CAUSE AND EFFECT
One of the good arguments against evolution is cause and effect. We reason if the earth is here, how did it get here? What caused it? We move beyond our planet and look at the other planets in our solar system and again we ask, where did they come from? The evolutionist has the only answer to fit his doctrine and that is, accident. If we move from the solar system to life on our planet and we see the diverse forms of life all around us, the explanation is, “accident”. The believers in God have a valid answer to these and all similar questions. God created them all (Genesis 1:1-27).
One may argue that is too simple an answer. Yet the evidence before us makes us understand that if something exists, then something had to cause it. Whether you are talking about humans or animals, where did we come from? If man is just a higher form of animal then how do we explain the moral code that exists in man but not the animal world? Something had to cause the moral code which man and not the animals possesses. Is morality then just an evolving of man’s nature as he slowly changes from animal into man? For example why is it that in every society of civilized man that has lived upon the earth, killing fellow humans is wrong? Is there anything in the animal world that such thinking would have arisen from?
Those who are honest in their investigation will have to admit that in man is the power of choice that does not reside in the animal world. A man chooses to be evil or be good. He makes conscious decisions about himself, his family, his job or his entertainment. He makes moral choices. If no such device exists among animals what caused man to have the ability to make choices of one kind or another? Again the believers in God have no problem because we can assert that man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26,27). The evolutionist would scream, “you cannot prove that!” My answer is that man’s ability to make choices about good and evil proves the point. It, the ability to choose between good and evil, must have a cause.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to this earth to save man from his sins (John 3:16; Luke 19:10). Anytime there is a choice between good and evil, there must be something that defines good and or evil. Is it the case that each person decides for himself what is right and wrong? The book of Judges closes by telling us that there was no king (source of authority), and every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). Life cannot be left up to man to decide about good and evil. We are told by God that it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23).
In our recent times the case of Terri Schiavo attracted the attention of our country. The politicians sat quietly while the State allowed this woman to be starved to death. The reason they could not act is because we in this country have been led to believe that the quality of life is the only reason for the protection of life. Hence, instead of choosing between life and death and good and evil, they chose the sideline of neutrality. Such choices may protect their ability to get votes but in a greater way it brings home the message, man cannot decide what is good and evil, only God can.
It is, therefore, an important issue for those of us who would follow the Christ. God is the One who explains to us what is morally right and spiritually right. In recent days there has been a concerted effort to harmonize the Christian Church with the Lord’s people. Why not step back for a moment and look at what CAUSED it to begin with. If God determines what is good and evil, why would I propose to stand in the place of God and utter edicts which are not backed up by His Word. Do we not find in the Old Testament a great listing of mechanical instruments of music which were used in public worship and private settings as well? Then why is it when we come to the New Testament we do not find the listing of these instruments for public worship?
Someone will begin to make the argument about the Greek language. Since I am not an expert in the Greek language, I am left to a standard translation into the English language to understand what it is that God calls, evil or good. In a standard English translation, where are the instruments in the New Testament? They could not be found when the Christian Church had its beginning and it still cannot be found today. Go back, dear brethren, and ask, what CAUSED THE DIVISION?