A Thousand Forms of Error, One Little Truth

If you’ve studied evolution for very long, you’ve surely run into arguments that are hard to understand—perhaps even in this issue. If you haven’t been stumped yet, you will.

After reading our series of articles on “Puzzles Evolution Can’t Solve,” perhaps you feel a little more confident to discuss these topics with the general public. But what if you run into someone who has read up on the latest research? The authors of these articles are PhDs or PhD candidates, writing in their specialty. Yet even they wouldn’t pretend to know the answers to every possible objection that the world’s leading experts might throw their way. And that’s in their field!

Mike Matthews
Editor in Chief

So what are we to do?

Answers magazine attempts to make difficult topics understandable to the average person. But without some background, each subject quickly delves into details that few people are prepared to understand rigorously. That’s especially true when trying to show how the experts are wrong!

Our goal is not to prepare readers to answer every last argument they are likely to hear. That would be impossible. We have something else in mind, which everyone can achieve.

A Little Gem

I learned a gem in school from the early French essayist Michel de Montaigne, “On Liars.” It helps me every time we cover difficult topics.

Error can take a thousand forms, while the truth has only one form. The lesson? We can never hope to overcome error by proving it wrong. People who are committed to error will just seek another form of error. The possibilities for error are unlimited. Like a multi-headed hydra, every time we cut down one head, two will arise to take its place.

Montaigne put it this way: “The Pythagoreans regard good as certain and finite, and evil as boundless and uncertain. There are a thousand ways of missing the bull’s eye, only one of hitting it.”

Our answer to error is to focus on the truths we know for certain. No matter how little experience we have with science, we still know the “big picture” from the Bible.

“It is impossible for God to lie,” says Hebrews 6:18. God is the source of all life on earth, created just a few thousand years ago, contrary to evolution.

We aren’t obligated to go into all the details if we aren’t sure about them. In fact, it is foolish to try. Our main duty is to “speak the truth” (Ephesians 4:15) and not proudly speculate on things we don’t understand.

We won’t win people by arguments alone, anyway. The struggle over truth is ultimately a spiritual issue. As Christ said, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” (Mark 10:15).

The blind man whom Jesus healed in John 9 shows us the way. The Pharisees were so committed to defaming the Lord that they had no interest in the truth. Every time the blind man gave them answers, they questioned his integrity and just asked more questions.

The blind man’s answer is priceless. “Whether He is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). He spoke what He knew. And that’s all that God asks of us.