Undeniable*: *Evolution and the Science of
Creation
Bill Nye
Undeniable aims to show that molecules-to-man evolution is undeniably true. Throughout his book, Bill Nye emphasizes his belief that observable evidence is proof that molecules-to-man evolution explains the origin of life and all forms of life from a common ancestor. And yet all the examples he provides are observable variations in created kinds of organisms and observable common designs consistent with the fact that our Creator God is the Designer of all living things.
He fails to see that Bible-believers are as interested in scientific inquiry as anyone else, but those who take God at His Word resist those who categorically declare that the Creator didn’t tell us the truth in His Word.
If evolutionary beliefs are inseparable from science and necessary for scientific progress as Bill Nye asserts, why does he think resistance to evolutionary thinking is so common? He actually tells us, and his thought-provoking comments are worth exploring.
Bill Nye indicates in his book that he “thought a lot about the fear of death” after his debate with Ken Ham.
By the time Bill Nye wrote Undeniable, he had not only connected fear of death with rejection of evolution but even explained this seemingly (to him) “irrational” notion as a result of human evolution!
Mr. Ham says, “During the question time in the debate, Bill Nye was asked where matter came from - he said this was a mystery. Bill Nye also talked about the joy of discovery. During my short response time, I asked Bill, from his perspective of naturalism, what was the point of the joy of discovery if he knows that when he dies he won’t ever know he even existed? Also when people who knew Bill die they won’t know he existed, and eventually everyone dies and no one will know anyone existed! So what is the point of the joy of discovery? I believe this was a time saw for a fleeting moment what seemed like a shocked look on Bill’s face. It was the moment when, in a sense, I was forcing him to face his mortality and the ultimate end of his purposeless, meaninglessness philosophy!”
You see, Bill Nye attributes all that exists to evolution. He blindly exalts evolution as the undeniable explanation not only for every bit of biology but also for every mental, emotional, and spiritual characteristic of human beings. Even our thoughts and behavior must have an evolutionary explanation, so the persistent reluctance of a large portion of our modern civilized American population to accept an evolutionary explanation for human existence, as popular polls repeatedly demonstrate, must be explainable by evolution too.
Therefore, Bill Nye believes evolution-deniers are driven by their highly evolved human brains coupled with an evolutionarily useful fear of dying to reject a molecules-to-man explanation for human origins. He thinks we only believe in a Creator God who made us and has plans for our future after this earthly life because we think we are too special to have simply evolved and certainly too special to be finite beings.
In other words, he attributes the idea that God would find us worthy of continued existence after death to the highly evolved state of the human brain. (This further demonstrates Bill Nye’s misunderstanding of the Christian faith, for from the Bible we learn that we humans are sinful creatures unworthy of eternal life, but that eternal life is available to us only through God’s grace and mercy rooted in the sacrificial death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.)
But let’s return our focus to the “fear of death.” Bill writes that after the debate he tried to understand why “intelligent, sensible people” would reject the evolutionary evidence he considers undeniable. It is very unfortunate that Bill misunderstands the message of the gospel so very much that he attributes our motives in sharing the truth that God’s Word is wholly trustworthy to an arrogant reluctance to accept his view of humanity as highly evolved pond scum. But the real irony is that, for evolution, death is the hero of the piece.
Evolution is a religion of death. Time, chance, and death are its trinity, supposedly ruling over all that ever has or ever will exist.
The ultimate tenet of evolutionary philosophy holds that all life - including human life - came to be through naturalistic processes and will end just as surely with oblivion - a certain recycling of the atoms that make up our bodies and the end of all that a human body really is. Perhaps that is part of why Bill is so desperate to win the children of the civilized world to his evolutionary beliefs, to leave his mark on the world after he is gone.
Well, Christians understand that those who have repented of their sin and trusted Christ as their Savior need have no fear of death. The Bible indicates that Jesus Christ the Son of God is not only our Savior but also our Creator (Col. 1:15–17). Our eternal future rests in the hands of our Creator who loves us and died to save us. Jesus Christ proved His divine power (Rom. 1:4) over death—His own and ours (1 Cor. 15:20–23)—when He rose from the dead after being crucified.
Evolutionists must claim death as their ally. God tells us that death is the enemy. Death entered this world as a result of man’s rebellion against our Holy God. He declares that Jesus Christ has won the victory and will destroy death (1 Corinthians 15:26).
Christians are not driven to reject molecules-to-man evolution by our fear of death. We reject it because it rests on a God-rejecting worldview and because it is unsupported by observational science. But we are driven to share this truth by the desire to see all people - all children, all adults, including Bill Nye - come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and to glorify Him as Creator and Savior (Col.1:16 & 17). Knowing our place in eternity puts death - obviously a very important part of our lives and not something to be taken lightly - into its proper perspective. We are not ruled by death, or by fear of death, but by our Creator, who has already proven His power over death. He exhorts us to go into all the world to share the good news that Jesus Christ - not death and not evolution - is Lord.
In the face of all the Bible-affirming evidence and discussion of the true nature of science, what a person believes about human origins depends in large part upon what he or she believes about God and God’s Word.
What we believe about how we got here also affects how we answer life’s greatest questions about suffering and death and what will happen to us after we die.
Evolution did not drive humans to fear death, but a healthy understanding of the origin of death and Jesus Christ’s victory over death is part of the tool kit that equips Christians who believe the Bible from the very first verse to face this life and the next with confidence and share with others the “reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15).
Abigail Walker
Find out more about what the Bible has to say about science:
Pastor James Walker
Gospel Light Baptist Church
235 N. Crismon Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85207 480.380.5936