Creation Apologetics
Death's role in the Creation - Evolution Debate
Doug S. Grauman © August 2004

One of the most compromised facts of Scripture is the idea God used evolution as His mechanism for the creation process. Aside from the scientific arguments fueling this debate, what most people are unaware of is the extreme difference "death" plays in these two world views. Evolution teaches death produced man while the Bible teaches death was the penalty for man's rebellion against God - why He died for us.

To better understand this answer, it must first be pointed out the term "evolution" really has two, unrelated definitions.

Micro-evolution: refers to observable, limited, changes within an existing (species) group, but the descendant is clearly always of the same species as the ancestor. A good example would be all the dog varieties we see today. Although there are many "types," each dog-type has always, and will always, belong to the canine group - we refer to this as "variation." The terms "adaptation," "variation," and "natural selection" are often associated with micro-evolution and are key, observable components that drive it.

Macro-evolution: refers to unobservable, major evolutionary changes over time  the origin of new types of organisms from previously existing, but different, ancestral types (such as a dinosaur evolving into a bird). It argues creation is an on-going process and that death is not the penalty for sin but rather has always existed.

Although macro-evolution is widely promoted as fact, not one single significant prediction of this theory has ever been confirmed. Even worse, macro-evolution contradicts multiple scientific principles, including the law of conservation of mass and the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

Because the atheistic view of the origin of mankind and the earth is primarily the one promoted in the media and science books, seldom are these two terms ever explained. And although macro-evolution is generally disguised as micro, there is literally a genetic canyon that exists between these two, unlinkable definitions. This deceit has led many Christians to think they can believe in both macro-evolution and Biblical Creationism.

Contrasting Death's Role between the Two Views:

Macro-evolution says death pre-dates Adam and Eve's sin and that death - through natural selection and adaptation (micro-evolution) - eventually produced man. The Bible is very clear and consistent when it describes death's relationship to the Fall of Adam. For instance, the lie of Satan has always included that there is no penalty for sin (exactly what macro-evolution teaches). In convincing Eve to disobey, "the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die..." (Genesis 3:4). We know, both Adam and Eve believed the lie, therefore, the penalty for sin denied, and hence, sin entered the world.

The Bible clearly teaches the result for this disobedience was a curse of death on all of His "..very good" creation, and effected, not only mankind, but the animals, the plants, and even the earth itself (Genesis 3:14-19).

Paul reminded us in his letter to the Romans that it was "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.." (Romans 5:12). This death not only entails spiritual death, but also physical death, as Paul made abundantly clear in his letter to the church at Corinth in dealing with the physical resurrection of the dead. "For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." (I Corinthians 15:21-22).

If Adam and Eve's sin did not incept physical death and decay on this entire world, and if therefore death and decay existed long before "the Fall," then Christ's resurrection from physical death does not bring eternal life. It is obvious then that sin, and its penalty - death, are pillars in the Christian doctrine. Death is the result of the entrance of sin into the world and it is also the atonement for sin - the just payment for sin.

Later, we see that the system of blood sacrifices for sin had been instituted, for God accepted Abel's animal sacrifice (offered by faith - Hebrews 11:4) while rejecting Cain's bloodless sacrifice (Genesis 4:3-5; Hebrews 4:4). As developed in both Old and New Testaments, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin" (Hebrews 9:22, see also Leviticus 17:11, etc.).

Thus we can see that God was not only acting in His justice in pronouncing the curse of death for sin, but in His grace, as well. For by establishing death as the penalty for sin, He made it possible for Himself to come in the flesh and die to pay the ultimate penalty for sin as a substitute. The "wages of sin" may be death, but "Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:4). Only God Himself could be the sinless Substitute.

So it becomes quite clear that Biblical Creationism and macro-evolution are truly telling two very different stories and therefore speak of two very different gods. Macro-evolution says that death is not the penalty for sin because the fossils and their death are billions of years old and predate man's sin. Therefore, death is natural and death produced modern-man. But the Bible clearly teaches that death is the penalty for sin. If it were not the penalty, then the death of Jesus Christ would not have paid that penalty, nor would His resurrection from the dead have provided eternal life. What purpose then would Jesus Christ, or His death and resurrection, serve if macro-evolution were the mechanism God used in the creation process? A God that didn't understand this could not claim supremacy - omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.

It is clear then that macro-evolution does not worship the God of Creation, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, but rather serves the god of chaos, lies, and death - a naturalistic, secular-god.

Christianity and macro-evolution are mutually exclusive concepts which can not, to any degree, be harmonized - ever. The Bible is very clear, God used the term "man" for a reason, He created the man we are today, from the beginning, "...in [His] image."