“Gee, Mom, you’re so archaic! Believing in creation is so, so. . .old-fashioned!”
Christian parents around the globe are facing similar responses from their Junior High and High School (and, sometimes, even gradeschool) children. The theory of evolution has become so entrenched in our society and in our thinking, some churches have even adapted their ’teaching’ to provide room for it.
Contrary to what your neighbor, or your children’s teacher, or the guy at work may say, evolution is NOT a scientific fact. It has not and can not be proven.
Of course, in a culture heavily swayed by public opinion, we often assume something so readily accepted, embraced even, must be true - at least to a point. However, therein lies our fault.
Our first error is to define truth based upon culture. Our second error is to NOT define truth based on God’s word. Our third error is to believe what we hear without bringing every thought captive to God’s Word.
If evolution is not a proven fact, why is it so prevelant in our thinking? In our society? In our children’s classrooms? Simply because, evolution is a religious philosophy.
People readily accept evolution because it offers them a “reality“ which does not include a Sovereign Creator Who can and does hold them accountable. Scripture proves this. (Rom 1:20-21)
“It was because Darwinian theory broke man’s link with God and set him adrift in a cosmos without purpose or end that its impact was so fundamental. No other intellectual revolution in modern times . . so profoundly affects the way men viewed themselves and their place in the universe.”—*Michael Denton [Australian molecular biologist], Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985), p. 67
Thus, Christians today need to be prepared to defend the Gospel. This is especially important if your children attend public school or even some private schools. They are being inundated with evolution - no longer taught as a ‘theory’ but as ‘fact’. What are you going to say when your child holds up evolution as ‘truth’, as ‘fact’, as ‘real’?
Here are four foundation errors in evolution that be explained even to younger children:
1) The Problem of the Protein Molecule - To get a perspective, it takes 1,000’s of protein molecules to form 1 cell. A protein molecule is incredibly small, and for one protein molecule to be formed, 20 amino acids must come together. The scientific probability of such a thing happening by accident or chance is ZERO.
“. . We know virtually nothing about the genetic changes that occur in species formation.”—*R. Lewontin, The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change (1974), p. 159.
2) The Problem of the Black Box. Even Darwin, in his book, “Origin of the Species” said that if even one complex organ existed which could not be formed by numerous slight modifications over a very long period of time, his theory did not work.
Consider the most foundation organ of all - a living cell. A single living cell is a mass of systems, each of which had to be in place and functioning for any part of it to work.
Compare this to a mouse trap. You cannot catch a mouse with a little piece of wood. You cannot catch a mouse with a spring. You cannot catch a mouse with a piece of metal. You cannot catch a mouse with a hinge. ALL pieces of the mouse trap must be formed and in place for the mouse trap to work. In other words - a single cell in your body could not have evolved over time because no one part of the cell could have functioned (and thus survived to evolve) alone.
”These assumptions by their nature are not capable of experimental verification . . It is therefore a matter of faith on the part of the biologist that biogenesis (spontaneous generation) did occur, and he can choose whatever method of biogenesis happens to suit him personally . . From our limited experience it is clear that the biochemical systems within protoplasm are not uniform, i.e. there is no established biochemical unity.”—*G. Kerkut, Implications of Evolution (1960).
3) The Problem of Design. If you are walking down the road and you pick up a rock chip, it is possible to speculate it may have ‘evolved’ over time. However, if you pick up an intricately designed pocket watch, only a fool would think it somehow evolved over a long period of time.
Consider one of your DNA molecules. The DNA present at your conception contained 500,000 pages of information. However that original cell divided into 30 trillion cells with at least 12 billion brain cells. How many pages would that be?
” . . The distinctions of specific forms and their not being blended together by innumerable transitional links is a very obvious difficulty.”—*Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, (6th ed., 1927), p. 322.
4) The Problem of the Fossil Record. Regardless of what you may have heard, the fossil record shows no evidence of macro (many-small changes over time) evolution. Consider that in face of the hundreds of thousands of changes which would have had to occur for us to have our world as we know it.
It think the most honest and yet most damning statement was made by H.J. Lipson, an agnostic evolutionist. He said, “I think however that we must go further than this and admit that the only acceptable explanation is Creation. I know that this is anathema to physicists, as indeed it is to me, but we must not reject a theory that we do not like if the experimental evidence supports it.”
Next time you are faced with someone who holds evolution to be a proven fact, ask them to explain these points. You might be surprised at their answers (or lack of answers).
