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 PrintableVersion Questions for DarwinIn this year of Darwnian anniversaries, Dr. John Peet starts a series which questions the accepted evolutionary orthodoxy. Surely no one can be unaware that this year, 2009, is the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, On the Origin of Species? We will take the opportunity this year to look at some of his writings and seek to assess them from a biblical and scientific point of view. Not an atheistDarwin has been vilified and almost deified by writers and speakers. He has been extolled by atheists and some Christians, while others have questioned his theory, if not his integrity. In this first article, we wish to quote from his autobiography1. Near the end of it, he writes: ‘Another source of conviction in the existence of God connected with the reason and not the feelings impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty, or rather impossibility, of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capability of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as a result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting, I feel compelled to look at a first cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a theist. ‘This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time … when I wrote the Origin of Species; and it is since that time that it has very gradually with many fluctuations become weaker. But then arises the doubt — can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions? … ‘I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble to us; and I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.’ We would contrast this honest confession with the arrogance of his disciple, Richard Dawkins. Clearly he did not reject totally the possibility that there was a Creator God, though, as is plain from earlier sections in his autobiography, he had serious doubts as to how we can conceive of a Creator God who could allow suffering and evil. We will respond to this in a later article. Acknowledged weaknessesOne thing that scientists are trained to do is to examine theories critically, including their own. Woe betide the scientist who does not look for flaws in his arguments but stands up to address his peers. Darwin did not make that mistake. Both in his book and in other writings he acknowledges weaknesses that he perceived, though he had high hopes that the coming decades would answer those doubts. Again we shall examine some of these. In the above extract he mentions two problems that prevent him becoming an atheist. He looks at the universe, ‘immense and wonderful’, and feels overwhelmed by it. He is not alone. The psalmist, David, often referred to this (Psalm 8.3;19.1, for example). How little David knew of the universe compared with the information available to us today. Darwin knew more and could think of no alternative answer to the concept of a Creator God. Modern cosmologists have come to recognise that the universe is remarkably stable and that this is due to it being finely tuned in a wide range of physical constants. We understand that in our galaxy, the Milky Way, there are around 100 billion stars — and there are a similar number of galaxies. Yet, our God has numbered them and named them. No wonder he can keep an account of the number of hairs on my head. Mind of manBut Darwin noted another amazing thing: the mind of man. It is still mainly a mystery. That has been acknowledged by a number of modern scientists. For example, Prof. Noam Chomsky, a cognitive scientist and professor emeritus of linguistics, says, ‘The process by which the human mind has achieved its present state of complexity is a complete mystery. It is perfectly safe to attribute this to evolution as long as we bear in mind that there is no substance to this assertion — it amounts to nothing more than the belief that there is surely some naturalistic explanation for these phenomena’.2 To me, Darwin sums it up well when he points to our ability to consider the past (even way back beyond our personal experience) and project into the future. Somehow it reminds me that we are made in the image of God, not of animals. It is sad that Darwin did not come to know our God and Saviour for himself. It is also sad that there are so many that wish to teach our children about atheistic Darwinism to the exclusion of our Creator God. They are not even faithful to the testimony of Charles Darwin. Footnotes1 Darwin, C.R. (1958); The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809-1882; Collins, London. Available online at http://www.darwin-online.org.uk. © Evangelicals Now - January 2009 |
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