In 2009, the eyes of the world will turn to commemorate the anniversaries of the births of the two most influential men of the last one thousand years — the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. No two men of the past millennium have done more to shape the thoughts of mankind or to affect the political and social destiny of nations than Calvin and Darwin — the former for the glory of God, and the latter for unimaginable evil. The following is a synopsis and excerpt of a larger article by Doug Phillips presented on the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin.
By Doug Phillips
February 12, 2009
Today is the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth. What shall we tell our children about this great man?
I have pondered this question for some time. Certainly there is much to say about the specifics of his Theory, its pernicious influence on the world, and the shoddy scholarship that produced it. Perhaps there is even more to say about the god-like status attributed to him by his worshippers in the unbelieving world, or the deep faith in man, materialism, and process to which they cling.
But on a more fundamental level, there are just a few things I want my children to know about Darwin the man. These are the summaries of my lessons to my children:
- Darwin was bitter.
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| Darwin’s evolutionary tree |
Charles Darwin was once a student of theology preparing for the priesthood in the Anglican Church. His experiences in university, traveling, and through his studies contributed to his gradual rejection of the Bible over time. However, it was when he lost his beloved daughter, Annie, that Darwin began to grow bitter. Darwin allowed his bitterness over the death of his daughter to destroy his faith in God. This bitterness impacted Darwin’s entire worldview, and he turned to vain speculation and “the oppositions of science falsely so called” (I Tim 6:21). Darwin became foolish because he said in his heart that there is no God (Proverbs 14:1). He lacked knowledge because he refused to fear God (Proverbs 1:7). Because he was bitter at God, his reason was adversely affected, as explained in I Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
- Darwin worshipped a false God.
All men are religious because all men have an object of worship. They either worship the Creator, or they worship the creature — but they worship something (Romans 1). Darwin’s bitterness directed him to a new form of religious zealotry. He exchanged faith in Christianity for a form of religious pantheism known as materialism. By faith he tenaciously clung to this belief system, exalting the vain speculations and reasoning of man over the infallible Revelation of God. In the end, Darwin’s God was his mind, and his mind told him that truth could be found in the material world without reference to any higher authority like the God of the Bible.
- Darwin was sloppy and he was not a scientist.
Darwin was a theology student. He was not a scientist. He was, however, able to talk his way into opportunities through which he hoped to present himself to others as a naturalist. Darwin allowed his new-formed faith in man, materialism, and process to justify irrationality, shoddy scholarship, and wild speculation.
Once in the field, his lack of training and his inability to draw reasonable conclusions from his observations became apparent. This is why many followers of his Theory of Evolution must ignore the actual research of Darwin during the Voyage of the Beagle and elsewhere, since so much of his work in places like the Galapagos Islands has been discredited.
- Darwin trained his children to hate the God of the Bible.
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| Darwin in his later years |
Every father leaves a legacy to his children. That legacy is defined by the battles he fought, the character he modeled, the lessons he left behind through word and deed. Darwin’s life legacy was the rejection of the faith of his fathers for a faith in the autonomous mind of man as the final and absolute court of appeal for all matters religious and scientific. Free from the bondage of Divine Revelation, Darwin believed man could finally come to truth.
Darwin’s progeny took the philosophy of their famous ancestor and used it to justify a bold and arrogant atheism. Darwin’s rejection of the faith of his own fathers and his embrace of the new theology of naturalistic materialism resulted in generations of God-haters in the Darwin family. Commenting on his own materialistic faith which negates the belief in God, Sir Charles Galton Darwin, grandson of the author of the Origin of the Species, wrote: “I am entirely lacking in the thing which so many people seem to regard as their mainstay in life, a mystical sense of religion. This I lack, and I am perfectly content to be without it.”
- Darwin trained others to be hateful toward their fellow man.
Darwin introduced the world to a form of radical atheistic fundamentalism that is responsible for bigotry, hatred, and the death of untold numbers of humans. This religious fundamentalist worldview is also exclusive. By this I mean that the leaders of this faith cannot tolerate opposing views. In fact, the high priests of this new religion — men who populate universities around the world — demand that all individuals submit to the tenets of their faith or be excluded from both the discussion and the political franchise.
Darwin’s presuppositions included a form of racial bigotry, a belief that the world matures as the strong kill the weak, and the assumption that man can know truth apart from Jesus Christ—of whom the Bible says He is “the way, the truth and the light.” Future followers of these principles that Darwin taught in moderation would take them to an extreme, applying them to social theory. It was the neo-Darwinian social theorists who gave us abortion, eugenics, Nazism, and a host of evils that plague the earth to this day.
- Darwin’s legacy could be the legacy of anyone who worships the creature more than the Creator.
When men look to the creation, rather than the Creator, for ultimate answers they begin the process of reprobation that leads to complete destruction. Romans 1 says this:
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Apart from Jesus Christ, any of us — even you my children — could end up with the same miserable legacy as Charles Darwin. Here is the antidote: Ecclesiastes 12:13: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
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