Evolution presents one of the greatest challenges to the faith of the modern believer. After all, Christian faith only makes sense if the Bible is completely true and accurate. The Bible describes the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It presents the writings of the apostles, which explain how we are to follow Christ individually and as a Church. It relates the formative history of the Jewish people, through whom God revealed Himself and the nature of His relationship with us. If the first chapter of this book is false, then why would we possibly live our entire lives based on what follows?
There are many ways to deal with this challenge. One is to interpret the Biblical account of creation in a way that makes it line up with what we learned in school about evolution. This can be a tricky business, though. Yes, there is room for different interpretations of certain scriptures. You and I may disagree, for example, on what it means to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). But the account in Genesis is presented as a straightforward fact. If I start to play interpretive games with simple declarative sentences such as "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." (Genesis 1:1), then it probably wont be too long before I find myself worming my way out of other simple declarative sentences - such as "You must be born again" (John 3:7).
Another way to deal with this challenge is to avoid thinking about the issue entirely. But denial is not faith. When the Lord draws us to Himself, He does not ask us to cease thinking. In fact, He is very interested in the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) and reasoning together (Isaiah 1:18). That's why we can take on the issue of evolution with confidence -- allowing God to fully renew our minds so that they no longer have to remain vulnerable to doubt.
So let's take a closer look at evolution. The following pages offer useful and perhaps surprising insights into the science of evolution. After you read them, you can come to your own conclusions about the Biblical account of creation.
