Home
Everyday Stories of Life and Being a Man
Creation vs Evolution? – Objections to Christianity
(note: This post is a part of a series of posts based on a book by Alex McFarland called, ‘The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity’. I highly recommend it and the small-group study guide in the back of the book to bring out conversations about this topic in a safe, honest way in church small-groups or other similar settings. Please read the first post in this series before reading (if you haven’t already) to understand why this series is being written and the objective of doing so.)
Objection #2: Did God create the world or is Evolution the best explanation?
Charles Darwin is a name that almost everyone has heard of. Although he was born in the early 1800′s, Charles’ influence on this very objection cannot be overstated.
Darwin grew up hoping to one day be a minister. Born in a Christian home, Charles believed in God as a child and did not deny that God existed. What he eventually would do, though, is introduce speculation and theories as to home the world was created that would ultimately lead us to where we are today in terms of this highly debated objection to Christianity.
What Darwin eventually surmised was many people today have accepted as true: that there may be a God, but He is distant and removed from the affairs of our world. He believed this so much, that he would go on to champion the idea of evolution. Darwin’s believed that God created the world and then left it alone. Evolution – the theory that with enough time, chance, and right conditions life would morph and change from one thing to another – was the true catalyst for the world we now call home.
Little would Darwin know how much this radical theory would alter the course of science and Christianity for years to come.I have stated it before, but it bears repeating – especially if this is the first post you have read in this series. No blog post could fully take on the full weight of the topic of Creation vs Evolution. Countless books, articles, and people much smarter than I have taken that one many times over. So rather than trying to answer every question or present every possible solution, my hope is that you – the reader – will take the time to analyze what you believe about the topic and learn to defend it. It is my hope that each one of us will “…be able to give an answer for the hope that we have…” as the bible says. Whether you believe in evolution or the bible’s account of creation, it is my hope that you will take the time to research this question and each of the objections in this series and find out if you are able to fully defend your position or not. As a Christian, I believe that many of my fellow Christians are ill-equipped (myself included!) to answer these objections. In the same way, I believe that those who oppose the Christian worldview are as equally ill-equipped to give reasonable answers to what they claim to believe as well. It is my hope, then, that we all participate in the study of what we propose to be true so that we may walk in the truth. I am confident that honest inquiry from either side of the debate will lead to honest answers and a fuller understanding. What I think we all could agree on is that answers will never be found if we refuse to search for them.
For now, though, let’s return to the topic at hand and quickly look at several key issues to consider when answering this objection to Christianity.
1) As was mentioned in the first post in this series, it is a logical conclusion that created things must have a creator. Is this not true when we see the creation around us?
2) Similarly, evolutionists claim to only accept scientifically-proven data for what they accept as truth. What evidence is there (from a scientific standpoint) that has stood the test of time to prove that life and the world around us are the product of time, chance, primordial elements perfectly forming in the mud and then leading us to where we are today? Is it fair to say that the belief in evolution takes a great deal of faith since the original elements cannot be tested in a scientific way?
3) Evolution claims to have the answer for how everything was created – through random time and chance. It states that things are continually evolving and changing, even today. However, as we looked at in the first objection to Christianity, there is great order to the universe and the world we live in. For example, it has been said by astro-physicist Lawrence Krause that if the force of gravity were to be mathematically changed by .0000000000000000000000000000000000-001% that both the earth and the sun would cease to exist. The point here (and there are many more that could be used) is that the world around us is anything but random. Whether you believe in God right away is not the objection at hand. The main issue here is to determine the best possible answer for how everything – you and I included – was or is created.
4) Evolution relies very heavily on the theory of gene mutation. It is basically the idea that – again, with enough time and chance – the genetic information in cells of living things will morph into a completely new and better thing. The problem is this: this has never been witnessed, scientifically, at any point. Ever. Again, scientific evidence is not the Christian litmus test, but the evolutionists’. Is it fair, then, to put your trust in a theory (not a law) that cannot be proven scientifically? To me, it appears that gene mutation is merely speculation and guess-work by those who are trying to make their theory fit into their view of how the world began.
5) Lastly, deep down each of us – believers and non-believers alike, understand that human beings have an innate value. If you don’t believe me, then what’s stopping you for robbing, killing, or stealing from someone else? Similarly, how could you complain if someone else were to do those things to you? You see, we all know that life is precious – it is not random and void of meaning. The theory of evolution concludes with the fact that life is empty and without any value beyond the here and now. Heck, if you’re not any more valuable than primordial slime and chance, then what’s life all about?! Why worry about how anything you do affects anyone else? Why worry about what happens to you? In fact, this very belief is witnessed every day by people all around us. On the other hand, though, when you understand that you were created by a God who values you and loves the world He made, it gives you purpose and dignity and a reason to make it better for you and everyone around you.
There are many more questions to be asked on both sides of this issue. Hopefully these issues will give you a good head-start as you look for evidence and answers to this important objection.
To help you further, here are a few more resources to check out:
The Case for a Creator - DVD
Debate from YouTube – Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens. YouTube the topic for further videos and debates.
Creation: Where’s the Proof? – online article
What do you say? Does Creation or Evolution make more sense to you? What arguments have you heard for or against either side? What questions do you have? Please comment and share your thoughts below.
Photo by Andrew Girdwood’s photos on Flickr
