Doug Velting
Technically, yes. Logically, no. Yes, if you believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, that He died and rose again the third day. If you admit you’re a sinner and ask for forgiveness, then you are a Christian, period, end of story. You can be a Christian whether you believe in evolution or not.
However, you can not hold on to the belief in evolution biblically or logically.
I remember a time when two other Christians and I were having a conversation and the subject of evolution came up. The other two believed in evolution, and they, of course, claimed this theory to be true. I presented my argument against evolution, stating that this theory would be impossible because of information.
I first stated what they already knew; what we all can agree on. That all living things have information in their genetic code that makes them who or what they are. From the maple tree in your back yard to your golden retriever that greets you at the door, and yes, in each of us, there are massive amounts of information in our DNA.
Science tells us that information comes from information; it can not rise by itself. Evolution believes that a shrew-like animal evolved into a bat. If that were to occur, information would need to be added so that this shrew would form wings, sonar, and a completely different muscle structure. Nowhere in science has it been shown the addition of information needed to make evolution possible.
Information comes from information; you can not get information from some pool of chemicals. Life comes from life, and information comes from information, which makes evolution scientifically impossible.
After I was finished with my argument, they both looked at me; then they looked at each other. Then one of them spoke up and stated with great confidence that most scientists believe in evolution. That was their argument; they couldn’t say my science was wrong or my logic was faulty.
The only thing they had was that most scientists believed. That’s it!
I believe the biggest reason some Christians believe in evolution is that they trust scientists to be trustworthy, non-biased, and their scientific method to be correct. These Christians fail to remember that at the heart of mankind is sin, with a deep desire to push God out of their lives. Christians that believe in evolution love the Lord and can be good Christians, but do not understand that the foundation of the belief in evolution is to put the history of the universe without a Creator God. This belief allows people to do what they want to do without feeling guilty over anything they choose to do. People can now decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:18-21 NIV
This passage in Romans is clear. Our Creator God made himself known through creation. You see the stars and you walk on the earth; it is known that there is a Creator God. But people, in their sinfulness, declare that there is no God; we are all here through the processes of evolution.
Satan uses evolution as a tool to separate people from God. Christians that believe in evolution do not understand that, in this world, there are spiritual battles going on. God makes Himself known through Scripture and shares with us how He created, how mankind rebelled against His holiness, and how He sent His Son Jesus Christ to rescue us. Satan is hard at work promoting anything to convince people that there is no God, only the natural world and humanity.
The biggest problem with these Christians is that, when there is a conflict between biblical history based on what God has revealed and the very bad theory of evolution, it is God’s Word that gets pushed aside.
How do we treat these Christians?
With honor and respect. We love these dear brothers and sisters in Christ and pray that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts on the truthfulness of the Bible.
