THE DARWINIAN THEORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18020, 20 February 1922, Page 8

THE DARWINIAN THEORY

RELATION TO RELIGION.

REPLY TO REV. J. CALDER.

PROTEST BY CONGREGATION.

An address on " Evolutiou or Creation " was given by the Rev. A. A. Murray at the Tivoli Theatre last evening, in reply to views expressed by the Rev. Jasper Calder. Mr. Murray said that when the Christian faith was attacked as it had been it was the duty of Christian people to defend that faith. Thoy had been told it had been proved that man had descended from lower animals. If so, then tliey wanted the proof. While evolution held the ground in universities all over the world, it must bo remembered that it was not Darwin's theory of the origin of species that was universally belieVcd,. Thero wcro many eminent men who were evolutionists and believed wo had come from apes, but they rejected Darwin's process. Tho preacher quoted tho opinions of authorities, among them Professor Max Mullor, who said: "Once a sheep, always a sheop; once an apo, always an ape; once a man, always a man." For any minister of the Gospel to accept Darwinism was to deny tho clear teaching of tho Bible, and to take sides with its enemies, said Mr. Murray. In common honesty, such men ought* to leave the ministry. To endorse Darwinism was to despise the testimony of Jesus Christ, who set His seal upon the Genesis account of creation. Surely Christ spoke the truth when he said, " In the beginning God created them, male and female." To bo logical, those who accepted Darwinism denied tho fall of man as taught in the Bible, and if man never fell, then he did not need redemption, and if flo did not need redemption, what was tho need of Christ's mission to earth, for Christ came to redeem from sin ? The Darwinian theory overturned morality, for if morals had been evolved they were without divine sanction. The philosophy of Nietzche. which had degraded Germany, was based upon Darwinism.

The following resolution was carried by the congregation, there being two dissentients :—" We, the members and adherents of die United Evangelical Church in New Zealand, having read in the local press of the denial of tho authority of God's Word bearing on the origin of man, by a Christian minister, do solemnly protest against such unbelief, and pray thai ho may bo led to see the error of his Way and renounce such God-dishonouring beliefs and teachings. Further, we affirm our unbounded faith and unswerving

loyalty to the Bible as tho Word of God, including its account of the origin of man and to the testimony of Jesns Christ thereto; and pledge ourselves to do all in our power to propagate its saving truths to the glory of God the Fathor."