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Creation 33(3):6, July 2011

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The ‘vital mission’ for atheists: discrediting the supernatural

Editorial

by

billboard
Naïve clergy who accept evolution should wonder at the missionary zeal of atheists promoting it.

Speaking of false prophets, Jesus warned his disciples, “You shall know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16)

Hence my dismay when certain church leaders say that Charles Darwin’s evolutionary ideas do not challenge Christianity. Are they not aware of the tragic fruits of Darwin’s writings?

University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne observed that the impact of Origin of Species was such that Darwin “in the end so convinced his readers that they not only bought his ideas, but in the process jettisoned three thousand years [sic] of religious explanation for life and its apparent design.”1

Cambridge University evolutionist Simon Conway Morris agrees that Origin puts paid to biblical creation, and that Darwin knew what he was doing:

“First and foremost, The Origin is an exorcism of the doctrine of special creation, and conducted by one of the most skilled exorcists science has ever seen.”1

Look why Yale University evolutionists Ira Mellman and Graham Warren sing the praises of evolutionary theory …

“The greatest scientific advance of the last 1,000 years was providing the evidence to prove that human beings are independent agents whose lives on earth are neither conferred nor controlled by celestial forces.”2

… and:

“Although it may be more conventional to measure scientific progress in terms of specific technological developments, nothing was more important than providing the means to release men and women from the hegemony of the supernatural.”2 (Emphasis added.)

Those are fighting words, denying that we are here for a purpose—to humbly love and serve our Creator, who is Spirit (Mark 12:30, John 4:24).

Jesus made it clear that one is either for or against Him (Matthew 12:30)—so no-one, including atheists, is truly ‘neutral’. Thus, atheists’ gloating over evolutionary theory’s challenge to the church should not be surprising.

What’s more, their passion and sense of purpose in proclaiming evolution (e.g. the billboard pictured) ought to be a wake-up call to church leaders who see no problem with Darwin’s ideas. Cambridge University evolutionist Peter Lawrence’s words are singularly revealing:

In this vital mission to discredit the supernatural, nothing has proved more important than The Origin of Species.”1 (Emphasis added.)

Indeed. What better way to discredit Christ as Creator3 (and therefore Lord and Saviour) than by denying supernatural creation itself.4 Christians therefore have a vital mission to overturn the atheists’ ‘vital mission’—hopefully winning them over in the process, that they might give due credit to their Creator, rather than trying to discredit Him. That’s what this magazine is all about.

No atheist could logically refute Gordon Howard’s arguments defending the supernatural (p. 32), for example. And check out our other features covering geology (e.g. pollen grains in supposedly ‘too old’ rock—p. 16), paleontology (yet another ‘living fossil’—p. 23), biology and design (especially Dr Andrew Hodge’s “The Life is in the Blood”—p. 12), anthropology (the ‘ape-men’ demolition beginning on p. 24 is actually intended for all readers) and cosmology (David Coppedge beautifully highlights the Saturn age problems for evolutionists—p. 44). These articles are written specifically to give anyone professing belief in evolution, and denying divine design, reason to think again.

creation magazine

So, please, pass this information on to those who need to hear. The true vital mission field is huge. And the need is urgent.

Posted on homepage: 26 May 2011

References and notes

  1. This was part of his response when approached (along with 10 other modern-day scientists) for his assessment of Darwin’s Origin in the 150th year of publication. (Re)Reading The Origin, Current Biology 19(3):R96–R104, 2009. Return to text.
  2. Mellman, I. and Warren, G., The road taken: past and future foundations of membrane traffic. Cell 100, 99–112, 2000. Return to text.
  3. John 1:3, Colossians 1:16; see also Jesus Christ our Creator creation.com/jesus-christ-our-creator-a-biblical-defence-of-the-trinity, creation.com/incarnation-why-god-became-man. Return to text.
  4. Especially Genesis creation, with its history of the origin of sin and death—the very reason for the Gospel. See creation.com/goodnews, creation.com/seedbed and creation.com/nt. Return to text.

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