature’s law with all the constants thereof. God designed and created all the different species of animal and plants. God created mankind in a special way. He created man in His image, to be the pinnacle of all His creation. And thus Man is not a mere lump of meat and energy, but instead a created being with a purpose. Man is not equal to animals because man bears the image of God. However, Man is not God, he only bears His image.
We need to understand that when God created all this things it does not need to be created from age zero or infant state. What I mean is that God are able to create man as man that are capable of reproduction, instead of a baby that will grow into a man. God is able to create chickens instead eggs. God is able to create a tree with fruits already hanging ready to be eaten. God is able to create Earth, Sun, Moon and all the objects as mature objects. Since the light had been created in the first day, it does not need to wait 8.3 minutes for the sun’s ray of light to reach earth. Similarly are the lights from the visible but far away stars; it does not necessarily need to wait for years after creation to reach earth.
God as a creator implies that the creation is designed instead of a product of chance. The believer would attribute God for the one who deserve the glory reflected by His grandeur complex-yet-precise creation. We can see the big things like the order and stability of this universe, the distance of the planet, the composition of the atmosphere, the water composition, the speed of earth’s rotation and revolution, the strength of gravity and the gravity constant that is somehow very precise allowing us to live on this earth. We can also observe the flagellum, the eye, the DNA, the unique behaviour of each creature, or even cell, sperm, or even simple the amazing mechanism of an apple tree that could take “junk” to make a delicious apple. No matter whether we look at the big things or the miniscule things, we will see highly complex creation that just works in harmony.
There are some logical implications to this creation worldview. Since God is the creator of all things, He should logically be the one that can objectively define what is good, what is true, what is just, what is sacred. It also implies that as a creation, we are created with purpose, meaning and value that is set by God. We are created in a relationship to him. It is a relationship between the creator and the creation.
It is quite sad that there have been some Christians that have to compromise the account of creation because of the advancement of science. Even though there is no scientific truth that has yet to contradict with the Bible, there have been some who feel required to adjust the interpretation of the bible to accept the existence of fossils, far-far away stars and galaxies as true. There have been some doubtful Christians who tried to defend the Bible by compromising what the Bible truly said, and twisted in a way to fit with what other people say. Unfortunately, this behaviour end up creating confusion among the Christian community as well as other people who seek to understand the biblical perspective in regards to our origin.
When people start to attempt for middle ground, such as theistic evolution (evolution that explains the process of creation), they end up creating fairy tales. For example, people would say that the 6 days of creation could actually means billions of years – isn’t God eternal and unbounded by time? People who held this view often reason based on “One day for God that could means thousands or millions of years for us.” The problem is if it truly happens in billions of years, would that supposed to mean that the sun sets and sun rise mentioned in the book of genesis happens over millions of years as well? Wouldn’t that kill all the plants and animals? Or would we then try to stretch the account of Genesis 1 further so that it really means something completely different than what is actually written? And this middle ground attempt will not be well received by those who held the atheistic and materialistic worldview as they don’t believe the existence of God in the first place.
The same God, who wrote the book of Genesis, is the same God that consistently refers to the creation as a six-day creation. God refers to the creation as a literal six-day creation when He talked about Sabbath. Even when God incarnated as man, He always refer to the creation as a literal historical event. I would like to explore this further but I guess this links have sufficiently explained this issue well (hope the links will always work): http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/did-jesus-say-he-created-in-six-days
Next, we shall look closer what is the implications of these two worldviews have in terms how it fits to our reality and how it doesn't...
as usual, in the meantime, send me comments. Thanks
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