See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. Colossians 2:8
So, why is the creation vs. evolution controversy so important? Who really cares how life and mankind originated and what does it matter? You should be able to get a flavor for why I believe it is important by reading other pages on this site, but I will try to summarize below:
Up until the mid 18th century — for literally thousands of years — most learned men accepted the biblical timeline and the position that the earth was created by God about 4000 B.C. Then, Scottish geologist and physician James Hutton looked at the rock record and announced that he had discovered “time.” Other men in England and on the European Continent began to see the rocks as older; first as greater than 10,000 years, then hundreds of thousands of years and then thousands of millions of years. By the 1830’s Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology books began influencing many to accept the principle of uniformitarianism (“the past is determined by the present”) and the philosophy of millions of years. The underlying purpose of Lyell and others of his ilk was to undermine the Anglican Church and disprove the accuracy of the Bible. Those mostly atheistic, deistic or Unitarian believers set out primarily to discredit the Bible’s account of a worldwide Genesis Flood some 1600 years after the Creation.
It is important to understand that these men were acting according to their philosophical worldview and not doing real science since the catastrophic actions of the past cannot be redone in any laboratory of today. The argument is really over the interpretation of history, not over science.
Hutton and Lyell especially set the stage for Darwin’s theory of evolution and without Lyell’s books and influence it is doubtful that Darwin would have ever published The Origin of Species.
Christians need to understand that millions of years and evolution are nowhere to be found in the Bible and to accept them is to accept atheistic or deistic presuppositions.
The late Dr. Henry Morris in the Introduction to his Defender’s Study Bible states:
“The written Word of God, with its glorious message of creation, redemption and eternal life with God, has always been under attack by the secular world and the unseen hosts of darkness who control it. Yet, out of the ungodly world, year after year, God chooses some to follow Him, and He has provided a wonderful plan of salvation and everlasting joy for all who respond to His call, believe His Word and receive His incarnate Son as Savior and Lord.”
What could be more important to any person than salvation and everlasting joy?
If you have any questions about God’s truth and your salvation, I always suggest as a good start an open minded reading or re-reading of Genesis, the Gospel of John and the book of Romans.
Finally, informed atheists completely understand the importance of the evolution vs. creation battle. Compromised Christians need to seriously consider quotations such as the following:
“Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”
Bozarth, G. Richard, “The Meaning of Evolution,” American Atheist (February 1978), p. 30.
Yes, the study of origins really does matter!
J.D. Mitchell
