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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman
The
Darwinian Effect Charles Darwin (1809 -
1882) introduced the theory of evolution to the western world.
As he was discrediting the Biblical account of creation certain
liberal theologians went all the way as they attempted to discredit all
supernatural aspects of the Bible. It's
called "demythologizing the Bible".
In simple terms, if Genesis 1 isn't divinely supernatural, then
neither is the rest of the Bible. One
obvious conclusion to this liberal approach to the Bible was to deny the
Deity of Christ, which is the accepted theology of the liberal church,
which I don't call church. Those of the Darwinian
persuasion not only removed God from the Bible but from the cultural
conscience of the day. Prior
to this, and no matter the religious culture, a universe without a deity
or deities was pretty much unthinkable.
Even the apostate church that dominated Christendom throughout
the centuries retained the knowledge of God as Creator.
The Apostle Paul spoke to
this issue in Romans 1:18 to 32 when he said; "For since the
creation of the world, God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and
divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without excuse."
In short, creation itself testifies to the existence of a supreme
Creator, or, intelligent design as some call it.
Darwin, his followers,
and those liberal theologians, removed God from their understanding.
Paul spoke to this as well. "For
although they knew God … their thinking became futile and their
foolish hearts were darkened. Although
they claimed to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images made to look like mortal man ... (Romans 1:21 -
23)." According to Paul, the
removal of God from the cultural consciousness is utterly foolish.
It demonstrates the ignorance and stupidity of those who consider
themselves to be wise. The
logical next step is to replace worship of God with worship of what
foolish minds have created, just as Paul said. This accounts for the
systematic transition from a Biblical influenced western world to our
present humanistic influenced world where our sex sells materialism has
become the god we worship.
I can't over-emphasize
what Paul says next. It
accounts for the west's present condition and its fatal future.
"God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts
… (Romans 1:24) In other
words, God withdraws Himself from a society that rejects Him.
He then hands it over to the sin of its choice, which in the case
Paul was referencing was homosexuality (Romans 1:24).
It's just common sense. Once
you remove God from your cultural understanding, the creation account
becomes irrelevant. The
concept of one man being united to one woman in marriage, as stated in
the Biblical account of creation, is meaningless. The sins of choice a
godless culture embraces consist of more than sexual sins.
Paul said; "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain
the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what
ought not to be done (Romans 1:28)."
Paul then lists a few depraved practices a godless culture
occupies itself with. In
part, they include such things as greed, envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malice, disobedient to parents, and more.
All of these are prevalent in the western world today. Paul didn't specifically
have our western world in mind when he penned these words, but
everything he said certainly applies.
We have not retained the knowledge of God in our cultural
consciousness. We've removed
Him from government, law, education, economics, and even religion
itself. If God hasn't
already withdrawn Himself from the western world, I suggest that He's in
the process. We have been,
or we are being, handed over to the sins of choice.
One of many ways this is seen is in the legalization of
immorality and the legislative redefining of marriage and the family. Paul
was right when he said that depraved man not only participates in the
sins of choice, he also approves of them (Romans 1:32).
In our day, we approve of these sins by making them legal. When a culture is handed
over to the sins of choice, that culture is identified by these sins.
The culture becomes its sins of choice.
For example, when a culture embraces murder and violence in
various forms of entertainment, sooner or later that culture will become
murderous and violent. It's
identified as a murderous and violent culture. In closing, I refer you
to Paul's opening statement in this section of Romans.
All of what I've just said explains why "The wrath of God is
being revealed from heaven … (Romans 1:18).
Although it's not a popular position to take these days, God will
pour out His wrath on the culture He hands over to sin.
The culture will be buried in the rubble of its own creations as
the consequence of the Darwinian effect culminates in its ultimate
destructive destiny.
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