God’s Word or Man’s?
Part 2 of Evolution: The Connection
In the latter half of the nineteenth century after the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, some Christian theologians tried to bridge the gap between the current scientific thinking and the Bible by postulating that the Genesis account need not be taken and understood literally. Even though Hebrew scholars verified (as they still do today) that the Genesis account can only be interpreted grammatically and correctly from the Hebrew language as a literal historical narrative, some felt the need to attempt to maintain respectability and acceptance in the scientific community by either reinterpreting the creation account or by frankly admitting that it was not accurate as written.
In other words, instead of starting with God’s Word as the foundation of truth upon which to build a correct doctrine, some said in effect, that since this new Darwinian science must be true, therefore the Bible must be made to fit it or accommodate it in some way. Sadly, these Christians, as many still do today, have elevated current science as the arbitrator of biblical interpretation as far as creation and the age of the earth are concerned. It should be noted that science has an unfortunate history of having to change its theories from time to time as understanding increases and real empirical facts become evident, whereas if the Bible is truly God’s supernatural-inspired revelation to the world it will never need changing or applying opinionated eisegesis (interpreting with personal preference).
I believe an axiom Christians should be able to accept unequivocally is that although the Bible should not be described as a science textbook, it nevertheless is totally accurate wherever it touches true and empirically verifiable science.
A brief example would be to mention the Bible’s accuracy with regard to the science of geology. If there really was a global flood as Genesis makes indisputably clear, then there should be evidence in the geological record for such an enormous catastrophic event. Indeed, this is exactly the case as revealed by the vast areas of sedimentary geological strata that have been deposited (obviously water being the main medium) all over the world. Even some uniformitarian geologists (those who have been taught to believe that all the layers formed very slowly over millions of years) have had to admit during recent years, although rather grudgingly, that there is strong evidence for violent catastrophism in the past as revealed by the tortuous upheaval of the earth’s surface observed in the strata formations and the billions of fossilized creatures buried in them.
In Galatians 2:14 the Apostle Paul writes about an incident involving other Jews and the Apostle Peter in particular that related to a legalistic issue: “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel…”
The Gospel is the good news of the truth, and Christians should be consistently straightforward about it. But if others, unbelievers and even Christians, observe that we continually vacillate with regard to a straightforward understanding of the meaning of the Scriptures as written, it will surely confirm to unbelievers that Christianity has nothing to offer them, and many Christians may be led into doubt and confusion.
The heart of the matter is this: If the changing opinions of science are allowed to dictate how the Bible is interpreted it will lead to a lack of confidence in biblical truth. I would describe this as bad science and bad theology. Unfortunately, this scenario is exactly what we can see happening today—specifically with regard to the question of whether the age of the earth is billions of years old or just thousands of years old.
If it were true that the earth and the presence of humans on the earth relate to long ages before the approximate 6,000 years allowed for by straightforward understanding of the biblical text, then we have a situation that contradicts the Bible, and as expressed above, undermines the sacrificial work of Christ and the Gospel itself. Christians who find themselves in this position, whether they realize it or not, are usually referred to as theistic evolutionists or progressive creationists. I see both of these positions as compromised ones that undermine the authority of the Word of God.
If we allow for millions of years (true science has no verifiable empirical evidence—all dating methods used are based on assumptions that are beyond the ability of science to prove) we are admitting that God used such vast ages to bring all the living creatures on the face of the earth to their present state of being. This means there were vast ages of violence, death, disease, and suffering of both animals and the supposed fictional ape-like ancestors of humans long before Adam and Eve’s time.
