Creation versus Evolution - Worldview determines your perception of truth...or your allegiance to a lie!
In part two of this post (in other words, two posts on one day), I will publish some comments by one of the commenters that are 'regulars' that reveal the unscientific viewpoint of Darwinists. His remarks are fairly typical of the Darwinists who comment so I just took a quick sampling of three recent comments to use in illustrating the main points.
First I will make an assertion about worldviews. The most fundamental aspect of any worldview is whether that worldview does or does not consider that God created the Universe as a given. You either cite God or some version of "It just happened."
"There are still only three options—they always existed (in violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics); they created themselves (in violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics); or they were created. The laws of thermodynamics still echo the truth from the remotest parts of the created order: “You cannot explain it all without God in the equation!” - Jeff Miller, PhD article in part two
First I will make an assertion about worldviews. The most fundamental aspect of any worldview is whether that worldview does or does not consider that God created the Universe as a given. You either cite God or some version of "It just happened."
"There are still only three options—they always existed (in violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics); they created themselves (in violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics); or they were created. The laws of thermodynamics still echo the truth from the remotest parts of the created order: “You cannot explain it all without God in the equation!” - Jeff Miller, PhD article in part two
A Bible perspective on worldviews
One of the most famous persons of the Old Testament is the man chosen by God to ensure that the first five books of the Bible would be recorded in written form and saved for posterity - Moses. The story of Moses begins in Exodus chapter 2 with his birth and the unusual circumstances by which a Hebrew child could become possibly a heir to the throne of Pharaoh himself introduce us to the first third of his life as Egyptian royalty and then he would be revealed to be a confused man (being Hebrew by birth and Egyptian by rank) who wound up murdering an Egyptian for beating a Jew identified as "one of his brethren" (Exodus 2:11). Fleeing for his very life, Moses became joined to the house of the "priest of Midian" as a result of his kindness to the daughters of that priest by helping them water their flocks, withstanding some shepherds who had bullied them away from the water. Moses was obviously a strong man but one without sure direction who had left the land of his birth and both nations which might have claimed him as their own. It was at this time that he uttered the words that Robert Heinlein would borrow for the title of his most famous novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land."
One of the most famous persons of the Old Testament is the man chosen by God to ensure that the first five books of the Bible would be recorded in written form and saved for posterity - Moses. The story of Moses begins in Exodus chapter 2 with his birth and the unusual circumstances by which a Hebrew child could become possibly a heir to the throne of Pharaoh himself introduce us to the first third of his life as Egyptian royalty and then he would be revealed to be a confused man (being Hebrew by birth and Egyptian by rank) who wound up murdering an Egyptian for beating a Jew identified as "one of his brethren" (Exodus 2:11). Fleeing for his very life, Moses became joined to the house of the "priest of Midian" as a result of his kindness to the daughters of that priest by helping them water their flocks, withstanding some shepherds who had bullied them away from the water. Moses was obviously a strong man but one without sure direction who had left the land of his birth and both nations which might have claimed him as their own. It was at this time that he uttered the words that Robert Heinlein would borrow for the title of his most famous novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land."
Moses was now married to the daughter of the priest of Midian, living in Midian and tending flocks of sheep. He'd lived a life of twists and turns but was now settled in to a new life, the past left behind.
This particular verse is meaningful to me, as it reveals an aspect of the character of Moses that mirrors my own and many of us who came to Christianity as adults. The typical shepherd wouldn't leave his flock to go look at a bush that appeared to be burning for no good reason. He would keep on doing his normal routine so as to not lose track of any of the sheep or leave them unprotected against predators, causing him extra work and/or grief. He would keep his eyes on his job, his material existence depended upon shepherding those sheep. But Moses was willing to see and believe something more than the natural flow of life. He was willing to consider the supernatural. Because he was willing, then in verse 4 -
So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
God drew the attention of Moses by revealing something supernatural within the natural, a sign that there is more than the ordinary material world. Moses needed to be willing to both see this and respond to it. Once Moses responded to the evidence of the supernatural, then God began his dialogue and relationship with Moses, telling Moses that he would lead the Hebrews out of Egypt and revealed His Name in verses 13-15-
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’
Jesus Christ identified Himself clearly to the Jews in John chapter 8. The chapter is famed for the story of the woman "taken in sin", a trap laid by the Pharisees to force Christ to judge the woman and condemn her to death or to decline to follow the Law. In fact, the Law required that both a man and woman caught in adultery were, if charged, to both face the same fate which would be to be stoned to death. So the Pharisees were providing a false challenge to Jesus and the Law. But Jesus simply stated that whoever was sinless among them must cast the first stone. None dared to pretend they were free of sin and, since the accusers all declined to punish the woman, John 8 10-12 states -
When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Then a dialogue broke out between the Pharisees and Jesus and witnessed by onlookers, including His disciples. The Pharisees sought to catch Christ in some kind of misstatement and Jesus used the opportunity to assure the listeners that He was indeed the Christ. First see verses 28-40 -
Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
The Pharisees knew that Jesus was saying that Satan and not Abraham was their father and they were struck to the heart and angry. Others listening were being convinced that Jesus truly was the Son of God. This is a turning point in the ministry of Christ and also the plans of the Pharisees. The discussion would soon come to that very subject. Continuing with verses 41-47 with Jesus speaking first-
"You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”
As the chapter is coming to an end, verses 56-58 bring Jesus Christ to identify Himself specifically with the God of Moses -
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
No Jew would ever say, "I am." Jahweh, Anglicized as Jehovah, is the Name by which God Himself used to identify and describe Himself to Moses. Jews would say "I a carpenter" or "I a priest" but would never say that particular phrase, as it was God's Name and no ordinary man would dare use it or speak it. When Jesus said this He was intentionally telling his followers, his enemies and those not yet decided that He was the Christ, the Son of God, in no uncertain terms. The phrase is ἐγὼ εἰμί (ego eimi) in the Koine Greek in which John was originally written but Jesus in fact spoke in either Aramaic or Hebrew during his ministry and to this particular audience in the Temple certainly said the Hebrew word Jahweh = אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה
So now we come to the worldviews of today. Christians believe Jesus spoke truth when he claimed to be Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God come to save mankind and restore us to relationship with God. We heard and believed when we turned away from the material world and both saw and were drawn to Christ by a burning bush at some point in our lives. There are those who have not believed on Christ but still recognize that there is indeed a burning bush that indicates a supernatural component to life. We will call them Theists for the sake of simplicity.
Arrayed on the other side are those who represent the modern Pharisees of the world. They turn away from the Law of Biogenesis, the Laws of Thermodynamics and the overwhelming evidence of design and intentionality and information in the Universe at large and specifically the world of organisms, all of which are big burning bushes that should catch their attention and cause them to abandon the folly of an entire world that created itself from nothing. Why?
Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
It has been my experience that the most strident defenders of Darwinism are not simply atheistic, they are Atheopaths, haters of God and consequently haters of truth. They will say things they know are false, use evidence they know is not true, anything they can to support their failed hypothesis and continue to fool the ignorant and unschooled and brainwash the young by linking arms and joining ranks, all singing the same old songs extolling fairy tales and fallacies. Darwinists must be liars in order to defend their beliefs and thus they align themselves with enemies of God. Scientism is the enemy of Science and Darwinism is the enemy of truth and common sense. The sad fact is that Darwinists bring their worldview with them to work and pretend that they have no worldview at all. They impose their personal worldview of naturalistic materialism on science and pretend that it is a vital component of science. This is folly and I call it Scientism. Wikipedia (hardly a friend to Christianity) defines it:
Web definitions
- Scientism is the idea that natural science is the most authoritative worldview or aspect of human education, and that it is superior to all other interpretations of life. ...
Another source would say the following (the entire page includes references noted in this excerpt):
Scientism and atheism
Scientism has generally had a close relationship with atheism, as atheism and Scientism support each other. Followers of Scientism do not believe in God and therefore use atheism as the base of their religion, and atheists use pseudoscience to support their claims, as well as as evidence against God and the Bible.[2]Scientism and pseudoscience
Since Scientists have an agenda to use "science" to support their denial of God, their techniques usually rely on pseudoscience. For example, the claim to know that God exists, despite the fact that it is technically scientifically impossible to disprove anything (i.e. negative proofs are impossible). Despite this, they continue to deny the existence of God without any real scientific proof.[3]Science as a religion
Scientism is the religion of worshiping science as a source of explanations about the universe. It is based on their faith that science will provide answers because Scientists have a declared "objective" point of view.[4]Believers of Scientism deny the existence of God, and instead worship pseudoscientific methods. They seek to use what they claim to be as "science" to replace God as the source for infinite knowledge, and the foundation of society. Scientists generally think of themselves as being Gods while practicing their scientific rituals, because they think they are coming up with answers. However, they really just pretend that they are God to feel superior to the faithful.
Worshipers of Scientism also believe that science should replace traditional morality, so that they can do whatever they want as long as it is dictated by "science".[5]
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Part two will be presented as a completely separate post...