Lesson 9: Evolution

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

It's inevitable that you’ll be presented with the theory of evolution as fact. Today, many ridicule anyone who question the theory of evolution; even after considering that more than 80% of college graduates agree to having the academic freedom to discussing both the strengths and weaknesses of evolution as a scientific theory. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines evolution as:

“biology : a theory that the differences between modern plants and animals are because of changes that happened by a natural process over a very long time.”

Whenever you hear of evolution, the illustration showing the transformation of a monkey to a man might come to mind. Evolution theorizes that a simple form eventually became a complex form (humankind).

Charles Darwin  (1809-1882) is the name most commonly associated with evolution. At one point in his life he was a christian and clergyman. He stated that he “did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible.” His views of God were changed after being exposed to the cruelties of slavery and the death of his 10-year-old daughter. He started to question God and the reasons He would allow such horrible things to happen. Eventually, he became an agnostic. His well-known literary work, The Origin of Species, was revolutionary and many thought it explained evolution through his idea of natural selection (the process by which plants and animals that can adapt to changes in their environment are able to survive and reproduce while those that cannot adapt do not survive).

The Bible teaches that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). It also teaches us that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). As Bible believing christians we refute the idea that humankind came from some simple form. Below are three arguments that invalidate the idea of evolution.

1. The earth is more than 6,000 years old. Evolution would require at minimum, millions of years for transformations to happen.
2. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the blueprint to life. This is the long ladder twisted into a spiral. This is an amazing and complex code that it’s unlikely  we came into existence by accident. Some have argued instead, that we must consider the possibility of a Creator. Scientist Francis Collins stated,

“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1-billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”

Also, while there may be DNA similarities between chimpanzees and humans (86-99%), we can’t arrive at the conclusion that we have a common ancestry. Steven Jones, a renowned British geneticist, humorously commented, “We also share about 50% of our DNA with bananas and that doesn’t make us half bananas.”

3. Remember that illustration of a monkey transforming into a man? Well, if evolution was correct, you’ll think there would be many fossils showing these transitions. Wrong. There are none. Richard Leakey, paleoanthropologist admitted,

“If pressed about man’s ancestry, I would have to unequivocally say that all we have is a huge question mark. To date, there has been nothing found to truthfully purport as a transitional species to man, including Lucy…”

Each day, this world grows farther and farther away from God and with it -- it’s uncertainty of where it came from and where it’s heading. Remember that you’re God’s creation and he has a purpose for you. You did not simply come to be from dirt or bacteria. Allow God to fulfill His purpose in you.

Quiz link: https://goo.gl/forms/M80wKYavIAlafKPi1