The Other Side of Evolution: Its Effects and Fallacy — John Shaqi
The Other Side of Evolution: Its Effects and FallacyPatterson, Alexander
Religion
The Other Side of Evolution: Its Effects and Fallacy
Patterson, Alexander
Bible and science; Evolution
It is true that many evolutionists are theistic. But it is not
enough to be theistic. The devil is "theistic," so was Thomas
Paine. Christianity is far more than theism. It is the grossest
sophistry to teach that because a belief has some truth in it we
must therefore tolerate it. All false doctrine is sugarcoated with
truth. That we are not overstating the dangerous nature of the
theory will appear from the following opinions of competent scholars
and observers.
Prof. George Frederick Wright, the eminent geologist, says of
Evolution: "It is the fad of the present, which is making such
havoc and confusion in the thought of the age, leading so many into
intellectual positions, whose conclusions they dare not face and
cannot flank, and from which they cannot retreat except through the
valley of humiliation." (_Bibliotheca Sacra_, April, 1900.)
Prof. George Howison sounds this alarm: "It is a portent so
threatening to the highest concerns of man, that we ought to look
before we leap and look more than once. Under the sheen of the
evolutionary account of man, the world of real persons, the world
of individual responsibility, disappears; with it disappears the
personality of God." (_Limits of Evolution_, pp. 5, 6.)
There is a vital connection between Facts, Doctrines, Experiences,
Conduct and Prospects. These successively flow from each other.
Christianity rests on facts, from these we derive doctrines and from
doctrines come experiences, which give rise to conduct and that ends
in suitable prospects. Facts form the basis of Christianity. When,
therefore, Evolution attacks the Facts of the Bible, it attempts to
undermine the very basis of all Christianity. President Francis L.
Patton has said: "You may put your philosophy in one pocket and your
religion in another and think that, as they are separate, they will
not interfere, but that will not work. You have to bring your theory
of the universe and your theory of religion together. This is the
work of this age."
While all do not go the length of the radical evolutionists, yet
such is the natural working of the human mind, that this will be its
logical conclusion. If this theory is accepted, we must look for
widespread lapse from all Christian faith and, as conduct follows
belief in all intelligent creatures, we shall see also great moral
declension.
To the ordinary man, the matter appears in this light: If we cannot
believe a man's statements we will not take his advice. If we cannot
believe the Bible's narratives why should we believe its religion?
If it is not trustworthy as to facts of this world, why depend upon
it as to the other world? If it cannot teach correctly the nature of
insects and animals, why should it be able to tell us the nature of
God? The common man reasons rightly. The Bible must stand or fall by
its reliability all along the line of truth of every kind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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