Theistic Evolution is the idea that tries to counter atheistic evolution with the notion that yes evolution is true but there is a God and He used evolution to create the world.
So where does theistic evolution stand when it comes to Scriptures?
Well theistic evolution (TE) would read the scriptures as such; "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"... and then they would take whatever theory that the most recent science textbook has come up with and replace the words of the God that they say they worship with the words that they really trust in. Everything written in the Bible after Genesis 1:1 is a moral fairy tale according to the teaching of TE.
When it comes to the authority of Scripture, TE would side with the world. Instead of a great miraculous show of such awesome divine power some 6000 years ago as the Bible says, TE believes that God started the world however many billions of years ago (which is nothing more than a uneducated guess which changes as much as I change my socks) and then used evolution to advance the beginnings of His creation into the pinnacle of evolution - man. TE advocates that during this process God comes along and guides the process with injections of DNA (the embarrassment of evolution, as well as the fossil record, all the rest of modern scientific knowledge) because how else will one animal turn into another when it does not have then DNA to do so.
Right now I'm not going to argue this from a scientific point of view (I will have many posts for that later on. If you want some great scientific resources for that right now check out www.icr.org and www.answersingenesis.org) but I am going to challenge this from a theological side.
The biggest theological road block that TE is faced with is if they can't trust the first 11 chapters of the Bible to be true then how can anyone trust the rest of it? Every Old Testament author talked of the creation account as true as did Jesus and the Apostles.
Besides that little chestnut, I want to bring up another point which isn't talked about enough. If God used evolution, than how could we ever call God a kind and loving God? Think about it, if God used evolution as His process for creating man, than when the Bible says that man is the one responsible for introducing death, disease and suffering to creation when he chose to disobey God and thereby bringing upon all of creation a curse of death, well that's wrong. That's because God would be the one who is responsible for death, disease and suffering because that is the process of evolution.
According to evolutionary science, evolution is advanced by the survival of the fittest, and the survival of the fittest advances by means of the disease, suffering and death of the weaker species. Evolution needs these horrific factors in order for it to work. As far as evolution is concerned, these are helpful, beneficial, good things.
I don't think that those who are so quick and ready to compromise the Scriptures have really thought this through.
If TE is true, than God and God alone is the creator and sustainer of all the disease, suffering and death we see in the world today. He has to be, it can't be denied. Therefore anyone who holds this view can say that such circumstances are bad and are not the will of God, because these situations are directly from God for the purpose of His plan of evolution.
The Bible however, says that disease, suffering, and death entered this world as the direct result of Adam's disobedience to God and subsequently thereafter because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:12 - "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned"...
Romans 5:14-19 - "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
So we see that as the Scriptures say, man is the author of sin, the consequence of which is a cursed creation. All of which is sovereignly ordained, allowed and even controlled by the all-powerful, all-knowing God. Yes God is in control even of such evil, and thanks be to God for that, because could you imagine how things would be if He wasn't in control?
So if the TE is going to be consistent in their denial of the truth of Scripture, the next time someone asks them why would God allow such tragedies and why is there such a thing as all this evil in the world, they have to say that it is from God. In this case all of this is really not contrary to God's nature.
Be not troubled though, for the Bible is true, and God is loving and kind, and He has overcome the world. And God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Romans 5:8-10
Go now, and be Like a Thessalonian.
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