Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my seventy fifth episode. Tonight I want to talk about evolution. I want to explore the theory of evolution and try to find out why it’s become a dirty word in the church. Why do most Christians believe that evolution dispenses with God? Why do they think you either reject the entire theory or reject the Bible? If we reject evolution, are we also rejecting a critically important part of the truth of God? What does the Bible say about all of this? I’m going to plumb the depths of these ideas and hopefully come out with some answers.
Let’s start with a summary of Darwin’s theory of evolution. A species is a population of organisms that interbreeds and has fertile offspring. Living organisms have descended with modifications from species that lived before them. Natural selection explains how this evolution has happened. More organisms are produced than can survive because of limited resources. Individuals within a population vary in their traits; some of these traits are heritable – passed on to offspring. Some variants are better adapted to survive and reproduce under local conditions than others. Better-adapted individuals (the “fit enough”) are more likely to survive and reproduce, thereby passing on copies of their genes to the next generation. Species whose individuals are best adapted will survive; others become extinct. The source for this summary is PBS.org
I’ll start off by saying that there is nothing in Darwin’s theory of evolution that runs counter to Scripture. The disagreements arise when atheistic scientists attempt to extrapolate a story out of the Darwinian principles. They observe a set of facts and then they use those facts to tell a story that accommodates their a priori beliefs. They come to the table already believing that God cannot be involved in the created order and so it must be x, y, or z. The most flagrant example of this is the claim that shared genetics means common ancestry – when it could just as logically mean common Designer. In reaction to this story telling, the fundamentalist Christians have dispensed with the Darwinian principles altogether. But I think that’s a mistake. I think the church has been misled to believe that Darwin equals atheism.
The most abused and misunderstood element of the Darwinian principles is natural selection. The atheist claims that natural selection is self-actualized. This means it does not need any explanation or cause. So basically we don’t need God because evolution operates itself. This is a false claim, but they need to stick to it because if they don’t they encounter a problem called infinite regress.
Infinite regress works like this: imagine you have a cup of coffee in front of you. The coffee will lose temperature until it matches the temperature of the room. But the room’s temperature is dependent on the operation of the air conditioner in your window. The air conditioner is running because of the electricity provided by the power plant. The power plant is producing electricity because of the fossil fuels removed from the ground. The fossil fuels were only there because enough things died to deposit the biological material. The things that died only lived because they consumed energy from the sun by way of photosynthesis. The sun can only produce this energy because of the gravity that holds it in place. The gravity can only hold it in place because of the space-time continuum. The space-time continuum only began because of the Big Bang. The Big Bang was caused by – oops – we don’t know.
So every single event and element in any given environment is caused by an agent that science tells us absolutely nothing about. Why does this matter for natural selection? Because natural selection is the environment choosing which genes propagate themselves and which do not. If the environment is controlled by a concatenation of causes tracing back to an unknown agent, then that means an unknown agent controls natural selection.
Now, I’m not going to attempt my own story about how all of the various animal phyla came into being. The Bible is not a science textbook. The sole purpose of the Bible is to tell us who we are in relation to God and how we can be reconciled to him. But you need to be aware that individuals who look at a set of facts are interpreting those facts in a way that services their presupposed assumptions. Not one of us can do anything but that because not one of us is omniscient.
I actually like the Darwinian principles. I think they are true. But I think the story that is built off of them has problems. One problem is the Cambrian Explosion. Deep in the ground is a strata of rock that contains fossils from more than 80% of the currently known animal phyla or body plans. And these body plans appear so close together that they don’t provide the requisite billions of years to go from single celled organisms to complex life. That’s a really big hole in the story of molecules to man evolution. But let’s set that aside and go back to Darwinism, listen to these verses where Jesus says:
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a]that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
That sounds an awful lot like how genetic replicators produce a huge number of variations and almost all of them die off – while only a few properly adapt to the selection pressures. But there’s more, verse 15:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
That’s Jesus in Matthew chapter 7. He could be saying that people who do not conduct themselves in such a way as to fit the moral dimension of the universe will not survive. And you actually know that this is true. Right now you could think of 50 ways to destroy your life and the lives of those around you in the next 10 minutes – it would be easy. But it’s a lot harder to think of even one way you could dramatically improve your life and the lives of those around you in the next 10 minutes. Much like natural selection, there are an infinite number of ways for you to fail and only a very narrow definition of ways for you to thrive. Jesus outlines this same idea in the parable of the talents. The ones who use their talents to reproduce more talents are awarded, whereas the one who does nothing has his talents taken away from him.
I know what you’re thinking. Jesus sounds just as harsh as evolution. Tennyson said that nature is red with blood in tooth and claw and life is a carnival of blood. Maybe Jesus was explaining what we now know as the Darwinian principles. Natural selection is not random. Especially among human beings. Just one example: human females mate across and up dominance hierarchies. This means males who conduct themselves in accordance with the highest ideal have the most reproductive success. This is why very few healthy females are attracted to immature, helpless males who cannot protect or provide for her and her children.
But what does it mean to conduct yourself in accordance with the highest ideal? Many people mistakenly think this means power acquisition. But a leader whose rule is based purely on power will always be unstable and in danger of being overthrown. The highest ideal represents what’s good for you, good for your family, good for your community, good for your city, and good for your nation – simultaneously. Not only does it have to be good for all parties, but it has to be good today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and five years from now. If your conduct fails to meet any of these parameters, chaos will emerge and your structure will shake itself to pieces. In order to satisfy these limitations on potential modes of being you end up walking something like a very narrow path. Just like Jesus said you would.
So, it could be that Christ-like behavior is the behavior that is selected for across time. If that’s true, then you better dispense with your mindless unguided evolution and get to the nearest church. We already know that the tension between Greek reason and Hebrew revelation laid the framework for the most prosperous, most free, most powerful civilization in history. Is that just a coincidence? A historical accident? Or is there a moral dimension to realty that is real and among us right now? Listen to what Jesus says in Luke chapter 17:
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”[h]
Is it possible that there is a transcendent reality among us right now? Is it possible that if we defy the superordinate principle of that transcendent reality we end up taking real physical and psychological damage? Like in the same way as when you put your hand in fire you get burned. These kinds of things are fun to think about. But we don’t know enough about reality to be certain how evolutionary biology links with religious truth. And that’s the point.
If you’re a Christian, understand that Darwinism is not incommensurate with the biblical worldview because science and the Bible belong to two different domains of inquiry. Science describes the objective, material world. The Bible describes the proper mode of being in that world. Atheists tell a story about reality in an effort to generate meaning and value so that they can know how to act in the world. But that story telling is not a scientific enterprise, that is an exploration of faith. So the million dollar question is: faith in what? Because whatever or whoever you hold as your highest value, that person or thing is going to determine how your life unfolds and how you perceive the world.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the debate regarding billions of years against thousands of years. I think this entire debate is a manifestation of the Christians insisting that the biblical narrative fit into a scientific framework. The only reason to do that is the misapprehension that scientific facts make up total reality. I don’t think that’s the case. For more information on age-dating the universe, see MHB 15. I also did an episode where I more fully articulate my thoughts on the limitations of science. That’s MHB 62.
There’s another thing I want to address before I close. We talked a little bit about how Jesus seems pretty harsh in his statements. I think he’s harsh in his description of the world because the world actually is a harsh place. Life is difficult and it can be so painful that many people want to give up the good fight. We live in a reality that has fallen from the way it ought to be to the way it is. The demands of Scripture seem too difficult because they are too difficult. We can’t do it on our own. We need a Savior. The most loving thing God could have done was feed himself into such a place and shoulder the suffering he knew we would go through. And that’s what he did. Matthew chapter 19:
23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
The MHB Podcast 