Anatomy class was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Not only did I learn the intricate details of how the body works, but also a couple of life lessons that really opened my eyes and changed the way I think. In Part One of “What a Dead Man Taught Me”, I explained the first lesson I learned: how fragile the human body really is. But the next realization I came to in lab one day was one that is enough to infuriate any Christian. I’m here to tell you that the lie of evolution is slowly working its way into the minds of so-called Christians.
I’ll give you a little background before I go into the whole story. At the beginning of the semester, I buddied up with another Biomed major who I’d seen in several of my previous classes. We were chatting one day and getting to know each other. Somehow we got on the topic of church. She asked what church I went to. I told her an A/G church. She labeled herself as a “moderate” Lutheran. I wasn’t really sure what she meant, but by the conversation we had, I felt as if she at least had a good understanding and belief in God, which is a relief to see in the science department. However, the truth about her faith was soon to come out.
In lab one day, we my lab partner and I began studying the skeleton. Out of nowhere, she stated, “It just amazes me what evolution has done.” At first I thought she must be joking, but I soon realized she was as serious as ever. I was beyond shocked! Just a few days earlier, we were talking about the things of God, and now she starts praising evolution.
“I thought you said you were Lutheran,” I said. It was all I could think to say.
“A moderate Lutheran,” she corrected.
I was about ready to be sick. How could anyone who considers themselves to be a Christian also believe in evolution? Sadly, this was not the only occasion I was confronted with such a situation. It happened with another friend of mine later that semester in my Physical Education class. We would walk the track and talk about anything and everything. I always tried to mention God somehow during the course of our walk. She was also a confessed Lutheran although she admitted not having gone to church since she was young. Not assuming anything, I began to talk about evolution to try and see where she stood. It soon surfaced that she also tried to believe in both, just like my anatomy lab partner. I began to see that this was not just something one person was trying to swallow. There are probably many people, not just at my school, but everywhere that try to believe in God and evolution.
It took my a long time to figure out how two things so contradictory to each other can coexist together and be accepted by someone. Before I go on any further, I want to make it clear that in no way am I speaking against Lutherans. It just happens that both girls in my experience were Lutheran. With that said, here is the conclusion I came to. As children, these students were exposed to church in one form or another. Their parents were probably Lutheran, therefore they were automatically born Lutheran. It is more of a religious label to them than their actual faith. I feel it is safe to say that for some reason, their faith in God was never truly grounded. God was not something that they had experienced for themselves.
When a person’s faith is not strong to begin with, it is easy to start accepting lies that the world, and Satan, wants us to believe. The big lie in this case is evolution. My friends had knowledge of God, but not a relationship with Him. There is a huge difference! When my classmates started school, and every single science professor is shoving evolution down their throats, they are not strong enough in their faith to recognize the lies, and they begin to accept it as truth. College biology classes are dangerous grounds for any weak believer, and I can see why. You go to classes everyday and hear highly educated people teach you a subject. You trust that everything they are teaching you is truth. You write notes down in a notebook and take them home to study. The more classes you take, the more you hear about evolution, the more it starts to creep its way in and it becomes more believable. I believe this is what happens to many struggling Christians.
I have many examples of professors promoting evolution in class, but there is one that sticks out in my head the most because of the amount of anger it caused me to feel. As many classes as I’ve taken, I’ve come to expect a teacher to speak of evolution as truth. It’s a given. But never had I heard one actually speak against the belief of God as Creator. That struck a huge nerve with me and I could hardly keep quiet. I was in Anatomy one morning, and the professor was talking about how vision is possible. After explaining the process that takes place, she says to the class, “This is proof against intelligent design. An engineer never would have engineered vision to work this way.” I felt like my head was going to explode. It’s one thing for a professor to teach evolution, but it’s another to actually say there is proof there is no God. These are the kinds of things college students are subjected to, and it’s having terrible consequences to those who don’t have a strong base in the Bible.
Evolution and being a Christian are oil and water: they cannot mix. The Bible says in Genesis that God created the earth, and the finished product was good. It does not say “In the beginning, God created amino acids that somehow became cells, which somehow became organisms, that over millions of year finally became thousands of different species.” What God made, He finished, and it was good. Period.
If you ever come across anyone who is confused and trying to swallow two totally separate beliefs like this, don’t be angry with them. They are just totally lost, and they have bought into another one of Satan’s lies. Share with them about God, remember them in prayer. Even if they don’t seem to change their mind because of you, you will have planted a seed in their lives. Make room for God to work in them through you. That’s all you can do. Getting angry with them or making them feel stupid won’t help anything.
First and foremost, if you are ever put in a situation where you are subjected to something you know that is contradictory to what the Bible teaches, guard yourself. Are you strong enough in your faith to recognize and deflect any arrows that the enemy throws at you? Can you sense when the Holy Spirit is telling you something just doesn’t seem right? Be very careful, because even Christians can be deceived.
Just like a skeleton, our faith is the base that holds us together. Without it, we would fall apart and it becomes easier to be deceived.
Finally, remember Ephesians 6:16:
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”