BiblicalInsights.net

      A new poll released just in time for Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday found that only 39 percent of Americans say they “believe in the theory of evolution,” and just 24 percent of those who attend church weekly believe in that explanation for the development of life on Earth (Gallup poll of 1,018 American adults, Feb. 12, 2009, Fox News, www.foxnews.com).
     Thomas K. Grose in an article dated Feb. 12, 2009 (www.usnews.com) titled, “British Celebrate Charles Darwin but are Still Skeptical of Evolution” states, “Proud though Britian may be for having produced such a famous, pre-eminent, albeit controversial scientist, Darwin’s theory of evolution is a hard sell here–even though the United Kingdom is a rather secular society where church attendance has fallen to negligible numbers. A January ComRes poll taken for the religious think tank Theos found that 51 percent of Britons say that evolution alone can’t explain complex life, and 32 percent believe that life on Earth began within the past 10,000 years–a basic tenet of Creationism.”
     Why is it that, since 1859 when Darwin published On the Origin of the Species, the theory of evolution hasn’t been more persuasive?  The answer is that Darwinism is easily defeated on the basis of five important facts.
     First, the theory of evolution fails as an explanation for the origin of all things. The problem facing evolutionists is this: what existed to bring all things into existence?  Did everything come from nothing? (That would be logically absurd).  Or, did everything come from something?  In which case, that something would be eternal.  If not God (pure Spirit), then matter.  Science cannot prove that matter is eternal.  Instead science teaches us that the universe is running down (the Second Law of Thermodynamics) . Hence, evolutionists cannot prove their case.  The Bible affirms that God (eternal Spirit) created all things (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16).
     Second, the theory of evolution fails to explain the origin of life.  Evolutionists declare that all living things came from non-living things in contradiction to the law of biogenesis. The chances of this happening are astronomical.  Also, science has failed to duplicate spontaneous generation of life.  The Bible teaches that all liviing things come from a living God (Gen. 2:7). 
     Third, the theory of evolution cannot adequately explain the diversity and design of the universe. Evolutionists believe that mutations and natural selection, merely by chance, produced all of the diversity and design that we experience in the universe.  Most mutations are destructive to an organism not productive.  A living organism may adapt to its environment, but it will never change into another species of living creature.  Science proves limits to change whereas evolution theory affirms unlimited change that is design specific.  The Bible teaches that each living organism reproduces after its kind (Gen. 1:11; 1:24-25; Gen. 1:28).
     Fourth, the theory of evolution fails to explain the absence of transitional forms in the fossil record.  Geologists have not found the fossil evidence proving evolution.  Darwin, in his book, On the Origin of the Species, stated, “so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly enormous” (1860, p. 234). He went on to admit, “Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be argued against this theory.  The explanation lies, I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record” (Darwin, p. 234).  The geological record proving evolution has not improved since Darwin.  Jerry Adler, in a November 3, 1980 Newsweek article stated, “Evidence from fossils now points overwhelmingly away from the classical Darwinism which most Americans learned in high school: that new species evolve out of existing ones by the gradual accumulation of small changes, each of which helps the organism survive and compete in the environment” (Reason and Revelation, Feb. 2009, p. 12-13–Kyle Butt and Eric Lyons, Darwin in  Light of 150 Years of Error).  The Bible teaches that like begets like and, so, no transitional forms in the fossil record (Gen. 1-2).
    Fifth, the theory of evolution fails to explain that there is no God!  If the theory of evolution is true, then there is no God!  Atheists are people who believe that they know that God does not exist.  However, in order to believe this, they must be omniscient.  They must know everything there is to know, because if there is one thing that they do not know–that one thing may be God!  No man is omniscient.  Therefore, no man living today or who has ever lived could prove that God does not exist.  Recent advertisements in Europe say, “God probably does not exist, so don’t worry, go ahead and enjoy your life.”  Why would the ads say “probably” He does not exist?  This is an admission of fallibility and ignorance.  The Bible declares that God is (Gen. 1:1). 
     The theory of evolution fails to meet the demands of proof, science, and the Bible.  “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good” (I Thess. 5:21).  I’m not surprised that the theory of evolution is a hard sell among Americans and Britons.  Some people are still wise enough to reject that which is utterly false.

Lincoln Bible

     The following facts about the Lincoln Bible are taken from the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov/today/pr/2008/08-236.html) in a news release.  Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4, 1861 to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.  The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, then 84 years old. The Bible used to administer the oath was originally purchased by William Thomas Carroll, Clerk of the Supreme Court. The Lincoln’s family Bible had been packed with other belongings that were coming from Springfield, Illinois.  The Bible is bound in burgundy velvet with a gold-washed white metal rim around the three outside edges of both covers.  All its edges are heavily gilt. In the center of the top cover is a shield of gold wash over white metal with the words “Holy Bible” chased into it.  The book is 15 cm long, 10 cm wide, and 4.5 cm deep when closed.  The 1,280-page Bible was published in 1853 by the Oxford University Press.  This Bible is a historic relic because of its use by Abraham Lincoln in his first inauguration.  However, we must remember that it is much more than a relic.  It is God’s Word!  The Bible has lost respect among many today.  They no longer view it as the inspired Word of God.  Instead, many believe it is merely a work of men.  The apostle Paul declares, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16-17).  The words in the Bible are the words of God not men.  These same words will judge us in the last day.  Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).  Lincoln took the oath of office while holding his hand on the Bible.  Why?  Did he really believe it and desire to obey it?  Did he really understand how wonderful it was and is?  Was he dedicated to following God’s purposes in his life and willing to lead the country in God’s ways?
     On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama took the oath of office of the president of the United States using this same Bible.  I can only wonder what the new president’s attitude is toward it.  Is it just a relic to him?  Or, is it the inspired, infallible Word of the living God?  The  success of his presidency will be determined by how well he measures up to the truths of this book–the Bible.

     The Greek word for peace is eirene.  This word appears 92 times in the New Testament.  It refers to a state of spiritual tranquility of the soul that finds its refuge in Jesus Christ. Peace results from salvation from sin.  James states that war is the result of man’s lusts, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? (James 4:1).  Peace results only when the old man of sin is crucified.
     “According to the Canadian Army Journal, a former president of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, aided by historians from England, Egypt, Germany, and India, came up with some startling facts and figures.  Since 3600 B.C., the world has known only 292 years of peace.  During that period, there have been 14,531 wars, large and small, in which 3,640,000,000 peple have been killed.  The monetary value of the destruction would pay for a golden belt around the world 97.2 miles in width and about thirty-three feet thick.  Why can’t man ever achieve peace outside of Christ?  Because there isn’t any peace outside of Christ!” (J. D. Watson, A Word A Day, 11).
     We will never have world peace until we make inner peace with God by reconciling to Him through Jesus Christ. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:13-15). By obeying the terms and conditions of the new covenant (New Testament), we can be reconciled to God and be at peace.  If all accountable persons in the world would do this, we could enjoy peace within and without.  We must first bring peace to the soul before we can bring peace to the world!