The History of Presbyterianism in the

United States

Part 3: A Determined UnbeliefA - Evolution as Theory

with the help of Andrew Frye, Worldview Academy

New CovenantPresbyterian Church

Preaching God’s Sovereign Graceto a World of Need

128 St. Mary’s Church Rd.Abingdon, MD 21009

410-569-0289www.ncpres.org

www.ephesians515.com

Master TimelineUnited States Europe

• 1620 – Mayflower lands• 1730s-1743 – 1st Great Awakening• 1776-1783 – American Rev.• 1790-1840 – 2nd Great Awakening• 1830 – Book of Mormon• 1850-1900 – 3rd Great Awakening

• 1643 – Westminster Confession of Faith• 1650-1800 – Age of European

Enlightenment& of Scottish Common Sense

Philosophy• 1770s-1900 – Rise of German Higher

Criticism• 1789-1799 – French Revolution• 1827 – Plymouth Brethren begin meeting• 1833 – Slavery Abolition Act of England• 1859 - Charles Darwin – Origin of Species

Three Charles Charles Finney Charles Darwin Charles Briggs 1792-1875 1809-1882 1841-1913

1) They all appealed to and relied completely on man’s reason and the supremacy of man’s abilities.2) They all took and used the Bible, interpreting it for themselves and for their own purposes.3) They were all persuaded they were advancing the cause of mankind.

Who was Charles Darwin?

Born in 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. His mother died when he was 8 yrs. old

Religious background: Unitarian edging toward Anglicanism Charles baptized Anglican but grew up Unitarian

Grandfather, Erasmus Abolitionist Early proponent evolution as proposed by Jean-

Baptiste Lamarck

Who was Charles Darwin?

Schooling Began at University of Edinburgh Medical School

but neglected his studies. Father enrolled him in Christ’s College, Cambridge

with the aim of becoming an Anglican parson.Scientific Studies

Voyage of the HMS Beagle, charting the courseof South Africa and on to Australia

Began quite orthodox but by the end of the voyage was skeptical of the Bible’s uniqueness as God’s Word.

Darwin’s reasoning against Christianity

“I can hardly see why anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true because, if so, the plain language of the (Bible) text seems to show that the men who do not believe – and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends – will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”

His marriage to Emma Wedgwood, a Unitarian, caused him spiritual conflict.

The death of his daughter, Annie, brought him great discouragement.

Darwin’s reasoning against Christianity

“With respect to the theological view of the question; this is always painful to me. … There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. On the other hand I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe & especially the nature of man, & to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. … Let each man hope & believe what he can.”

Charles Darwin

Darwin’s reasoning against Christianity

‘With respect to the theological view of the evolution question this is always painful to me. I’m bewildered that there seems to be too much misery in the world.’ Now notice, he did not say, ‘As I was looking through the microscope I noticed this phenomenon. I repeated the experiment and I saw this phenomenon again Therefore, I hypothesized that this situation exists.’ No, what he said was, ‘I looked at the world and it felt bad. ‘I saw sad things. I had to come up with a way to explain sad things. And the explanation in the Bible was not sufficient for me. I came up with a new way to explain sad things. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent god would have designedly created such world.’ Evolution springs from such doubt. (George Grant paraphrasing Charles Darwin)

Origin of Species He delayed publication for fear of mockery from hiscolleagues. He was also reluctant to offend his religious wife. But Alfred Wallace (1823-1913) was preparing to print similarconclusions; so Darwin’s friends urged him to publish…

1859 – Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species is published

1871 – Descent of Man links humans directly to primates.

1872 – 6th edition of The Origin of Species finally includes the word “evolution”.

Origin of Species

Theologians who were for it…Presbyterian theologian Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, Princeton’s president, Rev. Asa Gray, Charles Spurgeon.

Scientists against it - naturalist Louis Aggasiz, Britain’s foremost paleontologist Niles Eldridge, chemist Lord Kelvin; eminent geologist Adam Sedgwick “laughed til’ his sides hurt,” mathematician Sir Fredrick Hoyle argued that it was simply a mathematical impossibility.

The Oxford Debate 1860

Bishop Samuel Wilberforce vs T.H. Huxley (1825-1895) - distinguished mathematician, vice president of Britain’s leading scientific society. Wilberforce actually based much of his critique on science, pointing out a lack of fossil evidence at that time.

In response Huxley (“Darwin’s Bulldog”) allegedly replied haughtily that he would rather be descended from apes, than be irrationally critical of something he did not understand.

Ironically, Huxley later advocated for teaching the Bible in public schools.

Problematic paradigm“You will be greatly disappointed; it will be grievously

toohypothetical. It will very likely be of no other service

thancollocating some facts; though I myself think I see my

wayapproximately on the origin of the species. But, alas,

howfrequent, how almost universal it is in an author to

persuadehimself of the truth of his own dogmas.”

Charles Darwin in a personal letterreflecting on the publication ofOrigin of Species

“For I am well aware that scarcely a single point isdiscussed in this volume on which facts cannot be

adduced, oftenapparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to

those at which Ihave arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully

stating andbalancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each

question;and this is here impossible.” C. Darwin,

Intro, Origin of Species

Problematic paradigm“Why then is not every geological formation and every

stratum fullof such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does notreveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this,perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection

whichcan be urged against the theory. The explanation lies,as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the

geologicalrecord.”

Charles Darwin, ch. X, Origin of Species

Problematic paradigm “Charles Darwin wrote ‘When we descend to

details, we cannotprove that any species has ever changed.’ In the morethan 150 years that scientists have been working with

theassumption of evolutionary, impersonal creation, not

onesingle evolutionary development has ever been

observed,not one single one has ever been proven, not one singleone has ever left its traces. …

George Grant paraphrasing Darwin

Problematic paradigm‘When we must prove facts, when we are forced to do science, we

can’t prove anything. We can’t prove that any species has

ever changed. Nor can we prove that any supposed change

is beneficial which is the groundwork of our theory. Norcan we explain why some species have supposedly

changedand others have apparently not. We must, therefore,remember our ignorance.’ What he’s saying is that the basis of modern

biologicalscience is not science. It’s theology. Darwin made some

assumptionsabout Gen. 1:1 and it shaped what he saw.

George Grant paraphrasing Darwin

Problematic paradigmDarwin’s “science” has quietly been discarded by

evolutionists due to…Physics – - limited time frame…

Hawking’s blind faith in a “multiverse”.Genetics – Darwin knew nothing about Mendel’s.

F. Crick (DNA) can’t believe in random evolution.Microbiology – cells are not simpler but are

irreducibly complex.Gould’s “guess” of a “punctuated equilibrium”

Astronomy and mathematics – the odds of random evolution explaining life and cosmos are impossible.

…and there are troubling ethical and human implications …

Social DarwinismHerbert Spencer (1820-1903) natural

selection applies to human society; successful humans are inherently, biologically superior; coined term: "survival of the fittest."

Eugenics - to scientifically control the breeding of humans for desired types or outcomes Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911); British

Eugenics Society led by Darwin’s son Leonard.

Government policies towards Native Americans, sterilize prisoners [in Oregon until 1950s]; used similarly in Australia against aborigines.

Social DarwinismThomas Graham Sumner of Yale and

Germany's Ernst Haeckl. First to rank human species from superior to

inferior. Put forth the theory of recapitulation. First to sketch the “Tree of Life”

Darwin: “At some future period … the civilized races

of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace

throughout the world the savage races. …excepting

in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so

ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”

Eugenics in the air

1927 Buck v Bell – US Supreme Court upheld right of Virginia to sterilize a mentally retarded woman against her will. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote:“We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

Darwin

Herbert Spencer – “Survival of the Fittest”

Haeckel

Sir Francis Galton – Eugenics: “nature vs. nurture”

NietzscheHunter’s

Civic Biology

W.G. Sumner - Ethnocentricism

O.W. HolmesMargaret

Sanger’s Negro Project Forced

sterilization in US states

Darwin

Herbert Spencer – “Survival of the Fittest”

Haeckel

Sir Francis Galton – Eugenics: “nature vs. nurture”

NietzscheHunter’s

Civic Biology

W.G. Sumner - Ethnocentricism

O.W. HolmesMargaret

Sanger’s Negro Project Forced

sterilization in US states

IdeasHaveConsequences

New CovenantPresbyterian Church

Preaching God’s Sovereign Graceto a World of Need

128 St. Mary’s Church Rd., Abingdon, MD 21009

410-569-0289

www.ncpres.org

www.ephesians515.com