Evolution and "Christian Education"
It may come as a great surprise to many of you that there are men on the faculties of various "Christian colleges" who are sympathetic to, yes, even accept theories of evolution that stand opposed to the Genesis record of Divine creation. For proof, I quote the following from an article written already several years back. But the significant thing is, since the writing of this article, nothing apparently has been done to correct this ill; as we may assume this great evil has entrenched itself only more deeply in these schools providing "Christian education." This article was written by Robert Meyers, minister of the church of Christ in Wichita, Kansas. And while you consider this, just remember also what brother Baxter said in defense of church support of colleges: "Actually, the church has depended upon these schools for many years to play a major role in training preachers, elders"etc. Now read this statement.
"I know from personal experience that many men in high places in Churches of Christ are less hostile to the theories of evolution than the Texas battle suggests. (This "battle" was an effort made by some in Texas to prevent evolution from appearing in text-books used in public schools.--LR) I HAVE FRIENDS ON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE FACULTIES WHO FELT THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO ACCEPT THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AS PROBABLE AND STILL BELIEVE FIRMLY IN GODCHRISTIANS ARE NOT UNITED ON THIS ISSUE ... THERE ARE MEN IN OUR CHURCHES, INCLUDING THE BIG ONE IN TEXAS, WHO BELIEVE THAT EVOLUTION AND FAITH IN GOD ABE RECONCILABLE." (Riverside Weekly News Bulletin, Oct. 11, 1964; all emphasis mine---LR)
The Bible or Evolution
Let it be known that the Bible and theories of evolution are as incompatible to each other as life and death. We may know that Communism is opposed to faith in God and the Bible. One of their chief aims is to overthrow religious convictions of people. One of the main tools employed by Communists in this endeavor is--EVOLUTION! Communists would not employ any means to destroy the Bible that at the same time is in harmony with it! There are only two alternatives concerning the creation of the world----God or evolution. Since the denial of God serves as the basis for the promotion of communistic' ideologies, then their only recourse is to accept theories of evolution as the answer to the question concerning ~ origins, a denial of divine, creative activity. Since the writing of The Origin of Species by Darwin, evolution has been the tool of skeptics, infidels and atheists to overthrow religion based on the Bible.
This denies the claim of those "in our colleges, INCLUDING THE BIG ONE IN TEXAS."' that "Evolution and FAITH IN GOD ARE RECONCILABLE." How can two mortal enemies to each other be "reconcilable"? It is impossible to be a Christian without believing that "God is . 7 ." "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Thus "BY FAITH we understand that the worlds have been framed BY THE WORD OF GOD" (Heb. 11: 3). Gen. 1:1 teaches "creation out of nothing." Divine activity, Heb. 11:3 tells us that the original matter created by God was NOW FASHIONED, shaped, molded into the present from of creation. Hence, a Christian who believes in God, and that He is the First Cause of creation, will by faith believe that all things exist as the result of His spoken word. To believe otherwise is to deny WHAT GOD SAID, which is to deny the faith because it is a denial of what is written in the Word of God concerning creation. It cannot be denied, therefore, that MODERNISM exists in these schools for the opinions of these men are the same as those of any modernists who deny anything else found in the word of God. And these schools, with these men, are the ones that train the preachers and elders of the church!
Beware!
Here is a serious problem connected with this matter. Many Christians send their Children to these schools totally unaware they will be exposed to this atheistic propaganda of evolution. It is generally assumed that any man or woman selected for the faculty of any of these schools must be sound in the faith. After all, shouldn't they be? Especially since "Christian schools are needed to train leaders for the church." So in order to have good leaders in the church, parents of the students expect to have good teachers in the school. Because the school is an important aid to the churches that depend on it, then where the teacher goes, there goes his pupil. One of the strongest reasons advanced why Christians ought to prefer "Christian colleges" to state schools is because of the wholesome "Christian education" they can expect to receive there.
Now these young men and women will enter these schools with utmost faith and trust in the "infallibility" of their teachers. However, being taught by such teachers, these children can come out of the CHRISTIAN COLLEGES with their faith in the Bible completely shaken. After all, if you cannot trust teachers who have been carefully selected by reason of their sound faith, who then can you trust? These young, impressionable and pliable minds---and unsuspecting--can easily be "brainwashed" with the hogwash of evolution, all because they have full faith and confidence that their teachers will teach only "sound doctrine." The fact that they are students of prominent
teachers, or "men in high places" makes them more vulnerable to this spiritual blight because their faith lessens the caution they would otherwise exercise in other schools of higher learning. They will be caught completely off-guard.
When we consider the inexperience and lack of ability of young folks to discern the subtle manner in which evolution can be imposed on them, we have even more reason for alarm because it will be skillfully woven into the "gospel truth" they expect to learn. What makes this situation so dangerous is that these teachers will not openly ridicule the Bible as some professors do in other schools. They will not deliberately discredit the Bible in order to advance evolutionary theories. But "a little leaven leaventh the whole lump." They will simply inject their false views in very small doses along with the Bible they professedly uphold. It will be highly improbable that these men will refrain from imposing their views at one time or another. The words of Christ are indisputable: ',for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34).
The history of church-related schools bears a sad testimony to this fact. None of them ever started with a wholesale rejection of the Bible. But the hold of modernism and atheism is so strong upon them now that they can be called anything but "Christian" as this term is used in its broadest sense among the religious world. My brethren, this very trend in these "Christian colleges" is the very same pattern followed by those that are nothing but a hot-bed of modernism and atheism.
TRUTH MAGAZINE XIV: 6, pp. 10-11
December 11, 1969
