As a Christian excited about the mission of this journal, I feel the need to respond to the article in the last issue entitled, Looking Beyond the Literal: How to read Genesis 1–3 and why it matters
by John Stern. Stern rightly exhorts the reader to consider that the simplest interpretations of Scripture are not always the most accurate. Indeed, the serious theologian must avoid drawing conclusions predicated on unnecessary or invalid assumptions. However, the serious theologian needs also to pursue the Scriptures wholeheartedly, avoiding the inevitable temptation to interpret Scripture based on popular assumptions. To use Galilean terms, the book of nature cannot be a basis for neglecting the book of Scripture.
In light of this, Stern’s final argument prompts cause for concern:
“I only argue that if God made humanity by such a process [evolution], who are we to object? Does Genesis definitively teach that God could not have done so? The church should carefully consider whether it is worth alienating non-Christians over this issue, and how many unbelievers would be open to Christ if the church accepted merely the possibility of a divinely-ordered evolutionary creation.”So why should we object? Only if Scripture, the other book of God’s revelation, compels us to do so.
Is there anything about evolution that makes it incompatible with God’s Word? Though evolutionary theory may not be as codified as the Bible, there is common ground all evolutionists agree upon, whether theistic or not. It is this: many generations and time must pass for the ‘changes’ to take place within the species of flora and fauna. The life cycle is necessary for evolution to take place, meaning generations of natural selection as it occurs today, namely, bodily corruption and death.
Yet the scriptural perspective is clear. Human mortality (along with the mortality of all creation) came about in the Garden of Eden as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. If one affirms this doctrine, then one cannot easily adhere to any classic or theistic evolutionary explanation of creation. To fail to affirm such a teaching would be to diminish the Bible’s presentation of Original Sin, an essential doctrine defined and adhered to by all the church fathers we have available to cite. Romans 5:12 asserts,
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned . . .According to Romans 5:12, sin wasn’t present in the world prior to Adam. So neither was death, and therefore by its own definition, evolution. The theory of Natural Selection can be verified in modern science. Those that can adapt and overpower are rewarded with life and continuance. Everyone else dies (and eventually, so does the one who overcame the others). It is that simple. Though this point can be expanded upon, the main concept is that God’s redemption is inextricably linked to death and sin. God did not create that which would die, especially not that which would kill. Genesis 1:28–30 describes the initial state of creation:
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.What we see here is that man and animal were not created to kill one another. Natural selection, though true, is a result of the curse. To deny this is to undercut major tenets of Scripture, including the gospel teaching on redemption that appears throughout the Scriptures, which I unfortunately do not have the space to elaborate upon here.