Thought for Today

At Faith & Reason Ministries, we have started the new year by looking at various cults. We first looked at humanism, which is self-defined as a religion, and are now examining the lie of Evolution, the key cornerstone for humanists/naturalists. Pastor Dave will be preaching about what true science has to say—what has actually been observed—not what has merely been theorized.

My purpose in these posts, therefore, is not to deal with the “science” side of Evolution, though I’ll mention that there are several excellent scientific organizations that clearly explain the scientific evidence for literal Creation. Rather, I will deal briefly with the early responses of mathematicians to Darwin’s theory, as well as the somewhat intermediate position of Intelligent Design.

We will look at the arguments of Intelligent Design first. As a Christian, one can certainly agree with the tenets of Intelligent Design, insofar as we know God, biblically, is self-described as the Creator. We know that since God created everything, He also designed what He created.

One could argue that the Intelligent Design model is an interim type of step, as it doesn’t directly posit the God of the Bible. Rather, it seeks to prove that what we observe in this world could not come about by chance. That everything came about by chance is, of course, at the core of evolutionary theory. Admittedly, those who developed Intelligent Design, do maintain that the Christian God is behind it, but that is not strictly essential to the concept itself. The point is that a given structure must come into existence fully complete: for example the human eye must be fully realized in order to function as an eye.

For an evolutionist, the idea of any sort of an intelligent being who has designed everything must be rejected out of hand. Anything that points to the possibility of a personal God existing and interacting in the events of the universe violates the core tenets of naturalism, that nothing supernatural exists. Some might argue that an “impersonal force” type of “god” is ok: for example Tillich’s “god of all being” which many, if not most, interpret to mean the force of love that lies behind human existence, but isn’t “supernatural” in any real literal sense, but that isn’t the sort of “god” being talked about here.

That an actual God might exist will never be admitted. If any sort of “God” does exist, if any sort of “Designer” designed things, that would mean that there is something greater than “Me” (meaning us humans), that we are not autonomous, that there might be absolute right and wrong. That reality would violate the basis of humanism and the "truth” of evolution.

It is true that numerous Christians have sought to reconcile Evolution with Christianity. The Biblical reality is that the two are diametrically opposed to each other and that Darwin’s theory is directly intended to eliminate the need for any form of a real God. It is no accident that the world of gender confusion we now inhabit comes directly out of evolutionary/humanist beliefs and is opposed to the creation account given in Genesis 1 regarding male and female.

For an evolutionist or humanist, nothing can impinge on human autonomy; God cannot and does not exist, period.