The idea that an educated person would hold to the notion that the theory of evolution a fabricated fairy tale is, for many, laughable. I am very aware that some who read this post will get no further than the title before labeling me a religious nutcase. Wouldn’t be the first time 😉
In fact, many of those who will disagree with this post are not just atheists or agnostics, but profound Christians who also take the Bible seriously. I myself, not that many years ago, would have been in that camp. I myself assumed that the theory of evolution was overwhelmingly verified by science, and that it corresponded with the story of creation in Genesis quite well. I would have held to an Intelligent Design view, that essentially claimed that God created the world with evolutionary mechanisms in place, but his creative fingerprint was over it all. This view, I believed, satisfied both the Biblical account, and the obvious scientific consensus that evolution is a proven fact.
I no longer hold to this view. The reason for my change in perspective is two-fold. First, I do not believe the theory of evolution is compatible with the Biblical account of creation, fall, and redemption. Second, the more I have read and studied the scientific literature on issues of evolution and human history, I have become increasingly convinced that the history of the world we are taught in school is a fabricated fairy tale, and that the history of the world as told to us directly through Scripture, is totally accurate and is evidenced by faith, and a rich archaeological record.
The Biblical Reasons
I will begin with the core biblical/theological reasons for my abandonment of evolution. Each of these slowly worked their way into my mind and heart as I have processed this issue Biblically. While I am providing simple and accessible explanations below, it has actually been deep dives into Systematic Theology, especially on the doctrines of sin and anthropology, that has had the largest impact on my understanding.
The Straight Forward Reading of Scripture: First, I believe in the straight forward reading of Scripture. And increasingly over the years, I have found that the simple acceptance of God’s Word has increased my understanding of the Scriptures and my love of God. At one point, I believed myself to be quite sophisticated for being able to balance and explain how Genesis 1 accords with modern evolutionary thinking. I thought that people who held to the position I now hold were simply unwilling to accept the scientific reality. I realize now that my rational for attempting to synchronize Genesis 1 and Darwin’s evolutionary theory was not rooted in the Word of God, but was rooted in secular voices calling for my heart. My perceived synchronization was nothing more than shoehorning the story of Genesis into Darwin’s story of atheistic evolution. Like Cinderella’s sisters, the shoe didn’t fit like I hoped it might.
It is worth noting that there are some who make the case that Genesis 1 is poetic in its writing style, and therefore ought not be taken as a literal world history, but rather as poetry with hidden layered meaning. I agree that there is rhythm and order to the Genesis 1 passage that is poetic in a sense. But Genesis 1 is also more than poetry; it is narrative of the highest kind. It is insight into the moments when the very fabric of our universe was breathed into existence. I do not believe the text permits us to allegorize the narrative away in service to poetry.
This principle, of the straightforward reading of scripture, is actually important for my worship of God. Just as I desire my children to take me at my word, to trust my instruction, and my communication of events too deep for them to look into on their own, so ought we trust our heavenly father, and take him at his word when he speaks to us. This kind of trust has forged deeper love of God, and more intimate trust in His Word.
Death Before Adam?: The second major Biblical reason for abandoning evolution is the challenge of the existence of death and decay before the historic Adam. Under my former attempts at merging Intelligent Design with Darwinian evolution, I held to the premise that evolutionary changes existed between species for hundreds of millions of years until finally non-primitive humanity was spawned. While there are dozens of nuanced and diverse Intelligent Design views, they all hold to the belief of “deep time”, hundreds of millions of years of species living and dying all before Adam ever arrived on the scene. Put simply, this is a very big problem considering the Biblical account.
According to the Scripture, the world was made “good” by God. The world God created was one of order and life. There was no death, no decay, and no sickness. But when Adam sinned by breaking God’s command, choosing to worship the serpent rather than God, the entire creation order fell underneath the curse of God’s law. It was at that specific point in time that death emerged. This is not a minor detail in the Biblical storyline; in fact the thread is traced straight through to our understanding of Jesus and the work he accomplished on the cross, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass (Adam), much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (Romans 5:15).
How then are we to understand the existence of death on this planet before Adam’s sin? Why did all the dinosaurs die if death had not been introduced into God’s creation yet? Why did cancer exist in animals if death had not been introduced into the cosmos yet? According to Darwin, death is part of the design itself; but according to Scripture death is only part of the curse that came after the original design. Once again, the only way to explain this is to allegorize the Biblical account in some way that essentially says the Bible doesn’t mean what it says. One must basically believe the following, “I know the Bible says that the world was good and without pain or death in any kind before Adam’s sin, but I simply don’t believe that to be true.“
Well meaning, and well informed Christians, have attempted balanced rebuttals to this problem. And their arguments are well worth considering. I increasingly find these efforts weak, and more often rooted in an attempt to please the modern secular mind who presupposes evolution, and not rooted in the Word of God. The Bible, both Old and New Testament, teaches with unashamed clarity, that death entered through Adam’s sin and not before.
From Good to Bad?: My third and final reason is heavily related to my second reason above, but is strong enough to stand on its own. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, the world is moving from less to more, from weak to strong, from caveman to modern man. Under this theory, man did not begin as a highly moral being, but is ever evolving into a more moral being. The classic “caveman” was only a small step away from a more brutish animal and could not in any way be held to a high moral standard. And so, for Darwin, the journey of mankind is one of increasing development.
The Bible tells the exact opposite story. According to Scripture, mankind began in a state of Original Righteousness. While he was capable of choosing sin (as he would eventually do) he was a highly developed moral creature. Adam loved God, related to God meaningfully, cherished his creation, and experienced a sort of fullness of life in Eden. This high standard of humanity was lost the moment Adam chose rebellion over faithfulness. According to the Biblical storyline, mankind started high, and was taken low by sin. He began in Original Righteousness and slipped into Total Depravity.
Like my second reason above, this is not some small isolated doctrine. To forsake Original Righteousness in Adam is to entangle yourself in a theological knot impossible to untie. Jesus came to heal the great curse that was placed over humanity as a result of Adam’s sin. We cannot poetically allegorize this away easily. Darwin and Scripture stand in complete odds with each other in an irreconcilable way. Or as the great Systematic Theologian Herman Bavinck wrote when critiquing what was functionally the “Intelligent Design” argument of his day,
“This [evolutionary] theory of the origin of sin is diametrically opposed to the witness of Scripture and entails the modernization of the entire Christian confession concerning revelation, atonement… and so on.”
A Brief Word on Questioning the “Science”
Secondly, I want to offer a few words in regards to the “settled science” of Evolution. As a Christian, I love science. I love discovering the fascinating laws God has placed over this world to govern his creation. This is in fact why the vast majority of the great scientific minds of world history have been deep Christians (Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, Arthur Compton, and Isaac Newton, to name a few), because they believed their work to be part of their worship.
And yet, it has become overwhelmingly clear to me, and to many within the scientific community, that a devastating group-think has come over the larger scientific community, not only in regards to evolution, but in regards to many other topics as well. This is an understandable and well documented phenomenon. Discoveries of data outside the expected storyline, are quickly and often unthoughtfully explained away, in favor of a blind faith in the status quo. When this occurs, it is not meaningful science, and Christians should labor to not be so easily duped.
My encouragement to you, if you disagree with this post, is to read opposing views to your own. Don’t just laugh them off, but consider them on their merit. What is the case they are making? What data supports their case? What assumptions are they making? How well have they made their argument? Who funded their research? What are the motivations they have for doing this research? In short, have an honest scientific mind.
In regards to evolution, you may, like me, discover that there are some big problem with the theory.
- You may discover that Natural Selection, as is still taught in our High Schools, is considered an out of date teaching, and as a mechanism is entirely incapable of producing jumps between species, as is documented thoroughly by some leading scientists.
- You may discover that the majority of the greatest “discoveries” claimed by evolutionists over the years have since been proven to be nothing more than elaborate hoaxes.
- You may discover that the actual fossil record has failed to produce any kind of serious proof of evolutionary jumps between species (yes, it is clear that in general less “developed” species are deeper in the archaeological record. But this is a data point that is better explained by Noah’s flood than it is by evolution).
- You may discover that many years ago the Smithsonian displayed Neanderthal as a hunched over hairy ape-like human, but now displays them as basically… humans.
- Further, you may discover that Neanderthal fashioned tools, buried their dead, cared for the sick, conversed with each other, and mated with other humans. This last one, mating with other humans, is particularly problematic because there is exists no other example ever, of the ability of inter-species mating (outside of Genesis 6 and the story of the Nephilim). In other words, you may discover that the so called Neanderthal were humans after all.
- Further, you may discover that the methods we currently use for dating fossils and other objects to millions, if not hundreds of millions of years ago, are full of assumptions and are often wildly inconsistent with each other.
In short, you may discover that the theory of evolution is an elaborate fairy tale for grown ups, not rooted in reality nor supported by actual evidence.
Concluding Thoughts
There is so much more I want to say on this topic. But I close with one last word of humility. My own journey on this particular issue took time as I processed different voices and read different authors. God was gracious to me in pointing me in directions that I believe benefited my faith tremendously in that process. In your own discernment on this issue, make it your aim to glorify God. Let that be the starting point and ending point of your discovery.
