EC Testimonials
Christadelphian Evolutionary Creationists tell their stories
- The writer of each of these notes is a Christadelphian brother or sister who has come to accept that the Creator and Sustainer of all things makes use of biological evolution, approximately as understood by mainstream science. All writers have given me permission to use their stories anonymously.
“I started with the belief that evolution was one of the greatest lies ever... However, to help maintain a robust faith, every time I heard a public lecture about evolution or some other aspect of science in its relation to the Bible, I would go away to verify what I'd heard . . . .
"But, the more I investigated, the more I began to doubt just how solid many of the arguments were. What I found was that anti-evolution arguments were consistently based on factual inaccuracies, poor logic, ignorance of the intricacies of the subject, misrepresentation such as quote mining, and cherry picking favourable arguments while ignoring anything that disagreed. I lost all confidence in books, websites, lectures and Bible classes speaking out against evolution and I eventually realised that it wasn't just a few arguments being made against evolution that were poor, rather it was all of them.”
—2—
“I can remember Alan Hayward (in person, and in his books) whose moderate OEC seemed a sensible place to stick, although it didn't answer everything.”
—3—
“Having forced myself to listen to what brethren who have accepted ... Evolutionary Creationism think, I do not find them to be the threat I was told they were, they in fact have been more reasonable and brotherly in their actions, than those who have put themselves in array against them. They are not trying to divide the brotherhood, but are acting on their conscience after diligent study of the scriptures, being compelled to do so by the nature of the evidence. The more I hear Anti-TE rhetoric being made from false premises, the more I feel the need now to look at a subject I had never questioned before.”
—4—
“The biggest force pushing me in this direction ... has not so much been the positive arguments for evolution. ..., but the standard of argument against it, which has for the most part consisted of ignorance of the subject, bad logic, inflammatory rhetoric, and ad hominem.”
—5—
“What is worse is the back-slapping that goes on simply for asserting that people with a different point of view must be grievous wolves and preaching another gospel. . . . If as a community we can't even undertake to properly examine and truly understand different scriptural viewpoints... , how can we possibly recruit truth seekers from atheist or even mainstream Christian backgrounds?”
—6—
“In my case the big change was in understanding Paul. I already did not understand Genesis as literal science.”
—7—
“I began to realise that the typical arguments against evolution didn't stack up. This shook me more than hearing anyone talking about the proofs for evolution.”
—8—
“Before debating evolution, I ... realised how the Bible itself did not support a global flood. I . . . had some idea that science lectures that I heard in my ecclesia were not as watertight as was being made out, as a result of a personal growing desire to sift out pseudoscience from good science.”
—9—
“It took me a year . . . forcing myself to listen to what was actually being said, . . . , learning to think for myself instead of just blindly believing what I was being told.... That has been a difficult process for me but it's been worthwhile because I have children. ... I am SO thankful that Christadelphians were speaking out, forcing me to re-evaluate...”
—10—
“I'll be quite frank - my crisis of faith did not come from realising evolution is true, but from watching the behaviour of the anti-evos in our community and questioning if I seriously want to the part of that...”
—11—
“… when I read articles/editorials in the magazines opposing science and evolution ... I find myself ... cringing at the errors in both fact and logic.... This is particularly sad, as one of the best things this journey has given me is an appreciation of our pioneer brethren and editors past.”
—12—
“The tipping point ... into full acceptance of evolution was when I realised that the Biblical 'kinds' kept coalescing ...”
—13—
“The recent material appearing in a range of Christadelphian publications which attack the scientific consensus on Evolution and promote the view that Genesis should be read as a . . . scientific account . . . has further solidified my position close to the Evolutionary Creation viewpoint. . . .
I sense in the articles a lack of confidence, an overreaction in response to a perceived threat and hostile fear which I do not detect in writings on other Biblical subjects. There is no openness toward the idea of any uncertainty on the subject at all, which I find quite disturbing and not in line with our professed ethos of being searchers of Truth.”
—14—
“These types of anti-evolution talks, and the speaker's refusal to answer questions and instead accuse me of not believing in the Bible definitely was a factor in accepting the facts of evolution. The argument I always heard was 'because my interpretation of the Bible says so,' while providing no evidence.”
—15—
“Grew up with anti-evo talks from (sometimes scientific) brethren whose argument amounted to irreducible complexity/ personal incredulity/ conflict with Genesis kinds etc.
Became aware (and amazed) a few years ago that there were apparently coherent Christadelphians who accepted evolution. Knowing that true faith has nothing to fear, set out to honestly investigate, assuming I'd quickly find a flaw.
After educating myself, discovered that evolution was fact.”
—16—
“I've reluctantly come to acknowledge the evidence for common descent . . . It has mainly been the noticeable lack of reasonable arguments from the creationist side that made me rethink it.”
—17—
“. . . they were using out of context quotes, outdated sources, misrepresentation of facts, arguments copied from evangelicals, and ignorance of basic evolutionary science.
The more I saw such weak arguments . . . the more I became convicted that there were no good arguments against evolution. I was not alone in this.”
—18—
“I eventually decided to ... see if I could be convinced that the Bible and Science could coexist … You guys who've been ... putting the info out there are literally life savers. Thanks.”
—19—
“Now my belief in the Bible has never been stronger and I can reconcile the creation with the world around me.”
—20—
“It was only after a friendly discussion with a SDA who questioned my belief in 'a real talking snake' rather than Satan in disguise that I freed myself to read Genesis chapters 2 and 3 as a powerful allegory. Later I learned to read chapter 1 as a grand celebratory poem of creation, suitably positioned at the very beginning of the Bible — and it's not the only poem about creation in the Bible, either!”
