Available from Answers in Genesis!
Following the disgraceful review in Evangelicals Now, there have been positive reviews of the book in Evangelical Times and the Evangelical Magazine of Wales. EMW published the comments by Paul Barnes already reported in this blog.
EN also had to carry a couple of letters which opposed Melvyn Tinker’s biassed and unbiblical review.
We have been gratified to read so many positive comments about our book.
1. “Having read your book today, I found it very helpful in understanding much better Darwin’s background, the context of publication of Origin of Species and your analysis of the effect thereof both at that time and running into contemporary thinking. You have moved on to put evolutionary thinking within a wide biblical context and again this is very much welcomed. The book is very well written and thus most readable (otherwise I would not have finished it today) and I am sure that I will be referring back to it many times in the future for the detail it contains. Many thanks to both you and Paul for a most helpful work.”
Peter Jones (Worthing, West Sussex)
2.“This little book is invaluable as a survey of the development of evolutionary theory in the thought of Charles Darwin against the backdrop of the religious influences in his life, whilst at the same time presenting a powerful case for the incompatibility of Darwinism with Biblical truth. The book helpfully traces the historical and personal influences upon Darwin’s life which ultimately led to the formulation of his theory of evolution. Finally, the authors address the problem of Theistic Evolution, examining the various theories in vogue and showing how none of them stand up to close scrutiny in the light of Scripture. The authors are to be commended for their scholarly work and the concise manner in which the facts are presented. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is seriously interested in discovering the truth that lies behind the development of Darwinism and, more importantly, the eternal truths concerning our Creator and his creation which are revealed in Scripture.”
Paul Barnes (Basildon, Essex)
3.A stranger told Ian McNaughton that he had read Darwin & Darwinism and was very complimentary as to its methodology saying, “that ours (the authors) was the right approach to take on the topic seeing that dealing with the ‘evidence’ (which is the same for both camps) was futile, but dealing with Darwinian philosophy and prejudice was effective”. This is not an exact quote but the sense of the comment that was freely given as he quickly left after morning refreshments.
This book got a bad review in the Christian journal, Evangelicals Now. I’ve had bad reviews before. A critical review of one of my (Paul Taylor’s) other books pointed out a couple of errors, which I was able to correct, with reference, in a subsequent edition. We learn from errors.
Nor am I particularly concerned that people disagree with my stand on Genesis, or on the life of Darwin. I know that Christians disagree on this – and I claim the right to try to persuade people of my position on the subjects.
What concerns me more is the substance of the review, its intemperate language, and what it says about the stance of EN.
Now, I must claim some interest here. When Evangelicals Now was first set up in the 1980s, I was a supporter of the new newspaper. Indeed, I wrote articles for it, and often reviewed books myself. I recall giving a negative review myself to someone else’s book. So, I am not opposed to negative reviews.
However, I wouldn’t have used the term – “sad and squalid little book”, which the EN reviewer used! The reviewer was Melvin Tinker – a prominent Anglican evangelical. When EN used to ask me to review books, I reviewed books on music, because it was thought that I had some expertise on that subject. So, EN must have sent the book to Tinker for a review, under the assumption, and clear knowledge, that he had something to say on the subject. It follows that his opinion on the subject must have been known and approved by EN before the review.
Tinker’s views had indeed been published in EN previously. In a february 2009 article, he wrote:
This article proposes that ‘theistic evolution’ is a legitimate option for an evangelical to adopt and is not to be immediately ruled out of court as being ‘unsound’; rather it provides the most coherent approach which does justice to both Scripture and science.
Moreover, Tinker placed an endorsement on Denis Alexander’s new book, Creation or Evolution: Do we have to choose?.
It follows, then, that EN knew they would get a negative, anti-creationist review of the book, and this was clearly what they wanted. When I was supporting the team that set up EN in the 1980s, we thought that it was to be a thoroughly evangelical paper, supporting the Bible’s position on a range of issues, including creation. It is sad that Evangelicals Now cannot really claim to be an evangelical paper any longer.
As for the book being “sad and squalid” – that is not the view of one of the UK’s leading scientists, who kndly endorsed the book, describing it as “this excellent book…”. Why not buy it and decide for yourself!
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)
In the debate about origins, Christianity is pitted against science. This has not always been so, however, there has always been a constant tension between faith and unbelief but now that the new-Darwinism treats Charles Darwin as a messiah, this tension has broken out into “war”. One only needs to listen to the comments of leading atheists and academics like Professors Steve Jones and Richard Dawkins – to mention just two – to realise their profound esteem for the naturalist and their intense disrespect for all things Biblical. They are not alone. Darwin’s marble statue has now replaced that of Sir Richard Owen (founder of London’s Natural History Museum) on the landing of its Central Hall because their hero is now regarded as the one who has delivered science from the “tyranny” and perceived ignorance of the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Church.
That Charles Darwin is esteemed today as the saviour of science and sage of modernity is of course nonsense, but to listen to his disciples one would think that evolution was unknown and unheard of before the book On the Origin of the Species was printed and that Darwin received his ideas from heaven (if they believe in heaven) like some esteemed prophet of old.
If they were right it would make Charles Darwin greater than Jesus Christ, the founder and Prophet of Christianity, who obviously accepted the account of creation in the book of Genesis as true.
Evangelical Christians happily accept the usefulness of empirical science in all scientific disciplines but reject the approach to science that is more “faith” than evidence based; as one author has said, “It is fundamental to realise that science cannot prove how the universe began. Human observation, either directly through the senses or indirectly through scientific instruments, is the foundation and prerequisite for establishing scientific proof”. For this reason creationist evangelicals treat the evolutionary hypothesis as having no verifiable scientific basis.
Creationists and evolutionists have the same evidence, neither can go back and scientifically repeat the origin of the universe in a laboratory, all they can do is look at the evidence and depending on their worldview make a conclusion. Either view must be accepted on faith.
Evolutionary naturalists like David Attenborourgh have tried to convince us that animals and plants, large and small – whether evolved or created – have the ability to change themselves into survivors. Species do change, but it is biologically impossible for the “kinds” created by God to change and become another species because the genetic information is not present to do so. Paul Garner has said, “Darwin corrected a popular misunderstanding. Species do change. Since Darwin’s day many observations have confirmed this… [and] contrary to the accepted wisdom of Darwin’s day the Bible no where teaches that species are fixed and unchanging (in fact it does not even use the word species). Rather, the Book of Genesis refers to “kinds” (Gen. 1:11, 21) and suggests that living things have their own dynamic history. While Darwin was right to argue that species change, he went too far. He should have gone back to Scripture to see what it really said”. Evolutionists fail to see that this ability to survive, and change within kinds was in God’s plan all along so that life could cope with the harsh conditions that would result as a consequence of the fall in the Garden of Eden.
Believing the earth and the universe are several thousand years old is not fashionable today but as evangelical Christians we are committed to trusting the Bible from Genesis chapter one verse one. We know that many in the institutional churches are falling under the sway of naturalism and the new Darwinism. This includes the Roman Catholic Church which has now succumbed to the view that a theistic evolutionary hypothesis is acceptable. The Church of Rome should know better, but it appears to have repeated the errors of its past and is continuing to place Roman Tradition and Dogma before the Holy and inerrant Scriptures. Creationists believe that God created a mature universe ex nihilo (out of nothing).
The culture of teaching evolution in our schools as fact has resulted in the Church’s children being stolen from it through unbelief; even at the young age of 10 years old this is a reality. With this in mind and with the knowledge that the national culture is changing under the influence of atheism and secularism and because of the failure of the Churches to teach and preach the Word of God as truth for every generation, we need to grasp that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers… against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places” (Eph. 6:10).
The question is this: “is the Bible true from the very first verse?” The evidence proves that it is.
[This article has been taken from the tract of the same name, available for download below. Clicking the link will open the pdf document in the browser. Alternatively, right-click on the link and select "Save Target As...", to save the pdf to your computer.]
Last Sunday – Father’s Day – I, and the other men in my church, were given a magazine for Christian men. Among other articles was an interview with Sir David Attenborough, the well-known TV evangelist for evolutionary theory. The article commended Attenborough, because he was said to be open-minded on the issue of whether or not there was a God. He also used the article to have a go at creationists, describing them as ridiculous.
So who is really ridiculous? This is the same Attenborough who wrote an article for a BBC magazine, claiming that the book of Genesis causes global warming! This, of course, presupposes that that global warming is true – which is conjecture, to say the least. His argument against Genesis – and therefore against God – is fallacious. Far from being open-minded, it turns out that his arguments have all the content of the smart but illogical atheists.
You can read my response to his article at the Answers in Genesis website.
Attenborough has done probably more than anyone to promote Darwin and his ideas. He has presented at least two programmes this year, praising Darwin. And if you visit Downe House – Darwin’s home – it is Attenborough’s voice that you will hear on the voice guide.
To counter his arguments and defeat his pseudo scientififc ideas, you need to get our book – Darwin and Darwinism.
It is not possible to post embedded video clips to WordPress.com blogs, for understandable reasons, and I haven’t sorted out a Videropress account yet. So I have used the Just Six Days blog to post a video clip from the DVD of the same name. This shows how Darwin’s childhood background was not Christian and certainly not bible-believing. The arguments are the same as in the book.
The video clip can be found by clicking here.
Thank you for visiting the blog of the book.
Darwin and Darwinism is available for sale from the Answers in Genesis website. Switch the country label on the Answers in Genesis site to say “United Kingdom”.
This is what people are saying about the book.
“In this book, Paul Taylor and Ian McNaughton show how thje evolutionary philosophy changed the scientific outlook and paradigm of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What they also show is the movement away from solid foundations in Darwin’s ancestors, who were heavily influenced by Unitarianism, and then in Darwin’s life to a movement right away from trust in the authority of God’s Word. Evolutionary thinking was spawned in unbelief, and only by a return to a biblical creation viewpoint can we again understand properly the message of the Scriptures and the teaching of the Fall and redemption.” Andy McIntosh DSc, FIMA, CMath, FEI, CEng, FInstP, MIGEM, FRAeS, Professor of Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory, University of Leeds, and author of Genesis for Today.
“This excellent book clearly explains how Darwin’s humanistic worldview, rather than scientific evidence, was the main motivating factor behind the theory of evolution. The book also explains how theistic evolution is not a reconciliation of science with the Bible but rather a damaging union of humanism and the Bible.” Stuart Burgess, Professor of Design and Nature, UK and author of Hallmarks of Design.
“I thank God for AiG and for their steadfast stand against the ever-increasing rabbit trails of darwinian imagineers.” Ray Comfort, CEO of Living waters Ministries, California, and the author of the Way of the Master.
“To the growing bank of literature exposing the flaws in Darwinian evolution, this small and accessible book is a valuable contribution. A plain and potent critique of Darwinianism, together with the careless views hekd by some Christians that it has spawned, is woven into a thoroughly reasonable alternative based upon the authority of the Bible–and one that does not conflict with good science.” Brian H. Edwards, author, speaker and former president of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
“My colleagues Ian and Paul share my burden to reach Darwin’s homeland with the life-changing creation/gospel message. May God bless their effort to show Britons–and others who read this book–that God’s Word is accurate and authoritative in our modern-day society.” Ken Ham, President, Answers in genesis / Creation Museum, USA.
“While Misters Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris bankroll millions selling anger, Darwin and Darwinism lays out the level-headed truth, at a fraction of the price.” Todd Friel, presenter of Wretched Radio (www.wretchedradio.com).
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