Today, February 12, is Charles Darwin’s birthday. Around America and probably the UK as well, evolutionists are celebrating “Darwin Day” in honor of his life and studies. Sadly, even some churches have embraced Darwin and evolution and are teaching that evolution and the Bible are compatible, as part of “Evolution Sunday” this weekend. There are also Christian organizations attempting to get church leaders to accept evolutionary ideas and add them to the Bible.
As I wrote in my blog last month, secularists are trying to get Darwin Day recognized as a national holiday here in America. Right now, both a Senate and a House resolution are trying to accomplish this. Really, this is just another sign of the growing secularism in our culture. The religion of this age is naturalism (which is essentially atheism)—that’s what’s taught in our public schools and colleges. This religion is being forced on our culture in the name of “science.” But, really, it’s just an interpretation of the evidence, based on a belief about the past that rejects any supernatural involvement. The evidence (like fossils and rocks) doesn’t speak for itself—it must be interpreted, and it’s largely interpreted through the lens of millions of years, evolution, and naturalism. Generations of students have had the religion of atheism imposed upon them by the state—it has really become the state church.
Although we should expect our secular culture to embrace Darwin (after all, he’s the high priest of their religion), what’s truly sad is the fact that so much of the church has rejected the clear teaching of God’s Word in favor of man’s fallible ideas about origins. By accepting evolution and millions of years, the church has done the same thing the ancient Israelites did in the Old Testament. They mixed God’s Word with the idols and sinful practices around them—and God judged them for it. So many churches today are doing the same thing! They are picking and choosing which parts of God’s Word they will trust and are adding man’s ideas—really, man’s religion—into God’s Word. And remember what happened to the Israelites as a result of their compromise!
We need to start our thinking with God’s Word. God, who is outside of time, has clearly told us what He did and how He did it to bring the space/mass/time universe and all life into existence. He does not lie (Titus 1:2), and His Word will endure (Isaiah 40:8). Humans, on the other hand, were not there at the beginning of the universe, and are driven by sin to be their own god (Genesis 3:5). Evolutionary ideas are based on a desire to explain life and the universe without God. Why should that kind of philosophy have any place in the church? It shouldn’t! God’s Word needs to be our starting point—not man’s sinful and fallible ideas.
On February 12 (and on every day of the year), we need to be exalting our eternal Creator God, not a fallible sinful human who has already had to face his Creator!
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.