Ideas Have Friends and Family Members

In the weeks and months after Alan met with Pastor Matt and learned about worldviews and their importance, Alan came to recognize that various news stories were showcasing violent manifestations of a belief (however unconscious) in Darwin’s theory. Remember, evolution is more than a theory; it’s also a philosophy that encourages, by it’s very nature, a lack of personal restraint. Riots and vandalism in Baltimore and in other places are prime examples.¹^,²^,³ This is not to minimize legitimate questions about law enforcement procedures or about incidents in which confrontations with the law have resulted, tragically, in loss of life. In the aftermaths of these incidents, however, it is clear that growing number of innocent people have suffered at the hands of opportunists who have been following selfish, raw, and primitive urges. From a moral perspective (a position that affirms absolute truth), this cannot be justified, but that didn’t stop one journalist from attempting to defend it.⁴ Some have even used the protests to intentionally incite violence and unrest.⁵ Certainly all of this makes it even more difficult for law enforcement officers to do their jobs.⁶

And what about the removal sexual restraints? Sexual immorality always has been a reality, but Alan learned societal restraints on sex began to fall in the 1960s. The initial thrills masked problems then, but today these have given way to huge, widespread problems. We see rampant promiscuity fueled by easy access to contraceptives and abortion on demand. Affirmation of homosexuality, the redefinition of marriage, and the transgender movement are components as well. Those who advocate moral guidelines often are labeled the bad guys, simply because they advocate boundaries to help channel sexual behavior in constructive and purposeful directions.⁷ The secular/evolutionary worldview can point to no such boundary, so anything—literally anything—goes.⁸^,⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹^,¹²

Alan saw another connection as well. The environmentalist movement that was so prominent at the university also rested on the foundation of evolution. If all life, including human, animal, and plant life, came into being as a result of natural, impersonal, random forces, then why not worship nature? Alan came to realize that on this philosophical foundation, human beings can’t possess any qualities that make them unique or special in a positive sense.¹³^,¹⁴ Instead, people are viewed as problematic because of, among other things, their actions and their shear numbers.¹⁵ Furthermore, attempts are made to humanize animals, upholding them as persons.¹⁶^,¹⁷^,¹⁸ Even trees are seen as victims of humanity, since people “kill” them to produce resources like paper and other wood products.¹⁹ Christians, of all people, should be good stewards of the environment.²⁰^,²¹^,²² However, believers also must refute numerous lies fostered by the environmental movement, including lies about overpopulation, the climate, and the best ways to help the poor.²³^,²⁴^,²⁵^,²⁶

Equipped with an understanding of worldviews and continuing to study, Alan later would come to see that evolution not only has contemporary manifestations, but also can be held responsible for practices performed decades ago that we now recognize as evil. Eugenics, which sought to improve the human race through selective breeding as well as forced sterilization in numerous instances in the United States, can be traced to evolution.²⁷^,²⁸ Philosophically, the Holocaust also rests on evolutionary thought:²⁹^,³⁰ “The Supreme Court…was wrong when Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in Buck v. Bell,³¹ ‘three generations of imbeciles are enough,’ thus upholding Virginia’s eugenics law that permitted forced sterilization. Shamefully, that decision was cited during the Nuremburg trials to support the Nazi eugenic holocaust.”³² The Nazi book burning pictured at the top was a precursor to this attempt at genocide.

This content has been adapted from Adult Leader Guide, KJV Family Bible Study, Spring 2005, (Nashville: LifeWay Christian Resources, 2004), 125-126.

This page is part of a larger article. Copyright © 2017 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved. This page’s contents are excerpted from The Word Foundations Article “The Place to Which Evolution Leads, Part 2.”

Notes:

¹http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/us/baltimore-police-officers-interview/index.html

²http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/28/baltimore-riots-will-cost-city-at-least-20-million/

³http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-police-violence-eric-garner-michael-brown-protest-turns-violent-in-california/

⁴http://time.com/3605606/ferguson-in-defense-of-rioting/

⁵⁶http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/us/missouri-ferguson-agitators/index.html

⁶http://time.com/3908254/howard-safir-crime/

⁷http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2015/04/26/its-not-hateful-to-say-that-bruce-jenner-is-not-a-woman-n1990675

⁸http://www.wnd.com/2015/06/bruce-jenner-courageous-or-shameless/

⁹http://www.westernjournalism.com/the-morality-of-gender-neutrality-throuples-grouples-niblings-and-zoophiles/

¹⁰http://www.westernjournalism.com/sex-with-animals-the-new-normal-lifestyle-sexual-orientation-choice/

¹¹http://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/649235