The main problem with evolution is not that it has the wrong history but that for evolution history is everything. That’s everything including the laws of nature, philosophy, religion, God, literally everything. The one law of evolution is that everything evolves. There is no being, only becoming; there is nothing fixed, only change.
But surely they accept the laws of physics, don’t they? Not really. Rupert Sheldrake’s “The Presence of the Past” attempts to show that nature has “habits” rather than any fixed laws. Like evolutionary species, the laws of physics are temporary and evolve, too.
So arguing about chronology and history is right up the evolutionary alley. It doesn’t shift the debate to what evolutionists cannot accept: anything that does not change — laws or created/natural kinds.
Also, if the argument is about chronology and history, it is always possible to argue that God was involved and this is consistent with basic theology. So the debate goes around in circles because chronology cannot be a basic doctrine of Christianity.
But law is a basic doctrine of Christianity. If there is no law, there is no gospel: law and gospel go together. And these are not just spiritual laws, but laws that include physical reality because resurrection is physical, too.
So the debate should be shifted to be about the existence of what does not change — laws, kinds, and the nature of God.
September 2014