Why You Shouldn't Worry When Someone Says Science or Evolution Contradicts Scripture

In my newest podcast episode I addressed two objections: (1) “Science says the events of the Bible never happened,” and (2) “The fact that Darwinian evolution is true makes the Bible’s claims about God irrelevant.” 

How should you respond when someone says “science says” the events of the Bible couldn’t have happened? 

How should you respond when someone tells you “science says” the events of the Bible (like the Great Flood, Jonah and the Whale, etc.) couldn’t have happened?

Push back. 

First, science doesn’t “say” anything. People say things. Science is a method of discovery people use. It uses the scientific method. As it turns out, this method actually relies on biblical principles and assumptions. Among these are inductive reasoning, uniformity in nature, and the reality of mathematics and logic. These assumptions all make sense if Christianity is true. If Christianity is not true, then these assumptions don’t have an adequate basis. That actually nullifies the possibility of doing science. 

What about Darwinian evolution? 

Is the person an atheist? If so, he has no business believing in evolution. In fact, if evolution is true, and God is not there, then we are the product of blind, unguided, evolutionary processes. 

Now, we seem to have certain truth-seeking faculties (like reason, intuition, and our five senses). Yet without God’s design, we would actually have no reason to trust these faculties. They would have evolved to serve survival, but not the discovery of actual truth. If God is not there, and evolution is true, then we would have a reason not to trust any of our convictions. 

And that includes the conviction that God is not there. 

Evolution + atheism turns out to be a deadly combo—not for Christianity, but for atheism itself!

What if the atheist tries to bring in geological evidence, such as rock layers and the fossil record, as evidence for Darwinian deep-time cosmology (the theory that the world is billions of years old, and that life on earth evolved a la Darwin’s theory)? 

How to avoid a debate about rock layers

You might be wondering how you can avoid getting dragged into a debate about rock layers with an evolutionist. This happens frequently in this kind of discussion. If you aren’t careful, it can easily happen to you. Unless you want to get into an endless cycle of debating geology and never getting to the Gospel, I suggest avoiding this. So how can you do that?

Keep to the basics. Address the assumptions underpinning the skeptic’s worldview.

Don’t pretend to be neutral. You are not neutral, and neither is he. Don’t let him skate past the huge gaping hole in his worldview where a foundation for knowledge should be. 

Without God, he has no reason to think he can know anything at all. Rock layers? Why would we discuss rock layers, when we can't know any truth at all? Are rock layers “evidence for evolution?” Evidence is that which leads to a particular conclusion. However, without God, truth  can’t be known. So evidence that leads to “truth” is a meaningless concept. So why debate it? 

Skeptics need the Bible too.

The only way out for the skeptic is to admit that the Triune God of Scripture is real, and that He is the necessary starting point for truth and knowledge. 

This truth comes from the Bible. So believing this necessitates believing the Bible. That same Bible gives the other necessary principles for science. And yet, that same Bible also says that the Great Flood happened, that Jonah was swallowed by the whale, and that evolution didn’t happen. 

When it comes to how we interpret evidence, worldview is everything. Our goal is not to convince someone about the flood, but to tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Belief in the flood comes later. 

The Christian worldview arises from the teachings of the Bible, and it gives meaning to science. Science is impossible without it. If Scripture contradicts the findings of those professing to do science, then one of two things must be true: either we’re misunderstanding Scripture, or the scientists are wrong. 

If you rightly understand God’s word, then you never need to fear the pronouncements of scientists. Whether they acknowledge it or not, they need your worldview to give meaning to their profession.

Science can’t contradict the Bible without destroying itself. 

And evolution is false, no matter how many scientists and skeptics believe in it.

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Want to listen to a Christian apologist using these arguments (and more) in an actual debate with real skeptics?  Listen to the Worldview Legacy Podcast episode, "How to Debate Evolution with an Atheist."

Articles, Worldview, ApologeticsJoel Settecasescience, evolution, Bible, biblical, worldview, articlesComment