In the Foreword, Henry M. Morris writes “that there are many good scientific evidences pointing to special creation, a young earth, and the global Flood, and these have been persuasively advanced by creationist scientists in debates, seminars, and conferences for many years and with great results. But the compelling and definitive evidences are biblical, not scientific.” Why is this observation true? Because “No one has ever observed any genuine evolution taking place (macro-evolution) in the thousands of years of recorded history --- so it is certainly not a part of observational science (and real science should involve observation and repetition) .... Furthermore, despite certain disputable claims, no one has ever demonstrated an authentic evolutionary transitional series among all the billions of fossils preserved in the sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust.”
Morris also declares that “evolutionism is a religion .... the religion of atheistic humanism.” Morris identifies this false religion by quoting the 1 Timothy 6:20 in the KJV: “science falsely so-called.”[1]
Listen to A. Duane Litfin in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on 1 Timothy 6:20: Thus Timothy must turn away from godless chatter (lit., “profane empty utterances”; cf. 2 Tim. 2:16), and from opposing ideas (antitheseis, “counter-assertions”) of what is falsely called knowledge. Such knowledge was the supposed key to the mystery religions which were already aborning and which would mature into a full-fledged Gnosticism during the next century. Their influence was already being felt in Ephesus, so much so that Paul could say that some had gotten so caught up in professing their esoteric gnōsis that they wandered from the faith (lit., “concerning the faith missed the aim”; cf. 1 Tim. 1:6; 2 Tim. 2:18). This does not suggest that true believers lose their salvation but that some believers turn to false doctrines, from the content of their faith.[2]
The theory of evolution denies a creation ex nihilo, a young earth, a global flood and theistic evolution which accommodates atheistic evolution, is not only a false science but a false religion which is turning many away from the faith.
John McArthur, in the Foreword, agreed: Religion is exactly the right word to describe naturalism. The entire philosophy is built on a faith-based premise. Its basic presupposition --- a rejection of everything supernatural requires a giant leap of faith. And nearly all its supporting theories must be taken by faith as well.
McArthur illustrates “science falsely so called.”
Over the course of human history, all kinds of speculative ideas have been falsely labeled ‘science’ and mistakenly accepted as true and reliable knowledge by otherwise brilliant people. The now-discredited dogmas of older scientific theories are numerous --- and in some cases laughable. These includes:
· Alchemy (the medieval belief that other base metals could be transmuted into gold)
· Phrenology (the Victorian belief that the shape of one’s skull reflects character traits and mental capacity)
· Astrology (the pagan belief that human destiny is determined by the motions of celestial bodies)
· Abiogenesis (the long-standing belief that living organisms are spontaneously generated by decaying organic substances). Consider just one of those --- abiogenesis. Popularly known as ‘spontaneous generation,’ this idea has long been, and continues to be one of the archetypal expression of ‘science falsely so called.’ It is also one of the most persistent of all demonstrably pseudoscientific fictions. The notion that aphids arise naturally from dew on plant leaves, and maggots are spontaneously begotten by rotting meat was more or less deemed self-evident by most of humanity’s brightest intellects from the time of Aristotle until 1861, when Louis Pasteur conclusively proved that non-living matter cannot spawn life on its own.[3]
Alexander Ross, an early 17th-century Scottish writer and intellectual, harshly criticized Sir Thomas Browne for questioning the dogma of spontaneous generation. Under the heading “Mice and other vermin bred of putrefaction, even in men’s bodies,” he wrote: “He doubts whether mice can be procreated of putrefaction. So he may doubt whether in cheese and timber worms are generated; Or if Betels and wasps in cowes dung; Or if butterflies, locusts, grasshoppers, shel-fish, snails, eeles, and such like, be procreated of putrefied matter, which is apt to receive the form of that creature to which it is by the formative power disposed. To question this, is to question Reason, Sense, and Experience: If he doubts of this, let him go to Egypt, and there he will finde the fields swarming with mice begot of the mud of [the Nile].” Arcana Microcosmi, (London: Newcomb, 1652), book 2, chapter 10, p. 156.[4]
The book Coming to Grips with Genesis was dedicated to theologian Dr. John Whitcomb and that Dr. Whitcomb changed “from old-earth to young-earth” because of “the influence of the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder and ling-time president of the Institute for Creation Research.”
Mortenson and Ury added “that a trailblazer is recognized by the arrows in his back!” Unfortunately, many of those arrows were shot by evangelicals who try to mix atheistic evolution with theism.[5]
I agree with Charles Ryrie assessment of the accommodation of theistic evolutionists: “Darwin declared that the supernatural was unnecessary in his theory. The creationist insists that naturalistic evolution is excluded in this view. Thus theistic evolution tries to ride two horses (evolution and Creation), which are going in opposite directions.”[6]
[1] Terry Mortenson, Coming to Grips with Genesis (p. 7). (Function). Kindle Edition.”
[2] A. Duane Litfin in the Bible Knowledge Commentary on 1 Timothy 6:20.
[3] Terry Mortenson, Coming to Grips with Genesis (p. 9). (Function). Kindle Edition.
[4] Terry Mortenson, Coming to Grips with Genesis (p. 14). (Function). Kindle Edition.
[5] Terry Mortenson, Coming to Grips with Genesis (p. 22). (Function). Kindle Edition.
[6] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (p. 196). (Function). Kindle Edition.