Science in Christian Perspective

Letter

 

Evolution


From: JASA 15 (June 1963): 66-67.

I agree that God could have created living things through a process of extensive evolution; however, since He is Truth, He could not have used the evolutionary process and at the same time declare that He accomplished creation through a series of fiat acts. What could be more clear than His declaration of the creation of the "kinds" in Genesis 1, or what more definite than His careful attempt to state the exact geographical location of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10-14) ?

I heartily agree that natural selection based on variation is a valid biological force. . . . but it is my firm conviction that many evangelicals show a great deal of disrespect for the Word of God when they try to picture God as doing something which His own written words (Gen. 1-2) clearly exclude. I know that some argue that God could not state His process in terms which the early peoples could understand, but that puts God in the position of leading people to believe an erroneous idea. That argument also seems to declare an omnipotent God unable to accurately convey the account of creation to the peoples whom He created. Surely God is master of language as well as of biological processes.

My primary reason for writing is my observation of the devastating effect which a loose handling of the Genesis account of creation has upon young people here in North Carolina. The attitude so often is that if it is all right to allegorize a few chapters, should we perhaps not do the same to other chapters-and therefore we must not take the Bible too seriously. This is an actual attitude prevalent around us, and greatly enhances Satan's blinding influence upon the unregenerate.

Dan E. Wonderly Wingate College