My broad range of essays that address
these considerations can be accessed at my website:
www.christianityontheoffense.com
It is
obvious that Darwinists and young-earth creationists (YEC), when judged by the
contents of their positions, take polar opposite points of view. Although Darwinian evolution (DE) is not technically
atheistic, it is currently[1]
the origin-of-life paradigm of choice for virtually all atheists for the reason
that, by definition, it alone purports to account for the present complexity of
the entire array of biological life apart from either appeal or reference to, a
personal intelligent creator and designer.
YEC by contrast holds that every existent thing under heaven and on
earth was created by the God of the Bible in six twenty-four hour days. Secondly, while Darwinists commit themselves
to excluding every notion of teleology[2]
in biology specifically, and in the physical sciences in general, YECs on the other hand are motivated to, together
with creation, “declare the glory of God”
(Psalm 19:1). So it might appear that DEs
and YECs share nothing at all in common that is relevant to the question of the
existence of God.
Nevertheless
there is one fundamental issue that bears strongly on the question of God’s
existence, which both parties embrace. That issue concerns the authority that is granted
to scientific data with respect to this specific consideration. I strongly suspect that neither party
appreciates my drawing this comparison.
Although it is true that YECs eagerly concede their conviction that the
Bible is higher in authority than scientific data or insight, DEs, by contrast,
insist that no authority exists at all except scientific knowledge. So they say
… even while they instead effectively deny that very principle in practice.[3]
Setting aside their disparate motives
(either, crassly put, for or against God), in actual practice,
empirical[4]
scientific[5]
data[6]
is in some manner suppressed by each party insofar as the data under
consideration undermines the paradigm that they are seeking to advance. For example, with respect to YEC, evidence
from either cosmology or geology which objectively indicates that the universe
is ancient is dismissed out-of-hand. For
DEs on the other hand, evidence from either cosmology (the Big Bang) or biology
(information in DNA, the Cambrian Explosion) that can’t be explained by
naturalistic means, is either dismissed or explained away by means of unsubstantiated
theoretical conjectures.
Neither
of these postures are defensible when judged against the criteria that is
affirmed within their own respective positions.
For example, while it is legitimate for a biologist to employ Darwinism
as a working hypothesis for seeking
to explain the biological and botanical history of life on earth, there is conceptually
nothing at all in scientific data which requires the out-of-hand rejection of either
indicators within nature, or the conclusions that might be logically drawn from
such evidence, that an intelligent Designer in some manner created the natural
order. At the same time, YECs by their suppression of selected evidence
from science which indicates, for example, that the universe began from a Big
Bang billions of years ago, utterly
contradicts the Apostle Paul’s stricture on that matter in Romans 1:18-20.[7]
[1] I emphasize “currently” because DEs may well embrace
another yet-to-be- discovered paradigm provided it too has potential to explain
away God’s existence.
[2] “Teleology” affirms that what appears to be features
of design in nature are legitimate indications that the natural order in every
realm was formed by an intelligent guiding mind.
[3] See my essay, “Scientism is Not Science.”
[4] Empirical
knowledge is data that is both measurable and perceivable by one or more of our
five senses.
[5] I distinguish knowledge attained by the disciplined
and intentional scientific method, as
opposed to haphazardly.
[6] I distinguish data
from the hypotheses that are assembled to make sense of it, which may or may
not be correct.
[7] See my essay, “Does the Bible Permit Denigrating
Science in Order to Defend our Faith?
