To start off with, I’m a Christian…….you probably guessed.

I believe in a creator……..and I believe in heaven and hell…….because he does.

I also believe that there is some truth in Darwin.

But, I believe that Darwin has been badly “oversold” and that Darwinian evolution will result in more people missing out on paradise and suffering hell than any other idea that mankind has ever encountered.

So……what part of Darwinian evolution (DE) is true?

I am satisfied that DE operates on a small scale. A colony of e coli that is treated with tiny doses of penicillin can develop resistance to penicillin. This resistant bug is not a new species, but it is a example of DE at work.

The problem with this is a problem that any businessman is familiar with…….. scalability. Just because you can make a widget with hand tools in your garage doesn’t mean that you can make a million copies in a factory and sell them at a price that is competitive.

In more concrete terms:

If you put a monkey in a laboratory with a pile of bricks, it is entirely feasible that he will stack 3 bricks in a neat stack. That doesn’t mean that if you assemble a large number of monkeys, give them a large pile of bricks, and allow them a large amount of time that they can build the empire state building. The process of monkeys stacking bricks is legitimate……..but it doesn’t “scale”. And yet that is what Darwin requires us to accept…….that because e coli can develope antibiotic resistance by accident in a lab…..then every living organism in this amazing world can develop…….purely by accident.

DE has 2 components…….random mutation and survival of the fittest.

Last week I addressed the reality that the 100 billion chemical bonds in the human genome could not accumulate by a series of accidents…….by random mutation . This week I will tackle survival of the fittest. Survival of the fittest says that after a mutation produces a trait that is positively adaptive, that, because of its benefits, the trait will spread through the entire population by outcompeting weaker traits. This will then repeat for every one of the millions of traits present in man. This process must occur as a series of individual events, lest positive trait #50589 could undo positive trait # 24775.

So I propose a hypothetical:

Assume that you have a daughter. At age three you realize that she can see through walls……just like superman. This is obviously a highly adaptive trait which she passes on to all of her children. How many generations do you think it would take for that trait to spread through the entire population of the world……now almost 8 billion souls? Remember, DE operated mainly in an era before transoceanic travel. Perhaps 1000 generations?……each 20 years. So maybe 20,000 years for one trait to work through the entire world population? Now multiply 20,000 years per trait by the trillions of traits in the billions of species between the “primordial ooze” and Angelina Jolie.

Science tells us that life has existed on earth for 4 billion years. That’s a lot of time. But it’s not nearly enough time for survival of the fittest to do the job that DE has assigned to it. In Darwin’s defense, he didn’t know the time frame involved and he didn’t know just how big the human genome…….and the billions of other genomes are.

The problem for both random mutation and survival of the fittest is the same…….they don’t “scale”. Even if Darwin has 4 billion years to work with……there just isn’t enough time.

Darwinian evolution, by design, eliminates the creator from the equation. Darwinian evolution replaces the creator with trillions of random, consecutive, positively adaptive accidents. Darwin also
replaces eternity……heaven and hell……with nothing…….a black void.

So……the burning question is this:

Are you prepared to gamble your eternity on Darwin? Are you willing to bet your eternity on a bunch of monkeys building the empire state building?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John, NIV

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Paul, NIV

I am the Lord,
the Maker of all things,
who stretches out the heavens,
who spreads out the earth by myself,
who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,

God, NIV

I’m sitting on my front porch watching the day begin. I’m surrounded by trees and flowers. The sky is a deep rich blue. There is a gentle breeze rustling the leaves. The birds are singing and raiding the bird feeder. It’s still just a little cool……but not uncomfortable. A hummingbird hovers in front of me. I am blessed to live in what amounts to a garden. So do you. I often think that this setting must be something like Eden once was.

And that brings me to a question……… the greatest question of my life…….yours too.

“How did this all come to be?”

And the implicit second half of the question:

“Is there a creator behind it all?”

There are only two possibilities: either it’s all a series of accidents………or it is the handiwork of an intelligent creator.

This question is the first step in a “logic tree”…….it is a fork in the road. The two choices are mutually exclusive. One of them is right and one of them is wrong. Going downstream from this fork, we will make millions of choices. But, they will all be pre-ordained by this first decision. And that is why it is so important that we get the first decision right.

So we decide. The accident fork leads to what we call secular humanism. The creation fork leads to what we call intelligent design.

Neither of these answers can be conclusively proven. Each fork requires us to make assumptions that we accept on faith. Each of these forks is in fact……..a religion.

So…….how do we decide?

Typically, we begin with some assumptions.

For example:

Modern science is essentially complete……it can explain it all.

There are parts of the cosmos that cannot be seen, measured, or even understood.

Mankind is the highest life form in the known universe.

There is an intelligent being superior to us.

We look around us. We measure. We assess the probabilities.

Then comes the dangerous part. We filter all of this through our desires…….our appetites. In particular…..do we want to be the final arbiter…..the top decision maker……..or do we submit to a higher power.

Do we assume command of the universe or are we subservient to a creator?

If we are honest with ourselves, we generally put our appetites ahead of the truth. The reality is that this last step is largely how most of us handle the decision…….this is how we choose the fork in the road. To get this right…….we must ask…….am I in charge of my life and my world……..or is God in charge?

So…….first of all……..what is the object of the exercise?

I think that it must be………to find the truth………accident or creation.

How do we do that?

We have to begin by stripping away all of the ideas that interfere with our search for the truth. We must set aside all of our assumptions. Especially the assumption that we understand everything…..that we are even capable of understanding everything…..because it is crystal clear that we encounter things every day that we cannot explain. Second…….and this step is much harder…….we must stop filtering our analysis through our desires and appetites. In today’s political climate this has become the norm. We sift through the facts on the web, we share the facts that agree with our needs, that agree with our desires, and we discard anything that we don’t like.

These two steps will prepare you for an honest searching assessment of the question. If you can do these two things……then you are ready to begin an honest quest……..for the truth. If you can do these two things…….then you are ready to choose the fork in the road.

Accident vs. Creation.

Accident:

We are actually talking about trillions of accidents. Each one improves the situation. Each one builds on the preceding accidents. Each one is permanent. But, here’s the rub…….each accident has a probability. The net probability that the accident explanation is true is the product of multiplying the trillions of individual probabilities. The human genome alone has about 100 billion “accidental” chemical bonds. And that is just one of trillions of genomes out there. The net probability that accidents could account for this amazingly complex universe is staggeringly small….even if you allow hundreds of billions of years…….so small that it is a good working definition for the term…… impossible.

Creation:

Creation is an almost magical explanation for the universe. It is very simple………God did it. As a theory, it is comprehensive. It is easy to understand. It has withstood the test of time……. it’s been around a lot longer than science. So…..what is the problem? There are several. First of all, creation flies in the face of modern science. It requires us to discard the thousands of assumptions that science is founded on……especially the assumption that science has it all correctly figured out. Second, and most important, it requires us to accept the idea that we are not in charge here……the idea that we were created…..put here…..by an entity who is in every way superior to us……..God. Even worse, we must sign on to the idea that our creator has expectations of us……. expectations that often run counter to our appetites……and we hate that most of all.

So our choice is between secular humanism, which is statistically impossible, and creation, which requires us to accept a realm that is beyond our ability to measure or even understand…….a realm that requires us to submit to a higher power…….a power who insists that we follow two foundational rules:

Love God and love our fellow man.

That’s it……….now choose.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Moses, NIV

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?

God, NIV

then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

Solomon, NIV

My wife Cindy and I have been married for almost 45 years.

She is the love of my life and has been from the moment when we met.

She is a fountain of love and care for the people around her. She is highly entertaining……a lot of fun to be around. If you know her, you’ve heard the ring tone on her phone……”Girls Just Want to Have Fun!” There is only one sure way to get on her bad side…….and that is to hurt someone she loves and cares for……..and she loves and cares for just about everybody.

Cindy has breast cancer.

Invasive

Metastatic

Terminal

Breast cancer.

This came at us right out of the blue. It turned up on a screening mammogram. One day we were looking at vacation/retirement homes…….the next day we were shopping for a surgeon and an oncologist. You would think that this turn of events would be devastating. The thing is……….the cancer hasn’t changed her much at all.

How can you be joyful, loving, generous, and most of all at peace………when you have invasive, metastatic, terminal breast cancer?

It’s not as difficult as you might think.

Cindy is a Christian. That means that she has accepted Christ as her saviour…….and along with that, his promises: That he has her in his hand…….that he has prepared a place for her…….that he has a plan for her well-being. That she is loved and cherished…….not just by me………but by the creator of the universe.

In a word……….Cindy anchors her life on trust. She trusts that we were put here on purpose by a creator who has a plan……a plan for our well being……..even when we cannot see it or understand it. She trusts that behind that plan is a father who loves her……..and me……..and you…….with a love that is completely beyond our understanding. She trusts that he will take care of her………that he has her in his hand.

If all that you have to hold on to is your own wisdom……..if all that you trust is what you understand……..then it is no wonder that you live a life of quiet desperation……..because you…..and I…… can only see a tiny bit of reality. And what we can see is not very encouraging. The greatest hope for any of us is, to a large degree, hidden from us.

This is probably not an accident.

That hope centers on the love of our creator.

Our greatest hope in this life is the love of our creator.

If you reject that hope…….all I can say is that I disagree with you………and that I admire your courage. I couldn’t make it through a day without the hope that comes from my father……Abba.

Cindy is my guide on this journey.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul, NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Paul, NIV

We don’t think about today very much. Often, today is something that we need to get through…….so that we can get on to tomorrow. Tomorrow seems to be when the important stuff is going to happen.

There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead…… Proverbs encourages it.

But we need to keep tomorrow in perspective. The place where we live……..is today. As I get older……closer to the end……..I find that I am developing a more intimate relationship with today. I spend a lot less time thinking about…….worrying about…… tomorrow.

The tension between today and tomorrow has even crept into my prayer life. I’ve noticed that my prayers have developed a focus on the long term.

I pray for a Christian government……..in the next election or so.

I pray for an end to abortion……… when the supreme court shifts to the right……hopefully in my lifetime.

I pray for healing from cancer for family and friends…….over the next decade.

This is very practical. If I miss a day……no biggie. Last week’s prayer should be good for a while. Also, if nothing improves in the next 24 hours, it’s not a problem. In a way I’m saying to God…….”take your time”…….for now….. I’ve got this under control.

But do I really have things under control? A quick look around suggests that things are not going well.

So ……..I am shifting the focus of my prayers…….my “to do list” for God. I am going to spend more time on praying for today.

Please guide our leaders (Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and McConnell)………today.

Please convince one woman with an unwanted pregnancy to let her child live…….. today.

Please destroy Cindy’s cancer…….today.

This is interesting.

In a way, this increases the urgency of the prayer…….the immediacy of the prayer. These “today” prayers expire. They are good for one day. If I miss a day……I’m not covered.

If I miss a day………I’m on my own…….and that is a scary place.

In addition, there is a side effect. My “today” prayer brings my relationship……my dependence……..on God into focus. Instead of firing off a list of long term objectives……sort of a 5 year plan for God, I am depending on God to get me through the next 24 hours.

And this is the correct posture for a 68 year old man in relation to the creator of the universe.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus, NIV