THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

VIII. Addressing Darwinism Behind Troubling Ideologies

(Psalm 8:1-9)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

(1) Marxism influences many leftist politicians, and it is behind much of the troubling issues we face: To illustrate, (a) Marx and Engels’ work, “The Communist Manifesto” (1848), promoted the abolition of “‘countries and nationality,’” p. 90 (learn-usa.com/transformation_process/hdn003.htm, “Goals, ‘Communist Manifesto’”) Thus, Joe Cegelka of Waterbury in a letter to the Republican-American, December 24, 2021, p. 8A, complained how President “Biden opened the [southern U. S.] border, allowing hundreds of thousands to illegally enter [sic] into the country, with inadequate care of their vaccination or criminal status. He then transported migrants into states in the middle of the night, trying to keep it a secret.” (b) “The Communist Manifesto” also called for the “middle-class owner of property” to “be swept out of the way, and made impossible” (Ibid., Marx and Engels, p. 85-86), and Joe Cegelka’s letter also lamented how President “Biden immediately shut down oil-pipeline projects and drilling, in the name of ‘climate change,’” raising gas prices only to turn to “begging the Middle East for oil and opening the oil reserves” to lower gas prices, Ibid., Cegelka. (c) “The Communist Manifesto” called for “factories and instruments of production” to be “owned by the state” (Ibid., Marx and Engels, p. 94), so Connecticut’s U. S. Senator Chris Murphy complained that the “increase in opioid use originates with America’s three biggest drug-distribution companies” though the “‘News Nuggets’ section of the Dec. 21” Republican-American reported “Mexican cartels are increasing the size and production capacity of synthetic drug labs” since “synthetics are more profitable than the naturally-grown drugs” and “are far easier to smuggle across the southern border and into the United States” under President Biden’s border policy! (Letter by Tom Beaudin, New Hartford, Republican-American, December 24, 2021, p. 8A)

(2) Significantly, Marxism and other troubling ideologies that have afflicted us were spawned by Darwinism: (a) Charles Darwin’s view that the universe evolved apart from special creation promotes atheism, and “(i)nformation about the theory of evolution found in scientific literature is almost entirely from an atheistic point of view . . .” (Bolton Davidheiser, Evolution and Christian Faith, 1976, p. 164) (b) Also, in his book, The Descent of Man, Darwin claimed “plainly that he believed we evolved from monkeys.” (Ibid., p. 26) Thus, in applying his “survival of the fittest” belief, Darwin taught that “human evolution proceeded through warfare and struggle between isolated clans,” Ibid., p. 350. (c) Based on this view, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini justified their efforts to defeat or annihilate what they thought were less-fit people groups to advance man’s evolution (Ibid., p. 352), and (d) Joseph Stalin who promoted Communism became an atheist after reading Darwin’s writings, Ibid., p. 353. (e) Indeed, Friederich Engels and Karl Marx, authors of “The Communist Manifesto,” both loved Darwin’s works and applied his principle of the “survival of the fittest” to human social issues, what led to Social Darwinism, Ibid., p. 353, 350. (f) Darwin’s view of evolution was then applied by critics of the Bible to develop the Documentary Hypothesis of Liberal Theology by which scholars taught that the Bible evolved from mere myths to its present form, leading to the denial of the Bible as being divinely authored or inspired. (R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 1973, p. 21)

(3) Accordingly, many people trained in secular institutions presume as Dr. Bolton Davidheiser did when he believed that evolution was a fact. Consequently, for many years, he could not accept the Christian faith as being true, for “(i)f man evolved, we are getting better and what is called sin, is just a remnant of selfish animal nature. If man evolved, Christ was just a reformer and not the Redeemer; He was a martyr and not the Savior. Then the Christian religion becomes a code of ethics and not the way of eternal life through a risen Lord. As Paul said, ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable’ (1 Cor. 15:19).” (Ibid., Davidheiser, p. 10)

Need: So, we ask, "How should we respond to Darwinism and its troubling offshoots that we face today?!"

I. Opposite Liberal Theology, we believe the 2 Timothy 3:13-4:2 claims that all Scripture is God inspired and is to be believed and obeyed for all matters of faith and practice, and that it is to be preached.

II. Thus, since David wrote Psalm 8 according to the psalm’s introduction, he believed that God existed since David addressed Him and claimed God’s name or reputation was majestic in all the earth, Ps. 8:1a.

III. David added that God had also set His glory above the heavens that were above the earth, Psalm 8:1b.

IV. King David then honored God for His gracious creation and elevation of man on the earth, Psalm 8:2-8:

A. David marveled at God’s elevation of man to where the Lord even exhibits His own personal strength through weak human children to silence God’s enemies, Psalm 8:2. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 797)

B. David marveled that God Who made the vast stellar universe would “be mindful of” (zakar, A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 269-271) or “pay attention” (paqad, Ibid., p. 823-824) to man on the earth, Psalm 8:3-4.

C. However, in great unmerited favor, in great grace, God made man a little lower than God Himself, Psa. 8:5a,b:

1. The King James Version follows the Septuagint, the ancient O. T. Greek translation of the Hebrew O. T., in rendering the Hebrew noun elohim in Psalm 8:5a as “angels,” what is true in some cases, Ibid.

2. Nevertheless, the rest of the psalm does not even mention angels, but it rather highlights how God graciously elevated man as His representative ruler on the earth at creation (Ibid.; cf. Genesis 1:26-28), meaning that elohim should be read as Elohim and be translated “God,” Ibid.

D. Consequently, with God having graciously made man only a little lower than Himself, God then graciously crowned man with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5c), what Psalm 8:6-8 explains (as follows):

1. God gave man dominion over the works of His hands, putting all things under his feet, Psalm 8:6.

2. Man’s dominion thus included rule over the entire animal kingdom, including all sheep, oxen, beasts of the field birds of the air and fish of the sea, Psalm 8:7-8. This included man’s rule over monkeys and apes!

V. Moved by God’s grace in giving man such great dominion, David closed Psalm 8 by repeating his opening doxology of the excellency of God’s name or reputation as God in all the earth, Psalm 7:3-5.

Lesson: David acknowledged God’s existence and that He had created the universe and made man to be His representative on the earth, ruling all other animal life forms on the earth. Thus, Darwinism greatly errs, for the Creator God exists and created the universe, man did not evolve from monkeys but was made by God distinct from and placed over all animal life forms on the earth so that the troubling ideologies of Naziism, Fascism, Marxism and Liberal Theology that were derived from Darwinian ideology are also in great error.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we hold to pure creationism and not errant Darwinism and the troubling, errant ideologies of Naziism, Fascism, Marxism and Liberal Theology that arose from it.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

Throughout our ministry here at Nepaug Bible Church, we have heeded the Apostle Paul’s directive to “preach the Word” of God in 2 Timothy 4:2 in holding up against the departure from the truth predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. That is why we in our sermon out of Psalm 8 in God’s Word today have addressed the error of Darwinism that has spawned the troublesome beliefs and movements of Naziism, Fascism, Marxism and Liberal Theology.

However, had 2 Timothy 4:2 been consistently practiced and heeded in Church History, Darwinism and its troublesome offshoots would never have afflicted the Church to the degree that they have. We explain:

(1) “Darwin, a disciple of [Charles] Lyell, built his theory of organic evolution upon the uniformitarian foundation which Lyell had laid.” (John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, 1978, p. 96) Lyell’s theory of uniformitarianism taught that “all geologic processes had been very gradual in the past,” and he utterly abhorred “anything suggestive of sudden catastrophes.” (Ibid., p. 95)

(2) Charles Lyell’s uniformitarianism was in turn a reaction to Georges Cuvier’s and William Buckland’s belief that the geologic record was produced by “successive catastrophes,” Ibid., p. 95. Cuvier “was thoroughly convinced that the Genesis Flood had left unmistakable evidences of its magnitude and destructive power upon the surface of the entire globe,” Ibid., p. 92. However, “he also taught that the major fossiliferous strata of the earth had been laid down by a series of great floods, separated by immense periods of time, and long before the creation of man,” and that “(t)he last of these aqueous catastrophes was the Noahic Deluge” of Genesis 6:1-8:22. (Ibid.)

(3) Remarkably, 2 Peter 3:4 predicted the rise of Lyell’s uniformitarianism that was the basis for Darwinism. Yet, 2 Peter 3:5-6 in the same context predicted that men would purposely overlook God’s ONE supernatural movement of the land in parting it from the world’s oceans at creation (2 Peter 3:5; Genesis 1:9-10) followed by God’s ONE worldwide Noahic Flood (2 Peter 3:6; Genesis 6-8)! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to 2 Peter 3:5 and 3:6) So, failure to preach and/or believe 2 Peter 3:1-7 led to Cuvier’s and Buckland’s errant belief in many world floods over long ages of time, which belief in turn led Lyell to react and form his belief in uniformitarianism. That belief in turn led to Darwin’s theory of evolution that in turn spawned the troubling ideologies of Naziism, Fascism, Marxism and Liberal Theology! Thus, the Church must ALWAYS “preach the Word”!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we faithfully hold to Scripture truth to be free of Darwinian error and its errant sprouts of Naziism, Fascism, Marxism and Liberal Theology and preach that Word that we might do the works of God.