As an introduction to this series, this morning we will consider two points about the theory of evolution. First, what does the theory of evolution teach? And second, what is truly behind the theory of evolution? So, brothers, first of all, what does the theory of evolution teach? First, we must clarify what type of evolution we are talking about. In the scientific world, there are two types of evolution. The first and only type of evolution which is proven by scientific evidence is microevolution. Microevolution describes minor changes that occur in the frequency of certain genes within a species in relatively few generations. The genes contain information about the individual, such as skin color, hair color, height, longevity, etc. Because of the micro-evolution, we see different types of dogs, for example, of different colors, different heights, different types of cats, and possibly even different races of humans. This type of evolution is the only one that is biblical of the two. Genesis, chapter 1, verse 24, says, Produce to the earth living beings according to their gender. Verse 25, and every animal that crawls upon the earth according to their species, within their species. The Lord created creatures with the ability to change in different generations, different characteristics, such as color, stature, and many other characteristics, etc. But within their own species. The problem is that man has taken this evolution to another level, more exaggerated, to a type of evolution that has not yet been scientifically proven, which is macroevolution. Macroevolution shows that, over time, a species of animal can change to another species of animal, completely different. Para que tal cambio ocurra entre las especies, no pueden justificar ni una manera para hacerlo, sino inventando un medio que pueda llevar a cabo este cambio. Y este medio tan poderoso es el tiempo. El tiempo de millones y millones y millones y millones y millones y millones de años. Tienen que arrastrarlo a través de millones de años para que esto pudiera ocurrir. De modo no hubiera otra manera. And brothers, what is the super-powerful force that has been able to cause this change through millions and millions of years? Who can tell me the answer? What is that super-powerful force that has been able to cause this change? Coincidence. Coincidence. That is the force. It is this type of evolution that I want us to consider, in which we are going to focus in this series of studies. La teoría de la evolución fue propuesta y propagada al mundo por el científico Charles Darwin. Él nació en Inglaterra en el año 1809. Este mismo año, del 2009, es un año muy importante para los científicos modernos porque para ellos conmemora el cumplimiento de 200 años de Charles Darwin, su más admirado profeta. Por eso este año hemos oído hablar mucho de Darwin, especialmente los medios de comunicación americanos, que en gran parte admiran mucho a este hombre, Charles Darwin. Especialmente si estamos estudiando en las escuelas y universidades de este país, no podemos escapar oír grandes maravillas de este hombre. Lo interesante es que este hombre, desde joven, Charles Darwin, estudió en círculos académicos cristianos. He wanted to study well in the Christian ministry, and as the ministers of the Church of England needed a bachelor's degree, he studied in Christ's College in Cambridge in 1828, which translated means, the College of Christ. ¡Qué interesante que este mismo hombre que por años estuvo sentado en las bancas de las iglesias escuchando la palabra de Dios, y es este mismo hombre cuyos escritos por generaciones después han sido influyentes en darle vuelta al mundo occidental para quitar a Dios de en medio de nuestros círculos académicos y de quitar a Dios también aún de muchas iglesias modernas! Y es de este mismo tema acerca de las iglesias modernas que vamos a hablar en otro estudio. Charles Darwin began to be influenced by the writings of his contemporary, the geologist Charles Lyell. Before Charles Lyell, the scientific community, in its majority, believed in the Noah's time flood, which was the flood that created all the great geological changes on Earth, which affected, for example, how the mountains are in their place, the seas, etc. Charles Lyell proposed an idea that revolutionized the scientific world. He proposed that all the geological changes that we see in the Earth did not come from a great flood, but from a change through millions of years. Here it says, Lyell argued that the surface of the Earth is suffering a constant change as a result of the natural forces that operate uniformly over long periods of time. Now, taking this as a fact, they concluded then that the Earth is old or old. that is millions of years old. The western scientific world, which in large part had a great Christian influence, began to abandon the idea that the Earth was only about 6,000 years old. Charles Darwin began to take these ideas very seriously during a long trip around the world that he had on a ship. He had the opportunity to travel to many exotic places around the world. He went to South America, to several islands, such as the Galapagos Islands, Desafortunadamente, al ver las grandes maravillas de la creación de Dios por todo el mundo, en vez de caer de rodillas ante un Dios glorioso que hizo todas las cosas con el poder de su fuerza, dentro del espacio de sólo seis días, su mente se empezó a desvanecer. Entonces Darwin propuso la idea de la transmutación de las especies, de que con el tiempo de millones de años las especies de animales cambiaron a otras especies de animales. because of certain characteristics that nature favored in certain species, allowing them to survive and adapt to different environments or surroundings. The species gradually evolved and gradually changed to different species. The terrible thing, brothers, is that such a theory has never been scientifically proven. Rather, Charles Darwin himself admitted that if there were no fossils or evidence of any species in transition, his theory would be in vain. In English, species in transition are called the missing link. I don't know if you've heard that term, the missing link. Basically, if the species evolved from one species to another, There must be physical evidence, especially of fossils, of a species that demonstrates this transition. But to this day, imagine, of the millions and millions and millions of fossils that have been found all over the world, there is not even one, not even one fossil found that demonstrates this transition from one species to another. There is not even one. So have modern scientists stopped taking Darwin seriously because of this lack and many other scientific shortcomings in their theories? No, not at all. Rather, they still praise him. They have elevated him almost to the level of an intellectual prophet. Now, this theory of evolution has become so popular and so accepted that it has entered almost all spheres in the academic world. Recently I was talking to a person who is studying psychology at the International University of Florida, and he explained to me that the studies of psychology are largely based on the theory of evolution. In the book, Total Truth, by Nancy Peercy, she explains that one of the most growing academic disciplines today is the application of evolution to social and cultural issues. It is called evolutionary psychology, and its premise is that if the natural selection of evolution produced the human body, So it is logical for them to conclude that this gives an explanation to all aspects of all human belief and its behavior. This evolutionary psychology is spreading rapidly to all areas of academic study, including laws, astronomy, psychology, chemistry. In public schools, it is taken for granted that evolution is a truth. I don't know if you know, if your children have told you. In public schools, nowadays, it is taken for granted that evolution is a truth. In all science books, it is taught as if it were an irrefutable truth. I remember, in my biology class at school, how everything was taught based on the theory of evolution. And Eileen knows that too, if she studied biology, right? I remember how the teacher explained to us that the functions that we have as humans, as well as our sweat, for example, came because of our evolution, and how our ancestors had to adapt to different climates. Not only in the academic circles, but listen to this, but Hollywood, Hollywood itself, Hollywood is also one of the greatest propagandists of this philosophy. To the kids, Hollywood is putting in their heads, in their minds, that they are products of evolution. One of the most popular Hollywood movies recently, for kids, is called Monsters vs. Aliens, which, by the way, was very entertaining. It had as one of its main characters a very funny little animal called Missing Link. This is the term that Darwin used to describe these species of animals that are in transition, while one species transforms into another within the space of millions of years. And so, little by little, children in our culture, from an early age, are getting used to these terms. In another recent Hollywood movie for children, there is a certain, this is another movie, nueva, hay un cierto grupo de conejillos bien lindos que con su valentía y su astucia rescatan al mundo de un malo que quiera oprimir al mundo. Interesantemente, el principal líder de este grupo de conejillos valientes que rescata al mundo de estos opresores malos se llama Darwin. And also Hollywood is subtly putting in the heads of children that Darwin and his philosophy brings good, brings good things, brings freedom. And possibly in this case brings freedom from the oppression of religion and the idea of ​​a God. Oppressor. Recently a new currency was made in Great Britain in honor of Charles Darwin. A national gesture. And you're not going to believe this. Imagine, brothers, the Church of England, the Church of England, recently made a public statement asking Charles Darwin for forgiveness. And so they said, asking Charles Darwin for forgiveness for having misunderstood you because our first reaction to you was wrong, and for encouraging others to misunderstand you as well. A church that before was firm in attacking the pagan anti-Christian philosophies of this man, now is surrendering to the pressure of the academic world, and is asking Charles Darwin for forgiveness. Incredible! But, brothers, why has this theory been popularized to this day, even though it has not been proven with a single drop of scientific evidence? Why? This brings us to our second point. What is truly behind this theory of evolution? All of this, brothers, should not surprise us at all. Because all that we are seeing today, seeing how this lie is spreading all over the world, is but the evidence that man has always, the evidence of what man has always done since the fall, the rebellion of man against God. Only this time it is painted in another color, it is dressed in different clothes. In this case, it is adorned with the mask of the human intellectual. And to unmask this deceitful philosophy, there is no better tool than the only means to unmask all lies of man, which is the Word of God. Let us see what the Word of God explains to us about this attack against the truth and every other attack against the truth of God. Let us see Romans, chapter 1, verse 20. Romans, chapter 1, verse 20. Because the invisible things of Him, His eternal power and deity, become clearly visible from the creation of the world, being understood by means of the things made, so that they have no excuse. For having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor did they give Him thanksgiving, but were dazzled by His reasoning, and their stubborn hearts were darkened. By professing to be wise, they became stubborn. Verse twenty-five. For they changed the truth of God by lying, honoring and worshiping creatures before the Creator, who is blessed for centuries. Amen. Look, professing to be wise, they became naïve. They walk in the universities of the all-confident that they are very intellectual, because they are the most supposedly rational. They despise God and religion as a cultural hindrance that makes them face their supposedly superior intellectual reasoning. And likewise, they walk in spiritual darkness. They have put all their trust in this theory, because this theory gives them the intellectual and supposedly rational basis to get rid of all attachment to God. If we are the product of chance, a cosmic accident, there is no need to give accounts to a Creator, right? Instead of giving glory to God as Creator, they are giving their praise to a new God that they have created in their minds. And this new God that they have created in their minds is, imagine, is chance. They have substituted God for chance. Chance is now the main vehicle that drives the whole process of evolution. Because of chance, everything we see today was made possible in the space of millions and millions of years. And likewise, chance has risen to the role of creator. In his book, Chance and Necessity, the evolutionist Jacques Monod, who won the Nobel Prize, writes, Man is alone in the immensity of the universe. of which he came by chance. Chance itself is the source of all innovation, of all creation in the biosphere. Pure chance, absolutely free and blind, is at the root of the magnificent building of evolution. This quote by this evolutionist sounds almost like a doxology, doesn't it? A doxology for his God, chance. Pastor John MacArthur says something very interesting. They have taken the mythology of chance and have made it responsible for everything that happens. Chance has been transformed into a force of causal power, so that nothingness is the cause of everything. Interesting what the Athean reasoning has concluded. That nothingness is the cause of everything. And this, in truth, does not agree rationally. John MacArthur argues how this belief in chance is a total contradiction of intellectual reason. He says, John MacArthur, common logic suggests that every watch has a watchmaker. Every building has its builder. Every arrangement has a plan. Every plan has a designer. And every design has a purpose. We see the universe infinitely more complex than any watch, and infinitely larger than any structure made by man. Then it is natural to conclude that someone infinitely powerful, infinitely intelligent, has created it. But no, man does not want to recognize it, even against his rational logic. The man then chooses to put his faith totally in chance instead of God. This is how the Christian scientist Dr. Henry Morris writes. He says these words, The faith of the evolutionist is certainly a splendid faith that does not depend on something as common as evidence or logic. It is a solid faith in its infantile certainty, resting completely in the omniscience of chance and the omnipotence of matter to produce the complex systems and the powerful energies of the universe. The faith of the evolutionist does not depend on evidence, but is pure faith, an absolute credibility. And why does man not want to recognize God? Why do they reject the truth and suppress the truth and do not love the truth? Because, as 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 12 says, Why? Because they were pleased in the injustice. Because they were pleased in the injustice. Man loves his sin. When you love sin, you cannot love the truth. The truth is a threat to sin. Pastor John Piper says, when the heart is in love with its own exaltation, its independence and the pleasures of sin, the mind will inevitably distort the truth and suppress the truth to protect the idols of the heart. What man wants is the independence of God. Esto se pudo ver claramente, recientemente, en un debate académico del ateo evolucionista, Christopher Hitchens, en un debate de él en contra de los cristianos Douglas Wilson y Lee Strobel. Durante el transcurso de este debate que pude ver en video, en vez de responder a las preguntas intelectuales de los cristianos académicos, el ateo Christopher Hitchens dedicó mucho tiempo declarando su hostilidad en contra del Dios de la Biblia. Aborrecía el hecho de que el Dios de la Biblia tiene control de los hombres, y al terminar el debate le dijo a los oyentes que se independicen de la idea de este Dios de la Biblia. How interesting, because the Bible clearly says that the mouth speaks of the abundance of the heart. And likewise, here it was giving clear evidence that man wants in any way to become independent of the God of the Scriptures. The theory of evolution is, then, brothers, the scientific and intellectual basis that modern man has adopted to become independent of God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. So we see that this theory of evolution is just another of a long list of mythologies, pagan religions, with their own ideas of the origin of everything. I don't know if you remember, when we had the series of studies about the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sold by his brothers in the Old Testament, we saw how he ended up in the land of Egypt, surrounded by a pagan culture that believed in many gods. The Egyptian culture was a brilliant culture, with its advances in architecture, arts, and the aromas that were exported all over the world. But with all its intelligence and progress, the Egyptian nation developed its own belief in how things came to exist, observing the natural processes around it. The Nile River, which is there in Egypt, was important for the Egyptian civilization, and it is through the movements of the waters of this river that they came to create their own beliefs about creation. Supposedly, in those chaotic movements of the waters, came the God, the God of the Sun, which they call Ra, who, in turn, created other small gods who were in charge of creating the rest of the physical world. We also see in the New Testament the apostle Paul surrounded by the pagan culture of the Greeks. The Greeks were also brilliant intellectually. From the Greeks we have inherited so many philosophical ideas, ideas of mathematics, for example, architecture, political ideas that have been able to influence the modern world in many ways as fundamental bases such as that of democracy. But even so, with all that intelligence, what the Greeks came to conclude with their observation of nature, which began with a single chaos, and which came out of the chaos of the goddess Gaia, who is the mother of nature, and also came out the god Eros, the god of love, from where the word erotic comes. Gaia gave birth to the god Uranus, who is the god of heaven, and as a product of the incest, sexual of Gaia and Uranus, came the titan gods, and from those gods came thousands and thousands and thousands of other gods. Well, the Greek culture was plagued with so much idolatry, full of so many gods. That is why, brothers, the spirit of the apostle Paul was ennobled in the book of Exodus, chapter 17, when he went to Athens, if you remember, when he says, seeing the city given to idolatry, observing all the shrines that had been built, And likewise, the people of God today are in the same situation, in the midst of an advanced world in technology, advanced in the arts, in science, but still full of idolatry. Perhaps the modern world does not have gods like Ra or gods like Gaia, But they still have false gods of their own human imagination, like the god we mentioned today, the god of chance. A god with the powerful force that, so that in the space of millions of years, has been able to create a land so impressive, so beautiful, so incredible, create living beings as beautiful as all kinds of animals, and even humans with their brilliant minds. Brothers, how are we going to fight this? Well, we are going to do the same thing that the men of God did, that we just mentioned, imitating what they did in the midst of their own cultures, preaching and proclaiming to God, who is in heaven, as the sovereign God, all-powerful, who has created heaven and earth. When they presented Joseph before Pharaoh to explain to him the interpretation of his dreams, without being ashamed of God before a pagan king, Joseph firmly declared that God Himself, not Ra, was going to bring prosperity to the earth for seven years, and that God Himself, not Ra, not the Egyptian gods, was going to bring famine to the earth for seven years. And as Joseph said with his own words in Genesis chapter 41 verse 32, that the thing is firm on the part of God, and that God hastens to make it. And likewise, turning around the false ideas that the Egyptians had that the Egyptian gods controlled nature. We also see the Apostle Paul in front of the intellectual Greeks in Athens, Athens which was the intellectual capital of those days, of the days of the Apostle Paul, declaring, let's see in Acts, chapter 17, how he faces this intellectual culture. Acts, chapter 17, verse 24. We see how Joseph, thousands and thousands of years ago, faced the culture of him, and now As the apostle Paul, thousands of years later, also faced this culture. Acts chapter 17, verse 24. And so the apostle Paul said, The God who made the world and all things in it. Remember that the ideas had pagan, false ideas of how the world came to exist. But here comes Paul with all firmness and says, The God who made the world and all things in it. Being Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made by human hands, nor is He honored by the hands of men, as if He were in need of something, for He is the One who gives life to all." and breath, and all things. And likewise, we are before this pagan world, with all its technological advances of science, with all its intellectual loftiness. We should not, brothers, be ashamed of God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, who made the heavens and the earth with the power of His Word in the sovereignly determined space of only six days. And likewise, we have begun to see this day, we have begun this series, seeing these two points. What is this theory of evolution? And second, what is truly behind all this? In the next studies, we will see the drastic consequences of this philosophy, that this false philosophy has brought to the whole world and to modern society, the drastic consequences, even within the modern evangelical Church. And we are going to see biblical ways to be able to fight these false ideas of evolution. And so, this is the introduction to our study of evolution, this attack against the Church of today. Questions or comments, brothers?