We live in an age of political compromise. Problems are resolved by those having opposing views to each yield to the other and find a “middle ground” where they can agree. While that might work in many areas, there are obviously areas where it will never work. Imagine trying to use compromise with a rattlesnake or a man-eating tiger. The reality is that it will never work in spiritual matters where absolute truth is involved.
Christians are more and more finding themselves at odds with those who believe in evolution and an ancient earth. Some have attempted to bridge the gap by taking a position of theistic evolution. Such says that God created the world, but He used billions of years of evolution to do this. The concept is believed in the science departments of several of “our” Christian universities. Those early chapters of Genesis are dismissed as being allegorical or myths. There never was a man made from dust. There never was a woman made from his rib. There never was a Garden of Eden and there never was a confrontation involving the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Even the account of Noah and the universal flood is denied.
Look at the consequences of this doctrine. If Adam and Eve never existed—did Cain and Abel exist? Was there ever a time when Abel’s sacrifice was offered by faith and accepted by God? If they never lived what does this do about the trustworthiness of the New Testament teaching about them? Did Enoch actually walk with God or is he simply a mythological character invented by ancient Jews? One cannot affirm that Enoch lived and deny that Adam and Eve lived—the evidence is the same for both of them. If Enoch did not live, then how can we trust the books of Hebrews and Jude which say he did? If we cannot trust these two books, how can we trust any of the other books?
The same is true of Noah. The New Testament repeatedly affirms his existence, but the compromise sought by those who affirm theistic evolution makes this impossible. Somewhere in the genealogy of Jesus you have to begin to insert real people. Were there really ten generations between Adam and Noah? Were there ten generations between Noah and Abraham? Theistic evolutions simply cannot tell you where the individuals in Christ’s lineage become facts!
I am reminded of the charge brought against Paul—”Much learning is driving you mad” (Acts 26:24).