Evolutionist’s Views of Creationists

 

            When I was a graduate student at Murray State University in the early 1950’s, I had the privilege of taking a class on Psychology of Elementary Subjects.  Dr. Ray Boyd Parsons with a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago was the professor in that class.  Dr. Parsons was an outstanding scholar and a brilliant teacher.  One day Dr. Parsons walked to the chalkboard at the front of the classroom and wrote three expressions: Organic evolution, theistic evolution and creation.  Why he did so I never knew.  No one in the class had asked about evolution and creation.  Dr. Parsons asked just one question, if my memory serves me right.  “If evolution has occurred in the past, why is it not occurring now?”  He never answered his question and no one asked for further elaboration.

 

            Several years before my class with Dr. Parsons, I had been reading various books and articles on evolution.  I had even spoken at churches on the topic.  But following Dr. Parsons’ comments in class, I have endeavored to do more reading and research on evolutionism and creationism.  Through the fifty years since I received my graduate degree from Murray State University, I have bought dozens and dozens of books on evolution and creationism and have lectured and preached on these topics many times.  In my judgment, it would be difficult to find topics that are more relevant to our current situation than these.  If evolutionism is true, Christianity is not.  If creationism is true, we have a solid foundation for time and for eternity.

 

            I have always considered myself relatively intelligent and fairly well educated.  But do you know what evolutionists think of people like you and me who believe what the Bible says about creation?  If you will listen carefully to our study today, you will have a good idea about what they think of us--not that it really matters, since we have the truth of God’s word on our side--but our study today will help to apprise us of the battles that lie ahead.  And, my friends, do not be misled into believing we are not in a battle--a battle for the souls of mankind and for the welfare of our nation.

 

            One prominent physician in Nashville, Tennessee, called believers in creation “hayseeds.”  While that doctor has every right to believe what he likes about creationists, he is being inexcusably arrogant in calling us “hayseeds.”  Does he know--does he care to know--that some of the world’s most brilliant scientists and scholars are committed to creationism?  Or would he deny their brilliance just because they believe in creationism?  The truth is: There are scholarly creationists in virtually every academic discipline, including biology, anthropology, sociology, geology, medicine and others.  Are they stupid because they believe in creationism?  Are they less effective as scholars because they reject and actively oppose evolution in all its forms?  Do the evolutionists know that committed creationists have made some of the greatest contributions to all branches of human learning or are they so prejudiced they overlook those contributions?

 

            Daniel C. Dennett serves as the Distinguished Arts and Sciences Professor and Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University in Massachusetts.  In 1995 Dennett wrote a book with the title, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life (New York: Simon & Schuster).  Before I read to you what Dennett thinks of creationists, I need to make a few comments about his comments about his commitment to Darwinism.  Dennett believes that evolution “the universal acid” which dissolves all of men’s problems.  Evolutionism tells us of our origin, our purpose for being here and where we will eventually go.  According to Daniel Dennett, Darwin explains the design we see in nature.  It has all happened as a “wonderful wedding of chance and necessity” (p. 520).  No fundamentalist preacher has ever been more devoted to his beliefs than is Daniel Dennett to the godless theory of evolution.

 

            Dennett believes that creationists who cannot peacefully coexist with the rest of us will have to be quarantined.  In so doing, we shall minimize the pain and damage caused by stubborn creationists.  Belief in God and in divine creation “has no glory, no special rights, no intrinsic and inalienable merit.”  If creationists persist in teaching their children that human beings are not the products of evolution by natural selection, evolutionists will characterize creationists as being guilty of spreading falsehoods (p. 519).  Dennett says he loves the King James Version of the Bible, but he rejects most of what it teaches.  Dennett says that lions have to be put in cages because they are dangerous.  He adds: “Safety demands that religions be put in cages, too--when it is necessary” (p. 515).  Should some religions be put in cages?  If religions advocate violence against those who disagree with them, those religions ought to be put in cages.  But to advocate putting all religions in the same category is blind bigotry.

 

            Does Dennett know that the men who killed hundreds of many millions of people in the twentieth century were devout believers in Darwinism?  Some who have called themselves Christians have mutilated and executed great numbers of people.  Christians who are cruel are acting contrary to the teaching of scripture.  But evolutionists do not have and in the very nature of the case cannot have any moral restrictions against killing those not worthy of life.  If evolutionists kill and mutilate, they are not acting contrary to their creed.  After all, those who are killed were not the fittest or they would have survived.  If you think I might be exaggerating, one excerpt from the book, Humanist Ethics (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1980), should convince you otherwise.  Dr. Will Durant, a man who went to seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest, wrote the introductory essay to the book I have just mentioned.  During his seminary studies, he encountered the writings of Charles Darwin.  He became an evolutionist and an atheist.  He realized that he had sacrificed all standards of right and wrong, good and evil.  Dr. Durant knew he could not discover a naturalistic ethic strong enough to “maintain moral restraint and social order without the support of supernatural consolations, hopes and fears” (p.8).  No evolutionist can find a natural ethic strong enough to maintain moral restraint and social order.  In the volume I have just mentioned, Humanist Ethics, Dr. Alastair Hannay of the University of Trondheim in Norway says very plainly: “The divine legislator and guarantor of human value has gone by the board, but the human legislator doesn't seem to have the credentials” (p. 187).  That means that evolutionists and atheists are free to make their rules as they go.  They are like the rebellious Israelites during the period of the Judges.  “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

 

            Richard Dawkins is one of the world’s most influential evolutionists.  His books, The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker, have set forth his views on evolution and on many other topics related to evolution.  William Demski’s book, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology (Downers Grove: InterVaristy Press, 1999) quotes Richard Dawkins as follows: “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that)” (p. 289).  This statement reminds me of Paul’s observation: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:22-23).  Richard Dawkins is a brilliant man, but from God’s point of view, he is very foolish.

 

            For the next few minutes, I will mention some of the world’s best-known creationists.  You can decide if they are ignorant, stupid, or insane or wicked.  Some of the men I shall mention call themselves committed Christians.  It is not my purpose to examine all of their beliefs and actions to determine if they are genuine New Testament Christians.  But I shall look briefly at some of the men who are vigorously fighting evolution and even more vigorously supporting creationism.  Some of the writers I list may be new to you, but their books are worth examining.

 

            Dr. William Demski’s books, The Design Inference and Intelligent Design--a book I mentioned a few minutes ago--completely destroy the theory of organic evolution.  But who is William A. Demski?  Is he some ignorant, backwoods preacher?  William Demski holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  He is the recipient of two fellowships from the National Science Foundation and is currently senior fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture.  He has done postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Northwestern University.  If you think he is ignorant or stupid or insane or wicked, read his books.  When you read his books, you will likely spend as much time in your dictionary as in the reading of his books.

 

            Dr. Demski teamed up with twenty nationally known scholars to produce a book with the title, Mere Creation: Science, Faith & Intelligent Design (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998).  I shall not take time to list all the authors who worked with Dr. Demski in the publishing of this outstanding book, but a few of them will show their academic qualifications to produce this scholarly work.  Among the authors are: David Berlinksi, Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton, Walter Bradley, Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, William Lane Craig, Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Birmingham in England, and Ph.D. in theology from the University of Munich, Robert Newman, Ph.D. in astrophysics from Cornell University and Henry F. Schaeffer III, Ph.D. in chemical physics from Stanford.  Do any of those men sound as if they are ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked?  I am not telling you that these men are right just because they have earned Ph.Ds from reputable institutions.  But these men’s academic credentials are just as impressive as those of Daniel Dennett or Richard Dawkins.

 

One of the most devastating critiques of evolution is Michael Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York: The Free Press, 1996).  Dr. Behe serves as Associate Professor at Lehigh University.  He shows conclusively that the complexity of organisms in our world cannot be explained by any theory of evolution.  He demonstrates that plants, animals and man were designed.  They were planned.  Dr. Demski admits that his own work on intelligent design would have been much more difficult without the work of Dr. Behe.  If you have a friend who is committed to evolution, you would do him or her a favor by presenting Michael Behe’s book to that person.  It is not an easy book to read but it is faith-building work.

 

            A. E. Wilder-Smith received his first doctorate in physical organic chemistry form Reading University in England.  He earned his second and third doctorates from the University of Switzerland.  He was a visiting professor at the Medical Center of the University of Illinois.  Later he served as Full Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Bergen Medical School in Norway.  He received three “Golden Apple” awards for the best course of lectures at the University of Illinois Medical Center.  Richard Dawkins has every right to disagree with Dr. Wilder-Smith, but nobody has a right to call him ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked.  Dr. Wilder-Smith’s books are very scholarly.  His books, Man’s Origin, Man’s Destiny and The Creation of Life are considered by many to be Christian classics.  I have profited greatly by reading his book, The Natural Sciences Know Nothing of Evolution (San Diego: Master Books, 1981).

 

            Phillip E. Johnson was graduated from Harvard.  He has a law degree from the University of Chicago.  For several years, he served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court.  He has for the past thirty years taught law at the University of California, Berkley.  Dr. Johnson has written four outstanding books on evolution: Darwin on Trial (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press 1991), An Easy-to Understand Guide for Defeating Darwinism (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997), Objects Sustained: Subversive Essays on Evolution, Law & Culture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998) and Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2000).  If you read these four books, you will be prepared to answer most evolutionists.  If you want to know about the logical errors of evolutionism, you can hardly do better than read Phillip Johnson’s great books.

 

            I do not want to leave the impression that only those scholars who claim to be Christians oppose the evolutionary hypothesis.  Dr. Michael Denton, an Australian physician and molecular biologist, write a powerful refutation of evolution.  His book has the title, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1985).  Dr. Denton says the “new developments in science are challenging orthodox Darwinism.”  He thinks that “ultimately the Darwinian theory of evolution is no more nor less that the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century.”  But he does not accept the Genesis account of creation.  Dr. Denton exposes evolution from a purely scientific viewpoint (p. 358).  Dr. Denton’s book completely shatters the theory of organic evolution.

 

            I have shown in our study today that evolutionists are dead wrong when they call creationists ignorant or stupid or insane or wicked.  Many of the leading scientists in the world--beginning in the time of Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species--are committed creationists, although many of them did not claim to be Christians.  Dr. Michael Denton’s book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, quotes these words from Louis Agassiz, long time professor of zoology at Harvard: The living world “shows also premeditation, wisdom, greatness, prescience, omniscience, providence...all these facts...proclaim aloud the One God whom man may know, and natural history must, in good time become the analysis of the thoughts of the Creator of the Universe, as manifested in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, as well as in the inorganic world” (p. 20).  Louis Agassiz did not claim to be a Christian and did not accept the Genesis account of creation.  But he had the wisdom to know that evolution was not a legitimate approach to the origin of the universe.

 

            We know what most, if not all, evolutionists think of creationists.  What do creationists think of evolutionists?  We do not--at least, I do not--believe they are ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked, although there are probably some evolutionists--just as there are some creationists--who belong in all those categories.  I look upon evolutionists as being deceived.  They have in many cases decided not to accept the word of God and have worked diligently to develop some worldview that would help them to explain--at least, to their satisfaction--where we originated, why we are here and where we are going.  The theory of evolution does not provide answers to any of these questions, but many evolutionists believe it does.

 

            Have evolutionists embraced Darwinism in order to soothe their consciences for turning away from God and his word?  Paul may not have been thinking of evolutionists when he wrote, “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” (Rom. 1:18), but they surely apply to most evolutionists.  When men and women do not want to have to give an account to the Creator of this universe, they can develop theories which free them in their own minds from such responsibilities.  Does that really happen?  You know it does but not just to evolutionists.  It also happens to men and women who have devoted their lives to worldly pleasures.

 

            In 1966 Dr. Robert Clark and Dr. James D. Bales wrote an eye-opening book entitled Why Scientists Accept Evolution (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House).  The book has one section on Herbert Spencer, a radical evolutionist.  According to Clark and Bales, Herbert Spencer, embraced evolution “not because of evidence, but because it was the only thing that he could accept after rejecting creation.”  Four years before the publication of The Origin of Species, Spencer wrote as follows to Charles Darwin: “Save for those who will adhere to the Hebrew myth, or to the doctrine of special creations derived from it, there is no alternative but this hypothesis or no hypothesis” (p. 56).  In other words, Spencer accepted evolution by default.  He would not accept the biblical account of creation.  Evolution was the only theory left.  That is not a very valid or scholarly basis for choosing a worldview.

 

            There is much more I would like to discuss with you today, but I shall close with a few observations.  Rejecting the creationism o the Bible, to use Paul’s language, means man is without a Savior, without God and without hope (Eph. 2:12).  Living without God has many serious consequences in this world, but none compared to the world to come.  Will you today commit your life to God almighty and enjoy the great and precious promises of the gospel?  Please confess your faith in Christ, turn away from sins and be baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins.  You will never regret your decision.

 

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

 

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