When a person is unwell, they will frequently seek out the care of a doctor to help alleviate their ailment. The doctor will observe the symptoms the patient is exhibiting and, form a diagnosis based on those symptoms. Once he has diagnosed the patient, the doctor will likely administer a medicine to help alleviate the symptoms. However, many malady’s share similar symptoms or similar combinations of symptoms. When this is the case, the doctor will sometimes send the patient to a specialist to have any number of a wide variety of tests performed to determine the root cause of the problem. This analogy holds true for the battle of worldviews. This article will examine the the symptoms today’s society displays and attempt to trace them all back to their root.
One symptom which has flared up in modern society is the complete disregard for the sanctity of the human life. This is evident across all ages of society, from the abortion of infant children, to the euthanasia being pushed upon the elderly and disabled, to the homicide rates, to the rapidly increasing rates of suicide. Homicide rates in major cities in particular have skyrocketed, with one major US city averaging more than four homicides per day over the course of a year. Suicide rates have climbed by nearly thirty percent over the last decade. Abortion rates are also falling, largely due to the intense amount of work put in by pro-life advocates throughout the country. Euthanasia is becoming more popular as well, particularly in European countries. However, for these things to be an issue, life must have value.
Does life actually have value? According to the Creationist worldview, human life is valuable because it is made in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 tells us “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them”. Further, Genesis 9:6 tells us the penalty for murder “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” Clearly, by the creationist worldview, man’s life has intrinsic value because it is made in God’s image. However, the evolutionary worldview gives no reason to value life. According to that worldview, man is nothing more than a highly evolved animal. As an animal his life has the same value as an animals. This value varies by the individual involved. Some men value other men’s lives highly. Others value them as less than the animals they supposedly evolved from. Since there is nothing special about man’s life, it can be taken without regret. Of note, the increase in homicides and abortions both began to occur about a decade after evolution became popular in public schools. Could evolution be the root of the decline in the value of life?
Society has other ills that plague it, beyond just the lack of value of human life. A second is the blight of immorality. This comes in many forms, including but not limited to pornography, adultery, sodomy and so on. These all have increased exponentially since the 1960s “free love” movement took root in American society. This has resulted in countless broken homes, hundreds of thousands of divorces, and whole generations of children growing up with single parent homes. This has done incredible damage to the fabric of society, and destroyed countless children’s lives as they long for the attention of a father or mother who is not there. Further, it has spawned an avalanche of sexually transmitted diseases which plague lives often of innocent children born from an infected mother.
No one denies that STDs are a rampant issue. However, many do not see the connection between STDs and the shattered lives of children and the exponentially increasing divorce rate. The horrible suffering inflicted by STDs would not be present if people practiced restraint until marriage. The adultery epidemic is a definite problem for society. The Creationist worldview makes it clear that adultery was never something God intended. In fact, immorality is such a big deal to God, He put it in the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14 tells us. This is confirmed in Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” God intended marital relations, the becoming of one, to be between a man and a woman in the marriage relationship. The evolutionary worldview does not hold to this. They view sex as simply a fulfilling of an animal desire, rather than something sacred to the marriage union. Thus engaging in those desires should be done whenever the urge is felt. Following this principle, the “sexual revolution” has broken families, destroyed lives, and left children with just one parent, besides causing the explosion of STDs. Could evolution be the root cause of the sexual epidemic as well?
A third societal problem is the problem of dishonesty. This takes many forms, such as theft, fraud, destruction of property, the white lie and so on. Each one of these takes its own form. Theft obviously is a societal problem, but so is the white lie. My grandparents told stories of their childhood in which, if you shook hands on a deal, it was a done deal. There were few contracts. A man’s word was his burden. If he could not keep his word, it was a shame to him. These days the courts are overloaded with contractual disputes because someone did not keep their word. Theft and destruction of property are all rising in frequency. The damage done here is measured in more than dollars. It is measured in the relationship and trust men have for one another.
The Creationist worldview condemns any form of dishonesty. Two of the Ten Commandments are dedicated to honesty and a third goes as far as to condemn those who covet what is not theirs. The Bible makes it clear that personal property was meant to be respected. Throughout the Law, personal property was clearly delineated as something meant to be respected. Further, if a man gave false testimony deliberately, he was to be punished with the same punishment he sought to bring upon his fellow man. Dishonesty was never meant as an option to the creationist. To the evolutionist, truth is relative. Thus it comes as no surprise that the evolutionary worldview puts no value on honesty. Theft is condemned as harmful to society, but, since personal property is not sacred because there is no reason it should belong to its owner, theft becomes more common. After all, evolution promises no afterlife and no consequences for choices, so why not get what is desired by any means necessary? Is evolution the root of all three of these societal ills.
Surprisingly, the answer is “no”. Evolution is actually not the root of societal ills. Evolution merely is the prevailing ideology used to justify the actions of those committing societal ills. The evolutionary ideology which permits theft, immorality, and desanctifies human life is merely a symptom itself. The true problem is man’s distance from God. A relationship with God causes man to desire to do the things of God, things described in the creationist worldview. Evolution is man’s attempt to justify his existence apart from a creator and thus justify his lack of obedience to the Creator’s commands. Thus while evolution is not the root of societal ills, it is the ideological reason man uses to justify his disobedience.
Harry
In His Image 