Evolution and the Bible
Regular readers of our Discovery magazine know that we often talk about the theory of evolution. This can sometimes get a little confusing. You see, in most books that discuss evolution, the authors use two different definitions of the word. First, the word evolution is defined as “change over time.” We all recognize that living things change over time. All we have to do is look around us and we quickly see that we don’t look like we did five years ago, and neither do our parents or our pets. “So,” we are told, “evolution is true.” But then, the authors include a different idea in which they state that a single-celled organism “changed over time” into all the different forms of life that we see today. This definition of evolution is the one we read most about in science books, and it is the one that is wrong. While a single-celled organism can change a little over time, it can never change into a human. Unfortunately, many people have been deceived into thinking that there is scientific evidence that proves one tiny form of life can change over millions of years into all forms of life. That kind of change never happened. That kind of evolution is false.
In fact, it is sad to say that many Christians have been convinced that evolution is true. They then try to fit into the Bible this idea of a tiny form of life changing into all forms of life. The problem is, there is no way to fit this false evolutionary idea into the Bible without doing serious damage to what the Bible says. Let’s look at the reasons we know evolution cannot be fit into the Bible.
The Order of Creation
In Genesis chapter 1, the Bible explains how God created the entire Universe. The inspired author writes about the order in which the Creation occurred. He tells how God made light on Day 1, the firmament on Day 2, all plants on Day 3, the Sun, Moon, and stars on Day 4, the flying and swimming animals on Day 5, and land-living animals and humans on Day 6. The theory of evolution, however, says that this order cannot be correct. For instance, according to evolution, land-living dinosaurs “evolved” 220 million years ago and eventually evolved into birds. The Bible, however, says that birds were created before dinosaurs and could not have evolved from them. Evolutionary theory also says that many animals evolved before flowering plants ever arrived. The Bible plainly states that God created all the kinds of plants on Day 3, before any animals were created. The order of Creation in Genesis 1 cannot be reconciled with the order presented by the theory of evolution.
Adam and Eve
The theory of evolution tells us that humans evolved from lower animals. Supposedly, about three million years ago, primates (or ape-like creatures) began to gradually evolve into the first humans. The Bible clearly states quite the opposite. According to Genesis 1, God specially created Adam and Eve on Day 6 of Creation. Humans did not evolve from the lower animals, but were made in God’s image from the very beginning (Mark 10:6). Adam and Eve were very intelligent from the moment they were created. Furthermore, we read that Adam “called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). According to evolution, it is impossible for all humans to be the descendants of Adam and Eve. Yet the Bible clearly teaches we are.
In addition, we read about how Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. This sin is talked about in the New Testament. Paul explained that physical death came upon humans when the first man, Adam, sinned (Romans 5:12-18). Before Adam and Eve sinned, no humans ever died, because there were no humans living before them. According to evolution, however, humans or human-like creatures died by the millions as they evolved. If Adam and Eve really were the first two humans, as the Bible says, and all other humans came from them, evolution cannot be true.
A Global Flood
If evolution were true, then all the animals we see living today must have gotten here after millions of years of slow, gradual change. If, however, there was a global Flood only a few thousand years ago, and each kind of animal was represented on Noah’s Ark, then the animals we see today would be the offspring of those animals that were on the Ark. Furthermore, the Flood would have caused many thousands of fossils to form and would have changed the way the physical world looks. The theory of evolution, however, insists that fossils were formed over millions of years, and no global Flood ever occurred. In fact, if the global Flood happened, both evolutionists and those who believe in Creation admit that evolution would be impossible.
Again, the New Testament has something to say about the Flood. In 2 Peter 3, we are told that “scoffers” will come. A scoffer is someone who makes fun of another person or mocks a person’s beliefs. The scoffers will demand that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (3:4). Peter then tells us that the scoffers “willingly forget” two events that happened in history. First, they forget that God spoke the world into existence during Creation (3:5). Second, they willingly forget that “the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water” (3:6).
We know this Flood covered the whole Earth for several reasons.
First, the account of the Flood in Genesis is a historic narrative that is written in a way that is relating real events. The text says that the waters covered “all the high hills under the whole heaven” (7:19). It further states “all flesh died…. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things… Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (7:21-23). Not only does the Bible tell us what was killed, stressing “all” land-living and flying creatures, but it also tells us the only creatures that lived—those on the Ark.
Second, we know the Flood covered the whole globe because the sign of the rainbow can be seen all over the Earth. God told Noah that He promised never to flood the entire globe again. God explained that the rainbow was a sign of this promise that He made “between Me and the earth” and “all flesh that is on the earth” (9:9-17). Since that time there have been many local floods in some parts of the world that sometimes have even killed thousands of people and covered thousands of acres of land. There has never been, and never will be, however, a flood that covers the entire Earth again.
Third, the apostle Peter connected the Flood of Noah to the coming of Christ (2 Peter 3:6-7). He explained that the world that was destroyed by the Flood is the same one that is waiting for the Second Coming. When Christ comes again, the whole Earth will be affected, not just one small area. In the same way, the whole Earth was affected by the Flood.
Evolution Does Not Fit
In truth, the theory of evolution does not fit. It does not fit the scientific facts that we know to be true, which we have dealt with in other issues of Discovery. Neither does it fit the biblical account of Creation, Adam and Eve, and the global Flood of Noah’s day. While it is true that many very intelligent people believe the false theory of evolution, they are simply wrong and have been deceived. We should do all we can to help them see the truth of what the Bible says, as well as the scientific evidence that disproves evolution.
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