never said it did. I said that's the message evolutionism sends to the masses.
You said in your post, “The danger of Darwinism is that it (falsely) claims that science has established that life on earth is purely the result of biological mechanisms ... therefore there was no need for a Creator God.”
The late William B. Provine (who was an atheist and a Professor of Biological Sciences at Cornell University), put it this way:
"Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear — and these are basically Darwin’s views. There are no gods, no purposes, and no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end of me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either." (from a debate with Phillip E. Johnson at Stanford University, April 30, 1994)
That is a very naive and dangerous point of view. The theory of evolution has the potential to erase God from the equation as the author of creation, by attributing the history of life on earth to purely natural mechanisms.
It is a ridiculously absurd point of view that kicks evolutionary biology in the gut. I will say it again, evolutionary biology is a branch of science—it is NOT a branch of philosophy.
Satan is the author of the YEC movement? That's absurd ... not to mention, grossly offensive to many thousands of sincere Christians who love the Lord.
I have NEVER said or suggested such a thing! I wrote,
Satan has caused countless Christian to become so obsessed with arguing against the theory of evolution that Christians appear to others to be intellectually challenged baboons suffering from the late stages of dementia.
Obsessions that are so overwhelming that they dictate the very nature of ones behavior are a form of mental illness.
Before my Damascus road experience in which “I” died, I was an evolutionary biologist at a large university and all of my friends were scientists. I did not know the religious views of any of them because such subjects as religion, God, and atheism never came up. Off campus, however, I found myself visiting a Baptist coffeehouse in which three subjects dominated everything else,
A personal relationship with Christ
Young earth creationism
Evolution
The first of the three was entirely new to me and I found it to be intriguing. I wanted to know more about it, but discussions about it were very quickly superseded by the other two. I knew that the earth was at least hundreds of millions of years old, but where it came from was of no interest to me. I also knew that the data supporting the theory of evolution was massive, and that the anomalous tidbits that some rightwing extremists were fusing over were of no importance in the grand scale of things.
And then one night, off campus and away from the Baptist coffeehouse I met a young man name Rick—a very likeable young man who boldly told me that there was something missing in my life—a personal relationship with Christ! Rick and I met a few times, and each time we spent hours talking about my need for a personal relationship with Christ. Rick was very careful to keep the conversations on track with no digressions into young earth creationism or evolution.
Nonetheless, I continued visiting the Baptist coffeehouse and some of the people there learned that I was a scientist. Now, all that they wanted to do was to persuade me that the earth is no more than 10,000 years old and that the theory of evolution is a big lie. They did not care about me—they only cared about what I believed regarding young earth creationism and evolution. The personal relationship with Christ that Rick had and loved to share seemed to be missing in their lives.
I began going to an Assembly of God Church and although the congregations and the pastors knew that I was a scientist, that did not concern them at all. What did concern them was my need for a personal relationship with Christ—and they resolved to faithfully and diligently pray for me until I had a life-changing relationship with Christ and was firmly anchored in my faith.
I still knew for an incontrovertible fact that the earth was at least hundreds of millions of years old, and that the data supporting the theory of evolution was massive, but their love for me and their months of praying for me enabled me to set those issues aside so that Christ could not only come into my life, but become my life. I asked Jesus to save me from my sins; nothing seemed to change for three weeks—but . . . then it happened! One moment I was me, and the very next moment Christ reached out and touched me and instantly made me a new man in Christ.
