Exposing Compromise - Theistic Evolution

Theistic Evolution is a much more drastic compromise than any we've seen yet. Other compromises, like the Gap Theory and the Day-Age Theory, at least try to hold onto God’s Word - even if they have to compromise to do it. But the idea of Theistic Evolution completely embraces the godless ideas of evolution - while completely rejecting Biblical creation.

The point, they say, is that God made the world - exactly how He created can’t be found in the Bible. "God created," they say, "but He used evolution to do it."

Essentially, the theory of theistic evolution embraces every evolutionary idea - from the age of the earth to the evolution of life - and then tack on the claim that it was guided by God. In this way, they seem to be able to accept the secular theory of evolution while still claiming to believe the Bible.

That sounds easy enough, right? Isn’t this the best of both worlds? Theistic Evolutionists can avoid all the hassle of intellectually defending a 2,000-year-old book, and still claim to be religious. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Whenever I talk to well-meaning people who try to compromise their stand on the Book of Genesis, I’m reminded of a soldier I heard of during the Civil War. The story, as I recall hearing it, goes like this:
This man was opposed to the conflict and didn’t want to join either side. As the war reached his hometown, a battle erupted right outside his house. Not wanting to get swept away in the fight, this man tried to demonstrate that he was neutral. He managed to obtain two different military uniforms - one Union and one Confederate. He put on the Union jacket and Confederate trousers and then tried to leave town. Later on, he was found dead on the battlefield; his jacket riddled with Confederate bullets, and his trousers with Union bullets.

I don’t know how true that story is...but it illustrates my point. People who compromise the Bible with what they think is scientific will inevitably have problems with both. Since the idea of evolution isn’t science - Theistic Evolutionist have problems in both areas - Biblically and Scientifically.

Scientific Problems With Theistic Evolution

Because Theistic Evolutionists agree with all the ideas of secular evolution - they have all the same problems! Evolution is simply not a credible theory...at all! There are too many natural problems that it cannot answer.

Problems like this:
How could the first complex DNA and cellular structures develop naturally?
How could the information inside the genetic code of any creature increase naturally?
How could sexual reproduction in animals evolve gradually?
Why don’t we see the supposed “geologic column” (the sequence of rock layers from the first evolutionary age to the most recent) intact and complete anywhere on earth?
Why are there large fossils that cross several rock layers - if each layer is hundreds of thousands of years?
How can we find unfossilized dinosaur bones if they’re millions of years old?
How can a fossil even be preserved gradually, without being buried rapidly?
And the list just goes on and on.

Missing Links that are Still Missing

One of the most damaging arguments against the idea of evolution is the lack of transitional fossils.

Evolution teaches that all creatures that have ever lived descended from a common ancestor through a enormous series of tiny changes. The idea is this: each change had to be so minor, that you would actually miss it with the naked eye. Over successive generations, these minor changes would eventually produce all the different creatures that have ever lived - branching off into different branches of an evolutionary “tree”.

If this were true, then we would expect to find at least some of these transitional creatures fossilized...leaving a “trail” from one animal to the next. But there’s a reason these types of fossils are commonly called the “missing links” - They are still missing!

It’s not just one or two fossils that we’re talking about here...there should be millions of them! What we should be seeing - if evolution were true - is blurred lines between different kinds of plants and animals. Here are just a few examples of the fossils “trails” we should be seeing, if evolution were true:
The trail between vertebrates and invertebrates
The trail between fish and amphibians
The trail between amphibians and reptiles
The trail between reptiles and birds
The trail between reptiles and mammals
Whenever each of these classifications appear in the fossil record, they appear clearly defined.

But it’s not just large groups of animals that need transitional forms - each unique family and kind of animal needs a fossilized trail of minor changes leading to them as well!
Where are the fossilized transitions leading up to frogs?
Where are the fossilized transitions leading up to cats?
Where are the fossilized transitions leading up to dragonflies?
Why is it that all the fossilized bats we see already have wings?
Why is it that all the fossilized whales we see are already fully marine?
Every major family of animal - even extinct ones - appear fully recognizable in the fossil record!

So while evolutionists are focusing on finding an ape/human link or a dinosaur/bird link (neither of which have been found, by the way) - that simply is not enough! There should literally be millions of transitional forms - spread throughout the different layers of rock. It’s as if we’re shown the leaves of this evolutionary “tree”, and then forced to imagine the rest of it.

All-At-Once or Not-At-All

Here’s another major issue for the evolutionist (secular or theistic): There are organisms and biological structures that are simply too complicated to form gradually. This idea has been termed irreducible complexity - some things just had to come together all at once!

Think about a single cell. The cell is an incredibly complicated structure with dozens of its own structures and functions. In fact, a single cell has an organization more complicated than a large metropolitan city! And all of these systems are integrated perfectly and interdependent.
So how could the first single cells develop naturally and gradually?

There are certain features and organs in animals that are perfectly designed and could not form gradually. Think about this:
How did the gradual change from gills to lungs take place?
How did the eye gradually form from a bundle of nerves?
How did sexual reproduction and the male/female split gradually develop?
How did the amphibian’s soft membranous eggs gradually become the thick-shelled eggs of reptiles?

Can you imagine how these could survive:
A bat with a half-developed wing?
An amphibian with half-developed lungs?
An animal halfway between laying eggs and giving live birth?
An amphibian (that absorbs a lot of oxygen through its skin) halfway to becoming a reptile (that breathes only through its lungs)?

No, natural selection would weed these creatures out. They simply wouldn’t survive in a world of stronger, more fit animals.

Biblical Problems With Theistic Evolution

But these are far from being the only problems theistic evolutionists face! Because they claim to believe in God, they also have some major Scriptural problems to deal with.

First of all, you have the problem with the words of God.

God clearly and repeatedly told us how He created this world.
We can see it in Genesis 1 and 2
We can see it in Genesis 5:1-2 and Genesis 6:7
We can see in Deuteronomy 4:32
We see it in Psalm 89:12, 104:30, 148:5 and all throughout Psalm 139
We see it over and over again in Isaiah 40-45
We see it in Amos 4:13 and Malachi 2:10
In Exodus 20:11, He emphasized that he created everything in six days
In Matthew 19:4, He emphasized that mankind was created at the beginning

To claim that God didn’t create the world like He said He did is to accuse Him of lying to us in His Word. This is an important question for theistic evolutionists to ask; “Am I really prepared to call God a liar?”

Secondly, you have the problem of the nature of God.

The Word of God tells us in Genesis 1:31 that “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” According to the Bible, death and suffering were not part of God’s original plan. They were enemies; intruders that entered the world after Adam’s sin. From this, we can see God’s good nature - that He never intended us to have to suffer and feel pain.

In contrast to this, evolution teaches “nature, red in tooth and claw”. Evolution teaches that out of death comes progress. As old races of creatures die off, new and improved races arise and take their place. Death and bloodshed are merely a part of nature - and as creatures adapt to it, they form new types of creatures.

If God used evolution to create, that would mean two things:
#1 - He lied to us in the Scriptures
#2 - He used death and bloodshed to form us, and then called it “very good”
Does this even sound like a god you want to serve?

As we move forward with the topic of Creation, keep in mind this one truth: God meant what He said, and He meant how He said it!
- When He said that creation took place in six days, it did!
- When He said that mankind was created on the sixth day of the universe, we were!
- When He said that it was all “very good” on the sixth day, it was!
I want you to know, you can trust every word He said, from the first to the last!