WHAT IF EVOLUTION IS TRUE?

"Well", you say, "so what if Genesis is wrong?

It doesn't really matter anyway. Peter and the

apostles passed on their authority to my church.

We don't need the Bible anymore."

Okay, how do you know that Peter and the other

apostles had any authority to pass on?

"Because Jesus gave it to them."

And how do you know that?

"Because the (gulp) Bible says so..."

Oh, yes, the Bible! Isn't that the book your

church doesn't need anymore? Besides, evolution

proves that you can't take the Bible literally!

You have a problem! If you're depending on your

church's apostolic authority, you'd better think

carefully about how the apostles got it in the

first place. Matthew 16:17-19 tells us that Jesus

gave Peter his authority - but just three chapters

later, Jesus Himself referred to the creation of

Adam and Eve as a literal event (Mt. 19: 4-5).

In other places He talked of Noah as a real man and a

worldwide flood as real and historical. It looks

like He was mistaken - but God doesn't make mis-

takes! Either the Gospels don't accurately record

what He said, or else He wasn't the Son of God. In

either case, you can't trust the Bible's record of

His words. So how can you be sure that He really

gave Peter (or your church) any authority at all?

If you still claim to rely on the apostles' au-

thority, maybe you'd better read what they wrote.

Peter refers (1 Pet. 3:18-20) to a worldwide flood

as a historical event; he warns us (2 Pet. 3:3-7)

that in the last days men will deny that a world-

wide flood ever occurred.

Paul refers over and

over to creation and the Flood as literal events;

so do James, Jude, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -

every single one of the New Testament writers. So

if evolution is true, every one of the men you re-

gard as your church's source of authority is

wrong! What kind of "authority" could such men

have passed on?

 

There's an even more important reason to find

out if you can trust Genesis. Your faith is worth-

less if you can't.

The Christian faith depends entirely on Christ,

"the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:21-22,45), having ac-

complished what He came to earth to do: to save us

from the sin we inherited from the first Adam.

What if the story of Adam and the fall is just

a myth? Then the first man was merely another in a

long line of apelike creatures who evolved and

died. He, like all the other animals, was destined

to die from the time he was born. It's foolish to

believe that he brought death into the world.

Now, since Genesis is the only source that

tells us that Adam caused death by his sin, and

since evolution tells us that he really didn't

cause death, then why should we bother to believe

in his "original sin"? And if original sin is

just a myth, who needs to be saved from it?

If we don't need to be saved, then "the last

Adam", Jesus, is either a liar or a fool! He came

to earth and suffered an agonizing death to save

us from sin - all because of a myth!

And if Christ is not really who He said He was,

why bother to call yourself a Christian? You

can't be sure of anything about God. Maybe some

other religion is right. For all you know, you may

be on your way to hell - if Genesis is a myth.