Evolution is a theory based first on the work of Charles Darwin and a number of other scientists of the mid nineteenth century claiming that higher forms of life have evolved from lower forms. Evolution is essentially atheistic, for it purports to provide an account for life without reference to God. Under the influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition, most people in the west had believed that God created the world in six days as recorded in the book of Genesis.

After Darwin’s theory was popularized, people began to question the Biblical account. Many scientists began to assert that religion was a prop constructed by ignorant people to account for the existence of the world and of themselves, but now that science has freed us from such ignorance and superstition, we understand that there is no God at all.

Evolutionary theories popularized the idea that the “survival of the fittest” was the rationale by which life progressed to higher forms. The concept inspired “social Darwinism” which legitimatized the Ubermensch (superman) of Nietzsche, and provided a rationale for tyrants like Hitler to see themselves in this role and their people as the most highly evolved of the human species. Morality under this system loses its rationale and becomes relative. No absolutes can exist, for environment, chance, and genetics account for life, and these are non-rational factors. Men could not be held accountable to a higher standard of behavior because no absolute God exists, and if a human leader holds people accountable, he will determine the standard according to his own agenda. The results of Darwinism have been significant, and most of them have been highly detrimental to society. Scientists would argue that they are in the legitimate pursuit of reality and understanding, and that much of what they have discovered has improved society.

The evolutionary theory has been accepted as fact not only by the scientific community but by the governments of the world. As a result, government now forbids creation to be taught in their schools. Only state-approved evolution may be taught, and children are indoctrinated into this theory as if it were true. However, at best it is a system of faith, because no one was present to view the beginning, and no demonstrable proof has ever been produced that establishes without doubt that one species can develop from another. Both Christianity (Judaism, Islam, et. al) and evolution are systems of faith, believed by their adherents based on circumstances in their lives.

Of course, the volumes written in support of or in denial of evolution are myriad. We can simply point out that there are some serious problems with this theory or hypothesis. There is no evidence of the many transitional forms that would be necessary if life slowly evolved over millennia. The fossil record, used to support the claims of evolutionists, does not support the theory, as highly complex forms may be found in strata where we also find simple forms. Additionally, fossil records are used to substantiate the claims of geologists, and rock strata are used to substantiate the claims of anthropologists. This is reasoning in a cycle, using one standard to support the other. Also we may notice that for certain animals to survive, they must possess a number of characteristics that evolutionists claim would evolve for different reasons at different times. Fact necessitates their simultaneous existence and this to their simultaneous beginning.

Evolutionists claim that higher forms of life evolved from lower, and they have theories about how water can produce life, but such has not been demonstrated in a laboratory. So far the matter of how non-life can produce life is unanswered. The evolutionists also have yet to demonstrate how non-matter can produce matter, and how inert matter can produce motion. Until such proof is forthcoming, we shall maintain that evolution is a matter of faith, not fact, and remains but a theory or hypothesis. It seems that evolution really requires much more of a stretch to believe than that a sovereign, omnipotent God spoke the worlds into existence. But to admit to a sovereign, omnipotent God is to be faced with accountability and responsibility, and that is not what is appealing to men who lust for autonomy.

(For further study we recommend the audio series Why Should I Believe which you may obtain from Engedi Ministries.)