The Riddle of Theistic Evolution, Part 6

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day,” Genesis 1:29-31.

Here is yet another contradiction between Genesis and Evolution. Our primitive ancestors, according to the latter, were hunters and meat eaters from the beginning; they didn’t begin to cultivate crops or harvest the land for a long time after mankind’s arrival.

Only after our cultures evolved did planting and raising crops become a viable source of nourishment to our ancestors. God relates that in the beginning Adam, Eve and every animal “wherein there is life” were vegetarians. That is, our race began by eating herbs, vegetables, and fruit, along with every animal that roamed the earth, flew through the air, or crept along the ground. It is not said of the creatures filling the sea that they were herbivores; either they were exempt and did feed on one another or the writer felt it unnecessary to include them presently.

Dinosaurs, lions, and other predators ate vegetables? That is what the language of the text implies. Actually, I would say that it plainly declares it. Perhaps the ground prior to the Flood yielded green food that was extremely nutritional and supplied all the wants of the body. Perhaps that also lent to the extreme ages that our ancestors lived to. For instance, Adam lived to be 930 years old, Genesis 5:5. The very old age might also account for the massive size of some creatures, including many dinosaurs. When the Flood passed longevity plunged in a few short generations, and so too would be the chance for such creatures to grow as large as their forebears once did.

God called all that He had made “very good.” Looking back on the panorama from Evolution’s perspective, one would have to wonder why our God would consider the deaths of trillions of living beings prior to man’s arrival “very good”? Man inherited a world already littered with a titanic amount of death and suffering. Here we come to the final and most awful flaw of Theistic Evolution, and this is the one point I beg you to listen to, if you are a Christian and subscribe to this theology.

We know from Scripture that when Adam disobeyed, sin entered the world, Romans 5:12. As the husband of Eve he was the one God held responsible for his stewardship. Paul also writes that through sin death came as a curse; not only to all living things but to the universe in general, Romans 5:12, 14; 8:20-21. The general teaching of the Bible (Old or New Testament) is that sin is an aberration to our race; God did not create us to die. It was not His original intent for us. Death is sin’s curse and a constant reminder that we are Adam’s descendants and like Adam we need reconciliation with our Creator. Death is the consequence of one man’s actions as God’s appointed steward, Romans 5:17. Jesus our Lord was manifested to take away sin and to conquer death by taking upon Himself our sins and dying the death we deserved. Since Christ already died for the totality of mankind’s collective sins we needn’t likewise suffer that fate and receive eternal separation from our Creator as a penalty for being sinners in Adam’s likeness, Romans 5:18-19; 2nd Corinthians 5:21.

Evolution (even Theistic Evolution) paints a grimmer picture. Death is the natural result of progression, and there is nothing unnatural about it. Death heralds change as species evolve to ever more advanced states. The problem being then is that death existed long before a conscious being capable of making moral choices was present to defy God’s will. Death lacks any moral quality. It is not evil; it is not tragic; it is not the consequence of sin. It simply is. Sin, the supposed result of Adam’s rebellion, is a fiction since death occurred trillions of times prior to “Adam’s” or mankind’s arrival. Christ came as the Savior of sinners to ransom us from death. If death’s existence prior to any being capable of sinning is true, then Jesus was not a Savior of anyone, since there is nothing to save us from. Death is natural; death is progress. Death is not a divine judgment for mankind’s rebellion. Christianity then is a fraud, and so too was our Savior, who was clearly deluded to believe that sin was the cause of death, 1st Corinthians 15:56. He was also deluded to believe that God created Adam and Eve “at the beginning” (Matthew 19:4) or more specifically “from the beginning of the creation,” Mark 10:6.

So which side does a Christian stand? Evolution touts much but has yet to produce evidence that validates its lofty claims. The Bible has been a book vindicated historically, scientifically, and spiritually for countless centuries, and it will endure long after the theory of Evolution has been laid to rest. Are we really so afraid of the opinions of men that we will not stand for God’s word and truth? Recall Jesus’ words when He asked, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. Each of us must answer this question individually. My prayer for my brothers and sisters in Christ is that we each answer it well.