Abstract

Table of Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V


     

Vol.4: Evolution or Creation?

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1.  The Concept of Supernatural Selection
Chapter 2.  Two World Views: The Christian and the Naturalist
Chapter 3.  The Fitness of the Earth
Chapter 4.  Foresight and the Concept of Teleology
Chapter 5.  The Setting of the Stage
Chapter 6.  The Growing Evidence of Creative Activity
Chapter 7.  Natural or Supernatural Selection
Chapter 8.  Creation and Divergence
Chapter 9.  Supernatural Selection: A New Name for an Old Concept
Chapter 10. Catastrophe and Reconstitution
Epilogue

Publishing History:
1959 Doorway paper No. 20, published privately by Arthur C. Custance
1973  Revised
1976  Part I in Evolution or Creation? vol.4 in The Doorway Papers Series, published by Zondervan Publishing Company
1997  Arthur Custance Online Library (html)
2001  2nd Online Edition (corrections, design revisions)

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     IF ANYONE who has read this paper concludes that I am, after all, merely presenting a kind of theistic evolution, the fault will be entirely mine in not having made clear what the fundamental difference is between my own views and this rather popular alternative. As I understand it, theistic evolutionists are essentially orthodox evolutionists -- except that they believe God was behind it all, from the appearance of the first amoeba to the appearance of the first man. The term "evolution" is still taken to mean the gradual transformation of one species into another by natural means without any genetic discontinuities. These means are understood to be explainable in the terms of natural processes, the only supernatural element being the initiation of the process and the evidence of purpose throughout; the only intervention on God's part was a kind of nudging of events. In due course it is hoped to demonstrate this in the laboratory. When this happens we shall know "how God did it." The Creator started it all off, and then withdrew from any further direct interference in it except on very rare and special occasions when miracles occurred, having assured Himself, as it were, that it would end up as He planned.
     This is not my view at all, how ever much it may superficially seem to be. I believe that God acted creatively, in the most distinct and positive manner conceivable, throughout the whole of geological history, introducing new species as they became appropriate, and removing others when they ceased to be.
     No laboratory experiment can ever hope to elucidate this creative process, as I understand it. But because God was graciously willing to permit us to see the unfolding of His designs, the geological record can be read as a more or less continuous one, with evidence of the fitness and appropriateness of things throughout the whole process, as the earth was prepared for the introduction of man.

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     Because science must, of necessity, reject any appeal to the supernatural, the scientific account must accordingly give only a partial view of the meaning of the earth's past history, and of the universe as a whole. Revelation is essential to make the picture complete, and part of revelation is the method by which God redeemed man, a method which throws light upon his origin, and has a direct bearing on the structure and functioning of the bodies of all other animals. If man is evolved, I believe it can be shown that he is not redeemable at all, for his capacity for redemption is dependent upon the nature of both his spirit and his body.

     pg.3 of 3