Nearly 500 “churches” in the United States will commemorate Charles Darwin’s birthday this week with “Evolution Sunday,” but many other congregations plan to recognize the biblical Creator and celebrate “Creation Sunday” instead.
February 12, Darwin’s birthday, is commemorated each year by atheists as International Darwin Day. However, many “churches” also plan to celebrate the birth of the notorious naturalist by following the advice of atheist Dr. Michael Zimmerman and hosting “Evolution Sunday” or “Evolution Weekend” events.
“Evolution Weekend is an opportunity for serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between religion and science,” Zimmerman’s website says. “An ongoing goal has been to elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic, and to show that religion and science are not adversaries.”
Since 2006, thousands of congregations that believe the Bible and evolution are compatible have observed Evolution Sunday and similar events. So far, nearly 500 congregations have pledged to recognize the event this year, with California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio being the states with the most participating “churches.”
To counter the Evolution Sunday apostasy, many churches are planning to instead observe “Creation Sunday” as an affirmation of their beliefs in biblical creation. Tony Breeden, founder and organizer of Creation Sunday, told Christian News Network that biblical creation beliefs are important, because “evolution undermines the authority of God’s Word and the foundational basis of the gospel.”
“If I can’t trust the plain meaning of the Bible in Genesis because of the all-natural presuppositions of science, why should I trust it when it speaks of a Virgin birth, water turning into wine, the resurrection of Christ, or any other supernatural claim in the Bible?” Breeden asked. “It’s a slippery slope and it undermines the foundational basis of the Gospel itself.”
Breeden explained that Evolution Sunday is based upon the unbiblical concept of non-overlapping magisteria—also known as NOMA. According to NOMA, science and religion are incompatible with each other, because science allegedly deals with facts and theories while religion deals with morality and meaning.
“The problem with this concept is that it commits the fact-value distinction,” Breeden said. “Christianity makes claims (values) that are rooted in historical fact.”
Contrary to NOMA’s claims, evolution and Christianity are in fact antithetical, said Breeden.
“Jesus Himself refuted the false premise behind NOMA when he said to Nicodemus: ‘If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?’” Breeden opined. “Since many of Christianity’s doctrines rest on historical claims of fact, in practice, NOMA becomes Scriptura sub scientia [Scripture below science], where the authority of the Bible is steadily surrendered to the claims of science chained to pure naturalism—which does not allow for a supernatural Creator, the resurrection of Christ, or divine revelation in the first place!”
Breeden told Christian News Network that the inspiration for Creation Sunday is linked to his own journey of faith, because he at one point walked away from Christianity when he realized evolution and the Bible were at odds. However, the Holy Spirit drew him back to the faith when he discovered the shortcomings of evolution.
“As the Holy Spirit began to guide me into all truth, as the Scriptures promise, I began to realize that millions of years of molecules-to-man evolution actually undermines the faith,” he stated.
Breeden first created CreationLetter.com—a website that allows Christians to pledge support for the literal interpretation of the biblical creation account. Then, he organized Creation Sunday so that churches could publicly proclaim the truth of Genesis.
“Creation Sunday was written into the very fabric of the Creation Letter, where we urged ‘churches to send a clear message of the enduring authority of God’s Word by celebrating a Creation Sunday instead of the Clergy Letter Project’s proposed Evolution Sunday,’” Breeden said. “The first Creation Sunday was held in 2009.”
As evolutionists and “churches” gather to celebrate Darwin this week, critics of evolution point to Robert FitzRoy, who was the captain of the infamous HMS Beagle. FitzRoy ultimately condemned Darwin’s evolutionary writings and upheld the teachings of Scripture.
“When you compare the spiritual journeys of FitzRoy and Darwin, they couldn’t be more different,” Breeden commented. “Thanks to Lyell’s book, Darwin saw uniformitarian geology everywhere he looked; in FitzRoy’s later journeys, he began to see the hallmarks of the Deluge in the geology he surveyed. He later denounced Darwin’s theory publicly, on numerous occasions, and begged people to believe God rather than man.”
“Even in Darwin’s day, there were ministers who said that there was no contradiction between evolution and Genesis, [and] the fruit of that position is telling, for today Europe is a spiritual wasteland where Christianity is concerned,” he continued. “This is precisely why we urge churches in the United States and abroad to make a stand for the ultimate authority of the Bible and the historical veracity of Genesis by celebrating a Creation Sunday rather than an Evolution Sunday.”
Photo: creationsunday.wordpress.com
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