Do Christians Have More Doubts Than Evolutionists?

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by Dr. David Menton on July 1, 2012; last featured June 7, 2020
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It is often claimed that it takes more faith to believe in evolution than creation.

A creationist must simply believe that an intelligent designer designed intelligently, but a consistent evolutionist must believe that mindless natural processes produced everything in the cosmos. Surprisingly, evolutionists seem to have less doubt than many Christians! How can this be?

I have often asked evolutionists if they ever wondered whether random evolutionary processes could really produce all the marvelous integrated complexity we see in living things. Do they ever wake up in the middle of the night and ask themselves if that hummingbird doing acrobatics around their flower bed could really be the result of pure chance? So far, none has admitted to the slightest doubt.

Sadly, it is different with many creationists, whose faith seems to be shaken by every evolutionist claim hyped in the media. While most Christians don’t respond this drastically, we all have our moments of doubt about both God’s written and natural revelation. How often we must join the father who cried out to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We generally don’t think of nouns like substance and evidence when referring to faith, but God’s Word is more reliable than eyewitness observation.

Our doubts diminish as our God-given faith grows through Bible study and prayer.

So how do we acquire faith in God’s Word? The Bible tells us in Romans 10:17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (emphasis added). Our doubts diminish as our God-given faith grows through Bible study and prayer, but we will always have some doubts until we are raised in our glorified body.

But do evolutionists really have more “faith” than creationists? Certainly not by the biblical definition. The Bible gives some surprising insight into their seeming confidence. In Romans 1:18–20 we read, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

Not only is God’s handiwork in creation clearly seen by everyone, but God has made it evident to all of us. How then can people deny the obvious? They actually suppress the truth in unrighteousness! No wonder the evolutionist seems to have no doubts—he or she suppresses the truth.

Clearly neither scientific evidence nor logic will convince those who suppress the truth they already know. Here the stony hearts of people must be changed by the power of the Word and the Spirit, by which God created the heavens and the earth and all its inhabitants.

Dr. David Menton holds his PhD in cell biology from Brown University and is a well-respected author and teacher. He is Associate Professor Emeritus at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Menton has many published works and is one of the most popular speakers for Answers in Genesis.

Answers Magazine

July – September 2012

It’s impossible to explain how even one creature could evolve by chance, but in fact all life needs a complete community of other organisms to survive. The web of life had to be in place from the very start for any of us to exist. What an amazing testimony to the Creator! Also learn about animals that seem to come back from the dead, robotics, and how archaeology in Jordan confirms the Bible’s history.

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