Life Doesn’t Evolve Around Darwin . . . But . . .

Our Answers in Genesis theme for 2009 is the above headline, “Life Doesn’t Evolve Around Darwin.”

Why this theme? First, let me make a few observations about the culture in America today. At Christmas, we don’t sing carols such as the following, do we?

Silent Night, Holy Night,
All is calm, All is bright,
For Charles Darwin we just want to say
Thanks for showing us the evolutionary way,
We’re glad we know we’re an ape
We’re glad we know we’re an ape

And we have never heard of anyone constructing a calendar like the following, have we?

BC (Before Charles) and AD (After Darwin)

If someone used this kind of calendar, we would of course be living in the year AD 200 On this basis, Abraham lived around 3,800 BC.

Here is another thing as it relates to the calendar. Our culture (as well as cultures around the world) base the workweek on a seven-day period, and it’s not something arbitrary. Ever wonder why? (The answer in a moment.) The real “Silent Night” carol is about a special baby born in Bethlehem around 2,000 years ago, certainly not Charles Darwin. Jesus was the Son of God who became the “God-man” to be the Savior of the world.

BC means “Before Christ” and AD is Latin for “In the year of our Lord.” Although some secularists have tried to change these designations, the event of Christ’s birth had such an impact on the world that we still date our calendars from that miraculous event in Bethlehem.

The seven-day week is based on the Bible—specifically the fact that God created the universe and all life in six literal days and rested for one literal day.

Some people have also unsuccessfully tried to change the seven-day week (basically, six days of work and one day of rest). The seven-day week is not based on some arbitrary division of time, but on the Creation Week in Genesis. While the division of times we call day, month, and year come from astronomical observations, the seven-day week is based on the Bible—specifically the fact that God created the universe and all life in six literal days and rested for one literal day. That is why God, through Moses, used the Creation Week in the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:11) as the foundation for our seven-day week today.

This past December, I was thinking about how almost all Americans once celebrated a special time of the year, Christmas, and its wonderful significance. Over the years, however, secularists have been increasingly successful in “gutting” the meaning of Christmas. They now refer to this time in December with the generic term “holidays.” The media have followed suit, and today the reason for Christmas—to celebrate Christ’s birth—is ignored by a greater number of people.

It has come to the point that I wouldn’t be totally surprised if one day, secular Darwinists (who are about to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday on February 12) came up with their own carols, with lyrics such as what was presented earlier, tongue in cheek.

We live in a world in which evolutionists’ ideas of Darwin permeate our education system, media, and culture as a whole. Students are being taught as fact that man is just another animal that evolved from some ape-like creature, that life is the result of natural processes, and that nothing supernatural was involved in the formation of the universe and the development of life.

This month, on February 12, is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. And 150 years ago this October, Darwin’s famous book On the Origin of Species was published, which popularized his evolutionary ideas to the world.

The secular world (and sadly even many churches1) is now starting to celebrate Darwin—almost in a sense of worshiping him as some kind of god. Recently nearly 60 members of Parliament in the United Kingdom signed an EDM (Early Day Motion, which is not necessarily expected to become a law but is intended to make a point) to suggest making February 12 an annual national public holiday: “Darwin Day.” This month, secular (and some church-based) educational institutions around the world will be spending millions of dollars to run special programs to promote Darwin and his evolutionary ideas (several events in our Cincinnati area alone). Many leading magazines have given Darwin their front cover promotion.

Secular humanists are trying to change the culture, and Christian events (like Christmas) and the Bible are being removed from the culture.

The truth is that life has not evolved, as Darwin believed. And the world does not evolve around Darwin. Not at all!

But . . .

The world actually revolves around our Creator and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we wrote before:

• BC and AD attest to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “God-man” 2,000 years ago
• the seven-day week attests to the fact that God created the universe and life in six days and rested for one

The world certainly does not evolve around Darwin.

Ultimately, to know what this “Darwin Year” is all about as far as the secular world is concerned, I point you to Romans 1:18–32. Weep and pray—for this is America and England (Darwin’s homeland) today:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.