The Church, the Schools and Evolution

The following pages have grown out of a paper, following the same outline more briefly, which was read before the Pastors' Conference of the San Juaquin Valley Baptist Association, the largest association in the Northern California Baptist Convention. At the close of the reading a request for its publication was enthusiastically and unanimously voted.

The author has since divided the paper into two chapters; in the first chapter has added to and classified the quotations concerning evolution, has enlarged the remarks on the influence of evolution on Scripture doctrine, and has both enlarged upon and entirely rearranged the matter of the second chapter, in an attempt to make it both more obvious and more conclusive to the reader than it was felt to be to the hearers.

The term "Church" in the following pages is intended to cover that fellowship, of every name, which includes all who have been really born again. When organized church fellowship is referred to, the whole evangelical Protestant fellowship in general is meant, as distinguished from Roman Catholic, Greek church, or any other non-evangelical faith, although true Christians are to be found within every fellowship. The term "Schools," in its larger meaning, includes all institutions of learning maintained at private, denominational, or public expense; more specifically, those dominated by the present evolutionary philosophy are meant. With notable exceptions in a few schools that refuse to be so dominated, the whole educational system in general, especially in the Northern States, has practically capitulated to the evolutionists, and the schools that have so surrendered are particularly in mind in the following discussion.

It is but a humble effort to point out what is obviously the only possible solution for the present distressing and destructive controversy between the Church and the Schools, but the author fondly hopes that it will prove to be a real, even though small, contribution toward the ending of that controversy.

It is sent out with the prayer that He who is Truth incarnate may lead those in both the Church and the Schools who really want to know the truth at all cost to a common attitude toward Himself, to a common, because truly scientific, method of investigating truth in both the natural and the spiritual realms, and therefore to a common goal which will unite them against all those forces that seek to capture both the Church and the Schools for the enemy.

J. E. Conant.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I THE PRESENT CONTROVERSY--THE CAUSE

Page

I. =The Theory of Evolution is Unproven= 11 1. The Testimony =for= Evolution 12 2. The Testimony =Against= Evolution a. In the Biological Realm; (i) The Doctrine of Natural Selection; (ii) The Doctrine of Acquired Characters; (iii) The Biogenetic "Law" 14 b. In the Geological Realm 19 c. The Whole Theory in General 20

II. =The Logic of Evolution is Destructive= 23 1. Evolution and =Inspiration= 23 2. Evolution and the =Fall of Man= 26 3. Evolution and the =Nature of Sin= 29 4. Evolution and the =Nature of Christ= 32 5. Evolution and the =Atonement= 34 6. Evolution and the =New Birth= 35 7. Evolution and the =Holiness of God= 40

CHAPTER II THE PRESENT CONTROVERSY--THE CURE

I. =Truth Must be Classified Scientifically= 46 1. The =Realms of Truth= Must be Classified 46 2. The =Faculties of Investigation= Must be Distinguished 47 3. The =Different Kinds of Truth= Must be Separated 52 4. The =Primacy of Primary Truth= Must be Maintained 52

II. =Truth Must be Investigated Scientifically= 55 1. =Faith= Must be Given Precedence Over =Reason= 55 a. The Method of the Rationalist 56 b. The Method of the Believer 61 2. The =Spiritual Realm= Must be Given Primacy Over the =Natural= 68 a. By Surrendering the Heart to God 70 b. By Interpreting Natural Truth in the Light of the Bible 76

The Church, the Schools and Evolution

CHAPTER I

The Present Controversy--the Cause