In most philosophy, world-view or apologetics classes world religions are studied and arguments for and against them are examined. Topics such as nihilism, existentialism, and even eastern pantheistic monism are dissected. While this line of study can benefit one committed to becoming an apologist, for the mainstream believer there may be more immediate and practical concerns. In the case of western Christianity, the three most encountered ideologies opposed its teachings are evolution, Islam and Mormonism. We will examine the basic arguments of each of these over the next few days before turning to a defense of Christianity and the Bible.

I’ve always maintained that the theory of evolution has more in common with religion than it does science, though I know that makes me sound a bit nutty. On the most basic level, though, the overall theory of evolution tackles questions it simply isn’t capable of answering. Take the origin of life for example. According to the theory no one would have been alive to observe the first life form, yet the most basic rules of the scientific method state that something must be observable, testable and repeatable. Until science can create life from non-living mater in the lab, the question about how life began is not a scientific question.

Even so, evolutionists love to state that evolution is a provable, observable fact and in doing so point to adaptation of an animal to its environment. Enough changes over time will eventually result in a new species, they say. While adaptation is an observable fact, no one in all of history ever argued that animals do not adapt to their environment. Many would say that an animal changing from one species into another is a bit of a jump in logic, and they would be right. We do not observe any species in transition today and the fossil record, which should be replete with examples, isn’t.

These are very basic observations that call into question the assumptions of evolutionary theory, yet there are some who would question my categorizing evolution as opposed to Christianity. Some believe that evolution fits in with the Bible just fine, only it doesn’t. Either the earth was covered with water in the beginning, or it was a burning ember in space; either life evolved or was specially created by God; either death entered the world through man’s sin or it is a method God used in the creation of all living things. You cannot believe both are true without doing real damage to one or both of the philosophies.

Yet there is more to it than simple disagreements about the origin of the universe, life, and death. From the start evolution has been opposed to Christianity. Charles Darwin used his ideas to show that all things could be explained naturally, without God. Hitler used Darwin’s notion that blacks are closer to our ape ancestors to justify genocide. The theory was later used to displace the Bible’s teachings in public schools. Even today, after most all of Darwin’s theories have been thrown out, evolution is used to teach that all life is carbon-based and that there is no room in the universe for spiritual beings.

For a more detailed look at the antagonism of evolution and how it is used to draw people away from Christian teachings, check out the movie “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”. While the purpose of the movie is to reveal the lack of freedom in education, it does so by using the Biblical model of Intelligent Design as a case study.

For part two in this series click the following link: http://think-biblically.com/8-blog/362-islam