What if evolution is true +————————–+ |WHAT IF EVOLUTION IS TRUE?| +————————–+
“Well”, you say, “so what if Genesis is wrong? It doesn’t really matter anyway. Peter and the apostles passed on their authority to my church. We don’t need the Bible anymore.”
Okay, how do you know that Peter and the other apostles had any authority to pass on?
“Because Jesus gave it to them.”
And how do you know that?
“Because the (gulp) Bible says so…”
Oh, yes, the Bible! Isn’t that the book your church doesn’t need anymore? Besides, evolution proves that you can’t take the Bible literally!
You have a problem! If you’re depending on your church’s apostolic authority, you’d better think carefully about how the apostles got it in the first place. Matthew 16:17-19 tells us that Jesus gave Peter his authority – but just three chapters later, Jesus Himself referred to the creation of Adam and Eve as a literal event (Mt. 19: 4-5).
In other places He talked of Noah as a real man and a worldwide flood as real and historical. It looks like He was mistaken – but God doesn’t make mistakes ! Either the Gospels don’t accurately record what He said, or else He wasn’t the Son of God. In either case, you can’t trust the Bible’s record of His words. So how can you be sure that He really gave Peter (or your church) any authority at all?
If you still claim to rely on the apostles’ authority, maybe you’d better read what they wrote. Peter refers (1 Pet. 3:18-20) to a worldwide flood as a historical event; he warns us (2 Pet. 3:3-7) that in the last days men will deny that a worldwide flood ever occurred.
Paul refers over and
over to creation and the Flood as literal events; so do James, Jude, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – every single one of the New Testament writers. So if evolution is true, every one of the men you regard as your church’s source of authority is wrong! What kind of “authority” could such men have passed on?
There’s an even more important reason to find out if you can trust Genesis. Your faith is worthless if you can’t.
The Christian faith depends entirely on Christ, “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:21-22,45), having accomplished what He came to earth to do: to save us from the sin we inherited from the first Adam.
What if the story of Adam and the fall is just a myth? Then the first man was merely another in a long line of apelike creatures who evolved and died. He, like all the other animals, was destined to die from the time he was born. It’s foolish to believe that he brought death into the world.
Now, since Genesis is the only source that tells us that Adam caused death by his sin, and since evolution tells us that he really didn’t cause death, then why should we bother to believe in his “original sin”? And if original sin is just a myth, who needs to be saved from it?
If we don’t need to be saved, then “the last Adam”, Jesus, is either a liar or a fool! He came to earth and suffered an agonizing death to save us from sin – all because of a myth!
And if Christ is not really who He said He was, why bother to call yourself a Christian? You can’t be sure of anything about God. Maybe some other religion is right. For all you know, you may be on your way to hell – if Genesis is a myth.