Sunday 11th January: Does evolution rule out creation?
Adam and Eve
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God
made the earth and the heavens-- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no
plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was
no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface
of the ground-- 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the LORD God had planted a
garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all
kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the
middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A
river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four
headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of
Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also
there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14The
name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the
Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take
care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the
garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat
of it you will surely die."
We began our series called Quizzing the Creator last week by considering whether science
disproves God or actually provides evidence for his existence.
Although science gives us wonderful technical insights into how our world works, when it
comes to bigger questions of meaning, beauty and purpose, we need to turn to theology to
provide us with answers. When we ask things like why the universe may be described with
mathematics and logic at all, or why the universe is so finely balanced that we can sit here
this morning without being vaporised or why we can enjoy the beauty of music or
friendship, we begin to realise just as many scientists are concluding, that there is a strong
case for God: Someone who not only created the universe, but loves his creation and
continues to sustain it on a daily basis.
Well this week I want to address a debate that has been raging ever since Charles Darwin
published his ‘Origin of the species’ in 1859.
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Looking at the evidence he had collected on his expedition on the HMS Beagle to places like
the Galapagos Islands, along with fossil records and observations of selective breeding,
Darwin proposed that the amazing biodiversity that we see around us is the result of
populations evolving over the course of generations through what he called ‘natural
selection’, (which was later dubbed ‘survival of the fittest’). The ground-breaking implication
to this theory was that all living things on earth were descended from common ancestors,
through tiny changes down the evolutionary tree over millions of years.
Up until that time science was most often supported by the Church, as part of what was
called ‘natural theology’. As I mentioned last week, it was said that God had written two
books, the book of scripture and the book of nature, and scientists saw it as their privilege
to uncover the mysteries of God’s creation.
But despite Darwin’s references to the creator and natural theology in the Origin of the
Species, a guy called Thomas Huxley and a group of scientist friends who called themselves
The X Club seized upon this new theory to advance the secularisation of science and
separate it from the church. In particular, they wanted to ensure that science would from
that time on be naturalistic, in other words, God and the miraculous should never be used
as an explanation for the unknown.
So from then on, the theory of Evolution was lumbered with something of an atheistic
agenda when really it wasn’t intended to be so divisive.
In the 150 years since its publication the theory of Evolution has been corroborated by
various evidence, not least the discovery of DNA in 1953 which contains the genetic code for
cellular reproduction.
The great area of research into the evolution of different species is now focussed on
analysing the information encoded in DNA, because each strand of DNA seems to carry with
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it whole chunks of code that were useful at one time in the evolutionary cycle but are now
redundant.
You and I are chock a block full of DNA. Every cell in our body contains DNA – it was first
discovered in samples of pus - Yuk! If a DNA molecule was stretched out from its double
helix structure and laid out on the floor, it would be 2 metres long, which means we have
enough DNA in our body to stretch to the moon and back over a 1000 times!
In 1990 the US Government funded some research called the Human Genome project which
was tasked to determine the sequence of base pairs in human DNA and map all the genes
which shape our heredity. The project was led by a guy called Francis Collins who is himself
an eminent genetic biologist and also a committed Christian.
In June 2000, Collins was joined by President Bill Clinton and biologist Craig Venter in
making the announcement of a working draft of the human genome. He stated that "It is
humbling for me, and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our
own instruction book, previously known only to God."
At University Collins was an atheist, but dealing with dying patients led him to question his
beliefs. He familiarized himself with the evidence for and against God in cosmology and read
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis before he finally prayed and became a Christian on an autumn
afternoon walk.
Collins said this: ‘I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity
to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our
scientific adventures.’
So for people like Francis Collins, there is no conflict between Evolution and Creation – he
would describe himself as an Evolutionary Creationist, in good company with people like BB
Warfield, Asa Gray and James McCosh who wrote the original book on Christian
Fundamentals. These guys fully accepted the authority of scripture and the biblical doctrine
of creation, but traced God’s providential purposes and handiwork through the long
evolutionary process.
However for other people, the evolutionary creationist approach is simply unbiblical. Dr
Henry Morris, who died in 2006 founded the Creation research society, is considered to be
the father of the modern ‘Creation science’ movement. From analysis of the biblical record,
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they believe the earth must be less than 10,000 years old, and that it was created in 6 24
hour days as is written in Genesis 1.
In America, young earth creationism as it’s called receives a lot of support: A 2012 Gallup
survey reports that 46% of Americans believe in the view that God created humans in their
present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.
In his bookThe Long War Against God: The History and Impact of the Creation/Evolution
Conflict Morris wrote that "rejecting the reality of supernatural creation and the creator's
sovereign rule of the world has always been the root cause of every human problem."
Young earth creationists would also challenge some of the assumptions of evolutionary
biology, such as how DNA was initially formed at all. Even if you have a primordial soup full
of the right elements (Darwin called it ‘a little warm pond somewhere’), with an energy kick
such as a lightning strike, it’s still virtually impossible for the complex molecules to
spontaneously form which could give rise to life. It’s so unlikely that some chemical
evolutionists have suggested that the first complex organic molecules must have fallen to
earth from space, but of course that then begs the question where did the Space molecules
come from?
Also it is still not clear at all where the new additional DNA information comes from for the
bigger jumps, the so-called ‘Macro evolution’ of new species. So there are difficulties on
both sides, whatever your thoughts on the beginning.
However, in his book Creation or Evolution Dr. Denis Alexander reminds us that ‘all
Christian’s are by definition creationists.’ He quotes Hebrews 11:2:
By faith we understand that the Universe was formed at God’s command, so that what was
seen was not made out of what was visible.
Where we differ is largely how we interpret the bible, and particularly the opening chapters
of Genesis.
We read today from Genesis chapter 2, which is the second of the two accounts of Creation
in Genesis. The first account in chapter 1 outlines the 6 days of creation of the whole
universe, light, sun, moon and stars, and the formation of the heavens and earth and all
living things, plants, animals and mankind – male and female, both made in God’s image.
We read that God saw that it was very good and so he rested on the seventh day.
The second begins at Chapter 2 verse 4, which in the original Hebrew literally reads [Slides]:
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This is the family history of the created heavens and earth, in the day Yahweh God
formed the earth and heavens:
There are a couple of important things to point out about this second creation Account
which are different from the first. Firstly here begins the particular history of Israel which is
why it is termed a family history, the first of many genealogical accounts that follow
throughout Genesis. And so the Hebrew name Yahweh (sometimes translated Jehovah) is
used for God, not just God or Elohim. Yahweh is the God of Israel of the Old Testament and
the name Jesus is from the Hebrew Jeshua – Yahweh saves. The world was made for
relationship.
The next thing to notice is that the Hebrew text says ‘in the day God formed the earth and
the heavens.’ (Even though the NIV misses the word day out) The Hebrew word for day here
is Yom and it is used both here and previously for each of the seven days in Chapter one. But
day in this passage covers the whole time period of the creation process from start to finish.
So it could be that the six days of creation refer to time periods as well – after all it says in 2
Peter 3v8 it says ‘With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like
a day.’
I think we can get into trouble if try to read the first chapters of Genesis as a scientific text.
Instead they very clearly tell us the initial conditions of our place in the world and our
relationship to God.
Verse 7 says the Lord God formed the man (adam) from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis is very clear on a couple of points about the creation of Adam and Eve. First, human
beings are the high point of creation, made in God’s image, which means we uniquely
designed to reflect Gods characteristics. We are creative, thoughtful and spiritual: God
interacts with human beings in a unique way – differently to animals. The life that God
breathed into Adam is his life-giving Spirit. Ecclesiastes 3v11 says ‘He has set eternity in the
human heart’. We not only have a soul, but also the free will to choose and question too.
God said ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’ God has
given us the ability to make moral decisions, communicate and appreciation of beauty and a
sense of right and wrong which is unique in creation.
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God also made people with purpose – the earth could not produce crops without anyone to
work the ground and take care of it. Throughout the bible the wellbeing of the earth is very
much linked with the well-being of people. God designed work to be good and for our
creativity to enhance the earth, not destroy it. Adam’s role was to work alongside God in the
Garden as care-taker.
God didn’t just start everything off and leave – he remains intimately involved in all that
happens.
The word Eden means ‘pleasure’ – God intended human existence to be pleasurable.
Finally Man was created with provision – God blessed them with plenty of water, plenty of
food and protection.
So to answer the question does evolution rule out creation? Not at all, in my opinion.
However we must insist on a few things. First we are not simply here by accident. You are
not the product of a random mutation, but rather uniquely created by God with a special
purpose. We are different from animals. We can experience the pleasures of loving God in
this life and beyond – especially as Jesus came to restore us to the full relationship status
that God originally intended for us in the Garden of Eden.
As we operate as we are designed to be, creative, productive and above all in relationship
with God and each other, we live the life of worship to our Creator that he intended.
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