St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Theistic Evolution

A few weeks ago John answered a question about theistic evolution, that is the belief that ‘God used evolution to achieve his purposes…’ (The Link Sept 2007). Theistic evolution is probably the most popular interpretation of how God created the heavens and the earth among Christian theologians. But that does not necessarily make it right. There are some tricky hurdles to overcome before anyone can be certain about that interpretation, and here are a couple:

Firstly, evolution is a theory that gives no room for God. John is right when he describes the evolutionary process as ‘random’. Text books understand evolution in this way; life has evolved from primitive forms to its present variety and complexity all by itself, mechanistically, undersigned and undirected. That’s evolution! No room for God. Theistic evolution grafts God in where there is no real room for him, the theory becomes contradictory. There is no debate focussed on how the random changes happen in the secular scientific world that brings God into the equation, God just isn’t considered as an option.

Death is a tricky hurdle for theistic evolution. New Testament scriptures are clear that death is the enemy. Christ came into the world, ultimately to beat the power of death by dying and rising again. The whole point of the resurrection is to rise to new life. Theologian Tom Wright looks forward to a time when God’s creation will be restored, re-created, put right (see Simply Christian). Which infers that at some point God’s creation went wrong. The book of Genesis teaches that death is the result of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:29; Romans 5:12, 8:18–22) and that all of God’s creation was “very good” upon its completion (Genesis 1:31). How could a God of love allow such horrible processes as disease, suffering, and death for millions of years as part of His “very good” creation? If death is the result of a world gone wrong, then if we are to subscribe to the theory of evolution we must come to the conclusion that it went wrong a long time before humans appeared, which isn’t in line with biblical thinking on sin.

Just these two areas (and there are many more when you start looking into the science) do create a doubt concerning theistic evolution. Perhaps as Christians we should be holding onto the truths revealed to us in Scripture as indeed Jesus himself did (see Luke 11:50, note how the beginning of the world and human history coincide) and believe Paul’s writing especially 1 Cor 15:21-22: “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. November 2007, Page 8.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (November 2007) Kingdom season, Romans 8, Free for All tour, Theistic Evolution. The article Andy is replying to. Questions.	Theistic Evolution A few weeks ago John answered a question about theistic evolution, that is the belief that ‘God used evolution to achieve his purposes…’ (The Link Sept 2007). Theistic evolution is probably the most popular interpretation of how God created the heavens and the earth among Christian theologians. But that does not necessarily make it right. There are some tricky hurdles to overcome before anyone can be certain about that interpretation, and here are a couple: Firstly, evolution is a theory that gives no room for God. John is right when he describes the evolutionary process as ‘random’. Text books understand evolution in this way; life has evolved from primitive forms to its present variety and complexity all by itself, mechanistically, undersigned and undirected. That’s evolution! No room for God. Theistic evolution grafts God in where there is no real room for him, the theory becomes contradictory. There is no debate focussed on how the random changes happen in the secular scientific world that brings God into the equation, God just isn’t considered as an option. Death is a tricky hurdle for theistic evolution. New Testament scriptures are clear that death is the enemy. Christ came into the world, ultimately to beat the power of death by dying and rising again. The whole point of the resurrection is to rise to new life. Theologian Tom Wright looks forward to a time when God’s creation will be restored, re-created, put right (see Simply Christian). Which infers that at some point God’s creation went wrong. The book of Genesis teaches that death is the result of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:29; Romans 5:12, 8:18–22) and that all of God’s creation was “very good” upon its completion (Genesis 1:31). How could a God of love allow such horrible processes as disease, suffering, and death for millions of years as part of His “very good” creation? If death is the result of a world gone wrong, then if we are to subscribe to the theory of evolution we must come to the conclusion that it went wrong a long time before humans appeared, which isn’t in line with biblical thinking on sin. Just these two areas (and there are many more when you start looking into the science) do create a doubt concerning theistic evolution. Perhaps as Christians we should be holding onto the truths revealed to us in Scripture as indeed Jesus himself did (see Luke 11:50, note how the beginning of the world and human history coincide) and believe Paul’s writing especially 1 Cor 15:21-22: “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” John Hartley
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