Sunday, January 12, 2014
pm
Back to Basics - God
THEISTIC EVOLUTION
This month as we begin our yearlong study of the basics, we
are focusing on God. The
past 2 Sunday mornings, we have been making a case for the God of the
Bible. This evening, I would
like to examine an issue related to creation that is gaining popularity
and influence even among brethren.
It is called Theistic evolution.
The term means that while there is a theistic God (or deism) who
created the world, His involvement is limited.
True theistic evolution believes that God intervened only a few
times (perhaps creating the universe, creating the spark of life that
evolved, and possibly another time or two).
Others believe that God intervened throughout the process when He
needed to. Some theistic
evolutionists (actually this is described as progressive or minimal
creationism) use this as an explanation for the various “missing links”
and gaps that cannot be explained naturally.
They still hold to an old age for the earth.
A part of theistic evolution is something that is described as
the “day-age theory”. This
too IS being taught by some brethren.
Theistic evolution and the day-age theory are both an attempt to
reconcile supposed contradictions between the Biblical account of
creation and evolution. But
is this theory true and is it important?
This evening we want to discuss these things.
NOTE: In this lesson,
we are assuming a belief in the Bible as the word of God (see this
morning’s lesson)
a.
To start with there
is NOTHING in the Bible that indicates God created the universe and
things on this world through an evolutionary process.
The concept is contrary to ANYTHING in scripture about creation
(Gen. 1, Ex. 31:17, 20:11, Neh. 9:6, etc.).
To get the premise you have to read between the lines (some speak
of the time it took Adam to name the animals, his being lonely prompted
God to create eve, and 1 Peter. 3:8).
In essence what man is doing is appealing to human logic to explain what
he does not fully understand. Consider 1 Cor. 3:19-20 which speaks of
man in his wisdom is foolishness to God.
b.
The Bible says that Adam
was the first man
– 1 Cor. 15:45 says, ““And so it is written, “The first man Adam
became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
To teach theistic evolution presents all sorts of problems with
what the Bible says about man and the origin of sin.
Did man exist prior to Adam who fell?
At what point did man no longer become just a part of the process
of evolution and gain a soul in the image of God?
And if man was evolving prior to Adam, WHY did he die, since the
Bible definitively teaches that death is the consequence of sin (1 Cor.
15:22, Rom. 5:12). Furthermore,
where did the soul come from?
Was Gen. 1:26-27 figurative? Are we truly made in God’s image if
we evolved through general evolution?
c.
Furthermore, theistic evolution cannot explain Eve.
The Bible explains that God took Eve from Adam’s side (Gen.
2:21-23) and created her.
This is NOT the natural process of evolution.
Furthermore, the Bible deals with Eve as a real person (1 Tim. 2:13) and
even appeals to her sins for reasons of submission.
d.
Evolution (theistic
included) contradicts the order of creation in Genesis 1. The days of
Genesis 1 are not compatible with what is understood about the process
of evolution. For example:
i.
On day 1, light was
created (Gen. 1:3-4), but the sun, moon and stars were not created until
day 4 (1:14-19). YET, prior
to day 4 we read that there was evening and morning.
ii.
On day 3 plants of all
sorts were created. Yet
scientifically we know that plant life depends on the sun to survive.
iii.
On day 4 God created sea
creatures (fish) and flying creatures (birds) (Gen. 1:20-23).
Then on day 5, insects and land animals were created (Gen.
1:24-25). Evolution teaches
that life started in the sea and the crawled onto land and THEN began to
fly.
iv.
Consider the
consequences of teaching that Genesis 1 is figurative.
If that is true, based on evolution, there is NOTHING coherent
about the text.
Everything was random and Moses (speaking for God if inspired) put
things in there that make no sense (light without the sun, man created
in God’s image, etc.) if evolution is true.
e.
Often scriptures appeal
to the physical and immediate creation of man and woman.
Many doctrines are based upon this.
We have already mentioned woman being in subjection to man
because she sinned first and was created from Adam’s side, the beginning
of sin is attributed to Adam (and Eve).
But there are also passages like Matt. 19:4-6 where Jesus appeals to the
marriage law going all the way back to Genesis 2:24.
IF that part of Genesis is not literal, then we have another
argument to explain away some MDR issues.
Also the concept of the Sabbath (for Israel) and the week are based upon
Genesis 1-2.
f.
For these reasons I
reject “theistic evolution”
a.
What is the day-age theory? It is actually an
argument associated with theistic evolution and minimal creation.
IT is the attempt to reconcile Genesis 1 with theistic evolution.
The premise is that each of the 6 days of creation were actually
ages of time – perhaps billions of years according to the theory of
evolution. They will appeal
to 2 Pet. 3:8 which speaks of the day of the Lord being as a thousand
years and thus a “day” in Genesis 1 can be a longer period of time.
Let us take some time to examine this.
b.
Contradicts Genesis 1 as
stated above.
The order of “days” of creation in Genesis 1 present the typical
problems with reconciling evolution with the Bible regardless of the
evolutionary process.
c.
A “day” can mean an age of time. While that is
true, we STILL need to look at the context.
The word “day” in Genesis 1 is the Hebrew word “yom.”
Just as in our English usage of the term can mean an era, “the
day of our forefathers”, so it is in Hebrew.
However, the typical usage is in reference to a 24 hour period or
perhaps the daylight hours.
Unless context dictates otherwise this is the preferred usage.
When the word “day” is used for an age the context ALWAYS bears this out
– cf. Num. 13:20 - season, 1 Sam. 27:7 – time.
Whenever the Hebrew term “day” is used in connection with a number it is
ALWAYS a 24 hour period.
Consider also the explanation given for Israel to keep the Sabbath in
Exodus 20:8-11, ““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor
your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the
Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,
and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and hallowed it.”
WHENEVER the days of creation are referred to in scripture, it is ALWAYS
in terms of literal days.
See also Exodus 31:15-17 repeated this noting that in six days the Lord
created the heavens and the earth and rested on the 7th.
Add to this that in Genesis 1 we find the expression, “the evening and
the morning” in reference to the days (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31).
It seems to me that Moses was being VERY specific in dealing with
the timeframe.
Furthermore, consider that if Moses DID want to indicate a literal six
days of creation how would he have worded it differently than he did
d.
What about 2 Peter 3:8?
The context is NOT dealing with God’s creation but with His
longsuffering and His eternity. IT
deals with scoffers questioning why the Lord has not come back yet (vs.
3-9). Peter’s point is that
God does not reckon time as we do.
To apply this to Genesis 1 is to take it out of its context to
substantiate a perceived argument.
THOUGHT: If a day can represent 1000 years according to this verse,
consider the 2nd part of the verse which says, “a thousand
years is as a day”. Let me
ask, IF the evolutionist can take this verse to mean a day can be an
age, can we take this verse to say that God can do the work of a
thousand years in a day?
Think about it! That IS what
I believe God did when He created the world in 6 literal days.
e.
WHY does God need more
time than a day to create?
He spoke the world into existence.
What does theistic evolution do to the omnipotence of God?
One of the 7 worldviews of God is “finite godism” which teaches
God is limited in some way. I
resolutely reject that view! IF
He is not limited, why could He not create the world in 6 literal days?
Consider Psalm 33:6-9,
“By the word
of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the
breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a
heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the
Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He
spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”
Isaiah 45:12, “I have made the
earth, And created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, And
all their host I have commanded.”
f.
If Genesis 1 is not
literal, how can we trust the rest of the Bible?
Herein lies the real challenge and the reason this is such a
concern. If man can dismiss
Genesis 1-2 because it presents some problems with men’s theories about
how this world began, why can he not do the same thing with other
passages? So the real
problem is a matter of respect for the word of God.
The advancement of theistic evolution is often an attempt to
compromise God’s word.
You have some who want to reconcile evolution with the Bible.
In so doing, it makes the word of God less offensive to the
intellectual and permits him to believe without letting go of worldly
doctrines. It has been said
that the theory of Theistic evolution was not advanced until the 1800s.
Why is it then (about the same time as Darwin) that man wants to
change what they knew the Bible to teach?
As with most other compromises I ask, “What is your intent?”
Is it to be more inclusive regardless of the teachings of the
Bible?
Consider some of the following resources (as of the timing that this
lesson was presented). NOTE:
As always, these resources do NOT imply full endorsement of everything
taught on these websites.
Answers to theistic evolution and day age
http://www.icr.org/article/164/
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=434
http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2012/12-18c.html
http://www.riceroadchurchofchrist.com/Classes/documents/EvidencesLesson12.pdf