The Ready Witness

Have you ever wondered why Creationists and Evolutionists can’t agree? After all, everyone is looking at the same evidence. The same fossils, the same rock layers, the same stars, the same glaciers; the list goes on and on. Yet they come to vastly different conclusions. Why?

Let’s consider “The Hammer of God”, a short story from “The Innocence of Father Brown” by G. K. Chesterton. At the beginning of the story, Father Brown finds a man dead in the street. At first, all the evidence points to the blacksmith as the murderer. It’s obvious. The guilty weapon was identified as his, and he had a grudge against the man. Then the blacksmith’s wife confesses to the murder to save her husband. She also had a grudge. More evidence has been revealed and now the situation is as clear as day. In the time leading up to her execution, Father Brown is quietly discovering more information that everyone else had missed. In a final plot twist, we discover that the Reverend was the murderer the whole time!

The characters in this story were looking at the evidence – the weapon, the body, the confession, ect… – and using that evidence to reconstruct what happened in the past. Scientist do the same.

People often pitch the “Evolution vs. Creation” problem as “Science vs. the Bible”. They say things like “It doesn’t make sense for Christians to believe in the Bible as historically accurate, yet also believe in airplanes and electricity. They’re being inconsistent! You can’t believe in science and the Bible.”

Oh yes you can. What most people don’t understand is that there are two very different kinds of science. Observational and historical. Observational science is what you can observe with your five senses in the present. Scientists observe and analyze data. They often make repeatable experiments to explore the world as it is now. Historical science is drawing conclusions about the past from those observations. Father Brown in “The Hammer or God” was practicing historical science.

In a way, you can make an argument that observational science is the only true science. Both Christians and Non-Christians believe in observational science. Our reliance on it is how we get our modern world, with cars, laptops, stealth bombers and medicine. We disagree over our reconstructions of the past.

“But,” you ask. “If everyone is looking at the the same observational science, why don’t they agree about the historical science?” An excellent question.

I have a puzzle for you. Suppose we have a character named Alice. Today, Alice came home in a good mood. What happened at school?

Is the answer:

• a) She made new friends
• b) She passed a test
• c) Her teacher praised her
• d) Her best friend gave her a note
• e) Some other reason

If you picked any of these answers, you are wrong. I asked you, “What happened at school?” and you accepted my presupposition, “Alice was at school”. She was not at school, she was at a job interview. I gave you evidence – “Today, Alice came home in a good mood” – and a starting assumption and asked you to draw your conclusions from there. If I had given you the same evidence and given you a different assumption – “Alice was at a job interview” – you would have drawn a completely different conclusion.

This is what happens when Creationists and Evolutionists look at the same evidence. Creationists have the starting assumption that God created the world exactly as Genesis records. Evolutionists have the starting assumption that the world came into being on its own accord and evolved over millions of years. These starting assumptions are called worldviews.

The difference between these worldviews is that one is standing on the authority of the Bible, and the other is standing on the authority of man drawing conclusions about the past. At its core, the battle is not between Evolution and Creation. Those are the conclusions. The battle is between Man’s Word and God’s Word.

What about people who try to compromise by trying to fit evolution into the Bible? By trying to add to the Bible, they have conceded that it is no longer the absolute authority. That human’s can know more about the world than God. They are standing on Man’s Word.

What about neutral people? Matthew 12:30 says:

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

So by saying that they are neutral, these people are claiming that the Bible is false. They stand on Man’s Word.

When you are having a debate with someone with a different worldview, it doesn’t help to throw more and more evidence at them. They will always find a way to reinterpret it in a way that is consistent with their worldview. And they are right to do so. Their worldview is the foundation of everything they believe. It is their religion. That is why you have to start foundationally. When you take out the foundation, everything that is built upon it comes tumbling down.

Man’s Word and God’s Word. If both of these worldviews are claiming ultimate authority, then both cannot be true at the same time. How do we know which is right?

2 Timothy 3:16 says:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness;”

Colossians 2:3 says:

“…Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

and Psalm 146:3 says:

“Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.”

These verses tell us that the Bible is the word of God and that He is the source of all wisdom and knowledge. Man’s Word is faulty and prone to error.

“But,” you say. “You can’t argue for the authority of the Bible from the Bible. That’s circular reasoning.” No it’s not. Standing on your worldview to prove your worldview is perfectly reasonable, like breathing air to argue for the existence of air. You are trying to prove that it is the highest authority. There is nothing greater to appeal to.

Back to “The Hammer of God”. Until the very end of the story, the reader only has partial evidence and so draws an incorrect conclusion. Father Brown is the only one who sees all the evidence and allows the reader to know the truth.

Job 38:4-7 says:

  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk?Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

The only way you can interpret history correctly is if we have all the evidence. No human was there to see the world made. But God was. In fact, He made it. He has told us what happened and we all have instant access to His letters to us. He has given us our Foundation on which to build our life.

So why can’t Creationists and Evolutionists agree? We look at the same evidence, but we interpret that evidence through the lenses of our worldviews of Man’s Word and God’s Word. Think Foundationally and stay rooted in the Rock, that is Jesus Christ.

Psalm 18:2

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

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Sources and Further Research:

The Ultimate Proof of Creation – Dr. Jason Lisle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ_UxcV-xcM

Christians NEED to Beware of This Deception From Atheists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVHC50K_PPQ