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Volume. XXVII, No. 16 Evolution and EthicsToday the authority of the Word of God is being challenged on every hand. It has been challenged by naturalism and Darwinian evolutionism for over a century. The Psalmist says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3) It is a fact that the most damaging ideologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were all rooted in Darwinism. One of Darwin\'s earliest champions, Thomas Huxley, gave a lecture in 1893 in which he argued that evolution and ethics are incompatible. He wrote that "the practice of that which is ethically best--what we call goodness or virtue--involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence." (Evolution and Ethics, The Romanes Lecture, 1893) Huxley nonetheless went on to attempt to justify ethics as a positive result of humanity\'s higher rational functions, and he called upon his readers neither to imitate "the cosmic process" nor to run away from it, but rather to combat it--ostensibly by maintaining some semblance of morality and ethics. But what he could not do, and what he and other philosophers of his era did not even bother attempting to do, was to offer any justification for assuming the validity of morality and ethics per se on purely naturalistic principles, which is against the teaching of the Scripture. Thus, Huxley and his fellow naturalists could offer no moral direction other than their own personal preferences, and predictably, their philosophies all opened the door wide for complete moral subjectivity and ultimately amorality. This philosophy rightly reflects the foolishness of man who attempts to follow his own way instead of the way of God. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov 14:12) Herbert Spencer\'s philosophy of "Social Darwinism" applied the doctrines of evolution and the survival of the fittest to human societies. Spencer argued that if nature itself has determined that the strong survive and the weak perish, this rule should govern society as well. Racial and class distinctions simply reflect nature\'s way. There is, therefore, no transcendent moral reason to be sympathetic to the struggle of the disadvantaged people. It is, after all, part of the natural evolutionary process and society would actually be improved, Spencer argues, by recognising the superiority of the dominant classes and encouraging their ascendancy. The racialism of writers such as Ernst Haeckel who believed that the African races were incapable of culture or higher mental development was also rooted in Darwinism. Haechel’s presupposition is, of course, completely out of Scriptural teaching. It\'s not surprising that Nietzsche\'s philosophy laid the foundation for the Nazi movement in Germany. What is surprising is that at the dawn of the twenty-first century, Nietzsche\'s reputation has been rehabilitated by philosophers of our days and his writings are once again trendy in the academic world. Indeed, his philosophy — or something very nearly like it — is what naturalism must inevitably return to! All of these philosophies are based on notions that are diametrically opposed to a biblical view of the nature of man, because they all start by embracing a Darwinian view of the origin of humanity versus the biblical view that all man was created in the image of God. Thus, every man is equal in value and worth in the sight of God (Gen 1:26,27). They are rooted in anti-Christian theories about human origins and the origin of the cosmos, and therefore it is no wonder that they stand in opposition to biblical principles at every level. Conclusion: The simple fact of the matter is that all the philosophical fruits of Darwinism have been negative, ignoble, and destructive to the very fabric of society. Not one of the major twentieth-century revolutions led by post-Darwinian philosophies ever improved or ennobled any society. Instead, the chief social and political legacy of Darwinian thought is a full spectrum of tyranny with Marx-inspired communism at one extreme and Nietzsche-inspired fascism at the other. And the moral catastrophe that has disfigured modern society is also directly traceable to Darwinism and the rejection of the early chapters of Genesis. Nevertheless, as believers, we know that God is in total control. He will come back and judge the wicked in the day of judgement. Therefore, believers can have full confidence knowing that no matter what happens, God is still on the throne. Yet, there is a need for believers to stand firm on the biblical principles that should guide our ethics and not be influenced by rationalism and Darwinian evolutionistic philosophy. May God help us! Pastor Weng |
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