Theistic Evolution — Denial of the Record

by Jim R. Everett
via bulletin from the Cedar Park church of Christ

Atheistic evolution is an unscientific hypothesis because it affirms that life came from nothing. Theistic evolution is an unwarranted compromise and a denial of the record of creation (Genesis 1-2). No man can believe the Bible to be God's absolute truth while accepting evolution as man's explanation of how God created. The difference between "atheistic evolution" and "theistic evolution" is the acceptance by theists that God gave the first spark of life -- from that point on, the theories are basically the same.

Certainly, there can be no objection to men studying "how" God created man as long as he recognizes a difference between "creation" and "evolution." The first two chapters of Genesis do not give a detailed discourse on "how" God created. However, theories that deny the simple record of Genesis cannot be accepted. I believe that the modern-day theory called "theistic evolution" denies some very simple, fundamental facts; therefore, it must be rejected.

For instance, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and then the record states, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:26-27). How is man made in the likeness of God? It is not the body's likeness, because God has no physical body (John 4:23-24). And, it cannot be mere physical life, for animals and trees have life. It must be spirit likeness because God is spirit. How could man have been "made in God's image," if he simply evolved from lower animals? At what point in the so-called "evolutionary" process did men not possess the image of God and then evolve into God's likeness?

Theistic evolutionists have to affirm that there is no difference between lower animals and men. This denies the record of creation. The theistic evolutionist, while claiming to believe in God and evolution at the same time, finds himself beset by many problems. If he truly believes in God, he must accept the word of God as being true. But the account in Genesis 1:26-27 contradicts the theory of evolution. What are his choices? He must fault the Genesis record of creation or he must deny the essential claims of evolution. If he denies the Genesis record, he cannot be a true believer in God and His authority. If he denies the "evolving" atheistic evolution postulates, he cannot be an evolutionist.

Atheistic evolution denies the existence of God -- theistic evolution denies the authority and power of God. There is no difference in the consequences of the two!