Another department in which the god of this age is
active with propaganda is that of Science.
Science is the modern idol before which all are called
to bow. Science is, strictly, knowledge, but
much that passes for knowledge is mere speculation and
hypothesis.
Take, for instance, the idea that permeates the
text-books of all scientific study to-day -- that
of Evolution. When the scientist approaches the
Scriptures he excuses his apparent lack of reverence
by the plea that science is concerned only with that
which can be demonstrated and proved. Let us test the
doctrine of evolution by the scientists' own standard.
While the theories of Darwin are rapidly becoming
discredited in the highest scientific circles, the
ordinary scientist is still found quoting and
asserting his doctrines. In Darwin's two principal
works the expression, 'We may well suppose' occurs
more than eight hundred times. It looks as though the
scientific mind wanted to believe Darwin's theory at
all costs.
Dr. Etheridge, of the British Museum, has said :
'Nine tenths of the talk of evolutionists is sheer
nonsense, not founded on observation and
wholly unsupported by fact. This Museum is full of
proofs of the utter falsity of their views'.
It is safe to say that had Darwin known the researches
and findings of Mendel, his 'Origin of
Species' would never have been written.
Dr. Shadduck points out one cause for this
unscientific eagerness to parade mere hypothesis
as science :
'It is not so much where men came from as it is where
he is going, that disturbs sinners. The
front end of the Bible is not so offensive to the
"modernist" as the last end. If God did not
create man from the dust, He will not raise him from
the dust (Dan. 12:2). Comparatively few men read with
comfort of a "white throne" and opening
books on the reckoning day of God, and it will comfort
many if the first three chapters of the book can be so
emptied of meaning that the last three will be upset
with lopsidedness'.
It is not necessary that we should review the theories
of the evolutionists. We are content to
accept the scientist's own dictum, that science deals
with that which can be demonstrated and proved, and
the most ardent advocate of evolution is obliged to
withdraw when this criterion is maintained.
The first chapter of the book of Genesis is
fundamental to all Scripture. The occupant of a
New York sky-scraper maintaining that, living so high
up, he was not at all concerned as to what was
happening to the foundations, would be as unreasonable
as would be a believer in the teachings of Ephesians,
with its blessings in heavenly places, who said that
we could afford to dispense with Genesis 1.
The beginning of Genesis is fundamental to the Law;
its teaching is bound up with the ten
commandments.
'For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that in them is' (Exod.
20:11).
The facts of Genesis 1 permeate the Prophets (see Isa.
42:5). Notice how the special
character of the 'heaven' made on the second day is
reiterated in Isaiah (40:22; 44:24; 45:11-13).
'Firmament' is the translation of the Hebrew word
raqia, and means thinness -- 'something stretched
out'.
The third division of the Old Testament -- 'The
Psalms' -- is full of references to Genesis 1
(see Psa. 8; 19; 95; 104; 136:5-9; 146:5,6).
The New Testament retains unmodified the teaching of
Genesis 1 (see Acts 14:15; 17:23-26;
2 Cor. 4:6; Heb. 1:8-11; Rev. 4:11, and 14:6,7).
The following extract from Appendix 5 of The Companion
Bible may be useful:
'The introduction to Genesis (and to the whole Bible)
-- Gen. 1:1 to 2:3, ascribes everything
to the living God, creating, making, acting, moving,
and speaking. There is no room for evolution
without a flat denial of Divine revelation. One must
be true, the other false. All God's works were
pronounced "good" seven times, viz., Gen.
1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31. They are "great", Psa.
111:2; Rev. 15:3. They are "wondrous", Job
37:14. They are "perfect", Deut. 32:4.
Man starts from nothing. He begins in helplessness,
ignorance, and inexperience. All his
works, therefore, proceed on the principle of
evolution. This principle is seen only in human
affairs: from the hut to the palace; from the canoe to
the ocean liner; from the spade and ploughshare to
machines for drilling, reaping, and binding, etc. But
the birds build their nests to-day as at the
beginning. The moment we pass the boundary line, and
enter the Divine sphere, no trace or vestige of
evolution is seen'.
The reader who would appreciate the testimony of a
scientist on this important theme should
consider the writings of George McCready Price, M.A.
'The Phantom of Organic Evolution',
originally published by Revell, is a good book with
which to start.
