November 24, 2008

• Charles Darwin

  Charles Darwin battled with his publisher. He had written a book, On the Origin of the Species, based on ideas that began forming years earlier during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. Darwin gradually had developed an entire theory of life, based on concepts like “natural selection” and “the survival of the fittest” (a phrase he borrowed from Herbert Spencer).

  Finally, his publisher gave in, and on this day in 1859, the book was published. As predicted, a firestorm resulted. Many major scientists ridiculed the conclusions. English astronomer John Herschel called Darwin’s theory of evolution the “law of higgledy-piggledy.” Geologist Adam Sedwick told Darwin, “I have read your book with more pain than pleasure. Parts of it I laughed at until my sides were almost sore; other parts I read with absolute sorrow.” Church leaders rose up in anger, one calling it an “utterly rotten fabric of guess and speculation.”

  Many were incensed that Darwin questioned the existence of God and the Biblical story of creation. But gradually, throughout the past 150 years, more people have come to believe his theories, including the mainstream media and much of the educational and scientific community. According to a recent Gallup Poll, a majority of Americans now agree with the theory of evolution. The percentages are even larger in many other countries.

  So, has Darwin won the debate on the origins of life? Many might think so. But his theories do not change the facts. The Truth is that God created the heavens and the earth, and He is sovereign over space and time.

  This one person did more to change the course of America than any other. 

   

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