Creation Vs Evolution

Creation vs Evolution

I’ve brought up the subject of post modernism, several times in the past. This free thought, anything goes mentality. Truth equating to relativism. You have your truth and I’ll have mine. Clearly I haven’t spoken very favorable of post modern behavior. I am being a little unfair. Post modernism isn’t all bad. Our country is one that is still (for now) a free country. It is suppose to allow people to worship how they see fit. People are suppose to have the freedom of speech and even protest, even when we often don’t agree. My millennial generation isn’t all bad. Millennials often challenge the status quo, and it either stands or falls depending on its integrity. When it comes to our church, I do my best, and I believe we all should, to listen to peoples thoughts even if they are outside the box sometimes, before I claim them as heretics…no I haven’t ever gone as extreme as to use that word, but I know others quicker to use that word. I, myself, don’t really care much for name-calling. That said, when it comes to our beliefs and doctrines of our church, once they have been examined and held up, I do believe it is important to make clear the fundamental truths we hold are not simply relative truths, they do indeed matter. One truth, I have heard questioned countless times, or often even the question has been asked, “what difference does it make?” in regard to our stance on the origins of life and planet Earth. Some argue that creation science should be equated to an earlier held belief that the world was flat, and not a sphere. Some suggest, were living in the age of enlightenment. There is so much symbolism in the Bible, what difference does it make if I believe in the literal 6 day creation story or believe that maybe God created the world over a period of time. If I still believe in Jesus and salvation through him, what difference does it make? Is it possible to dismiss the Genesis account of creation and still remain a Bible believing Christian? Today, it is my intention to examine this discussion and help us decide if it does indeed make a difference, and through this examination, I hope you will not miss the opportunity to embrace the wonderful love Jesus has for each one if us here. Whether you hold one stance or another, I assure you, Jesus loves you no matter what. Lets pray.

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Some attempt to dismiss the creation story as simply poetry, an allegory, or an origins myth. Others read Peter’s words that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years” () and speculate that creation week was spread out over thousands or millions of years. There are others who believe that God, the supreme Being, created Earth, but that He did so through the mechanism of natural laws that He had earlier set in motion. They assert that He used, or even created, the process of evolution over millions of years to accomplish His purpose. This viewpoint is known as theistic evolution. Indeed, there are many scientists and theologians who believe in God and attend church and are thoroughly convinced of the fact of Evolution. There may have been simpler times, when everyone was convinced of God’s existence, or maybe the two choices were you believe in the creation story, and a literal flood….or you don’t and subscribe to the Evolutionary “theory.” With all of these different view points, the answer in many minds have become less simple. In fact good friends of mine are suggesting that it doesn’t matter. Personally I do believe it does matter. Addressing the questions about creation, is the same as inspecting your home before purchasing it. You wouldn’t buy a house that’s structural integrity was being attacked by termites would you? You wouldn’t feel safe living in a house like that. You wouldn’t feel comfortable letting your children sleep in a house like that. You especially would want your home to have a solid foundation.

I would suggest to you what we believe about Creation is foundational to many of our core beliefs as 7th Day Adventist Christians.

Let’s look at what God himself has to say about creation of the world. In , the actual words of God recorded. Remember these are the commandments that He proclaimed in a loud voice to the children (change slide) “REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY…FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS AND RESTED ON SEVENTH DAY” (,)

Just like in the story of creation in , the 4th commandment tells us that god created everything and that He did it in 6 days. But not only did He say it but He wrote it into stone with his very finger. Someone may sit and speculate, well you’ve heard of a day for a year principle when it comes to prophecy, how can we know for sure that when it says, day, we aren’t talking about a longer period of time. Scholars, both Christian and secular will tell you over and over again, the hebrew word for day (yom), as it is used in the Genesis account of creation, means a literal, 24 hour period of time.

James Barr, a respected Old Testament theologian at Oxford University, was quoted saying, “ so far as I know, there is no proffessor of hebrew or old testament at any world class university who does not believe that the writers of intended to convey to their readers the idea that creation took place in a series of six days, which were the same as the days of 24 hours that we now experoence.”

Was Moses being truthfu when he reported that God himself said He created it all in six days? If Moses was not telling the truth, how could we truth anything else he has written/. If He would lie about hte 10 commandments, how could we believe whatever else he said? Was God telling the truth when he said that he created everything in six literal days? If God said---and wrote into stone---that he created everything on earth in 6 days, but he didn’t really do that, it would mean we cannot trust God. Scripture develops a picture of God’s people being being the Bride and Christ as the Bridegroom. I think everyone here would agree with me, when I say, marriage doesn’t function well when lying is involved, when mistrust exists. It is not possible to have a trust relationship when someone is lying.

Self-sacrificing love is the law of God’s kingdom as exemplified by the death of Jesus for our sins. To lay down one’s life for another, rather than survival of the fittest (as Darwin’s theory suggests), is hte highest standard in God’s eyes.

The fossil record, which is used as evidence for evolution, consists of the remains of dead plants and animals. Evolutionary scientists say that most of these fossils preceded the appearance of human life by many millions of years. However Paul tells us that death came into the world through the sin of adam. If hte evolutionary interpretation is true, it means that death was present for millions of years before man ever sinned. In contrast, the Bible tells us that God’s perfect creation was drastically changed as a result of adam’s sin and that death is a direct consequence of sin. In the new Earth, pain and death are banished, and the original harmonious relationships of the animal and plant kingdoms are restored. It is in Genesis we learn of the fall of man, and it is also where the promise of a savior is given. If Genesis cannot be trusted, why would we even believe Adam and Eve sinned? If there is no sin, why would we need a plan of salvation? The central theme of the entire Bible is the great controversy between Christ and Satan, Christ’s plan of redemption and salvation. So if Genesis is not true---if there is no sin and, consequently, no need of a savior----then we would need to dismiss most of the Bible, including the story of Jesus...maybe as another myth. So to answer our major question, what difference does it make? Does it matter what you believe about creation and evolution? Absolutely! For the truth of Genesis is the truth about God. It is the truth about sin and salvation. It is the truth that God and his word can be trusted.

Let us not forget the eternal words of John chapter 1, the book I am currently studying in my personal devotions.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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Today it seems the secular, and even large part of our scientific community either do not comprehend or reject the light as a whole.

The next question I have for you, is the motivation of promoting Evolution really even about science? (change slide)

Have any of you here heard of Lord Monboddo? Neither had I until I began studying this topic more closely. Lord Monboddo was one of the early writers involved in the development of the concept of Evolution. He believed that humans were born with tails, which were somehow removed by midwives at the time of birth. He studied the philosophers, focusing on ancient greek and Egyptian thought and mystery religions (religious cults of the Greco-Roman world). He wrote extensively about the development of language and society, metaphysics, and the science of Sir Isaac Newton. Monboddo believed in the deistic concept of God as a “first cause” and often quoted scripture. However, he asserted that the Genesis story of creation and the fall of man was nothing more than allegory. He also believed the 4th commandment was simply an attempt by Moses to establish a day of worship for the Jews. He clearly stated that a philosophy of theism, or belief in God, should not be based on Revelation. Rather the source of truth should be natural religion, or what we can learn about God through nature. This, in essence, means that science and human reason, rather than Biblical revelation, are (according to Monboddo) the ultimate authorities. He concluded that man evolved through the progression of steps from a vegetable-like organism to an animal such as the orangatun, which gave rise primitive savages and finally culminated in civilized man. It’s very clear that these ideas were not based on any real scientific evidence. The reports of humans with tails (which were based on stories from travelers) were not even factual. Monboddo’s conclusions reflected speculations based on philosophy and worldview that rejected the scriptural account of creation.

Let’s also look at another Early Evolutionary thinker, with a last name, I’m sure most of you will recognize. Erasmus Darwin. If some of you are thinking I am giving the wrong first name, I am referring to the more famous father of Evolution’s Charles Darwin’s grandfather. Erasmus was a respected physician, author, and poet. Beginning in 1791, he published several books about the science of his day and about philosophy. Erasmus’s style was to write poetry using the language of ancient heathen mythology. He also subscribed to the ideas of James Hutton, a Scottish geologist who proposed long ages for the development of Earth’s geologic structure. Erasmus was influenced heavily by the writings of Lord Monboddo and used them as his reference source. Like Monboddo, he also borrowed ideas from ancience greek and Roman philosophy, mythology, and mystery cult religions. While he did often quote scripture, he too held the view that the genesis account was allegorical. In his book “the temple of nature” Erasmus expressed the key concepts of the theory of evolution. This included the big bang, the spontaneous origin of life from the sea, and development of complex life forms from simple ancestry. He discussed the transition from life in the sea to life on land using metamorphosis similar to how a tadpole transitions into a frog. He argued that the concept of spontaneous generation was not a contradiction of scripture and was supported by experiements of the scientists of his day. He suggested that monkeys on the banks of the Mediterranean developed the use of a certain muscle in the hand, which improved their use of the sense of touch. As a result, these monkeys “acquired clear ideas and gradually became men. Like Monboddo, Erasmus was a freemason. He borrowed heavily from their themes, using temple imagery and promoting masonic concepts of the progress of society and a belief in a great architect of the universe. He conveyed the idea that greek and Roman myths were based on ancient scientific knowledge that was more accurately transmitted through the mystery of religions.

It’s rather interesting that secret societies such as freemasonry, rosicrucianism, apparently taught evolutionary concepts. Here are a few quotations of what masonic writers have to say on the matter (change slide)

“In Freemasonry is concealed the mystery of creation, the answer to the problem of existence” (change slide)

“ancient secret doctrine, which is concealed in mASONIC ALLEGORY AND SYMBOLS, TEACHES EVEOLUTION AS SURELY AS DARWIN EVER TAUGHT IT.” (change slide)

“Man has sprung from the earth and developed through the lower kingdoms of nature to his present rational state, has yet to complete his evolution by becoming a god-like being and unifying his consciousness with omniscient---to promote which is and always has been the sole aim and purpose of all initiation.” (change slide)

Interestingly, these concepts are also incorporated into the teachings of spiritualism and the new age movement. It appears that Erasmus Darwin took these concepts as scientific truth. He used the early scientific views of his days as supporting evidence. Ironically, much of the science upon which he based his conclusions was subsequently proved to be wrong. For example, the idea of spontaneous generation was based on the observations of maggots appearing on meat left sitting out. This theory was later disproved by the famous, Louis Pastuer. The evolutionary ideas as expressed by Erasmus had significant influence on his grandson, Charles Darwin, who adopted the belief system and worldview of his grandfather. Charles had been exposed to grandfather’s ideas while he was young and had copies of his books, which were said to be heavily annotated. He subsequently endorsed many of the same concepts that were promoted by his grandfather. Charles Darwin was very successful in taking the evolutionary speculations of his grandfather and clothing them in scientific language, thereby giving them the appearance of scientific objectivity. However, considering the source of these ideas, they seem to represent a worldview or philosophy rather than science. (change slide)

Often you will hear Evolutionists point to the fossil record as the greatest evidence for proof of evolution. I don’t have time to give a complete history lesson on the discovery of the geologic column, but it was discovered in studying of layers in rock formations. Real life representations of the geologic column may be seen in canyons, on the side of mountains, and in areas where excavation has been done. (change slide) The standard geologic column is divided into 3 major divisions: Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Paleozoic means “old animal life” Mesozoic means “middle animal life” and Cenozoic means “late animal life.”…based on fossils found in the major divisions in the same order, have been called age of fishes, age of reptiles, and age of mammals…demonstrating the evolutionary timeline. Here is an example on a chart demonstrating what a rudimentary evolutionary scaled geologic column chart looks like.

An analysis of the patterns of fossil deposition reveals that different layers show different communities of fossil organisms rather than gradual transformation of one kind of organism into one another. The bottom layer of the Paleozoic layer contains communities of marine animals, beginning with tiny shelled animals and trilobites and transitioning to communities of fish farther up. Proceeding up through the Paleozoic, we find communities of amphibians and reptile, followed by the Mesozoic communities of the first fossils of small mammals and the first dinosaurs. (yes dinosaurs are real! Just in case anyone in here might still be under the belief they are made up…but I don’t have time to get into that conversation much today.) Higher in the Mesozoic era we find communities of many different dinosaurs and the first birds. The first flowering plant fossils then appear, and dinosaurs disappear. In the Cenozoic, we find communities dominated by mammals. Finally, in the uppermost layers, the first human fossils are found. (change slide)

Evolutionists interpreted this data as evidence for evolution from simple one-celled organisms up to man over billions of years. Meanwhile, many Christians, including seventh day Adventists did not believe there was really an order in the fossil record. To them it was simply a theory used to support beliefs of evolutionists. This viewpoint of disregard of the geologic column was strongly promoted by SDA creationist George Mccreedy, (whose work marked during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s). However, an understudy of his Harold Clark (also an SDA professor), who had initially held the same view point had a change of perspective. In 1938 Clark, he visited the oil fields in Oklahoma and texas and learned of the remarkable sequence of microscopic fossils documented by oil company geologists. These sequences were consistently found in the cores from thousands of oil wells that had been drilled. Clarke, then became convinced the fossil record was indeed real. But rather than simply declare himself and new found believer in evolution, he went a different direction. He subsequently proposed the theory of ecological zonation to explain the data from the perspective of noah’s flood. Today this is called the “principle of biome succession.” (change slide) For those of you, who like me, didn’t study in college much geology, or biology. A biome is a group of plant and animal communities that live in similar climatic conditions. These conditions such as temperature, humidity, are determined by altitude, latitude, and local geograghy. It’s no secret different types of plants and animals exist in the lowlands as compared to up here in the mountains. Biomes are not exclusive to land, but also in oceans and fresh water. I say all this for you to better understand this point. If you were to travel from the ocean up to the top of a large mountain, you would pass through a succession of different biomes. It’s rather interesting, when fossil ranges are diagrammed on a chart showing the layers where they are found, it actually looks quite similar to the chart of modern mammal distributions in different biomes. We find that the pattern of modern mammal distribution is comparable to that which is seen in the fossil record.

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So if the flood were to happen today, there would be a succession of biomes encountered and buried in a predictable order as the floodwaters rose. The first biomes to be buried would be marine biomes. This correlates with the marine fossil communities found at the bottom of the geologic column. If reptiles, dinosaurs, and small mammals lived in a warmer biome at lower altitude, one would expect to find their fossil community above the marine fossil communities. Again, this correlates with what is found on the geologic column. As flood waters continued to rise, the biomes from higher, cooler altitudes would then be buried, which would likely be mammal communities. This also corresponds with the order found in the geologic column. Based on this hypothesis, the layers of fossil found in the earth could certainly be explained by a world-wide- flood----such as that described in Genesis.

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Someone here might agree with the assertions I am making today, but sense opening by talking about the importance of taking a stance on creation, we’ve talked a lot about the theories of evolutionary science. Now we are going to shift back to the Biblical significance of Evolution vs Creationism. Some of you here may have asked before, Does prophecy have anything to say about the current conflict between creation and evolution?

Let’s look at the message of the first angel to find an answer:

“Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” () (change slide)

The first angel calls us to worship God the creator, the one who made Heaven and earth. In revelation, as is the rest of scripture, God’s very identity is proclaimed to be the creator of all things. (change slide)

The Prophet Isaiah says: “THE EVERLASTING GOD, THE LORD, THE CREATOR OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” (change slide)

The angel of swore by Him; that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven….the earth….the sea, and the things which are therin.”

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Revelation also tells us that God alone is worthy of our worship because he is the creator. As the 24 elders bow themselves before God’s throne, they declare, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor: for thou hast created all things, for thy pleasure they are and were created”

Further more the 4th commandment identifies God as the creator and immortalizes the Sabbath as a holy day of rest in remembrance of creation. Isaiah tells us that even in the New Earth, we will celebrate the Sabbath by coming together to worship our God.

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You might wonder, what does creation have to do with the great controversy? The prophet ezekial tells us that Lucifer, the covering cherub, was a created being. Yet Lucifer said in his heart, “I will exaltmy throne above the stars of God…I will be like the most high” () Christ, as the only begotten son of God, was one with the eternal Father: He was the creator of all things including Lucifer. Paul says; “For by Him all things created that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether…principalities, or powers”

Revelation describes a war in Heaven, a war between Michael (Jesus) and Satan and their angels. In this great conflict, Lucifer the created covering cherub became Satan, waged war with his creator. Lucifers hidden agenda was to usurp the creator’s position and his authority over his creation. With his fully grown audacity, Satan actually asked Jesus, his creator, to bow down and worship him. It is no wonder then, that the final scenes of the great controversy, the deciding issue is that of worship. In this conflict, each person must decide must decide to worship God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, or to give homage to the beast, thereby choosing to worship Satan, the arch enemy of the creator God. This has been the ultimate question throughout human history: To whom will you give your allegiance and your worship?

With this in mind, lets take another look at . In the message of the first angel, we are called to worship God the creator. In the message of the 3rd angel, we are warned of the terrible consequences of worshipping satan through the counterfeit worship of the beast. These messages were to be given at a specific time in history: the time when the hour of God’s judgment had come. The prophecy of or the well known, among sda circles the 2300 day prophecy reveals that this momentous event began in 1844. (We are going to take a closer look at that in the coming weeks) This is a year, most sda’s are familiar with, what you might be less familiar with is what else happened in 1844. (change slide)

It is a little known fact that Charles Darwin wrote the 1st manuscript of his book about evolution, on the origins of species, in 1844. Meanwhile, another book, vestiges of the natural history of creation, was published by Robert chambers, a Scottish publisher. Written for a popular audience, this book was a controversial best seller that promoted the concept of evolution rather than creation. It paved the way for acceptance of darwin’s ideas, which were finally published in 1859.

Back in the States also in 1844, Andrew Jackson Davis, was a 17 year old from New York who had an encounter with the occult. Shortly thereafter, he began to have spiritual revelations. His first book, the principles of nature, her divine revelation, and a voice to mankind, was dictated while Davis appeared to be in a trance-like state. He believed while he produced the book, he was being controlled by a longtime deceased occult leader. Davis taught, not only naturalistic evolution from animals to man, but also evolution of the spirit after death, throughout eternity, to ever higher levels of existence. In the words of the deceiver himself, “you will not surely die”, and “you will be like God.” These ideas of physical and spiritual evolution in to Godhood are now promoted through modern-day spiritualism and the New Age Movement.

It should come as no surprise that at the very time in Earth’s history when mankind is called to worship the creator God, the great deceiver would do everything possible to undermine God’s identity as creator of all things---- and that would strike at the foundation of His holy Sabbath. What better way to accomplish his carefully laid plans by replacing the truth of creation with the deception of evolution.

Before we close: I wanted to give you a brief summary of what we’ve gone over. If you have a note pad, feel free to take notes: READ ON SCREEN. (change slide 7 times)

The truth that God is the creator of Heaven and Earth, and that he therefore deserves our worship, is a message for our time. It is no accident that this truth is under attack, both from the secular world and from within the Christian world as well. But the real question is: to whom will you give your worship and your allegiance? May your response be, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”