Arguing about Evolution is a waste of time

I know patience is one of the fruits of the spirit but I have to confess to I lose mine whenever I hear the Creation/Evolution argument. Why? Because it’s the wrong argument. It’s not important how God created the universe – only that He did. A truth that is lost as soon as the debate starts.

If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit we don’t have the facts to prove the world is 7,000 years old. We are not going to convince someone who wants to argue the ‘facts’. All the scientific facts available say the Earth is 5 billion years old and the universe 15 billion.  The sad truth is we will lose if we try to argue creation against evolution based upon available data – things we can see, measure and test.

The only evidence we have of God is our faith.  Whenever I hear people debating Creation vs. Evolution Hebrews 11:1 immediately comes to mind

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

When I first came to God it wasn’t because I believed the bible. I came to believe the Bible because I knew God. I wasn’t convinced of God’s existence because of a brilliant ontological argument. Quite the contrary, arguing with someone is possibly the worst thing you can do.

Aesop illustrated the point very well with his fable, The North Wind and The Sun.
The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger when they saw a traveler coming down the road. The Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.”

So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. At last the North Wind said, “I will try no longer, but you, Sun, can do no better.”

The Sun said nothing, but came out from behind the cloud and smiled down upon the traveler. The Traveler no sooner felt his genial rays than he took off one garment after another, and at last, fairly overcome with heat, undressed and bathed in a stream that lay in his path.

 The more we attempt to force our beliefs on someone the harder they resist.  I think we have to ask ourselves, which is more important – to win an argument or introduce another human being to God? Does God require that we memorize verses or listen to his word? In Ephesians 4:17,18 Paul writes,

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; (New King James Translation)

To me Paul often comes across a little harsh.  But what he is saying in those verses is very true, quit thinking small. When we start arguing carbon dating and dinosaurs we have darkened our understanding. The most important verse in the creation story is the first one - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)   Further we cheapen the Bible when we try to use it as history book.  The Bible does contain a lot of history but that is not it’s purpose. The Bible is the story of mans fall from grace and eventual salvation.  That is the message that needs to be told.

So the next time someone wants to argue evolution versus creation remember these words
from Proverbs 15:1, A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (NKJV)