<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Are You an Evolutionist?

You know, it seems to be that this is the expected belief in society today, isn't it?

The scientific community, they don't hardly talk about it as theory anymore.

They like to almost refer to it as fact, but the fact of the matter is it's still a theory.

But sadly many are caving to the pressure.

Sadly, even within our own ranks, there are individuals who have thrown out this idea of creation.

Maybe it's the endless articles that we see.

I was curious, just in looking at Time magazine alone, I don't know why I picked out Time, but there are so many various articles talking about evolution, where we came from, Big Bang, Big Daddy, how many evolved, and so on and so forth, that it just is rather astounding how often this gets a front page in just 1 magazine, let alone all of the others.

And in each 1 of these magazines, in most all of these articles, you'll find something that looks probably similar to something like this, going back eons of millions and billions of years, and how we as a people have progressed to where we are today.

We see it in textbooks, we see it in interviews on virtually everywhere we go.

You go to the Smithsonian or a museum, it's there.

And anyone who sees things differently, well, they just don't know what they're talking about.

Well, it goes back to Charles Darwin and his work, originally published in 1859, on the origin of species.

And it seems like other headlines are showing that the papacy and the Catholic Church likes to appeal to both camps, too.

Pope Francis, evolution is not inconsistent with the notion of creation.

Enlarging that bottom portion there, it says, when we read about creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician with a magical wand able to do everything.

As if a magician with a magic wand can do more than our creator God?

Continuing, he created human beings and then let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each 1 so they would reach their fulfillment.

So if you break that down, God is really not powerful enough to create by his word.

It's not as the Genesis account really states, but that he created human beings with the ability to develop and reach our fulfillment.

So what God was essentially powerless to do, we can accomplish on our own, just given millions and billions of years.

And if that's so, if we are truly that capable, does that make us more powerful than the God that created us?

That the fact that we're in a higher state than we were at creation and if that is in fact the case maybe we should just be worshiping ourselves and much of society would be happily agree and go right along wouldn't they?

Continuing this article it says Evolution in nature is not opposed to the notion of creation because evolution presupposes, or we can say assumes, the creation of beings that evolve.

Now this isn't new, in case you're wondering.

The traditional Catholic teaching has not been at odds with evolution.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed that there was no opposition between evolution and the Catholic doctrine.

And in 1996, John Paul II endorsed Pius' statement.

And so for a long time, the Catholic Church has said, you can have both.

Whatever you like, we can offer it to you.

Friends, is our doctrine something like a buffet?

That we can just walk in, pick up a plate, and look over things and see, yes I'll take a little bit of this, and a little bit of, oh but I don't want any of that, I'm gonna pass on this over here, is that how it works?

What's the definition, if we can, of evolution?

Well, the 2 that I have listed here, there's a few more.

The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth, be it millions and billions of years.

And secondly, the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

So I asked you this morning, is this how we came to be?

And Everything is always couched in millions and billions of years as if the problem goes away after millions and billions of years.

Let's suppose you have a leak in your roof.

And my wife says, honey, we need to do something about this water that's coming down the wall.

And I say, darling, just give it a few billion years.

That it might, but will the roof ever get fixed?

Well, maybe if we just tack on a few more billion years, the inanimate object of the nail will combine with the living, or formerly living, of the wood and the tar paper, and they will somehow create and evolve into something that is a patch.

You're saying our pastor has lost his mind.

We could almost put a period right there.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Or the alternative, we evolve over billions and billions of years.

You used to be a worm or a slug or something of that nature.

And then you progressed into something a little bit bigger, a little bit better, a little fancier, until eventually over millions and billions of years you had fur and hair and skin and all of these other things.

Revelation 4, 11 says, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.

And why is our God worthy to receive our praise this morning for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created it's right there it's fundamental of praising and worshipping our God is to recognize him as our creator who formed and fashioned us.

Psalm 33 verse 6, by the word of the Lord the heavens were made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

And this, again, I would submit to you, is the power of God's word that is still living and active today.

And so if you can get rid of creation through evolution, everything else starts to crumble.

Scientific evidence, they say, shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from ape-like ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately 6 million years.

How do you like that as part of your identity?

Genesis 126 tells us, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

To be created in the image of God rather than just being a little bit higher than the apes.

Review and Herald says this, all heaven took a deep and joyful interest in the creation of the world and of man.

Human beings were a new and distinct order.

I imagine after the fall, there was this void that was created, and Jesus says, I'm gonna do something new.

I'm gonna create something out of my own or after my own image.

Back to Menu

Are You an Evolutionist?

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Plenary Sessions

Are You an Evolutionist?

54m

The Book Of Revelation

Revelation 14: The First Angel’s Message

45m

Evolution and the Sabbath

40m

Unusual Sacrifice

Three Angels’ Messages and End Time Events

1h 21m

What is the Sea Beast Doing Today

1h 22m

Plenary Sessions

Hope’s Grace-Filled End Time Message

53m

Understanding Difficult Topics

4. The Mark of the Beast

1h 15m

Dane Griffin: The Main Thing is the Main Thing

The Main Why

1h 24m

Every Non-Sabbath Keeper Needs to Watch This: Your Sabbath Arguments Answered

40m

There is Hope

A Second Look at the First Day

52m

The Sanctuary

11. A Day to Remember

51m

The Laodicean Dilemma

47m

Sound Doctrine