Table of Contents
Vol.4: Evolution or Creation?
THIS VOLUME contains
two Papers that are rather longer than usual, dealing with the
earth's past geological history as it was being prepared for
the introduction of man, and the unique constitution of man for
whom the earth seems clearly to have been specifically designed.
Three shorter Papers deal with certain aspects of evolutionary
theory to which not much attention is generally given in the
literature of Christian writers.
In the first Paper, "The Preparation
of the Earth for Man," I have re-examined an older view
of the earth's early history, which was actually in the process
of being developed by some of the best minds in America and in
Europe, and with great skill and clarity, when Darwin published
his Origin of Species. Thereafter, unfortunately, this
view was eclipsed by evolutionary thinking, because it advocated
the twin concepts of divine intervention by direct creation and
of providential planning and purpose, concepts which the scientific
method was -- and is -- quite unable to accommodate. As our knowledge
of the distant past increases however, this alternative view
is seen to have more and more that should commend it for serious
reconsideration; it can account for many geological phenomena
otherwise quite unaccountable. This view and these phenomena
The second Paper, "Primitive
Monotheism and the Origin of Polytheism," gathers together
some of the evidence now available which clearly indicates that
man's religious history has not been marked by a gradual purification
of his faith from animism to polydemonism to polytheism and finally
to a pure monotheism; but by a trend in the opposite direction,
representing rather degeneration than upward evolution.
The third Paper, "Convergence
and the Origin of Man," is a discussion of one aspect of
the evidence from the fossil record and from the living world
that similar needs and similar environmental
pressures act upon living
organisms to mold them along similar lines so that they tend
to converge in structural form, and that this takes place in
such a way as to present the appearance of genetic relatedness
where no such relatedness has ever actually existed. The bearing
of this on the argument for descent based on similarity of form
is obvious. The extent to which convergence can be shown to have
occurred is proving something of an embarrassment to evolutionists.
The fourth Paper, "The Survival
of the Unfit," provides some information on the large
number of cases in Nature where cooperation and even self-sacrifice
are found to be by no means uncommon among animals in the wild,
both between members of a single species and between members
of different species. Animals are seen to feed the wounded, guide
the blind, help the disabled, and upon occasion even to sacrifice
themselves for those in need of care. In Nature the unfit, by
Darwin's definition, do indeed very often survive. His view of
Nature as a ruthless battleground was really quite unrealistic.
The final Paper, "Is Man An
Animal?" is important because it shows that man is not merely
quantitatively different from all other creatures, but qualitatively
different. The differences are examined in some detail from a
large number of less familiar sources. The conclusion is that
man was created a unique creature because he was to become a
"house" for God Himself to be manifested in the flesh
as man, without violence being done to His own Person as God.
It is seen that the Incarnation really demands a uniqueness in
the constitution of man, which puts him in a category by himself
completely separated from all other animal forms.
The final chapter of this last
Paper is, in some ways, a summation of the whole series of sixty
Doorway Papers. It shows that in the final analysis the universe
must have been made for the world and the world for man, and
man was made specifically for God -- not merely that he might
worship and enjoy Him (because of his spiritual nature) but that
God might redeem him by becoming one with him in his world of
time and space (because of his physical nature), thus to demonstrate
His love before the whole host of heaven in a way not otherwise
It is all of a piece: herein is
the meaning of reality and experience. Truly we are far too wonderfully
and fearfully made for any blind evolutionary process to prove
a sufficient explanation.
will note that each of these Papers was previously published
separately by the author, and thus there is some duplication
pg.2 of 3
Copyright © 1988 Evelyn White. All rights
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Through faith, we understand that the worlds were
planned by the word of God,
so that what is seen was not made out of things that do appear.
I will praise
thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are
and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee,
when I was made in secret, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when
as yet there was
none of them.
How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalm
I beseech thee,
my child, to lift thine eyes unto heaven and earth; and to see
that are therein; and thus to recognize that God made them not
of things that were, and
that the race of men in this same way came into being.
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