1957 Geloof en Wetenschap : Orgaan van de Christelijke vereeniging van natuur- en geneeskundigen in Nederland - pagina 211

174

PETER G. BERKHOUT

the microbiology of primitive organisms, such as, bacteria and viruses. Antibiotics stop them, but they develop mutants that are not sensitive to particular antibiotics and are fit to survive. And so we could go through the world of plant and animal life and see how the law of variation and adaptation works. But, many books have been written on that subject. What should our attitude be to the whole theory of evolution? In the first place, we should not underestimate it, but take it seriously. We have a right and duty to combat with all the vigor that is in us the mechanistic and materialistic views of many evolutionists. We will have to show them that evolution is not the only principle that operates in the universe. Materialistic evolution leads to atheism and all its evils. In the second place, we should not blame all the evils of today on evolution. There were just as great evils before the theory of evolution was ever thought of, and even if we did not have it today those evils might be there just as well. Let us evaluate it properly and not ridicule it. That might betray our own profound ignorance and superficiality. It angers the young and causes them to lose faith in their leaders. Thirdly, we should not be too hasty to say that it is impossible to be a good Christian and believe in theistic evolution, progressive 'or theistic creationism, emergent evolution, or, whatever one may call it. That is absolutely untrue. Who would say that men like James Orr were not devout and scholarly Christians? In the fourth place, let us heed the admonition of such men as Rev. Grosheide in Belijden en Beleven, Jan. 13, 1956 : „The discoveries of the investigators of nature surely should make theologians ask themselves seriously : do we read the Bible right, does it say indeed what we think it says." Is the traditional view among us that God made some kind of a muddoll or mannikin and then breathed into it a soul, the only explanation? From a certain point of view does that not sound primitive? As Dr. A. Kuyper asks, is God not just as great if He created the species in such a way that the lower produced the higher, according to laws laid down in the universe by God? The Lord did not give all of civilization at once to man after the Fall. It has been a gradual process. Every day God in the minds of men reveals more to us about the origin of this creation and how it is constituted. Scripture also tells us that our bodies are but of the dust of the earth! Ingeniously a scholar confided to us, „Scripture does not say that it was inorganic dust."

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