In the 1900s Charles Darwin presented new theories that were different than any other since the world began. One was the theory of evolution. It developed, became accepted, and eventually led to greater crimes being committed in the 20th century than ever before recorded.
In his autobiography, Charles Darwin stated that if man has no belief in God or an afterlife, his rule of life can only be to follow the strongest impulses and instincts which are within him. Morality, being based on biological instincts and not on any moral code or law, was believed to change over time. His theories were widely accepted throughout the intellectual world, especially in the European universities. Not only were they accepted in regard to biology, but Darwin’s theories of evolution began to be applied to ethics.
Thinkers in Europe drew several conclusions from Darwinism relating to morality and ethics. The concept of free will was undermined because Darwin’s theories were interpreted to mean strict determinism; and, behavior and moral character are, at least in part, hereditary. Some thought that behavior was totally hereditary.
The idea of an overruling purpose in the universe was destroyed and all phenomena were thought to be the result of the laws of chance. Morality, they said, has evolved.
Natural selection was thought to be the force that produces morality since morality is thought to be relative.
The idea of inherent human rights, and objective moral standards, were undermined by Darwinism. The idea became widespread in scientific and medical circles by 1900 that human moral behavior is determined largely by biological instincts inherited from one’s ancestors.
These new ideas that were becoming so widespread by 1900 had tremendous implications. Firstly it affected education, then justice, the criminal or penal code, the marriage policy, the sexual practices of any population that accepted these theories, and also control of reproduction and a person’s attitude toward personal responsibility.
If the human race had evolved and was still evolving, it was thought that some races had evolved more than others, and therefore were superior. It was also thought that the inferior races would eventually cease to exist through the natural victory and survival of the fittest. In other words, the evolution of higher life forms depends on the suppression and destruction of lower life forms.
Darwinism offered a secular view of life and death to replace a religious view. The new view was that human life was valuable only as it contributed to the higher evolution of the human species. Therefore, if a person could not contribute to the improvement of the community, his life was not so valuable. It was thought that human life was not intrinsically sacred and inviolable as in Christian thought.
As people’s conceptions of the importance and value of human life and the significance of death were changed, a debate erupted over such issues as to the morality of infanticide, euthanasia, abortion, and suicide.
Prior to Darwin’s time, the sanctity of human life was dominant in European thought and was referred to as the right to life. Christian churches explicitly forbad murder, infanticide, abortion and suicide. Until then there had been no significant debate in Europe over the sanctity of human life.
Another idea that developed from Darwinism was to help evolution along by selective breeding of humans rather than depending on natural selection. This development was called Eugenics. Its basic idea was to promote the superior human beings, the ones with the best genes, to have many children and to prevent the inferior human beings, the ones with inferior genes, from having children at all and thus improve the human race.
Eugenics, founded on the premise of human inequality, was popular in the United States, as well as in Europe. Eugenics’ philosophy taught that some races were not as highly evolved as other races, and hundreds of thousands of people were involuntarily sterilized to prevent them from having children, because of their supposed defects.
Christianity, on the other hand, taught the brotherhood of all races that descended from common ancestors, namely Adam and Eve.
The earliest advocates of involuntary euthanasia, infanticide, and abortion were those devoted to the Darwinian world view. Not only this, but less than one year after Darwin published his theory, there were German sources who were justifying racial extermination. This was considered a natural unavoidable consequence of the human struggle for existence—the survival of the fittest and the destruction of the less fit.
This is commonly called racism and it led to racial wars.
Adolph Hitler embraced an evolutionary ethic that made Darwinian fitness and health the only criteria for moral standards. The Darwinian struggle for existence, especially the struggle between different races, became the sole arbiter for morality. Hitler denied that anyone could escape the universal struggle for existence. He stripped individuals of any rights and argued that the destruction of the weak by the strong was humane. He believed Darwinism provided the moral justification for infanticide, euthanasia, genocide, and other policies that before had been considered immoral. The justification was to promote the highest evolution of the most highly developed or superior race which, in his opinion, was the Arian race of northern Europeans.
Darwinian theory provided the mechanism to bring about this highest evolutionary development:
- Increase the population of the most fit.
- Decrease the population of the less fit.
The means to bring about these two goals eventually included promotion of maximum sexual reproduction of the favored, and sterilization of the less fit. Both voluntary and involuntary sterilization were practiced and, finally, directly murdering the less fit.
The result of this was the largest, most destructive war that had ever occurred between nations. It resulted in:
- 350,000 compulsory sterilizations of people for their supposed defects. This does not include the tens of thousands in the United States.
- Over 70,000 put to death by physicians as euthanasia.
- A whole generation of young people, demoralized by perverted ideas concerning the sanctity of the marriage and the family. That has had a demoralizing influence on the entire world right up until the present day.
- Over 6,000,000 people violently murdered because they were considered an inferior race.
- Over 50,000,000 lost their lives in the most deadly war this world has ever seen.
Many people think that it does not matter whether or not you believe in evolution, but this is not an insignificant ideal when considering its results.
The God of heaven considered this question of origins and how we got here of extreme importance.
In the Old Testament there is one document that was:
- Spoken by God’s own voice, publicly.
- Written by God’s own finger in tables of stone.
- Declared to be God’s covenant and His law.
This document was declared by Jesus to be of imperishable obligation. He said that it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a part of a letter of this document to fail.
“And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle (that is just part of a letter) of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. The One who made that statement was the One who had created the heavens and the earth and everything in it.
With His own voice, from Mt. Sinai, God spoke His law to the people Himself; then wrote the Ten Commandments, with His own finger, in tables of stone for a permanent record. That document, His law, the foundation of His government, was not entrusted to any man to tell the people. God Himself spoke it and also wrote the document. In regard to that law the Bible says, “And I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it … that men should fear before him.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.
When God gave the world His law, the Ten Commandments, and He wrote it in tables of stone, one commandment is longer and more detailed than all the rest. It is the only commandment that in the Hebrew language has over fifty words. Some of the commandments, for instance, the seventh and eighth commandments, “You shall not commit adultery” and “You shall not steal,” have just two words in the Hebrew language.
The fourth commandment is longer than all the rest, and it is right in the heart of the law. This commandment explains the origin of the world and the human race.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.” Exodus 20:8–10.
The reason for the fourth commandment is given in the last verse of the commandment.
“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11.
It is so important for every human being to know where we came from, how we got here, and who we are, that God devoted more words to explaining the origins than any other moral precept. This commandment is in the heart of the ten. In ancient documents it was customary to place the seal of the document in the center.
The Sabbath will be a major issue in the last days of this world’s history. Part of the Sabbath commandment is quoted in the prophecy of Revelation with reference to the last days. The controversy over whether this world came into existence by the word of God is predicted to be a controversial issue in the last days. Eighteen hundred years before it happened, Peter predicted that in the last days people will scoff at the idea of creation and will not believe that this world came into existence by the word of God. See II Peter 3:3–7.
Bible students who make a careful study of the Bible know that the number seven is the number of spiritual perfection. In the book of Revelation we find another very significant number that is going to attract the attention of almost the entire world—666.
Within the Christian church there is some confusion over which day is the Lord’s day; however, the Bible is quite specific on this subject. Reading right from the fourth commandment we see that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” Exodus 20:10.
Within the most detailed of all of the Ten Commandments, we are told that the seventh day is the Lord’s day.
In Revelation 14:12, it says, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are those that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
In the last days there will be some people who are called saints, or holy people, and they are going to keep the commandments—all ten of them. The book of Revelation also points out a terrible crisis that will come into the world in the last days. It talks about a beast power that will have the number 666. In essence, the controversy in the very last days of earth’s history is going to be over whether or not God is the Creator of the world and whom you will worship, the Creator or the beast. The beast, of course, is the anti-christ.
The Bible clearly identifies the God of heaven as the creator.
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11.
“Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that are in it, and the earth, and the things that are in it, and the sea, and the things that are in it.” Revelation 10:6.
This world has a Maker. For thousands of years, until this theory of Darwinism about 150 years ago, almost the whole human race of all religions knew this. The book of Revelation, a book specifically for the people living in the last days, gives an appeal to worship God as the Creator. Revelation 14:6–12 describes three angels coming with a final message of mercy to be given to the inhabitants of this world.
The latter half of the book of Revelation focuses on these Three Angels’ Messages, and in Revelation 16 you will find that the people who reject these warnings are going to receive seven last plagues.
Revelation 18 describes what is going to happen to all the people in the world who reject the second angel’s message, and Revelation 19 describes Jesus coming and the destruction of those refusing the warnings.
Reading further on into Revelation 20 you will see that the people who accept the Three Angels’ Messages, even if they lose their lives through doing so, are taken to heaven to be with the Lord during the millennium.
The focal point of the latter half of the book of Revelation relates to the last three warnings of mercy to be given to the earth by the angels, and they are worthy of special study.
The first message says, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment has come: and worship him who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and springs of water.” Revelation 14:7.
As we approach the last days of earth’s history there will be only two camps. Every person in this world is going to chose to be part of one of them, worshiping God as the Creator or worshiping the beast—the anti-christ. The fourth commandment says to remember the Sabbath. Acknowledging this and keeping this day holy is to worship the creator God.
Those who worship the anti-christ will believe they are worshipping Christ, but will find out too late they are worshiping the wrong Christ.
God is the Creator. The Bible says that in the beginning “God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3.
After He created light, on the second day He created the firmament, the heavens that surround the earth—the envelope of oxygen, the air that surrounds our earth. And then He divided the waters from the waters and He caused the dry earth to appear, and then it says, “Let the earth bring forth the grass, and trees, and all manner of plants.” Verse 11. That was the third day. The Lord had everything planned, exactly what He was going to do before He started.
On the fifth day the fish and birds were created, and then on the sixth day God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures.” Verse 24.
By the sixth day He had created a paradise and when everything was ready, for His crowning act, God said, “Let us make man in our image; male and female he created them.” Verses 26, 27.
After Adam and Eve had been created, notice what the Bible says: “Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished.” Genesis 2:1.
Creation was finished. And “on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.” Genesis 2:2.
The seventh day was the Sabbath, the day God rested after creating this world. The Sabbath is God’s love gift to the entire human race. He blessed it, He sanctified it, and He made it holy (Genesis 2:3). Only God can make something holy. God made that day, the seventh day, holy. God rested on it as an example for the human family. It is a holy day.
In Revelation 1:10, John says he “was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”
“For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8.
“Therefore the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.
“The Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5.
The Lord’s Day is the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a gift to the human family instituted in Eden and not something that was added because of sin, like the ceremonial law. It was given to Adam and Eve and their descendants in Eden. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man. See Mark 2:27.
When Adam and Eve were put out of the Garden of Eden because of their sin, everything was lost to them but two things. They still had the gift of marriage and the gift of the Sabbath.
Many years later, when God spoke His law and wrote it on two tables of stone on Mount Sinai, He wrote the Sabbath right in the middle, right in the heart of the law. It says:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20:8–10.
Jesus kept the Sabbath. “So he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16.
A few days before the crucifixion the disciples wanted to know what would happen in the future and what sign would they have of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus gave them a sermon about future events. He told about the destruction of Jerusalem, and how they would have to flee. Notice what He said, “And pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on the Sabbath.” Matthew 24:20.
Jesus was here referring to an event that took place 66 years after His crucifixion.
After Pentecost, we find over and over again that the apostles continually kept the Sabbath. After Paul had preached the gospel to the Jews (Acts 13:42), some Gentiles who had heard about this requested that he also preach to them the following Sabbath for they wanted to hear his message as well. Many years after the crucifixion, the Sabbath was still being kept by the believers and he never suggested that he preach to them on Sunday. But, “on the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.” Acts 13:44.
These people were Gentiles; they were not Jews. The disciples, the apostles, and the converted Gentiles always kept the Sabbath. On one occasion the apostles were in a new area evangelizing to convert people from their idolatry to Christianity. There was no church or place to worship so they went to the river side, “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the river side, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who met there.” Acts 16:13.
Again, “They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews: And then Paul, as his custom was, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures.” Acts 17:1, 2. In the book of Acts there are over 80 references to Paul keeping the Sabbath, and no reference of him keeping any other day.
Some may question that over time there may have been a calendar change or time has been lost and ask the question, Which day is the Sabbath? Certain events in the Bible prove that time has not been lost. Christ was crucified on what the Bible calls preparation day. Today that is called Friday, and most Christians refer to that day as Good Friday.
In Luke 23:54–56 and Luke 24:1, it says that it was the day of the preparation. They took Jesus down from the cross, then put Him in the tomb and then they went home. It says, they kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, and then came back the first day of the week, and it was the resurrection.
Jesus was raised on the first day of the week, Sunday. The day between the preparation day and the day of the resurrection was the Sabbath.
The Dictionary meaning of Saturday is: the seventh day of the week, following Friday. There is no known evidence that any time has been lost.
Interestingly, in 108 languages of the world, the word for the seventh day of the week is Sabbath. The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word that means a rest day.
“Moreover I also gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, that I am the Lord that makes them holy.” Ezekiel 20:12.
This is something worthy of consideration. Paul says that, “without holiness nobody is going to see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14.
It is impossible for a human being to become holy, as we do not have power to do this ourselves; it is something that only God can do: sanctify—make holy. God only can give the power, the ability, to be obedient.
God says that He gave His people the Sabbath that they would have a sign between them and know that He is the Lord, that He is going to make them holy.
Keeping the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. God promises them, “This is a sign between Me and you; I am going to make you holy.” If God makes you holy, you will inherit the gift of eternal life. Only holy people will be in heaven.
In heaven there are no wars, there are no penal institutions, there are no punishments. Why? Because the people there are holy people and they do not need police, air force, armies, navies, wars, prisons, and things like that to make them do what is right. They are holy people.
The Bible teaches that even in heaven God’s children are going to keep the Sabbath. Nobody will be in heaven who argues with the Lord about what day they will keep, because everybody in heaven has decided to keep the Ten Commandments. Notice what it says:
“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me, says the Lord.” Isaiah 66:23.
Facts about the Sabbath:
- It is Jesus’ day; He created it (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2).
- It is the day that His people at the end of the world will be keeping. Those who will worship the beast and are connected with the number 666 will be worshipping on another day. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).
- Jesus is the law giver.
Jesus Christ was the One who gave Moses those two tables of stone. Jesus Christ existed from the days of eternity. He came to this world and was born a baby in Bethlehem, but that One who was born, His days were from old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).
Concerning the Father, it says in John 1:18 that no man has seen the Father at any time. It was Jesus Christ who is the authority behind the law and who revealed His glory to Moses on Mount Sinai.
It was Jesus who commanded the Sabbath, and while here on this earth, He perfectly kept it holy.
He said to the Jews, “Which of you convinces me concerning sin [breaking the law]?” John 8:46. They couldn’t answer. They would have nailed Him immediately if He had been a Sabbath breaker, but they had nothing to say because Jesus perfectly kept the Sabbath when He was on the earth.
Jesus commanded His disciples to keep the Sabbath. He said, “Pray that your flight be not in winter, nor on the Sabbath day.” Matthew 24:20.
All the apostles were Sabbath keepers. The Sabbath is His sign of allegiance, “a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20.
The Bible says, “The Sabbath is a sign between me and you the Lord says, that I am the Lord that will sanctify you [make you holy].” Ezekiel 20:12.
Remember, according to Hebrews 12:14 only those who are holy will go to heaven. You cannot make yourself holy. Only God can make you a holy person. A holy person is a person who keeps all of the commandments, because “the law is holy.” Romans 7:12.
A holy person is a person whose life is in harmony with the law. An unholy person is a person whose life is not in harmony with the law. For example, the seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery.” A holy person will not commit adultery.
It is the same for every other commandment. If you are a holy person you will obey all the commandments. And the Sabbath is a promise between God and you that if you keep this day, God says He will make you a holy person.
The Sabbath will continue in heaven. “It is going to come to pass, that from one Sabbath to another, from one new moon to another, all flesh are going to come to worship before me.” Isaiah 66:23.
There will be no controversy over which day is the Sabbath. The Sabbath will be a delight to all, a day of communion with our God in remembrance of creation.
The same appeal made to His disciples the night He was betrayed is given to you and me in this last generation: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15.
Jesus tenderly calls and offers the invitation, “Come unto me, all of you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle, and lowly in heart: and you will find rest unto your soul.” Matthew 11:28, 29.
It doesn’t sound like the survival of the fittest; it is an invitation to all, young and old, rich and poor, free or imprisoned, no matter what race or color or social standing or physical condition. It is an open invitation to anybody to come.
And then Jesus says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30.
There is a better way than any survival of the fittest. There is a better way than the struggle between the races. There is a better way than competition and rivalry, and trying to figure out by competition who is better than whom. There is a better way.
Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
For about 6,000 years there has been a great controversy in the universe over who is going to be Lord— the head of the beast power, which is Satan, or Jesus Christ.
The theory of evolution came from his satanic majesty to deceive the human race and to get people into an all out struggle with each other, to destroy one another. But Jesus says to all the weak, to all those who are considered inferior in our world, “Come unto me, all of you, all of you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
The rest He offers here is rest from your burden of sin. Sin is the heaviest burden you can carry, one that will kill you. Jesus will give you rest from the restlessness that is in this world. He says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
The choice is yours. The difference between Darwin, and Hitler, and the survival of the fittest and the invitation of Jesus Christ is great.
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.
[Literal translations used in Bible quotes.]
Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316–788–5559.