Creation vs. evolution in school

Professors Dawkins, Jones et al - secular humanism's front-line high priests - are spitting mad. They have been alerted to the fact that a number of teachers at Emmanuel College in Gateshead actually take the Bible seriously. How seriously?

Well, some there have affirmed that the Scriptural account in Genesis may, in fact, be historical narrative and not merely some poetic myth valuable only for its 'religious significance' - whatever that is.

They have ventured to think it credible 'science' that almighty God spoke and, from nothing, created the space-time universe we all inhabit and everything that fills it. They are not embarrassed or nervous about declaring their belief that it happened that way, for that is just how the Bible presents the momentous event to us consistently throughout its pages. Neither is it unscientific, however loud and fierce the protest. If it were, why did so many of the great pioneers of science - Galileo, Kepler, Newton, etc., - believe that God had supernaturally created? The truth is that until about 150 years ago few Bible-believing Christians would have thought any differently.

National Curriculum

Under current legislation, all schools should teach the national curriculum and current stand models regarding evolution and its associated 'prehistoric' science. Of course, those that have a 'Christian foundation' will encourage teachers to critique the theories and, while doing absolutely no violence to the factual data, consider the various weaknesses in the supporting evidence. The Principal of Emmanuel College, Mr. Nigel McQuoid has defended the College's cautious presentation of evolutionism invoking the clear warrant provided by the current National Curriculum Science documentation. And surely this is right. The scientific case for naturalism, macro-evolutionism and the alleged billions of years is thread-bare and honest scientists increasingly recognise these difficulties today.

It is important for us as Bible-believing Christians to see that a momentous, but subtle, attack on Scriptural authority occurred with the publication of Darwin's thesis, The Origin of Species, in 1859. Its subsequent acceptance was swift and, despite a measure of well argued opposition from both scientists (e.g. Lord Kelvin, Faraday) and theologians (e.g. Kuyper, Spurgeon), it quickly established supremacy in the hearts and minds of the thinking West.

Historical perspective

Conservative evangelicals who unashamedly defend biblical authority (regrettably including Warfield and Hodge) were for the most part stunned and perplexed for 100 years or so afterwards. Many unwittingly supposed that they must sympathise with the attempt to find a natural/mechanical explanation to everything in the universe. This seemed sensible enough when attempting to fathom the mysteries of how things work now in the present but it remains a forlorn hope when addressing the question of how complex mechanisms (whether planets, platypuses or pine cones) actually came about in the past. Increasingly scientists conceded a pragmatic, atheistic hypothesis, which inevitably became multidisciplinary in its acceptance of Darwin's dogma.

Church scholars entertained a misguided fear that 'God might be squeezed out of the remaining gaps that scientific knowledge and understanding had not yet fathomed'. This caused a number of Christian minds to capitulate. Almost inevitably, scientific hypotheses of both present and past processes became limited to those that excluded any divine (supernatural) tinkering. Philip Johnson has written extensively about this particular development and has perceptively identified the underlying philosophical belief system of evolutionism. His books are generally very helpful.

What the Bible says

The Bible, however, says that 'supernatural' creation is evident from what has been made. This is the obvious sense of Romans 1.20 - 'For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.' The complexity, delicate structure and intricate design features that characterise all living systems shout so loudly at us that none but a stubborn and wilful rebel would dare to suppose they signify anything else. The Bible pulls no punches. It soberly warns that atheism is intellectual folly (Psalm 14.1). It is moral folly too, of course. Witness the increasing breakdown in family values and traditional antithetical morality. Today's society has been robbed of its spiritual foundation and as a sad consequence, 'everyone does that which is right in his own eyes' (Judges 21.25). If we tell children long enough and plain enough that their lives here represent the fleeting, purposeless chance collision of mucus and scum that has over billions of years survived by the exercise of selfishness encoded (by whom?!) in its genes, then we must not be too surprised when in later years, as adults, they steal, cheat and carelessly look after number one.

Our response

Martin Luther famously said: 'If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.'

Christians across the land must wake up to the clarion call of God. We must fight and win this particular battle if ever we are to witness a real spiritual awakening. If history can teach us anything it is surely this. Whenever the truth of God is rubbished and/or undermined the Church languishes and its spiritual vitality is swallowed up. Wherever the truth of God is powerfully proclaimed and the Scriptures authoritatively declared and Scriptural authority upheld, the Church flourishes and spiritual power is unleashed. Christians today, anxious to engage with the enemy, must pull down strongholds, casting down imaginations (arguments) and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5).

Practical suggestions

The following represent a few serious suggestions of possible tactics.

* Get your church to rally to the cause. Be a creation-science church rep. Alert the minister and the teaching elders to the urgency of addressing this issue in their regular preaching. Urge them to read up on the relevant scientific issues and provide your/their congregations with suitable ammunition. It is a tragic fact that relatively few evangelical preachers and teachers have really grasped this nettle. Pass on Ken Ham's books, Evolution - the Lie; Creation evangelism. [Be prepared to spend your money by putting the truth about!]

* Subscribe ASAP to Creation Magazine (c/o Answers in Genesis, FREEPOST MID18566, Leicester LE2 2ZA) or to Origins (the magazine of The Biblical Creation Society, PO Box 22, Rugby CV22 7SY). These will provide you, your family and your friends with excellent contemporary relevant information. When you've read them, pass them on.

* Organise Creation meetings. Show videos to interested neighbours, colleagues and friends. Invite able speakers (AIG can provide or recommend them).

* Promote Creation understanding by stocking and selling Creation books, videos and literature.

* Put Creation science literature in your local public library.

* Make answersingenesis.com your home page on the internet browser.

* Send your kids to school with Creation literature to show to their teachers.

* Engage with the media. Write to your local newspapers and the BBC and ITV programme producers challenging their 'religious' propaganda. Recommend that they consider an alternative (biblical) explanation of the data.

* Evangelise the lost. You will find the issue of Genesis and origins quickly comes up without forcing it. Salvation only really makes sense when we have adequately explained what sin and accountability are. This requires you to talk about Creation, Adam and Eve and the Fall.

Finally, remember that 'Creation versus Evolution' is not merely some fringe issue that doesn't really concern the real nitty-gritty of the Christian life and the gospel. The New Testament authors collectively affirm the historical nature of the Genesis narrative. The doctrines of Special Creation (e.g. John 1.3; Acts 4.24; 14.15; Col.1.16); Fall (e.g. Rom. 5.12,14,17,19; 8.19-20; 1 Cor. 15.21-22); The Patriarchs (e.g. Matt. 23.35; Lk. 3.34-38; Heb. 11.4-7,23; 1 Jn. 3.12); Flood (e.g. Matt. 24.37; Lk. 17.26; 1 Pet. 3.20; 2 Pet. 2.5, 3.5-6); Confusion (Babel) and Dispersion (Acts 17.26) permeate the NT gospels and epistles. Anyone who says that the controversy merely concerns whether Genesis 1 is poetry is sadly deluded. Jesus prophetically said: 'For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My words?' (John 5.46-47). May God raise up more and more foot-soldiers and not a few mighty warriors who, like the sons of Issachar (1Ch 12.32) who had understanding of the times, know what Israel ought to do!