Many evolutionists frankly declare that the purpose of evolution is to
destroy belief in God, or his active control of his creation. Prof.
H. F. Osborn, of N. Y., a leading evolutionist, says, "In truth, from
the period of the earlier stages of Greek thought, _man has been
eager to discover some natural cause of evolution, and to abandon the
idea of supernatural intervention in the order of nature_." Other
evolutionists openly announce their antagonism to the Bible and
Christianity. Clarence Darrow, in the Tenn. trial, called
Christianity a "fool religion."
Darwinism has been declared an attempt to eliminate God and all
evidence of design and to substitute the old heathen doctrine of
chance. With this announced purpose in view, we are not surprised to
learn from Prof. J. H. Leuba that one-half the professors teaching it
did not believe in God nor the immortality of the soul; and that there
is a rapid increase in the number of students who have discarded
Christianity as they progress in their course,--Freshmen, 15%;
Juniors, 30%; Seniors, 40 to 45%. Children of Christian homes, taught
to believe in God and Jesus Christ, are led into infidelity and
atheism rapidly, as they progress in their course. It makes one
shudder to think what the future will be, if atheism and infidelity
are taught in the guise of science. And the statistics show that
evolution is one of the most fruitful sources of unbelief. What the
students are taught today, the world will believe tomorrow. How great
the havoc caused by a comparatively few infidel or atheistic
professors!
Dr. C. W. Elliott, a Unitarian, announced with apparently great glee,
that already the young men and young women do not believe the story of
the creation of Adam and Eve. The leaders of Bolshevist Russia said to
Dr. Sherwood Eddy, with brutal frankness, "The Communist party, the
only party allowed in Russia, is 100% atheistic. If a man believes in
God, he can not be a member of the party." Russia is an example of a
country where atheism is taught in the public schools, and we are
moving all too fast in the same direction. The Red Army shot to death
500,000 men in Russia. The horrors of the French Revolution may be
outdone, if we do not awake to our danger. Russia is cursed with a
doctrine offensive alike to the Christian, the Jew, the Mohammedan and
even the deist. In America the same condition may be brought about,
more stealthily and more effectually in the name of science. Indeed,
the Russian atheists feel the necessity of adopting the American
method as more effective. An Associated Press dispatch of Dec. 24,
1924, states that Zinovieff, a Soviet leader, admitted that the
Communists had gone too far in their efforts to establish atheism by
_force_, but he adds, "_We shall pursue our attacks on Almighty
God in due time, and in an appropriate manner. We are confident we
shall subdue him in his empyrean. We shall fight him wherever he hides
himself_.... I have been informed that not only young Communists,
but Boy Scouts, are mocking people who are religious. I have also been
told that _groups of Boy Scouts have even imprisoned whole
congregations in church while they were worshipping_! Our campaign
against God and religion must be carried out in a pedagogic way, not
by violence or force." Do we want such a situation in America? We are
drifting that way.
Evolution has no quarrel with atheism, agnosticism, modernism, or any
other species of infidelity. _Its quarrel is with Christianity and
the Bible_. Why should we wish to harmonize Christianity with
evolution, when the theory can not possibly be true? Prof. Newman
says, "Readings in Evolution," p. 8, "Contrary to a widespread idea,
evolution (in what sense?) is by no means incompatible with religion
(Christianity?).... The majority of thoughtful theologians (whew!) of
all creeds are in accord with the evolution idea."
Dr. W. W. Keen says, "I believe in God and evolution." An infidel, a
deist, even a heathen can say that. To harmonize evolution with
Christianity is quite a different problem. Prof. Coulter, of Chicago
University, endeavors to show where "religion and evolution meet."
But the "religion" is the religion of the infidel, not of the
Christian. How can a theory which denies the creation of Adam and Eve
and any intervention and control by the Creator, be harmonized with
Christianity?
Rev. F.E. Clark, President of the World C.E., says, "The Darwinian
theory, whatever it may be called today, has doubtless unsettled many
minds. A hazy agnosticism has often taken the place of strenuous
belief." He is in a position to know.
A beloved friend, president of a prominent college, an evolutionist
and a modernist, in a letter to the writer, claimed that evolution is
nearest the truth, and those who believe it are nearest to "Him who is
the Way, the Truth and the Life." If this is true, how many
evolutionists are more spiritual, more earnest, and more successful on
that account, in winning souls to Christ?
No doubt many have been made infidels and atheists. How many souls
have been won to Christ by Osborn, Newman, Conklin, Darrow, Lull,
Shull, Scott, Coulter, Metcalf, Kellogg, Nutting, Thompson, Castle,
Chapin, and all other prominent evolutionists? If evolution is nearest
the truth, the number of their converts to Christ should be greatly
increased. We await the information, which we do not have at hand, to
see if the contention of our friend is correct.
Mrs. Aimee Semple McPherson preaches daily in the Angelus Temple, Los
Angeles, Cal., which seats 5300 people. Often standing room is at a
premium. Many souls are saved (over 14,000 in 1924), and thousands are
healed in answer to prayer. What a tremendous loss to humanity, if the
gospel of Christ had not saved her from the infidelity and atheism of
evolution! She writes as follows of her conversion: "The writer went
to one of the services being held in my home town, by the Irish
evangelist, Robert Semple, and entered the meeting _practically an
infidel, having studied Darwinism, atheistic theories until faith in
God's word was shaken_. Never will those moments be forgotten. One
could feel the power of God, the moment one entered the building. Such
singing, hands uplifted, faces radiant, such Amens and Hallelujahs,
such power and fervor back of every word that was spoken, such
exaltation of the deity of Christ, the necessity and power of the
atoning blood, the second Coming of Christ, the power of the Holy
Spirit to energize and get the believer ready for his coming, gripped
and stirred the heart.... Never, never, can the writer forget that
hallowed hour, when, kneeling by a Morris chair in the home of a
friend, early in the morning, with uplifted arms, she prayed and felt
for the first time, the tremendous inflowing power of the Holy Ghost."
Behold, the power of evolution to ruin, and of Christ to save!
Evolutionists are, as a rule, modernists; and modernists are
evolutionists, and are reckless in their zeal to destroy the faith of
the young committed to their care. We select the following 3
illustrations from a single article in the PRESBYTERIAN:
1. "A father sat _in this office_, a minister above middle life,
his eyes full of tears, and his soul full of groans, as he told how he
had sent his son, who had been an orderly Christian boy, to a
supposedly Christian college. When the boy returned home, after
graduation, he informed his father that through instruction received,
he had lost his faith, and believed none of those things he had been
taught at home. The father was so shocked and overcome he could make
no reply, but asked his son to kneel and pray with him as they used to
do. The son refused, and said he no longer believed in prayer."
2. "A good Christian father desired to give his young daughter the
best educational advantages. She planned to be a missionary. He sent
her to a well-known college, considered Christian. This college had a
Bible chair, but of the destructive, critical type. The young student
absorbed what she was taught. She lost all reverence for the Bible and
rejected it. She entirely lost her faith which she had learned from
her father and mother. She gave up her mission plans, and developed
into a Socialist. When about to graduate, she wrote her father
frankly, that she had given up the faith he had taught her, and she
was going to live with a man without marriage, as she did not believe
in marriage; The father visited her and protested. She smiled and
called him an old fogy. She only consented to marriage when
threatened with the civil law."
3. "Another case reported to us by another father:--His son, attending
a so-called Christian college, reported that one of the professors
declared that they and himself were hypocrites, because they attended
chapel every morning where they were told that if they believed and
did such things, they would some day go to another world and play on a
harp. But if they did not, they would burn. This he declared was all
bosh. Then he called attention to the teachings in the college, that
_man in his body developed from a lower animal, but that man had no
soul."_
Yet some colleges and universities ask Christian people to give large
sums, with no guarantee that evolution, infidelity and atheism will
not be taught. Is it any wonder that Christian parents tremble while
their sons and daughters run the gauntlet of infidel professors?