by
William MacDonald
published
in The Believer's Magazine, October 1991
Anyone who
wants to know about evolution should read Rom 1, especially the last fifteen
verses. Not that he will find the theory defended there. Certainly not! But he
will get a new insight into why unbelievers insight on
embracing the lie of evolution, even if it is the biggest hoax that has ever
been perpetrated on the human race.
The passage
begins with the statement that God's wrath is revealed against men who suppress
the truth (v. 18). Suppressing the truth is a perfect description of the
activities of many evolutionists. They never miss an opportunity to ridicule
creationists, to deny them a day in court, to boast that no true scientist
believes in creation. Because the truth is self-vindicating, the best they can
do is suppress it.
The fact is
that they actually know there is a God. His eternal power and Godhead are
evident in the works and wonders of creation and providence. They know that
design demands a designer. They know that nothing cannot
create something out of nothing. All this means that their denial of
God, the Creator is inexcusable (vv. 19- 21 ).
This
passage teaches that primitive man was of a high moral order. Adam was more
knowledgeable than anyone reading this article - certainly more intelligent
than the one who wrote it. Our earliest ancestors were not cave men, with a
leopard's skin draped around their loins and wielding a fierce-looking
shillelagh. No, they were superior beings who had extensive knowledge of the
true and living God.
But what
happened? They abandoned their concept of God. They did not honor Him as God
nor were they thankful to Him. As a result their thinking became crooked and
distorted. Wisdom gave way to stupidity. It is always that way. Light rejected
is light denied. As Paul says, "their foolish hearts were darkened."
The next
thing you know, they were making and worshipping idols. Some were graven images
of men, some of birds, some of animals, and some even of snakes. Now this
doesn't make any sense whatever. Here are people making their own gods of wood,
metal, or earthenware. A creator has to be greater than anything he creates,
yet the idolaters are bowing before their own productions. In this way they
seek to get rid of a supreme and sovereign Creator.
It is a
fixed principle, a basic law of life that we become like what we worship. When
people worship a holy God, they, in turn, become holy. They are constrained to
imitate His character. But when people fashion their own god in their own
likeness, they are also free to form their own rules of life. If their god is a bird. beast or
serpent, then their moral and ethical standards will be on a par with those of
animals. As a result, any basis for true godliness goes out the window, and is
replaced by a new law derived from animal behavior - the survival of the
fittest. This crude principle, which lies at the heart of every theory of
evolution, is dressed up with the benign title of "natural
selection", and then used to not only explain but justify atrocities like
the holocaust and the gulags. Yes, even such bizarre reasoning can be declared
as wisdom in the evolutionist's world without God.
As men's
concept of their god became smaller and smaller, their behavior followed suit.
They went down, down, down – till at last they were living like beasts and
serpents. So this passage of Scripture gives the lie to evolution. Human life
has not evolved from lower forms to higher; rather it has devolved from high
intelligence to beastly stupidity.
Men
abandoned the truth about God and worshipped a lie. That's what idolatry is:
It's a lie. It says that a tree trunk or a ball is God. When they abandoned the
truth, they also abandoned holiness. They gave themselves over to gross
immorality, practicing even homosexuality and lesbianism. They reached the
bottom of the bucket of sin. They became what we call, "abandoned".
But not
only did they abandon decency. Even worse, God abandoned them. It's a terrible
thing to be abandoned by God. And yet this is what has happened to people down
through the centuries. There are thousands today whose lives are so dissolute
and licentious that it is impossible to win them back to lives of decency apart
from a mighty miracle of God's grace. They may even try to change but they slip
back into their abandoned lifestyle. Their fruitless attempts at self-recovery
are tragic testimony to the true cause of their moral impotence - they have
been abandoned by God.
Now we come
to one of the most revealing and explanatory statements in the whole passage:
"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Why do men turn
to evolution? Because they do not like to retain God in their
knowledge. They know there's a God. Both the telescope and the
microscope tell them there's a God. The human body, the birth of a baby, man's
brain - all testify to a Creator other than chance. But man does not want to
admit it. He wants to expel all thoughts of the supernatural.
Why?
Because he knows that if there is a God, then he is responsible to Him, and
that thought is utterly unacceptable. Sinful man does not want to be
responsible to a holy God. He wants to have his own way. He wants to be his own
boss, to do his own thing. He doesn't want anyone else telling him what to do.
He wants to live without any divine restraints. Just denying the existence of
God doesn't eliminate Him, of course, but men go on playing this game of
fantasy and unreality. That is the best explanation of why men turn to
evolution. Not because the theory is capable of proof. Not because it is
reasonable or sane or sensible. But because it gets rid of
God in the minds of its adherents.
The closing
verses of the chapter give a terrible catalogue of sins that characterize the
world outside of Jesus Christ. It is not a pretty picture. But it is the
inevitable result when men abandon the knowledge of the true God. They not only
practice these things, but they can't sleep unless they are schooling others in
their evil ways.
Anyone who
says there is no God is a fool. In making such a statement, he is claiming to
be the God he denies. For example, he is claiming omniscience. He is saying
"I know every thing. I know that no God exists." And he is claiming
omnipresence. He is saying. "I have access to every place in the universe,
and there is no God anywhere."
No Christian ever needs to be overawed by the vain speculations of evolutionary scientists. With Rom 1 before him, he can see more on his knees than the distinguished professor can see on his tiptoes. Man hasn't evolved; he has devolved. It has not been an ascent but a descent. By abandoning the true God, man has taken up the stupidity of idolatry. His morals have declined according to the image he worships. The reason for his insane behavior is that he does not want to retain God in his knowledge, because that would mean accountability to a higher power. And to that he says. "No way".