Objection: Evolution says the earth is old, but the Bible says the earth is young.
Response: The Bible is far from clear on the age of the earth. I will not get into this in depth here, since I will cover the age of the earth soon in another post, but suffice to say that there are two major points as to why the Bible does not require a young earth. First, the Bible does not specify when the first of the six days of creation began. While many assume it began immediately with the creation of the universe, this may or may not be the case. I do not agree with the so-called "gap theory," but I will point out that the entire universe could have matured by the time of the first day. Again, I will not elaborate on this now, but try reading the Genesis 1 narrative with that in mind. As well, the Genesis genealogies cannot be used to calculate a creation date. A very common genealogical practice in ancient times was telescoping. This meant omitting a number of less important generations for brevity and to highlight the major people along the family line. There is evidence of this occurring throughout the Bible, and the Genesis genealogies also appear to be telescoped, and possibly heavily so. For a more thorough discussion on this matter, read this excellent article.
Objection: Evolution says that death occurred before the Fall, but the Bible says that death came into the world through the Fall.
Response: The main text of this particular issue is Romans 5:12, which says, "So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned..." The argument is that if death came through sin, and sin began at the Fall, then evolution could not have occurred because it would have required that billions of animals die before the Fall, which is impossible. However, there is a flaw in this reasoning, namely that all death originated at the Fall. This is not required by the text. Romans 5 is about humanity and redemption. The first half of the chapter is all about man and man's salvation. Verse 12 brings up sin as the cause of death, and sin is strictly a human problem. Then a few verses later Jesus is brought up as the solution to man's sin problem and the way to man's salvation. The overwhelming focus of Romans 5 is man, and thus one could easily imagine that man alone was immune to death before the Fall, and that animals had been dying since their evolution began. For more on this issue, check out these articles: Animal Death Before the Fall: What Does the Bible Say? and Old-Earth Creationism: A Heretical Belief?
Objection: Evolution says that organisms can reproduce to make new kinds, but the Bible says all the creations reproduce after "their own kind."
Response: Even in evolutionary theory, each generation of animals or plants is sufficiently similar to the previous that it is true they reproduce after their own kinds. In fact, if the "kind" referred to is actually comparable to the modern term "genera," as many young-earth and old-earth creationists say, then evolution is completely exonerated. The text does not indicate that the kinds are permanently immutable.
Objection: Evolution is a cruel and careless process, but the Bible says God is kind and sovereign.
Response: This is a highly insufficient objection. It could be said by this standard that life is cruel and careless, and many would agree, but that doesn't mean the world is any less God's creation and plan. As a Calvinist and strict determinist, I am quite comfortable with God doing difficult, painful, or seemingly terrible things because I recognize that God is sovereign, God is good, and God has higher thoughts and wisdom than I. For this reason, such an objection cannot be sustained.
There are issues related to evolution. I still am not convinced it is a correct theory of origins. I lean towards historical creationism, which I will explain soon. However, for the sake of unity in the body of Christ, I feel the orthodoxy of theistic evolution ought to be addressed. Despite what some say, our brothers who believe evolution did indeed take place are not compromisers or heretics or otherwise less devout than anyone else. They must be respected and accepted, and we must always unite with them as fellow children of God.
There are issues related to evolution. I still am not convinced it is a correct theory of origins. I lean towards historical creationism, which I will explain soon. However, for the sake of unity in the body of Christ, I feel the orthodoxy of theistic evolution ought to be addressed. Despite what some say, our brothers who believe evolution did indeed take place are not compromisers or heretics or otherwise less devout than anyone else. They must be respected and accepted, and we must always unite with them as fellow children of God.