By Bernie Dehler
9-21-07
...continuing to Part 2 of why Christians (wrongly) are so against any kind of evolution, even theistic evolution (click here for Part 1). I'm responding to the weblink entitled "10 Dangers of Theistic Evolution" at ChristianAnswers.net (click here to see the original).
Here is "Danger #1," and I quote:
Danger NO. 1… Misrepresentation of the Nature of God
The Bible reveals God to us as our Father in Heaven, who is absolutely perfect (Matthew 5:48), holy (Isaiah 6:3), and omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:17). The Apostle John tells us that "God is love", "light", and "life" (1 John 4:16; 1:5; 1:1-2). When this God creates something, His work is described as "very good" (Genesis 1:31) and "perfect" (Deuteronomy 32:4).Theistic evolution gives a false representation of the nature of God because death and ghastliness are ascribed to the Creator as principles of creation. (Progressive creationism, likewise, allows for millions of years of death and horror before sin.)
First, my critique of paragraph 1... I agree with it all!
Now for paragraph 2. Sentence one states "Theistic evolution gives a false representation of the nature of God because death and ghastliness are ascribed to the Creator as principles of creation." So what is so bad about death? Without death, the planet would quickly overpopulate and snuff itself out. It is said that for humans alone, over 150,000 die every day. If you stacked these bodies on top of each other, it would be a pile about 35 miles high... each day! Now imagine if that went on for a few thousand years... big crisis! That's only humans... don't forget all the animals that would be around. No death can't be a part of a "good" creation, because it wouldn't last long. Death is the "house-cleaning" that makes life possible. No one wants to die... but it is required for life on planet earth.
Sentence two states "(Progressive creationism, likewise, allows for millions of years of death and horror before sin.)" Death, I just explained. Now horror- what is that?
Let me give two examples of horror. Suppose a lion kills a young elephant for food. Is that horror? Is that any different than us today going to McDonalds for a Big Mac (only we don't see the work the butcher does at the slaughter houses to get us meat for the Big Mac)? It isn't pretty to watch, but it appears to be God's way of design. If someone thinks they can do a better job at designing a world, I'm sure the world would like to know. (Actually, click here to see a wild YouTube video in which a baby buffalo gets caught by a pack of lions and actually (eventually) gets away... nature in action.)
The other example of horror... genetic defects, like when a child dies of cancer. Yes, this is very sad. However, mutations in evolution also lead to diversity, robustness, and new designs; so having some negative fall-out is part of the equation. Rejecting anything "bad" is somewhat like insisting on a fair coin toss, and then demanding that it always turns up heads. Again, if anyone can figure out a better way to design things, rather than evolution (or just saying "poof- God did it"), I'm sure the world would like to know.
Anyway, these are my thoughts on the subject. Feel free to add questions/comments in the comment section.
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