GRIZ BEAR COMMENTS

What if evolution was true?

— What if the universe and the world in which we live all came about by chance? What if, by accident - an explosion of gases - our solar system came into being? And what if, by chance over millions and billions of years, life began and evolved to its present forms?

I ask these questions, not because I am entertaining the possibility. I am a man of faith, but I don’t have anywhere near enough faith to believe the complexities of the universe and of life itself could have come about by chance.

It is a mathematical impossibility. And even if I were to concede a one in a million chance for each major step in the process, the one in the equation remains the same and the odds against it are multiplied again and again for each step so that the odds are so improbable that the believer in a chance formation of the universe, chance beginning of life and chance evolution of species has more faith than any religious person I have ever known.

But what if? I ask just to consider the implications of the theories taught in our schools and endorsed as “scientific” fact by so many of the general populace.

If our lives here are a product of chance, we really have no purpose and meaning. We live, we die and it’s over. Why? No explanation can be known.

Indeed, we could have no explanation for man’s conscience, his spiritual nature, his aspirations for life after death or for such characteristics as love, responsibility, empathy or social concern. We would have no basis for marriage, family or any other social structures in society. We really couldn’t explain the evils of this world, sickness, suffering or death.

If our lives here are a product of chance, what basis do we have for laws and morals? If there is no God who created us and all things, and if the Bible is just another human book written and compiled by superstitious men, who is to say what is right and what is wrong? If I think there is nothing wrong with being dishonest and stealing, who are you to tell me differently? What basis would you have to say I am wrong? What if I were to decide that rape and murder

were okay for me, on what basis could you judge me? Yes, we often use the generally accepted values of society or even laws based upon the common good, but who’s to say these are right or wrong? For whose common good do we judge? And don’t these values keep changing? Think about it. Haven’t our society’s values already changed much over a relatively short period of time so that now it is socially acceptable to do andpractice deeds and lifestyles

which were only a few years ago condemned as wrong and immoral? Consider, if the human species is a result of ongoing evolution through survival of the fittest, wouldn’t it make sense for the purest race, the

strongest or the most intelligent, to kill off the weak and less intelligent so as to build a stronger and wiser race of

mankind? Could Hitler and the Nazi Party have had the right idea?

And so, is it any wonder that the world is full of people looking for something to provide meaning and to

give purpose to their lives, and people who often sinkinto despair, alcoholism and drug addiction? Is it surpris

ing that people think nothing today of lying, stealing, dishonesty, promiscuous sexual relationships, alter

native lifestyles, drug abuse and even killing? What was wrong is now okay as long as one doesn’t

get caught and suffer ill consequences. Speeding is okay if you don’t get a ticket. Dishonesty and cheating are all

right too, if no one finds out. It’s okay to kill unborn children if it is for the “good” of the mother. Old people who

can no longer live “meaningful lives” can just be given drugs to make them “sleep” permanently.

I feel for teachers in the public schools. On the one hand, they can teach no moral absolutes, no basis for right and wrong from the Bible, and yet they have to keep peace in the classrooms. They have to teach the theory of chance

existence - including evolution - as if it is fact; and then they wonder why some of their students tend to behave like the wild animals from which they supposedly evolved.

And for the police officers who are charged with enforcing the laws of society, they seek to preserve some semblance of morality and of law and order when so many of the offenders have no reason to respect authority and no reason to even value the officers’ lives.

The logical conclusion to chance existence and evolution is depression and despair, anarchy and chaos. Without God and the moral absolutes provided in His Word, there is no reason for life, no basis for moral law and nothing to prevent anarchy and chaos.

My point, of course, is not to promote chance existence and evolution, but to explain why we’re in the mess we’re in and to point out the fact that our people and society cannot survive if we continue on down our present path.

It won’t work to relegate the Bible and the Christian faith to church services and Sunday school and ban it from our schools, science laboratories, public media and the workplace. One can’t establish moral values, adopt just laws, preserve law and order, teach science, history or even math without Biblical truth as a starting point and foundation. One can’t even live a purposeful and meaningful life apart from this foundation of truth, this Biblical worldview, as a starting point to focus and shape our thinking and our actions.

If a chance existence and evolution of species would be true, life would be meaningless and of no value.

Thank God it’s not! There is an almighty and eternal God who is the Creator and Preserver of all things, and He has not been silent. He has spoken to us in His Word, the Bible, that we might know Him and the truth about our existence. His Word has the answers to life’s questions. And He has told us of His gracious desire to be in communion with us - forever - through His own entrance into creation in the person of Christ Jesus and the accomplishing of our redemption through Christ’s sufferings, death and resurrection. It’s time we start listening to the truth and living by it!

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be reached by email at rmoll@ nwaonline.com.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/05/2012