Two years ago in November I climbed into the most unlikely place for an intense debate, a hot tub in a hotel in Portland, Oregon. The water was a bit hot, so as I waited for my body to adjust to the temperature I caught some interesting conversation. I can’t recall exactly what the topic was, but a father, son, and daughter-in-law were discussing something about evolution.
It wasn’t too long before I posed my first question, and plunged into an hour-and-a-half-long discussion with a college professor. 5 minutes in, his daughter-in-law got out saying something along the line of, ‘this is beyond me’. His son followed a few minutes later with a shake of his head and a, “Have fun guys.” Maybe it was beyond her, but apparently it wasn’t for the skinny 15 year-old that was set to overcook himself in the tub.
After that debate I discovered that believing in evolution for this man lead to some very corrupted views of God. The consequences were frustrating. First off we fell to debating, you guessed it, evolution. As we went along I discovered he was a ‘Christian’ and believed in God.
When I learned that, I was a little setback for a moment. Then I started pounding him with questions. Did he believe that God created the world? Firstly, no, but after following him all the way back to the big-bang, I asked, “Who created that first tiny everything-molecule?” He smiled, and pushed his hand slowly back and forth over the foam, “Well,” he said, “I guess you could say God created that.”
This is the first major consequence of believing in evolution and believing in God. You use God as an excuse to what cannot even be theorized. As long as there can be a theory other than God, there will always be one. But bring it back down to something where you absolutely have no idea, and, “Oh, I guess God did it.”
That reflects on the type of God you believe in. Honestly. My next question was, “Who is God to you then?” So he started metaphorically, “I think God could be explained as a presence, a universal being, a… something, a power, a presence of good.” I looked at him for a long moment while I pushed my hair back off my forehead.
“Do you believe in Jesus Christ? You said you were a Christian, what does that mean?” He replied, “I believe Jesus came to bring a good message to the world and to change how people thought. Etcetera.” After explaining some of my disagreement with him, I asked, “Have you read the Bible?”
“Yes!” he quickly replied, “every book of the Bible, all the way through.” Then in addition, “except for Revelation, I don’t believe Christians ought to know where they are going, or about the future like that.” As I thought some confused thoughts, I replied, “Well then, what do you believe happens after you die?” He replied, “I believe in re-incarnation…” “You believe you’ll come back as an ant,” I finished for Him. “Well,” he said, “not necessarily as an ant, you could come back as a human, or an animal yes.”
I shook my head in disagreement, “What can I say? I have a much greater hope for my future than that. I believe when I die, I will be given the gift of eternal life, because of my Savior Jesus Christ who died for us, for the whole world. The bible teaches this. Christ taught it. I’ll believe it.”
I’ll confess, I know I wasn’t talking to a theologian. But, the consequences of believing in evolution are almost certainly to destroy your God. Why? Because a God that isn’t your creator is what? An ethereal presence maybe? A good something? A presence? Or who is He? Is He the creator, ruler, and savior of the universe? Is he interested in our personal lives? Or do we reincarnate as our nephew’s cow? You see, the reason why the choice between God and evolution is so clear is not because of theories. Yes there are theologians that do believe in evolution, and have all the theory worked out. The choice is not distinguished by theories—it’s distinguished by your source of truth.
If the Bible is not taken as the source of right, of unequivocal truth, then what stops somebody from developing theories for everything? Evolution, in my mind, is greatly responsible for the spreading disease of relativism. Theories, theories are all that exist. Or are they? Is there a greater purpose, a greater source, and a greater end to the Christian life? Thank God there is.
The choice lies clear, it’s not a presumption. God or Evolution? God and His Word, or man and his word?
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
And may I add, you cannot serve God and evolution. It is not an accusation, it is a basic principle. If you serve the goals of the theories of corrupted humanity, you do not serve the living God. You cannot.
As for me, I will follow God—and debate evolutionists.
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GREAT post. I just wish I could have been there to hear you two thrash it out.
(And may I ask how you ended up in Portland? As of six months ago that city is now my “neck of the woods.” Just curious.)
Ah, we travel around – it’s actually not so strange considering ~35 states under my belt. But, we were there for a trade show.
That was excellent, David.
A perfect example of how evolution is really a religion, not a science. I especially like, and agree with, your last sentence.
Wow – so well said and very complete. I wonder what the prof did after that and if he really thought about it.
I had the head of the Bio dept at UCSD say to the frosh lecture class tht “Darwin was wrong.” After all the gasps, he continued, “But I cannot bring myself to believe in the alternative.” At least he was intellectually honest.
I’d be honored if you’d care to post this and anything else on my Christian forum, Kingdom Life.
Grace and blessings to you!
~~Lisa
Thanks for your comment, I registered on your board. However, you go ahead and repost whatever you’d like over there as long you link back. It’s a little too much for me to do right now. Thanks!
Wow! I never cease to be amazed at the diverse beliefs out there. It is always sad when someone considers himself a “Christian” but his world view is based on anything but the Bible.
This is right up my alley! Just one point evolutionists usually miss. Specifically for the sake of argument, suppose evolution is true. Suppose we originated from lower life forms, ect, ect, ect. Let’s even carry it further than the evolutionists and say matter came from energy-the fundamental requirement of running the universe. Energy is neither created or destroyed, so through logical deduction all the energy in the universe points to a Creator. This is a fundamental question that I haven’t heard answered by evolutionists (yet). Many know this but are not willing to accept the alternative.