Heaven and Evolution

Many may be scratching their heads because I am using heaven and evolution in the same title. What you will learn today is that heaven is one of the best reasons why a Christian should not accept the theory of evolution. In past articles, I have shown that Jesus was a young-earth creationist and that evolution contradicts the character and nature of God. In this article, I will lay out why heaven also contradicts evolution.

In a past series, I wrote that the most common beliefs about heaven, a spiritual world or a brand new heavens and earth, were false. Instead, our eternal destination is this planet. This world will be restored to the perfect paradise that it was before Adam and Eve sinned. This understanding about heaven has an enormous impact on the debate between creation and evolution. What is interesting to know is that Christians who believe in an old earth and/or evolution do not teach a restored world; they believe in one of the other two options.[1]

The Bible teaches that there was no death, disease, or suffering of any kind before sin came into the world. We also know that God will swallow up death forever and wipe away our tears (Isaiah 25:8). Revelation 21:4 repeats this and adds that there will be no more crying or pain. 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 also echoes this by saying, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?^’”

This view of death is completely different from what evolution teaches. According to the theory of evolution, death, disease, suffering, and pain have been in the world since before sin came into God’s creation. If God used evolution and is going to restore the world, then this means that heaven will actually have more death, more disease, and more pain than our current lives. In fact, the evolutionary worldview teaches that before the first humans came into the world, there was mass death that has not been seen by man. This means that in heaven there will be mass extinctions of animals, disease, and many other horrors that cause us pain in this world.

To sum it up, if God used evolution, then heaven will be worse than our present lives. But as a Christian knows, heaven is the removal of evil from creation. What do you think? Leave a comment below or on Facebook.

[1] Pattle Pun, a biologist at Wheaton College, believes that God used evolution over millions of years. He argues that man is to be a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), and that mankind is not to be restored to a pre-Fall status, and God will create a brand new creation. He even uses Timothy 4:4-5 to say that since everything that God created is good, then death must be good, since death does not necessarily always equal evil. Death (or natural selection as Pun says) is only evil when mankind exploits it. See Pattle Pun. “A Theology of Progressive Creationism.” Perspectives on Science and the Christian Faith 39 (March 1987): 9-19. Retrieved from http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1987/PSCF3-87Pun.html

Hugh Ross, the founder and director of the organization Reasons to Believe, also teaches that this present universe will be replaced by “a brand-new one.”See Hugh Ross. Creation and Time. (NavPress: Colorado Springs), p. 69.