The Bible: Creation or Evolution AND TITHING?

INTRODUCTION

The Biblical command to tithe (and yes, I know that some Christians debate this command) relates to Creation versus Evolution, exactly how?

We are in this series, Sharing Your Faith and Your Bible. Our goal is to explore the various scenarios that might arise as you are engaged with people in a dialog about their faith. The key word is “dialog”.

Praise God that you may have an opportunity to listen, help others think through their position and yours on any number of subjects, and ultimately share your faith.

In prior posts we have both outlined an approach, and begun to deal with a few common questions. Today’s question of Creation or Evolution is one that can be contentious. How we handle answering this question is important because we are working against a “full-on narrative” that Biblical Christians are uneducated people who believe in ridiculous ideas.

So, what does tithing have to with the question or creation or evolution?

Here is my answer. No one ever required me to tithe before I could receive Jesus into my heart.

Jesus is the beginning of our journey with Almighty God. The number of things I soundly believe today, as compared to that first day, that day I became a new creation, is substantially larger and more biblically rooted—and for the record, I did not even understand what tithing meant when Jesus saved me.

How about you? When you first came to believe, is there anything that took time for you to conform your thoughts to God’s Word? Is there anything you are still wrestling with?

So, if I had to believe in Tithing, or Creation, before I received Jesus into my heart—it would have been a hindrance to my salvation.

Our goal is to witness Jesus, His person, His redeeming work to people that are on their way to Hell.

The question is how? I suggest we keep two objectives to keep in mind:

1.   We don’t duck their question. We don’t water down the Biblical view. We don’t tarnish our walk with God. We don’t, by any word or phrase, communicate that we lack absolute trust in God’s Word.

2.   We seriously engage the question, ALL WHILE AIMING to bring people to Jesus.

I lay these two objectives side-by-side because I find we often meet one at the expense of the other.

Let me offer two examples to illustrate what I am trying to communicate.

Example One: You believe strongly that God is the creator, and the creation took place in 6, 24-hour days. (The League is not a church, we hold no doctrinal teaching authority, so this is an example)

In an attempt to clearly communicate that God is the creator and sustainer of all life, you so strongly make your case, that a person concludes because they don’t believe in a 24-hour day, 6-day creation, they cannot be saved from their sin and loved by “our” God.

Example Two: While you believe strongly that God is the creator, and you believe creation took place in 6, 24-hours days, you soft pedal God’s Word. You use phrases that you are uncomfortable with. In the end, the person concludes that the Bible, and other concepts such as sin, death, resurrection, etc. must be vague and that you don’t really use the Bible’s Word to guide your life.

Neither option is desirable.

There is a way through this muddle. It is a two-step process.

STEP ONE: A BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE WORLD

Step One is that before we jump into answering any question, we need to have rooted in our own minds and hearts a biblical view of the world.

Why?

Two reasons:

1.   A a biblical view of the world is the TRUE view that helps us navigate all of life.

2.   Starting (in your mind) with a biblical view keeps you from falling into the trap of using science to prove the Bible. We believe the Bible to be God’s Word – we don’t use anything (like science) to prove it – if we did, then we would be placing (in this instance) science above the Bible.

A Biblical view is allowing God’s Word to have authority over our lives, determining the Truths it is teaching, and applying them to our world, today. My phrase is “we sit under God’s Word”. We do not stand outside and judge which bits we agree with, and which bits we don’t.

If you are “down the road” towards achieving a biblical view, then when someone asks us a question such as, “You don’t believe that creation nonsense in the Bible, do you? I thought you were smart!” You will be able to respond in a meaningful way that advances the conversation forward…forward towards their salvation.

Again, as an encouragement, if you are asked such a question, do not be surprised, or fearful, or angry. Simply be prepared and “prayed up”.

In fact, if they ask you that question – leap for joy – because today, more than ever, you can easily engage their question and get them to challenge their own beliefs.

And, at the end of conversation (or series of conversations), leaving them in a position where they are challenging their belief is a huge victory.

Why is it a huge victory? Because you are challenging strongholds with TRUTH. In fact, you have begun to dislodge and destroy spiritual strongholds (Romans 1).

I noted in the past posts that the people you are speaking with are in spiritual bondage. This is why, even if people are being polite, below the surface there is this intense fight taking place.

The enemy knows if they lose their stronghold over a human’s mind in regards to the Bible, they have lost.

The evolution versus creation debate is one of the enemy’s tactics to get people to doubt the Bible, and in the end reject God.

So, let’s keep our answer straightforward and simple. Four statements

1.   There is a God above all, and outside all we can observe (the natural universe).

2.   This God, He, created everything.

3.   This God, He sustains everything.

4.   This God, created humans, male and female, in His image.

No doubt you and I could keep this list going, but for now it is sufficient to stop here for our discussion.

What do we know from science? Four statements

1.   We know that science has proven our universe had a beginning.

2.   We know that there is no evidence that non-life substances and elements have ever evolved to “life forms”.

3.   We know that over long periods of time species do in fact evolve within their own species – not across or between. In other words, fish don’t grow legs and start walking outside of water as men and women. In fact, scientists now have models that estimate how long it takes certain aspects of a species to evolve within itself.

4.   We know that scientists have estimated the age of the universe. Now there is a lot of debate among scientists about the universe age, but here is the point as it affects our discussion. If you take the “oldest age” of the universe, and connect it to the amount of time we see a species evolve within itself—then there is not enough time to the “everything evolved from nothing” theory to work.

So, without using the Bible, we know science has established:

1.   There was a beginning.

2.   That life does not evolve from non-life.

3.   That evolution only happens within a species.

4.   And the old evolutionists answer of – given enough time – no longer holds water because science has shown there is no way, given the age of the universe, to have this elusive “enough time”.

Science has actually disproved the kind of evolution the average person believes – most people in this field of science know it – they just don’t talk about it, and for some reason are happy to continue teaching our kids about it.

To get prepared for a conversation, you need to do some preparation, and there are many resources. One full treatment, that is readable for the average person, is Is Atheism Deadby Eric Metaxes.

STEP TWO: HOW YOU ENGAGE…WHAT YOU MIGHT SAY/ASK

I have noted that there are two simultaneous points-of-view you need to be managing. Let me now add a third caution.

1.   You don’t want to compromise the Bible, nor fall into the trap of using science to prove the Bible, yet,

2.   Starting with the Bible as the basis for your engagement will mostly likely not be effective to those who believe they have the superior scientific view.

3.   Finally, once you actually see how easy this question is to answer, you must avoid falling into the trap where being “right” comes across as arrogant—driving a person away from God.

WHAT MIGHT YOU SAY WHEN…

Again, our suggestion is that you always start a dialog with a question.

We want to get to the person of Jesus—that is why we are such strong advocates for using the Gospel John – but we think the idea of asking a question of the person you are engaged with, when you have a genuine interest in their answer, is most productive.

You might ask, “Great question about what I believe regarding creation and evolution, when you say evolution can you tell me what you mean? There are so many different definitions.”

Now, I am not sure how the person in front of you will respond, but there are a few responses we might expect:

o   Evolution is the “theory that all life originated from nonliving material and has developed according to natural selection and speciation as random mutations effect changes without purpose or design over billions of years” (Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms, 76).

o   Or, evolution is, or “the theory that all life has developed according to evolutionary processes into which God has at times intervened to accomplish his purpose. It affirms both divine action (‘theistic’) and evolution” (Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms, 77).

o   “God creates all living things through Christ, including human beings in his image, making use of intentionally designed, actively sustained natural processes that scientists today study as evolution” (“A Flawed Mirror”).

I know the three bullets above are very textbook-sounding.

o   The first does not believe in any God.

o   The second acknowledges God, but in an undefined way, almost as a secondary actor.

o   The third gives God a larger role, and seems close, but it is straining to make God fit a human theory of evolution—it is placing a scientific theory above God.

So, let’s say the person answers in one of those ways: No God, God as a secondary actor, or God subject to science—what do you do?

I do not pull-out Genesis One—I pull out John One.

I might say something like, “Your answer is fascinating (or interesting or different than mine). Can I tell you where I start? I start in The Gospel of John, chapter one, let me read you a few sentences, it won’t take long.”

After I read it, I say, “Let me tell you why I start in John. I find the question of “how” all this got started fascinating, but what I find more fascinating is asking “why”, why are we here? John chapter one starts answering that question.

It says:

o   There was a beginning, and that God, who is outside of this world, is the one who started it all.

o   That in fact God was present at the beginning, and it says “He”, Jesus, was present.

o   That everything was made through Him.

o   That Jesus is life and light.

o   It says that we, men and women, love darkness. When I look around, I must admit, we do. We make a mess of the world and our lives.

o   Despite us and our “darkness loving” actions, Jesus came into the world, God came into the world, to be with us, why?

o   So that when we believe in Jesus, we become part of God’s family.

Those few points show me that God created the world to reveal to us, His purpose: to love us—to be in relationship with us.

I do find science fascinating, but I am amazed by God.

Science is fascinating. I have a read a bit about where the evolution theory stands today. Is there anything you are reading about it? I would be happy to read what you are reading, and I would love to read the Gospel of John with you. Would you be up for that?”

That was a long quote of what I might say.

Perhaps you think this is a little too cute. Your alternative is to take them on “on their turf and obliterate their argument”. Today you can (check out Is Atheism Dead). But I expect by “nuking them”, you:

1.   Validated that you don’t believe in evolution because of the science – which is not your aim.

2.   Lost your opportunity to win them to Christ.

Finally, recognize that someone asking you this question about creation versus evolution, may simply be baiting you.

When I sense that is what is going on, I often reply, “Let me tell you what I do believe, I believe the God that I follow is big that if He wanted to, He could easily create the universe in 6, 24-hour days. Can we talk more about this?”

That is me playing a bit of a “trump-card”. It is me not allowing them to try and hem in our God who is infinite.

CONCLUSION

You and I live at a great time in God’s plan.

We live in a time when all the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, and even 80’s “scientific challenges” to the Bible have largely been proven to be, at best, weak scientific theories—and in many cases no longer supportable scientific hypothesis based on the data.

That means you can use what they are playing on to open their eyes. With that done, you can then share with them your Biblical point-of-view.

If you use John chapter one as I suggested, consider how it sets you up for a wonderful read of Genesis 1 and 2 with the person. The intimacy of God towards the universe, and towards humankind is stunning.

I have done with this with a number of people, they often say, “But what about the 6, 24-hour days?” To which I answer, “You are going to always have many questions, but can we start with the FIRST question, which is, what are you going to do with Jesus?”

Keep Jesus always in view—after all, it is the Holy Spirit that opens their minds to God’s truth, not your arguments alone.

I pray you take some time to work out how you might go about answering this question. I have.