"Evolutionary evangelist" Michael Dowd, released an article yesterday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Darwinian Evolution. The article, entitled "Why I Thank God for Charles Darwin," explains what evangelicals would call Dowd's "testimony," or story, of how his life has been changed... by accepting both Christ and evolution.
Dowd makes some very interesting claims in his article. Here are a couple:
...It is obvious to me now that God didn’t stop revealing truth vital to human wellbeing back when people believed the world was flat and religious insights were recorded on animal skins. God is still communicating faithfully today, publicly, through the worldwide, self-correcting scientific enterprise. I now see science as revelatory and facts as God’s native tongue.
...No longer do I fear that my family and friends will suffer for eternity in the fires of an otherworldly hell. No longer am I led astray by my instincts—my unchosen nature. And no longer do I find it difficult to live in integrity and know the peace that passes all understanding.
I found it interesting that Dowd thought the reason behind the Christian aversion to evolution was a moral one. ("it would seduce me away from godly living" --I'm not sure I see the logic in that, but that's what he said... or was told) I don't think that is the main problem that Christianity has with evolution.
Dowd (and most others who claim to accept both Christianity and Evolution) is missing an important point: if Darwinian Evolution is true, the Bible is not, so we can know nothing about Jesus with any degree of certainty, therefore Christianity is truly as baseless as its opponents claim.
Here's what I mean: In Mark 10:6-7 Jesus directly references Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, and it is easily inferred that he believed that humans existed from the beginning of the world. Jesus believed in a young Earth, and even if one may argue that he didn't, Jesus certainly never tried to correct the "false teachings" from the opening chapters of Genesis.
If the world was created through evolution (either Darwinian or Theistic), the Christian is faced with one of two major problems: 1. Jesus was either mistaken or a liar, or 2. The Bible did not correctly record his statements. If option 1 is true, then Jesus certainly was not the Son of God, as how could Deity who was supposedly present at Creation (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16) be mistaken about how the creation occurred?
If option 2 is true, then we can know nothing about Jesus with any degree of certainty. For instance, if this account in the Bible is wrong, how can we know that the account of the resurrection isn't wrong as well?
Everything that Christianity has to offer hinges on the Bible's veracity. If it is inaccurate, then it is not even good enough to be called a good 'spiritual' book, or even a piece of literature (as it would then be fiction that tries to present itself as truth).
As convenient as it may be to try to find a way to reconcile the two, evolution and Christianity are incompatible.
If you'd like more information on Dowd, you can visit his website. I've also found this video. You may find InternetMonk's review of his book helpful as well.
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