There are many scholars, educators and even theologians that are convinced of the theory that is known as evolution. The theory of evolution is described below
Broadly defined, biological evolution is any heritable change in a population of organisms over time. Changes may be slight or large, but must be passed on to the next generation (or many generations) and must involve populations, not individuals.Evolution. New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://web.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Evolution
This theory was first proposed by Charles Darwin in his book The Origin of Species (1859) where he outlined several qualities found in evolutionary theory: Animals change over time (a process that Darwin titled “descent with modification”), all creatures in the world find their origin in a common ancestor, the main process which strong traits from an organism are passed down for adaptation (a process that is known as “natural selection”), and different types of creatures come from the region of their descendants (what is termed as biogeography). The main ingredient of the progression of the species, according to evolutionary theory is large amounts of time, as one researcher commented below
Usually macroevolutionary changes cannot typically be observed directly because of the large time scales generally involved, though many instances of macroevolutionary change have been observed in the laboratory (Rice & Hostert 1993). Instead, studies of macroevolution tend to rely on inferences from fossil evidence, phylogenetic reconstruction, and extrapolation from microevolutionary patterns. Often the focus of macroevolutionary studies is on speciation: the process by which groups of previously-interbreeding organisms become unable (or unwilling) to successfully mate with each other and produce fertile offspring.Forbes, A (2010). Evolution is change in the inherited Traits of a Population through Successive Generations. Retrieved from http://web.iitd.ac.in/~amittal/SBL101_Evolution.pdf
Due to the large course of time in history proponents of evolution have sought to mark out the amount of time that has passed from the start of the universe to the origin of man. Evolutionist place the beginning of the universe, which they believe started when “The Big Bang” occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. They assert the universe underwent a radical process of extreme heat and gases to become the universe of stars and galaxies we know today. Within our own galaxy is the earth, which is estimated by those who subscribe to evolutionary theory to be 4.6 million years old. The earth, much like the universe, on a much smaller scale, had a very chaotic and hostile beginning. A website details what this early beginning of the earth
In the very beginning of earth’s history, this planet was a giant, red hot, roiling, boiling sea of molten rock – a magma ocean. The heat had been generated by the repeated high speed collisions of much smaller bodies of space rocks that continually clumped together as they collided to form this planet. As the collisions tapered off the earth began to cool, forming a thin crust on its surface. As the cooling continued, water vapor began to escape and condense in the earth’s early atmosphere. Clouds formed and storms raged, raining more and more water down on the primitive earth, cooling the surface further until it was flooded with water, forming the seas.How old is the earth? (2015). Extreme science. Retrieved from http://www.extremescience.com/earth.htm
The start of creatures who could walk on two legs (i.e., bipedal) was estimated to be about 4 million years ago, with other biological human advancements and developments evolutionist claim these occurred about 100,000 years ago.
So what does all of this information about evolution have to do with climate change? Climate change is defined as an increase in global temperature, which leads to the rising of sea levels and erratic atmospheric conditions. This is mainly due to the rise of the burning of fossil fuels from production and industry by mankind. It is the case that some who promote evolutionary theory believe that mankind is destroying the earth and point to the phenomenon of climate change as irrefutable evidence of this reality. However, to believe in both one would have to suspend the foundational beliefs in either evolution, or climate change to reconcile both beliefs.
Take the advancement of fossil fuels as the culprit of climate change. In addition to the fact that fossil fuels are a natural source (hence the word “fossil” in fossil fuels), industry for human beings has been around for only 259 years (the Industrial Revolution began in 1760). Production, in the course of human history from the perspective of evolution, is extremely young, whereas catastrophic events that have happened due to weather and atmospheric conditions on the earth, whether man has been here on earth or not, are extremely old. For one to believe mankind has this much power to destroy the planet one must suspend the belief that the planet has gone through much worse than mankind in its long lifetime. As stated earlier the earth has endured molten rock, sulfur and methane atmosphere, raging storms, and colossal upheavals, meteors and asteroid collisions, magnetic pole reversals, and an extremely long Ice Age (which evolutionist believe happen 2.4 million years ago and lasted over 2.3 million years long!) that produced drastic changes on the planet over time. The point is all of these events according to the evolutionist happened before mankind even appeared on the earth.
If one truly believes in the evolutionary theory then one also must adopt the belief that climate change has been occurring for billions of years without human intervention. Furthermore, it also underscores that a person must adopt the belief that the earth can adjust its climate over a long period of time, as it has done so in the distant past (if one believes that the origins of complex man were 100,000 years ago).
Climate change has as one of its solutions for this problem the idea of population control. The fewer people there are on the earth, the more the earth’s resources will last and the earth’s climate will be preserved. However, this is also against the evolutionary theory due to the instruction of natural selection. Climate change assumes human beings will not adapt to their environment, with nature choosing the strongest to survive as a result of adaptation. Therefore, according to the solution to climate change, it is not nature that determines the progression of the creature, but mankind either volunteers or is coerced by external sources other than natural selection, not to populate for the sake of preserving the planet. To summarize, evolution and climate change at their very cores cannot coexist, because to assert climate change is to deny crucial information about the evolutionary theory concerning the creation of the earth and the development of mankind.
The biblical worldview (the worldview to which this author subscribes) concerning the earth and the climate activity within the earth does not teach that climate change is man-made, or the evolutionary theory. The Scriptures instruct that God created the heavens, the earth in six literal 24 hours days and not over billions of years (Gen. 1:1-31; c.f., Exo. 20:9-11). The Scriptures do not teach that man derived from distant descendants of primates over millions of years, but that mankind was created in the image of God on day six (Gen. 1:26-28) and were personally created by Him (Gen. 2:7, 2:18-21). Furthermore, In terms of the weather and climate as mentioned in a previous article atmospheric patterns found in the earth are cyclical and natural phenomena that occur on the earth. It is the weather, in addition to all creation, that reveals the power and transcendent nature of God (c.f., Rom. 1:18-20).
Evolutionary theory assumes that over a long period of time, through many chaotic processes the earth has become what we know today. By contrast, the beliefs of climate change are in conflict with the fundamental beliefs of the theory of evolution. If one submits to one of these perspectives, they cannot be beholden to the other. Furthermore, the biblical worldview contends against these two paradigms highlighting that God is the one who has created weather, climate, mankind and all of creation for His glory.
Let us continue to look to God’s word to inform us of the cycles of the climate and the origins of creation.
Until next time…
Soli Deo Gloria!
Dr. L.S.
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