In a previous blogpost, I cited a
section of a letter that Thomas Jefferson had written back to John Adams in
April of 1823 in which he stated how impossible it was for someone, upon the
study of nature, to not reach the conclusion that we are an act of creation
that we owe our existence to a Creator [1] but in that
letter he also mentioned something very curious which led me to wonder if
Thomas Jefferson believed in some form of theistic evolution. For in that letter he claimed that God is not
only a Creator but a sustainer and that the means by which He sustains life was
a mechanism that while permitting all forms of life to exist in their present
forms, He also regenerated them into “new and other forms” [2] further stating that without this restoring
power that all life should perish. [3]
In as much respect that we may have
for Thomas Jefferson, the knowledge and wisdom that he possessed, and his
accomplishments from which our nation benefits, I must disagree with Jefferson
on the manner in which God upholds and sustains the creation if indeed a form of
theistic evolution is what he is ascribing to God as his response letter to
Adams seems to indicate for what we must understand about evolution is that it
requires the extinction of one set of life forms to make way for others and if
we are to ascribe such an inefficient and wasteful process to God, then what
does that say about the God who made us?
What does that say about His attributes and character? A God who resort
to an inefficient and wasteful process such as evolution might be perceived as either
weak in His attributes at best or at worst, a cruel deity who takes pleasure in
a perpetual cycle of death and destruction who creates things only to
eventually destroy them for the purpose of making way for new creations whereas
a kind and loving God who takes pleasure in life and not death and in creation
and not destruction would enable all life forms He creates to be able to
peacefully coexist with one another. He
would see no need to wipe out the therapsids to make way for the dinosaurs nor
would He see the need to eliminate dinosaurs to make way for birds and mammals
or to render off any existing forms of life to make way for man. A God worthy of our trust, adoration, and
worship would be to enable all forms of life to exist peacefully together.
As I read the letter, I found in some
ironic twist Jefferson rightly pointing out how five point Calvinism maligning
the character of God stating:
I can never join Calvin in addressing
his god. he was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion
was Dæmonism. if ever man worshipped a false god, he did. the being described
in his 5. points is not the God whom you and I acknolege and adore, the Creator
and benevolent governor of the world; but a dæmon of malignant spirit. it would
be more pardonable to believe in no god at all, than to blaspheme him by the
atrocious attributes of Calvin. [4]
But he never seemed to take time to
think how attributing evolution to God maligned His character as well for if
Jefferson had taken time to consider this, then perhaps he would have had the
integrity to also reject the evolutionary philosophy of his day which was being
propagated by figures such as Jean Baptiste Lamarck, best know for his work, Philosophie zoologique, ou Exposition des
considérations relatives à l'histoire naturelle des animaux, which is
translated as Zoological Philosophy: Exposition with Regard to the Natural
History of Animals [5] and Erasmus Darwin known for his two volume
work, Zoonomia, [6] and who was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin;
both of whom, along with the works of geologist Charles Lyell, [7]
would inspire
and shape Charles Darwin in his thinking and which would play an important role
in his writing, compiling, and publishing of his infamous works, most notably, On
The Origins Of The Species [8] and since both Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin
had lived around the same time as Thomas Jefferson, it is not unreasonable to suspect
or assume that Jefferson may have known of their works, may have even acquired
and read them, and found himself influenced by them.
And like Jefferson, there be many
believers in God, including many professing Christians that find no problem in believing
that God used evolution to bring forth all the different forms of life we see
today in the world, including ourselves, as a way to harmonize with scripture a
philosophy that is diametrically opposed to the Genesis account of creation and
the reason why they do this is because they feel there is no other solution for,
like the unbelieving world, they have been led to believe to accept evolution
as a fact that is not to be questioned and have placed an unquestioning trust
in those figures of authority, influence, and purported credentialed expertise who
have demanded that they do because they have made the mistake of relying on
their own understanding and trusting in faulty worldly wisdom instead of
calling upon the God from whom comes the wisdom that is pure and uncorrupted and
are so very blind to the ramifications of philosophies like evolution and to
the ramifications to the futile attempt to harmonize a philosophy that teaches
that death has always been a part of the cycle of life and that it is necessary
at some point for some life forms to be removed to make way for others with a
faith that teaches that death was never intended to be a part of the cycle of
life but exists in this world as a consequence for a fateful transgression that
was committed against God by our first two ancestors and from which we suffer
to this very day due to the sin that entered into them being passed down to the
rest of us who descend from them and having descended from them, we inherit their
very nature (Rom. 5:12) which was made corrupt and twisted by the sin that
entered into them when they ate of that forbidden fruit that they were warned
of God to not eat from lest in the day that they ate of it, they would surely
die (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3) and when they ate of that forbidden fruit, the sentence
of death was pronounced upon them (Gen. 3:19) to which they eventually
succumbed but the consequences of their disobedience did not stop there, but because
the sin that entered into them was passed down to us, we too are subject to
death because we sin and fall short of the glory of God in some form or fashion;
(Rom. 3:23) some more so than others.
If we attribute any evolutionary processes
to God as a creative mechanism, then we are stating that God intended for death
to be a part of the cycle of life and not a consequence for a fateful act of
disobedience and when death is placed before sin, then what is there to be
redeemed from? And not only that, if God would remove one set of life forms such
as the dinosaurs to make way for mammals and man, then what is to prevent him
from eliminating presently existing creatures, including ourselves, to make way
for others?
But if death is a consequence of sin
and not initially intended of God, then it is something that is not meant to be
but must be eliminated which requires an act of redemption and deliverance and
if the God who made us is a God of love, mercy, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness
as the Bible says He is, then He, in His mercy, has also provided a means of
redemption for the sinner, the eventual deliverance of humanity from death, and
the liberation of creation from the taint of sin from which death receives its
power and not only that but restoration as well.
Those who insist on holding to a
compromised view of the Genesis account of creation are going to have a difficult
time explaining to skeptics and doubters as to how a good and loving God could create
or allow a world filled with the death and suffering in it that we see today
because they have been led to believe that death was intended to be a part of
the natural process but for those who hold to a more literal view of the Genesis
account of creation, they will be able to have an easier time explaining why the
world is filled with so much death and suffering as their answer will be that
the death and suffering that we see in the world today was not what God
initially wanted, but is instead a consequence of that one act of disobedience
by our first ancestors and will have an easier time persuading the lost of
their need for redemption and to come repentance that they might then look to a
new and better world to come but if death has always been a part of God’s
design and His desired design, then what reason is there to believe that
anything is going to change. As far as
anyone would be concerned, things will just simply go on as they have been, but
with an uncertainty because if God had seen fit to extinguish from the earth previous
life forms, then it is only a matter of time before He decides to extinguish
the forms of life presently existing, including us, to make way for new
creations for if God had used such a violent, tumultuous, inefficient, and
wasteful process filled with struggle, hardship, cataclysms, catastrophes, pain,
and suffering to produce life, then how can He be called good or loving? He
couldn’t be because a good and loving God would not implement a process such as
evolution to produce life because evolution requires a series of deaths and
eliminations of some life forms in order to preserve others and to make way for
new forms of life.
If we cannot imagine loving parents
casting out their children to make way for more children, then how can we
imagine the God who made us doing the same to the creatures that He has made to
make way for new creations?
The one thing that must be
acknowledged and admitted to is that there are without dispute variations and
speciation within each respective kind of plant and animal which may serve to
preserve each respective kind but this does not necessarily require the removal
of one variation or species in order to make way for another (i.e. wolves need
not be eliminated to make room for dogs, neither do foxes need to be done away
with to make way for jackals nor must lions become extinct so that leopards
might live and neither must the lynx be rendered off for the sake of housecats)
as all variants within each respective kind of life form can peacefully coexist
together and if the wolf can exist along side dogs and the Bighorn sheep alongside
the Barbados and Barbary sheep species, then bison are able to coexist
alongside antelope and bears are able to coexist alongside the boar and the
tiger and there was a time when dragons had once peacefully coexisted alongside
other animals; there was no need for one set of animals to be discarded for
another for it is written that when God had created all things He had made all
things to be good. He never intended for
any animals to go extinct.
He never intended for there to be natural
disasters, cataclysms, and pestilence.
He never intended for there to be
droughts and famines,
He never intended for things to kill
and destroy one another.
He created the world to be a place of
perfect harmony between all living things and in which there was an unhindered
and uninterrupted fellowship between God and man, but that all changed when the
first man Adam and Eve who was the first woman and Adam’s wife did something
that God had warned them not to do and that was the eating of a certain fruit
forbidden from them that came from a tree called the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, having been warned that in the day that they ate thereof of they
would surely die (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3) but instead heeding the warning, they listened
to another voice and a lying voice which falsely assured them that they would not surely die if they ate of that forbidden fruit, but that instead, they would become more enlightened and even divine (Gen. 3:4-5) and after having eaten of that forbidden fruit (v. 6) instead of becoming more enlightened as that lying voice had told them, they only became enlightened to a shame that came over their nakedness (v. 7) and instead of becoming gods, they were reduced to a mortal state and a status inferior and lower than the one in which they were made, and as warned, the sentence of death was pronounced upon them (v. 19) as they had been warned but the sentence of death did not stop with Adam and Eve for it was sin which entered into them that brought death to them and the sin that entered into them and brought to death to them was then passed down to all of mankind because it is from Adam and Eve all mankind descend and because we are all descended from them, we have also inherited from them the very sin that entered into them (Rom. 5:12) and just as they died because of sin, so we all die because of sin; (Rom. 6:23) sin being defined not by just our actions, behavior, conduct, and what we say, but as the inwardly corrupt condition of our nature that not only influences our outward acts and what we say, but also our very thoughts, motives, and the attitude of the heart which is why it is written that we are not defiled from without but from within (Mt. 5:11, 17-20) but the consequences of the transgression that brought sin into the world and death with it did not confine themselves to man but spread to all creation which is why it is written that the creation groans and
travails in pain to this day (Rom. 8:19-22) and it is the reason why suffering,
pain, misery, and hardship of every sort and severity abound in the world today
and why creation itself is dying a very slow death which means when a plant or
animal goes extinct, it is never replaced and when a star burns out or explodes,
no new ones are forming. It is also the
reason why we have earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and forest
fires, extreme and even unnatural weather conditions and as sin and the
darkness of this present world increases, so it should be expected that all of
creation itself should respond to the increase of wickedness in the world with
an ever increasing negativity because creation itself is becoming less and less
tolerant of the burden of sinful man and the day is coming when it will no
longer be able to withstand or bear the taint and blight of sin and it is for
the cause of the ever increasing amount of suffering and pain in the world that
a day is coming in which God must punish the sin of man lest sin should by the
power of death and decay destroy all.
And if that same lying voice who led
Adam and Eve into eating that forbidden fruit which brought sin and death into
the world through them cannot convince you that there is no God and that we are
only products of time and random processes, then he is not against attributing
a cruel, wasteful, and inefficient process like evolution to an all-loving, omnipotent,
omniscient, and all-merciful God because in doing so, he convinces men that all
that which was before the curse that fell upon the world because of sin came
before sin and death and in doing so causes people to question the entire basis
for redemption. For if death came before
sin and death is not a consequence of our sin, then from what do we need to be
redeemed and from what does creation itself need to be liberated from? And with
the lie of evolution, that lying voice then destroys the entire basis for the Gospel
message in the minds of many including those who profess to follow Christ for
if he can succeed in causing the account of origins to be doubted, then he can
also succeed in casting doubt upon all of scripture and even the Gospel message
itself even to the overthrowing of the faith of some and before this lying
voice became the voice of lies, he had once served at the throne of God in
Heaven as a covering cherub named Lucifer until the day that he became so
lifted up in pride that he thought he could make himself equal to God but the
Lord God cast Lucifer and all who sided with him from their places in Heaven (Is.
14:11-21, Ezek. 28:12-19) and it was in that day that he became better known as
Satan or the Devil and it was he who crept into the world in the form of a
serpent and told the very first lie ever known which brought sin, death, and
the curse through sin into the world and which earned him the title of the
father of lies (Jn. 8:44) and which made him not only a liar, but also a
murderer (Jn. 8:32) and a thief and destroyer (Jn. 10:10) for not only by a lie
did Satan bring death into the world through sin which entered into Adam and
was then passed down to all of his descendants being all of humanity but also
by that same lie, he caused the dominion over the earth that had initially been
given to man (Gen. 1:26) to be diminished and then claimed lordship over the kingdoms
and nations of the world (Mt. 4:8-9, Lk. 4:6-7) which is why he is called the prince
of this world (Jn. 12:31, 16:11) but his dominion will not last forever because
God, in His mercy and in His love for mankind, is not willing that any should
perish and be eternally damned but that all would come to repentance and be
redeemed out of their sins, (2 Pet. 3:9) and for our redemption, He sent His
only begotten Son, Jesus Christ into the world to take away from the sins of
the world (Jn. 3:16) which He did by offering Himself up to death; the sinless
Christ (2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15) dying on behalf for sinful, thereby serving as
that needed perfect sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27) needed to purchase our redemption
which was purchased by the death of Christ upon the cross on which He was
crucified and after having purchased our
redemption by His death, He was raised again from the dead so that we by our
faith in Him would be justified in Him (Rom. 4:25) so that any calling upon Him
for the forgiveness of sins in sincere faith and repentance would be justified
before God the Father by Him and in Him (Rom. 10:13) and with the redemption of
our souls comes a transformation (2 Cor. 5:17) that causes us to no longer
desire to follow after selfish and worldly pursuits but after those things that
pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven, (Mt. 6:33)
to no longer take pleasure in those
things that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the Lord, but in that
which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer desire to walk in the
lies of this present world, but only in the truth that comes from Christ
Almighty, (Jn. 14:6) no longer placing our hopes in the things of this present
world, but looking forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer rely on worldly
resources, men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and wisdom for our
needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our needs, (Mt.
6:25-33) recognizing that the resources of this world and even the people He
brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which God meets
our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might
acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God,
to no longer fear what men can do to
us, but rather fearing the God before whom we will have to one day give an
account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer look to corruptible
institutions within our society for direction and order in our lives but to God
who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to be applied to our
lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered life, and who, by His
Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon repentance, establishes in our
lives a course and direction in our lives to pursue for His glory,
to no longer seek our own glory but
the glory of God,
to no longer rally behind corruptible
men, but instead behind the incorruptible God in Heaven bearing in mind that
those men and women God raises up for our edification are but instruments and
servants of His for that respective purpose to which He has called them,
to no longer seek to align ourselves
with the things of darkness but only with the things of the light,
to no longer trust in the wisdom of
the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that comes from above, nor
depend on corruptible earthly authorities to swiftly administer justice, but
only in the power of God to deliver us from evil.
And we look forward to the day that,
just as our souls have been redeemed and delivered from eternal damnation, when
we shall also be delivered from bodily death when that which is sinful is made
sinless and that which is corruptible is transformed into that which is
incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) for wherein dwells no sin
there is no death and finally, creation itself will also be liberated from the
curse that has come
upon it because of sin when the adversary of our souls faces his final defeat and
receives his final sentence when he and all who have sided with him are forever
cast away into a lake of fire which burns forever and ever (Rev. 20:10-15) and
after that has been done, the creation will be made anew, and it will be a
creation in which there will dwell no death, no decay, no evil, no darkness, no
grief, no sorrow, and no misery, and no hardship, but only light, life,
happiness, peace, contentment, and joy before the Lord God Almighty for all
eternity. (Rev. 21-22)
If you desire to be a part of a new
and better world to come and have not done so already, then I urge you reader to
call upon the name of the Lord Jesus who is the source of all truth for the
forgiveness of sins. It is but a sincere
prayer of repentance away.
"Lord Jesus I need you.
I realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of
God
and that my goodness falls short
of your standard of Moral perfection.
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know that God is not concerned with
the words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but with the attitude of
your heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive
you of your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your salvation and in
nothing else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in Heaven is certain.
End Notes:
1.
Thomas Jefferson To John Adams, April 11, 1823
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-19-02-0400#f2f56a8a-5249-4a58-b220-8b7c0d19872a
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Ibid.
5.
Jean Baptiste Lamarck, “Zoological Philosophy: An Exposition In Regard
To The History Of Animals,” originally published in 1809; translated from
French into English by Hugh Elliot in 1914
https://ia800801.us.archive.org/20/items/zoologicalphilos0000jean/zoologicalphilos0000jean.pdf
[The original title in the French is called: “Philosophie zoologique, ou
Exposition des considérations relatives à l'histoire naturelle des animaux”]
6. Erasmus Darwin, “Zoonomia” Volumes
1 and 2, printed for J. Johnson in St. Paul’s Church-yard in London, 1796
https://dn720006.ca.archive.org/0/items/bim_eighteenth-century_zoonomia-_darwin-erasmus_1796_1/bim_eighteenth-century_zoonomia-_darwin-erasmus_1796_1.pdf
Zoonomia Vol. 2
https://ia902306.us.archive.org/26/items/bim_eighteenth-century_zoonomia-_darwin-erasmus_1796_2/bim_eighteenth-century_zoonomia-_darwin-erasmus_1796_2.pdf
7.
Charles Lyell, “Principles of Geology: Being An Attempt To Explain The
Former Changes Of The Earth’s Surface By References To Causes Now In Operation
Volume 1” Vols. 1-4; first and second volumes published in 1830, Volume 3 in
1832, Volume 4 original publication date
unknown as I was unable to find the original print. All published in London;
John Murray Albemarle Street
https://ia601308.us.archive.org/4/items/principlesgeolo05deshgoog/principlesgeolo05deshgoog.pdf
[Principles of Geology Vol. 2
https://ia800700.us.archive.org/5/items/PrinciplesgeoloVol2Lyel/PrinciplesgeoloVol2Lyel.pdf
Principles of Geology Vol. 3
https://ia800404.us.archive.org/18/items/principlesgeolo00wellgoog/principlesgeolo00wellgoog.pdf
Principles of Geology Vol. 4; third
edition (was unable to find the original volume 4)
https://ia801408.us.archive.org/12/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.222579/2015.222579.Principles-Of.pdf
]
8.
Charles Darwin, “On The Origin Of The Species by Means of Natural
Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,”
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1859
https://books.google.nl/books?id=cAtfAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:cTzITBGxXssC&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Scripture references:
1.
Romans 5:12
2.
Genesis 2:16-17, 3:3
3.
Genesis 3:19
4.
Romans 3:23
5.
Genesis 3:4-5
6.
Genesis 3:6
7.
Genesis 3:7
8.
Romans 6:23
9.
Matthew 15:11, 17-20
10.
Romans 8:19-22
11.
Isaiah 14:11-21, Ezekiel 28:12-19
12.
John 8:44
13.
John 8:32
14.
John 10:10
15.
Genesis 1:26
16.
Matthew 4:8-9, Luke 4:6-7
17.
John 12:31, 16:11
18.
2 Peter 3:9
19.
John 3:16
20.
2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15
21.
Hebrews 7:26-27
22.
Romans 4:25
23.
Romans 10:13
24.
2 Corinthians 5:17
25.
Matthew 6:33
26.
Revelation 21-22
27.
Matthew 6:25-33
28.
Matthew 10:28
29.
1 Corinthians 15:51-55, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
30.
Revelation 20:10-15
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