Objections to Darwinism

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If you have your Bibles, you can turn back to Genesis chapter 1.
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And for our opening text tonight, we're going to again read the first few verses of Genesis 1.
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As it says in chapter 1, verse 1, And in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
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And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
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And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
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And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from darkness.
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God called the light day, and darkness He called night.
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And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.
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May God add His blessing to the reading of His holy and inspired Word.
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Last week, we began Apologetics 201.
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Apologetics 201 is our second course here at Sovereign Grace, in and on the subject of Apologetics.
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Apologetics is giving a defense for the faith.
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And in the end of our lesson last week, I said we're going to be talking about three competing views on how the world came into existence.
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We said there is the view of Darwinism.
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Darwinism essentially teaches that life came about independent of a supernatural creator.
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Life came about independent of a supernatural creator.
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Intelligent design is the belief that life came about as a product of some superior intellect.
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And remember what I said about intelligent design last week.
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Intelligent design does not attempt to identify the intellect that created.
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It simply says that the world has so much order, and the universe shows so much design, that there had to have been an intelligent cause behind that design.
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Lastly is creationism.
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Creationism is the belief, as we said last week, that the world and all that is in it, life and all that is in the universe, came about as a direct action from a personal God.
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And we said underneath the category of creationist, you have what we call the OEC.
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The OEC is old earth creationism.
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These would believe that the earth is somewhere in the vicinity of 4.5 billion years old, and that the universe is somewhere around 14 billion years old.
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And that's the argument of the old earth creationist.
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Being in line at that point with the Darwinists, who believe that the earth and the universe is very, very old.
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Young earth creationism is just as it sounds.
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That the earth itself is not as old as modern science has sought to argue for.
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And the argument from young earth creationism can expand anywhere from 7,000 years out to 10 or more thousand years.
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But generally you don't get out of the thousands.
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You certainly don't get into the millions with young earth creationism.
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But again, most of the ones that I have heard and read, keep it somewhere between 7 and 10,000 years.
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And depending on who you talk to, they can be somewhat dogmatic, depending on how you read the genealogies and scripture.
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Young earth creationism is all based on how you understand the genealogies.
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Are there gaps in the genealogies? Are there missing generations? And if so, how many? That's how they're coming up with that number.
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Often intelligent design and creationism are conflated.
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I mentioned this last week.
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These are not the same.
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People often conflate intelligent design and creationism but intelligent design proponents do not seek to demand who or what designed the world.
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They simply argue that there's evidence of design.
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Creationists appeal to a designer.
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Biblical creationists say God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who sent his son Jesus Christ to the world, that God, the God of the Bible, is the creator.
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And because intelligent design does not seek to necessarily identify the intelligence behind the design, it really is not an apologetic for Christianity.
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The very best intelligent design can do is point to the evidence which suggests that the highest probability of the existence of some form of intelligent design but not know who it is.
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The questions that are left out of intelligent designs are questions like this.
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I have a list of them.
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Were the creation days seven 24-hour literal periods of time? Intelligent design doesn't care.
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That's not the issue.
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Were Adam and Eve literal people in a literal garden? Intelligent design doesn't seek to answer that question.
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Did that snake really talk? Intelligent design isn't going to try to answer that question.
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Was eating one piece of forbidden fruit the reason for the downfall of mankind? Not going to deal with that.
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I'm saying intelligent design isn't.
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Where did Cain get his wife? That was one of the questions.
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If you remember last week we talked about the Scopes trial and how Clarence Darrow was going after William Jennings Bryan and he said, where did Cain get his wife? If God only created two people and they only had two sons and Cain took a wife, where did she come from? You know, that's one of the questions Intelligent design isn't going to deal with that question.
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What about dinosaurs, the Ice Age, cavemen? What about the different races and languages? Should we take Babel seriously? Was it a real tower? Intelligent design isn't going to try to answer those questions.
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So in reality, Genesis 1-11 contains the entire foundation for world history that Christians should be able to understand and defend and that's not what intelligent design does.
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That falls under the category of creationism.
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Darwinism denies Genesis 1-11.
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Intelligent design simply ignores Genesis 1-11.
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They don't care.
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It's not the point.
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But as biblical apologetics go we are not just trying to prove that the world shows evidence of design.
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In fact, the Bible says we don't have to prove that.
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The Bible says every man knows that instinctually that the world shows evidence of design.
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In fact, that's the reason, according to Romans 1 that every man will be without excuse when he faces God.
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Because he looks at the world around him he sees the evidence of a creator and he sees that truth, he knows that truth but he suppresses that truth in unrighteousness.
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So, we're not just trying to prove there's an intelligent designer in the universe.
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We're making an argument for the God of the Bible which means we do have to deal with the questions about Cain and his wife.
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We do have to deal with the questions about that snake and whether or not it had a voice box.
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We do have to deal with the question of what kind of fruit was it? No, we don't have to answer that one.
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Or maybe did they have belly buttons? We don't have to ask that question either.
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But we do have to deal with the questions Were those seven literal days? That's a legitimate question that we're going to deal with as we go through this course.
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Because again, this is on the subject of creationism.
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But I want to share a story, if I might.
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Can I share an anecdote, if you will? I remember very vividly when I realized that these two world views or these world views were in conflict with one another.
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When I say the two world views, even though there's three categories here, you can put it into two world views.
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Either God created the world or He did not.
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Either God created the world or He did not.
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And I remember when I realized that there was a big conflict between Darwinism and creationism.
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And I want to tell you, I grew up I grew up in church.
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I wasn't a Christian, but I was there.
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I was here in this church, even though we were in a different location.
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But this wasn't the issue of the day.
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In fact, and I don't, maybe Jack knows better than I do, because he'll remember, Paul will remember.
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Do you remember this being the issue of the day in the 80s? Was this really a big issue among church and talking? Were they talking about this stuff? Were they? Because I don't remember.
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And again, if I'm wrong, I don't want to say.
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It wasn't until I was in high school that I even knew it was an issue.
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And I didn't hear it in church.
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I heard it at school.
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Because I was sitting in a biology class, and one of my teachers was a Christian.
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His name was Mr.
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Kelly.
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And he was Coach Kelly.
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He was a football coach.
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He wasn't a professor of science.
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Science was secondary, football was primary.
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You know, he was one of those guys.
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But when it came to the subject of evolution, he said, when he got to that subject, he said, this is what the book says, but I don't believe it.
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So I don't expect anybody in here to have to believe it.
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Because I don't.
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And in my mind, I didn't know what he was talking about.
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Because I had grown up watching movies, and television, and visiting the Museum of Natural History.
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And for me, the concept of evolution wasn't even an issue.
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It wasn't a question, it just was.
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It wasn't a debate.
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It seemed like the debate was over.
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You go to the museum, you see the Ascent of Man, right? It started out as an ape, raised up to a man, right? Everybody's seen that picture at the museum.
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So I heard Mr.
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Kelly say that, and I thought, well, that's weird.
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I didn't know anybody didn't believe that.
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It just never occurred to me.
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But then a few months, I think it was even in the same school year, a young man, his name was Kenneth, I don't remember his last name, but he was a buddy of mine, and we were friends in school, and I was over at his house, and we were in the kitchen talking, and we were having a conversation, and I said something about being descended from an ape.
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Because again, Jurassic Park said so.
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I'm telling you, popular culture had told me so, right? My babies, every once in a while, we turn on Sesame Street.
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Sesame Street tell you so.
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If you join hands with your parent, they joined hands with their parent, eventually somebody's going to be holding hands with an ape.
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Right? That's the belief.
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Eventually somebody's going to be holding hands with a monkey.
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Well this guy, Kenneth, I said something about coming from apes.
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And he stopped.
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And he looked at me.
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And he said, Christians don't believe that.
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Now remember, I wasn't a Christian, but I thought I was because I grew up in church.
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And I said, what do you mean Christians don't believe that? And he said, Christians don't believe that we came from apes.
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They believe we were created by God.
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I don't know what church he went to, but apparently they had talked about it.
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At some point, that had been an issue for him.
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And he challenged me.
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And I only say that to bring up the point that there are many, many people in our society that grow up with this and don't even know it's an issue.
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At least now, it's more of an issue.
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Bill Nye and Ken Ham had their debate.
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And wherever the side falls, at least the debate is happening.
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At least the conversation's happening.
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Because it wasn't happening that I remember.
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Not in my life.
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It was pretty much everybody understood.
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Everybody comes from apes.
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And that's what I thought.
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And again, when I turned 19 and I finally got saved, part of it was the question of where did we come from? Where did we come from? And is it just biological reproduction and mutation which produces greater and greater forms of life and we're just the last greatest form of life and later after us, something else will come that will be even greater.
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We're just waiting on the next great evolution of man.
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Like I said, I only tell that story because when I was 19, God saved me.
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And I had to ask the question, do I really believe God created the world? That was the big question.
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Do I really believe He created everything? And I had to answer that with a yes.
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I had no other way to answer it because when I looked at the world and all that's in it and I looked at what the scripture said, I said there's no other reasonable answer.
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And praise be to God because He granted me the gift of faith.
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I wouldn't have come to that without His working on my heart.
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And years later, as I said, I attended seminary and when I wrote my thesis I wrote on the subject of creation and evolution.
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And like I said, the big question was either we are special creations of Almighty God or we're not.
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And so tonight what I want to do and you have your handout.
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Tonight what I want to do is I want to talk about some of the objections we might face from someone who does believe in evolution.
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And again, I'm coming from a situation where at least as a young man I did believe in it.
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And so what we're going to do tonight is we're just going to sort of answer some of these questions and deal with them.
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And I want to talk about them.
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Because I really do think most of the people that appeal to evolution in the conversation do so ignorantly just like I would have when I was a young man.
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Now maybe nowadays they know more.
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There's been four Jurassic Park movies now so they know a little more.
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But most people don't really know a whole lot.
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They just know what they've seen.
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They know what they've imbibed from school.
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They know what the conversation is.
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And I'm not saying we necessarily need to pick all the low hanging fruit.
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We do want to be able to address people that do know what they're talking about.
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But in the first case the three things I'm going to talk to you about tonight are just the reality that you need to remember no matter who you're facing.
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Whether you're facing the kid who's going to college and coming back and telling you that the world came from a or that life came by spontaneous generation billions of years ago and has evolved through Darwinian means or you're talking to an actual biologist, somebody who has looked through the microscopes and done the science and has those same objections.
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I want to give you three things to think about tonight when dealing with those people.
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Because again this is a course in how to defend what we believe.
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The first one actually is going to piggyback on something Jack said last week.
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Because when we were talking, when I was teaching last week Jack raised his hand and he said well where did the first cell come from? Remember? And I said don't ask that because that's for next time.
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Well we're here now.
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You were a little ahead.
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But here's the number one answer on your sheet.
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Evolution is about change within an already existing system.
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It is not an explanation of origins.
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It is not an explanation of origins.
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So the answer to the first blank is simply origins.
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When I'm talking to somebody who believes in evolution or if I'm just talking to somebody in general and I ask the question how do you believe that life came to be on this planet? And they say evolution.
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Stop.
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That's not the answer.
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That's not even the answer from your side.
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And when I say you I'm saying the person I'm talking to.
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If they believe in evolution that is not the answer to how life came to be.
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Why? Because evolution only deals with change in an already existing system.
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It does not speak to how that became an existing system.
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Evolution the word evolve means to change.
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Evolution is a system of change.
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You can only change something that is.
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You can't change something that is not.
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So if they say I believe the world came into existence through evolution you say no that's not right.
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Even from your side.
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In science there is something called biogenesis.
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This is not a blank on your sheet but you can feel free to write it in on the side.
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What word in that do you already know? Genesis is the book of the bible.
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What does the word genesis mean? Beginning.
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So genesis means beginning.
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What is bio? Life.
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Biogenesis means this.
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It is the belief and the proven scientific principle that life comes from life.
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How many of you ever heard of a man named Louis Pasteur? What did he prove? He proved that life comes from life.
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You know how? And why? Yes, exactly.
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Because it was believed up until that point that those worms, those maggots, those things they spontaneously generated in rotted food or meat or rice or anything else.
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They believed in a spontaneous generation.
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And what Pasteur proved was that no maggots come from maggots.
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Mommy and daddy maggots, sorry I know we just ate, but mommy and daddy maggots make baby maggots.
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Maggots don't come from spontaneous generation.
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They have to come from eggs.
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They have to come from a previous generation of maggots.
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Life gives way to life.
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Right? And life is required for life.
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That's biogenesis.
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And it's a scientific law.
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In fact, I'll read it just very quickly.
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The law of biogenesis states that life only comes from already established life.
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This very important and fundamental scientific law can be credited to the work of Louis Pasteur and others.
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The findings rooted in repeated scientific experimentation and observation can be summarized as follows.
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Omne vivum ex ovo, which is Latin, for all life is from life.
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Okay.
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I want to now quote an evolutionist.
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His name is Austin Klein.
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He holds a master's degree from Princeton University.
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He's not a fool.
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And he writes a lot on the subject of secular humanism, atheism, agnosticism.
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He considers himself an atheist, and he was addressing this issue.
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I want you to hear what he says, because this is key.
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The origin of life is certainly an interesting topic, but it is not a part of evolutionary theory.
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The study of the naturalistic origins of life is called abiogenesis.
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What's abiogenesis? When you put the A at the beginning, what does that mean? It's the opposite.
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Like when you put A at the beginning of theist, it becomes atheist.
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Abiogenesis means life from non-life.
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So I'll read it again.
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He says, the study of naturalistic origins is called abiogenesis, which is the opposite of the law of biogenesis.
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Keep that in mind.
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He says, while scientists have not developed a clear explanation of how life might have developed from non-living material, that has no impact on evolution.
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The important thing to remember is that evolutionary theory is a scientific theory about how life evolved.
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It begins with the premise that life already exists, yet it makes no claim as to how the life got there.
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Now that's quoting a writer, author, educator.
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He identifies himself as an evolutionary, or an atheistic educator.
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And what does he say? Evolution doesn't tell you where you came from.
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He just said it.
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He said it doesn't address origins.
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It only tells how life changed.
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It doesn't tell how life got here.
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So anybody who tells you evolution is how life got here, say your side doesn't even believe that.
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I want to consider these other quotes.
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Evolutionary professor Paul Davies says this.
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Quote, nobody knows how a mixture of lifeless chemicals spontaneously organized themselves into the first living cell.
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End quote.
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And nobody knows.
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We believe it did.
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That's abiogenesis.
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They believe that happened.
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They have no proof.
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They have no evidence and there has never been a scientific example of it happening.
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But it has to have happened.
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According to them.
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Because it's the only way for their system to work.
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They have to believe that it happened at least once.
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Andrew Knoll, professor of biology at Harvard said this.
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Quote, we don't really know how life originated on this planet.
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End quote.
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So again, when someone says evolution is the answer to how life came into existence, say, oh nay nay.
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It just ain't so.
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It's not the answer.
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And again, many evolutionist websites and keeping consistent with their belief on origins teach abiogenesis.
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And I recommend you looking up abiogenesis.
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It's also called spontaneous generation.
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And they say it had to have happened at least once in history.
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Because it's the origin of all life.
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That one time.
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But we can't repeat it.
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It's non-repeatable.
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It's never been seen in the lab.
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It's never been seen anywhere outside of the imagination of the atheist.
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But it has to be.
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This is why I tell you atheism and Darwinism is a faith.
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Because they're believing in something that cannot be proved, has not been seen in a lab, it's never been scientifically verified, never been clinically proven.
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Abiogenesis is the opposite of the law of biogenesis.
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But it is the absolute necessity of the Darwinist.
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Sure.
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Absolutely.
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But like I said, this is the issue.
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That's why I say the first answer evolution is not about origins.
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So when somebody wants to talk origins, say okay, we're not talking about evolution anymore.
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Now we're talking about abiogenesis.
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We're talking about something different.
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We're not talking about evolution.
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Evolution is about change in a system that already exists.
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Alright.
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Number two.
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I got a lot to say.
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And not a lot of time.
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So I'm going to kick it into high gear here.
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Evolution is a term that has to be clearly defined.
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Has to be clearly defined.
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And I want to make a point because sometimes you will hear the terms micro and macro macro evolution used.
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But the reality is that these terms are misleading.
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And I want to quote Dr.
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Jason Lyle, who is according to Dr.
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James White, one of the smartest men on the planet.
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And when James White tells you you're smart, because he's the smartest man I know.
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So Dr.
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Jason Lyle is an astrophysicist and a creationist.
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I mentioned him two weeks ago.
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Or last week.
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And he says this.
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He says informed creationists reject the terminology of microevolution and macroevolution because we are not concerned with the amount of change, but rather its direction.
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Let me explain what they mean.
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Microevolution is small changes.
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Macroevolution is large changes.
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And often times you'll hear creationists and others talk about microevolution and macroevolution.
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But really they're talking about two different kinds of change.
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Because really honestly, if you ever throw out the micro-macro argument with an evolutionist, they're going to say, look, microevolution is small change.
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But if you add up small change over time, it becomes a big change.
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So according to them there's really no difference between macro and micro.
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And if that's the argument you're making, you're really not going to make much headway.
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I want to read again from Dr.
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Lyle.
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He says this.
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The question at issue is whether Darwinian evolution has occurred.
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Whether all organisms are descended from a common ancestor.
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The question is not whether organisms have changed.
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We all agree they have.
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Creationists agree that changes occur below the species level and above the species level though the organism still remains the same created kind.
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Some people argue that mutation creates new kinds of animals.
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New kinds of life.
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And I want to read again.
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Mutations do sometimes lead to novel traits.
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Red hair in human beings is thought to be the result of mutation.
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Any redheads in here? Natural redheads? Maybe? Okay.
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Well, you have a mutation.
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But they never lead to a fundamentally different organism and are all in the wrong direction for Darwinian evolution which requires brand new genetic information.
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We've seen that natural selection is analytically true, but it's always in the opposite direction of evolution.
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Natural selection results in the removal of genetic information of an organism through death and an unfavorable environment.
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Evolution requires brand new information.
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When you begin with an organism, the information that's there, as it evolves, the information is either rearranged or lost.
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No new information is added.
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This is why we don't see dogs sprouting wings or rabbits growing gills.
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This is genetic information that's not there.
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Again, this is important because if somebody says we've seen evolution, bacteria change whenever they get exposed to antibiotics, they get stronger.
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We all know this.
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This is why every year you get a new flu shot or whatever.
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This is why vaccines change and this is why medicines have to change.
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What's the big fear? That there's going to become a super bug that we're not prepared for because we've overindulged in antibiotics and we've overfed ourselves these things and so we're not going to be prepared because the mutations and evolution of the bacteria is going to create a bug that we're not going to live through.
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Yes, sir.
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It's back.
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How do we get the plague back? Didn't we deal with that? And now it's back.
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So, yeah.
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So if somebody says and here's again, this is language so important.
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When I'm talking to somebody who doesn't believe in God, doesn't believe in the Bible, I don't automatically say, hey, I don't believe in evolution.
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I say I don't believe in Darwinism because I do believe in change and I do believe change happens and I do believe it's been observed.
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But I do not believe and the Bible tells me so, that there are change from one kind to another kind.
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The Bible says God created each according to its kind.
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Now you say, what is kind? That's not really species.
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No, it's not.
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It's kind.
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And the Bible sort of identifies a specific language there that's not necessarily part of scientific language, but it is biblical language, so we can use it to see what we're talking about.
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I'll give you an example.
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Answers in Genesis I'll quote from what they wrote.
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He says, Consider the remarkable species Canis Familiaris.
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What's that? It's canine.
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Canis Familiaris includes over 150 variety of dogs recognized by the American Kennel Club.
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Dogs as different as a 120 pound St.
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Bernard and a 3 pound Chihuahua are all the same species of animal.
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Still, there are limits to what can be achieved by dog breeders.
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These can be bred for long legs or short legs, but it's always within limits.
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They cannot be bred for flying with wings.
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The reason for this is simple.
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There are no genes in the gene pool of the species of Canis Familiaris that would produce wings or other countless specialties that would be needed for flight.
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Again, that's a different kind and the information is there.
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And again, my reason for pointing this out is because the belief of Darwinism is this, and it's a simple way to remember, particles to people.
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Darwinism believed that once it was just a cell, and now it's a person.
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That's not only a lot of change, that's the addition of tons of information that wasn't there.
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And there's never been an example of that happening.
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The addition of new information, which would be required for that level of change, and that kind of change to occur.
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This is why the question isn't really about evolution, it's about Darwinism.
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And that's why I said last week, that's the issue.
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Darwin says we started out as particles and became people.
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That's a simple way of saying it.
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That we're all descended from the same single cell.
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It just doesn't fit.
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Richard Dawkins says this, Richard Dawkins, atheistic biologist, he says evolution, now he's talking about Darwinism, and he used that word remember, we have to define it as we use it.
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So essentially he's saying Darwinism is evolution has been observed.
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It just hasn't been observed while it's happening.
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Oh, that's convenient.
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But this way he says, yeah, sure, it's been observed, we just haven't seen it when it's happening.
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I don't even know what that means.
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As I said, dogs change, but dogs are dogs.
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And I just want to remind you what the video we watched a few weeks ago, he was talking about Noah's Ark.
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He said Noah didn't need 50 different types of dogs, or 150 types of dogs, he just needed two of the canine kind.
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And now as a result of having those two, evolution, that big ugly word, we can use that word to say that's why there's so many different types of dogs.
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I prefer to say adaptation, or speciation, things that are different words that you can use, because evolution is such a it's so pregnant with meaning and it has such a negative connotation.
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But again, I don't like it when atheists rob me of stuff.
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I can use the word evolution if I want to, but I know what I mean.
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But when they're talking, they're talking about Darwinism, that's not the same thing.
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So when you're talking to someone, and they're talking about evolution, have them define it.
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Is what you mean that you believe that all of the variation of life, and all of the information of every life form came from a single cell? Is that what you mean? Yes, that's what I mean.
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Okay.
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That I disagree with, absolutely.
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Wholeheartedly and completely, I don't believe it's even remotely possible.
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That's the issue.
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If you want to talk about how dogs became different kinds of dogs, or bacteria become different, that's the thing.
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Well, we see evolution in bacteria.
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What was it before? It was bacteria.
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What is it now? It's still bacteria! It didn't become a butterfly? No.
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It's still bacteria.
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Alright, I gotta move on.
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Lastly, a belief in evolution, and again, I picked these three because I think these three really deal with the issue.
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When you're talking to somebody, the first thing they want to talk about is origins.
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Evolution doesn't address origins.
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They want to argue that evolution is scientific.
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Well, what kind of evolution are you talking about? Because if you're talking about Darwinian, it is the opposite of scientific.
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It has not been observed.
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Even your man says, we've seen it happening, just never seen it happening.
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What does that even mean? But here's the third thing.
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A belief in evolution is not required for making advances in science.
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This is huge because this is the new thing.
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We have been told by many that if we do not teach evolution, we are stunting the growth of our children and setting ourselves back in the world of advancement in science.
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Bill Nye believes that if you teach your children that they're created by God, this makes them think less critically.
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And they are, it's a form of child abuse.
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If you teach your children that they're created by God rather than being a product of evolution.
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Richard Dawkins, again, I quote him because he's so quotable.
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He says, quote, it is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, and remember he means Darwinism, always remember that.
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If you meet somebody who says they do not believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane, or wicked.
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But I would rather not consider that.
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That's the last thing he said.
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He said, they're ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked, but I would rather not consider that.
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This is a huge deal.
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And what they're saying is, if you don't teach your children that they are grown up germs, that you're robbing them of an education.
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You are robbing them of advancing in science.
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But I want to tell you this, and this is truth.
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Scientific advancements do not require a belief in Darwinism.
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In fact, Dr.
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Mark Kirchner, Chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School stated, quote, over the last hundred years, almost all of biology has proceeded independent of evolution, except evolutionary biology itself.
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Molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology, have not taken evolution into account at all.
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When they're making advancements, they're not doing so by looking back.
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They're looking forward.
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Dr.
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Skell, S-K-E-L-L, wrote, quote, it is our knowledge of how these organisms actually operate, not speculations of how they may have arisen millions of years ago that is essential to doctors, veterinarians, and farmers.
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It's knowing how they work now, not trying to figure out how they came about that matters.
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He also stated, I recently asked more than 70 eminent researchers if they would have done their work differently if they had thought Darwin's theory was wrong, and the responses were all the same.
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70 eminent researchers were asked, would you have done it different if you believed Darwin was wrong? And they all said, no.
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It wouldn't have changed anything.
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He goes on to say, from my conversations with leading researchers, it has become clear that modern experimental biology gains its strength from the availability of new instruments and methodologies, not from an immersion in historical biology.
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It's just not the key to success in science.
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Some of the most important, in fact, let me say this, some of the most important advancements in science have come through people who do not believe in Darwinism, but rather the God of the Bible.
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Dr.
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John Sanford has been granted over 30 patents arising from his research in plant breeding and genetics.
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Does not believe in Darwinism.
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Professor Dr.
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Bernard Brandaster, I'm sorry, I said it wrong, pioneered in anesthetics.
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I'm sure all of you who have had surgeries appreciate that.
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Among many other achievements, he pioneered assisted breathing for premature babies with prolonged intubation and developed an improved catheter for epidural anesthesia, both adopted around the world in the medical community.
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Does not believe in Darwinism.
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Ben Carson.
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You know who that is.
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Pioneer pediatric neurosurgeon.
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Literally did surgery on the brains of children and babies.
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Long term director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Medical Institution.
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Believes in the God of the Bible.
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One only need to look for a moment at these to answer the question when somebody says, well, if you deny evolution, you're harming your children, and you're ignorant, and you're stupid, and you're ridiculous, and you're possibly wicked.
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And say, well, what about these great men? And guess what? Science was around a long time before Darwin.
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And the great scientists of the past, the men who discovered great things before Darwin, believed in God and believed the Bible.
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But the debate rages on.
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It is alive and well.
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It was alive in 1925 during the Scopes Trial, and it will continue, I believe, until Jesus returns.
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One of the things that you must realize when you speak to anyone on the subject of evolution is that they will defend it, sometimes viciously, because it is their solution to a problem.
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And the problem is God.
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Richard Dawkins said, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.
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He said, we were just waiting on a way to believe in atheism and be intellectually fulfilled.
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Darwin gave us that.
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Thus, when you address evolution, when you address Darwinism, what you need to understand, and I'm going to finish with this, you need to understand, you are addressing somebody's religious system.
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Now, they get angry when you say that, so I don't recommend you going and saying it to them in those words, because they will get vehemently angry, and that's not the goal of apologetics, it's just to make people mad.
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But you have to understand when you're talking to somebody, the person who is defending abiogenesis, when the person is defending these things that are not reproducible, not scientifically provable, yet they believe them, they are believing on faith these things.
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Michael Ruse, who is an evolutionist, he is a professor of evolution, and he said this, he said, quote, evolution is a religion.
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This was true of evolution in the beginning, and it is true of evolution still today.
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That's from the mouth of one of their own.
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And people do not like it when their religion is attacked.
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So this has just been an introduction to a vast subject.
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My goal over the weeks to come is to dig deeper and to look at more, and we are going to answer some of those questions at the beginning.
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But we're going to answer them from the Bible.
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What does the Bible say about those seven days? What does the Bible say about that snake? What does the Bible say about those languages and that ice age? And hey, how about them dinosaurs? We're going to talk about all that, but we're going to look at the Scripture and see what it has to say on the subject in the weeks to come.
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Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for this time of study, and I pray that it's been fruitful and encouraging to your people, and that they've been blessed by it.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.