Tim Challies reviewed an article from Psychology Today on his blog. The article is concerning evolutionary theory of human nature. In other words, scientists are becoming more vocal in attributing human behavior to evolutionary natural selection. I have been reading a lot of material on evolutionary psychology lately, and am writing a novel on the subject. This topic is fascinating, not because it is compelling, but because it borders on absurdity at every turn, yet is actually respected by so many.
In the realm of evolutionary psychology everything comes down to sex. It's funny how Hollywood revolves around sex. Popular music revolves around sex. Advertising revolves around sex. Television revolves around sex. And science revolves around sex. Sex is the god of this age.
Science tries to intellectualize sex worship, but it is worship just the same. According to the theory of natural selection, life comes down to mating. Not in the perverted Playboy way, but in the passing along of genetic code way. Natural selection favors certain behaviors that enable better continuation of genetic material. I'll give you an example. Eating red meat must in some way enable better procreation than not eating red meat, or no one would eat red meat. We might not know how eating red meat fosters better mating. But evolutionary theory assures us it does.
What does all this have to do with a Christ-centered marriage? Simple. Evolutionists are trying to explain the meaning of everything while wearing a blindfold. They will try to convince us that marriage is a behavior favored by natural selection to carry on strong offspring. They refuse up front any hypothesis that suggests a Creator of what they're observing. To them, DNA is the building block of life, not God. DNA is transferred through mating. So life is continued through mating, not by the Providence of God. Perhaps without even realizing it, science is setting us up for ordering all of life around sexual appetites. In other words, worshiping sex.
This view of life demands a pragmatism capable of very disturbing results. What happens when science questions the validity of marriage? That's one of the questions raised in the Challies review. Scientists are great observers. The problem is when they try to advise us on the basis of their observations.
It's evident from observing human nature that man in his current condition is not fully sold out to a Christian view of marriage. Even Christians aren't sold out to a Christian view of marriage. We are all capable of desiring any number of different mates. It's so common to man that it's expected that young people will "sow their wild oats" before settling down with just one mate for the rest of their lives.
So scientists observing this tendency from the perspective of natural selection will question why man seems to be polygamous. Perhaps marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be. Marriage is just one method among many viable methods of protecting the reproduction of offspring. It may even be the best one man has come up with to date. But it's still just a method apparently favored by natural selection. So science attaches no moral value to marriage. Marriage isn't viewed by evolutionists (at least consistent ones) as a "should." It is viewed as what currently"is." But without a "should," to guard it, that could change in the future. Theoretically, one could infer from science the sensibility to destroy the institution of marriage someday.
The Bible comes at us from an entirely different perspective. God is the source of life. He may choose to use DNA to continue life, but Providence is the ultimate designer and sustainer of all life. A sparrow doesn't fall from a tree in a woods without the guiding hand of God.
Marriage is a "should" from a biblical perspective. The reason man is polygamous is because man is an idolater. Man isn't content with God's plan for him. He wants to master his own destiny and fulfill his 0wn desires. It is difficult to constrain the vast desire of man with one woman. Or vice versa. But that doesn't mean polygamy is right. Marriage is part of God's design for humanity, not a social institution brought about through natural selection. My point is that everything that science has ever observed about human nature can easily be explained by the Bible. Worship is the reason for what we see around us. God expects us to worship him, but we'd rather worship the creation.
In the realm of evolutionary psychology everything comes down to sex. It's funny how Hollywood revolves around sex. Popular music revolves around sex. Advertising revolves around sex. Television revolves around sex. And science revolves around sex. Sex is the god of this age.
Science tries to intellectualize sex worship, but it is worship just the same. According to the theory of natural selection, life comes down to mating. Not in the perverted Playboy way, but in the passing along of genetic code way. Natural selection favors certain behaviors that enable better continuation of genetic material. I'll give you an example. Eating red meat must in some way enable better procreation than not eating red meat, or no one would eat red meat. We might not know how eating red meat fosters better mating. But evolutionary theory assures us it does.
What does all this have to do with a Christ-centered marriage? Simple. Evolutionists are trying to explain the meaning of everything while wearing a blindfold. They will try to convince us that marriage is a behavior favored by natural selection to carry on strong offspring. They refuse up front any hypothesis that suggests a Creator of what they're observing. To them, DNA is the building block of life, not God. DNA is transferred through mating. So life is continued through mating, not by the Providence of God. Perhaps without even realizing it, science is setting us up for ordering all of life around sexual appetites. In other words, worshiping sex.
This view of life demands a pragmatism capable of very disturbing results. What happens when science questions the validity of marriage? That's one of the questions raised in the Challies review. Scientists are great observers. The problem is when they try to advise us on the basis of their observations.
It's evident from observing human nature that man in his current condition is not fully sold out to a Christian view of marriage. Even Christians aren't sold out to a Christian view of marriage. We are all capable of desiring any number of different mates. It's so common to man that it's expected that young people will "sow their wild oats" before settling down with just one mate for the rest of their lives.
So scientists observing this tendency from the perspective of natural selection will question why man seems to be polygamous. Perhaps marriage isn't all it's cracked up to be. Marriage is just one method among many viable methods of protecting the reproduction of offspring. It may even be the best one man has come up with to date. But it's still just a method apparently favored by natural selection. So science attaches no moral value to marriage. Marriage isn't viewed by evolutionists (at least consistent ones) as a "should." It is viewed as what currently"is." But without a "should," to guard it, that could change in the future. Theoretically, one could infer from science the sensibility to destroy the institution of marriage someday.
The Bible comes at us from an entirely different perspective. God is the source of life. He may choose to use DNA to continue life, but Providence is the ultimate designer and sustainer of all life. A sparrow doesn't fall from a tree in a woods without the guiding hand of God.
Marriage is a "should" from a biblical perspective. The reason man is polygamous is because man is an idolater. Man isn't content with God's plan for him. He wants to master his own destiny and fulfill his 0wn desires. It is difficult to constrain the vast desire of man with one woman. Or vice versa. But that doesn't mean polygamy is right. Marriage is part of God's design for humanity, not a social institution brought about through natural selection. My point is that everything that science has ever observed about human nature can easily be explained by the Bible. Worship is the reason for what we see around us. God expects us to worship him, but we'd rather worship the creation.
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