Further Study:

Through all her ministry, Ellen G. White was uncompromising in her rejection of the theory of evolution.

“It is,” she wrote, “the worst kind of infidelity; for with many who profess to believe the record of creation, it is infidelity in disguise.”—The Signs of the Times, March 20, 1879.

“[S]hall we, for the privilege of tracing our descent from germs and mollusks and apes, consent to cast away that statement of Holy Writ, so grand in its simplicity, ‘God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him’? Genesis 1:27.”—Ellen G. White, Education, p. 130.

“When the Lord declares that He made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, He means the day of twenty four hours, which He has marked off by the rising and setting of the sun.”—Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 136.

Discussion Questions:

   Another problem stemming from the attempt to meld evolution with the Bible is the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. Isn’t that going to be an instantaneous process, in the “twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52) even? Some folk have been dead for thousands of years; there’s not much left to work with. Yet, if God can re-create them in an instant, why did He use evolution to create them the first time around?  

 Contrary to popular conceptions, Charles Darwin worked onhis theory of evolution from a theological premise. He expressed it like this: “There seems to me,” wrote Darwin, “too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the [parasitic wasp] with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that the cat should play with mice.” Of course a “beneficent and omnipotent God” did no such thing. What’s wrong with Darwin’s assumption, and how do you think it influenced him to come up with such a radically wrong theory on human origins? 

 As a class, spend some time in nature and marvel at the various wonders of the created world. As you do it, keep open to the damage that sin has brought, and see how much you can distinguish between the creation and what sin has done to the creation. Why is it always important to keep this distinction in mind?  

Summary:

Despite many attempts to mix a biblical world-view with the doctrine of evolution, the two teachings are polar opposites. Christians must stand firm on the literal Creation story; once that goes, the plan of salvation goes with it.

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