Part 1

The Evolutionary Approach

One cannot discuss the origin of religion without taking into account the prevailing scientific views. Because the theory of evolution is the prevailing view, evolutionary scientists accept the views of the Higher Criticism. these are:- (1) That languages evolved from grunts and growls to simple and then complex languages. (2) Primitive man worshipped the forces of nature progressing from polytheism to monotheism and of course to the ultimate unbelief.

Both of these theories are absolutely wrong.

“Science Illustrated” of July 1948 (p. 63) states: “Older forms of the languages known today were far more difficult than their modern descendants . . . man appears not to have begun with a simple speech, and gradually made it more complex, but rather to have gotten hold of a tremendously knotty speech somewhere in the unrecorded past, and gradually simplified it to the modern forms.”

In the same way an examination of ancient religions shows that the further one goes back into the past the fewer the number of Gods. This is just the reverse of what “Higher Critics” assert and justifies the conclusion that the evolutionary approach is just imagination.

The Bible as Accurate History

Evolutiont has provided the motivation for the system of “Higher Criticism” today. “Higher Criticism” working on the theory that religion has evolved from the simple to the complex claims to analyze the Bible on this basis. The result of this teaching in the theological seminaries of the world has produced many ministers of religion who do not regard the Bible as the “inspired word of God” These men may have had faith at one time but this has been replaced with a certain amount of skepticism, and therefore the Bible is no longer viewed as the supreme authority. The inherited traditions of the church form the basis of belief and scripture texts are merely selected and used to give support to these traditions no matter whether they cause the Bible to contradict itself or not. I had a personal experience in the 1950s’. The then governor General of SA told me that the Archbishop of Canterbury was his personal friend. He said that the Archbishop had told him that “you read the Bible like you eat fish, you spit out the bones”.

I have shown in other articles on this site that evolution itself is merely a false religion hiding behind words like “Nature.” It is not a true science because it is not supported by facts but uses fabricated evidence like the “Geological Table” to give it support. Not only do the facts contradict evolution but they also contradict the philosophy of higher criticism.

I have shown in the article “the Scientific Accuracy of Genesis” that the Bible qualifies as an accurate record, not only of the creation but also of the origins of religion, true and false. To understand how this came about one needs to understand the way that God runs the universe. Although our Creator maintains control of the universe with unlimited power, His power is exercised with love and justice. God relies on the willing cooperation and obedience of his intelligent creation, with whom He has created the ability to understand and appreciate His loving care for their interests. Their loving obedience constitutes their worship. False religion began when a disobedient spirit Son of God, chose to challenge God’s sovereignty. He did this by introducing lies and deception to the human race in an attempt to prevent God’s purposes from being fulfilled. If he succeeded his success would cast doubt on God’s way of running the universe. The fact that it meant destruction of the human race meant nothing to him.

As I have discussed the issue of sovereignty in greater detail in other articles on this site, I will just draw attention to the fact that Adam and Eve had a wonderful prospect before them. They could have lived forever provided they remained loyal to him and obeyed his direction. Adam and Eve were induced by Satan to disobey their creator. By this action they lost life for themselves and their future offspring. They also disqualified themselves from God’s family and came under Satan’s power.

God did not leave the unborn human descendants without hope because he immediately uttered a prophecy showing his purpose to rectify matters. The prophecy is mentioned at Genesis 3:15

(Genesis 3:15) And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”

According to this prophecy, in time a woman would produce a seed that would ultimately bruise the head of the serpent, but the seed would receive a heel wound. As the prophecy was given after sentencing Adam and Eve, it referred to the means that God intended using to rectify the situation. (Isaiah 55:8-11) According to the prophecy this seed would ultimately undo what Satan had accomplished. The time would come when descendants of Adam would be redeemed. They would increase, multiply and populate the earth with perfect offspring and also bring the earth to a paradise condition. From the Bible record we learn that Jesus Christ was the true seed that would ultimately bruise the head of the serpent and make this all possible. Speaking about Jesus the apostle Paul explained

(Hebrews 2:14-15) . . .Therefore, since the “young children” are sharers of blood and flesh, he also similarly partook of the same things, that through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil; 15 and [that] he might emancipate all those who for fear of death were subject to slavery all through their lives.

During the first 1656 years it appeared that God had done very little to fulfil his prophecy. A line of faithful servants, counting from Noah furnished the pre-flood genealogy leading to Jesus Christ. Luke recorded Jesus’ genealogy and it led all the way back to Adam and God.
(Luk 3:36-38) ……..Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Kenan  the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

However the majority of humans chose not to worship God. After giving mankind warning God destroyed that wicked world by means of the flood of Noah’s day and preserved faithful Noah.

The Rise of Organized False Religion

As all wickedness had been removed from the earth at the flood,  Satan now began an organized effort to once again mislead mankind away from God, The first real organized effort to deceive mankind was made sometime after the flood of Noah’s day. One of Noah’s sons Ham fathered Cush.

(Genesis 10:8-12) 8 And Cush became father to Nimrod. He made the start in becoming a mighty one in the earth. 9 He displayed himself a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah. That is why there is a saying: “Just like Nimrod a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom came to be Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land he went forth into As·syri·a and set himself to building Nine·veh and Re·hoboth-Ir and Calah 12 and Re’sen between Nine·veh and Calah: this is the great city.

As we can see from the Biblical description Nimrod was a city builder and began organizing an empire. To maintain his iron-like control he resisted God’s command to spread out over the earth and attempted to bind his people to himself by means of their veneration for him. Nimrod became the founder of Babel that later became known as Babylon. As humans have a natural tendency to worship, it is not uncommon for them to worship human leaders as Gods. According to students of ancient religions, Nimrod succeeded in getting people to worship him and even the Bible acknowledged that he was the first one to be regarded as a “mighty one” in opposition to God.

(Genesis 11:1-4) . . .Now all the earth continued to be of one language and of one set of words. 2 And it came about that in their journeying eastward they eventually discovered a valley plain in the land of Shi’nar, and they took up dwelling there. 3 And they began to say, each one to the other: “Come on! Let us make bricks and bake them with a burning process.” So brick served as stone for them, but bitumen served as mortar for them. 4 They now said: “Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth.”

After the flood God gave the same instruction to Noah and his family that he had given Adam and Eve. They were to spread out over the earth. Nimrod rebelled against God’s instruction. The tower project that he envisaged was designed to keep mankind together and as archaeology shows these towers or ziggurats were structures for worshiping the heavenly bodies and had shrines built on top. Nimrod was the first to combine politics with religion. Evidently he resisted God’s command because he wished to maintain control of the people at that time.

What was God’s reaction? He broke up their scheme by confusing their language so that they spread out over the earth as he had commanded them. This slowed them down in their rebellion. Apparently they could have reached the position that we are in earlier in time and that was not what God wanted.

(Genesis 11:5-9) . . .And Jehovah proceeded to go down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. 6 After that Jehovah said: “Look! They are one people and there is one language for them all, and this is what they start to do. Why, now there is nothing that they may have in mind to do that will be unattainable for them. 7 Come now! Let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not listen to one another’s language.” 8 Accordingly Jehovah scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Ba’bel, because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth, and Jehovah had scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.

The Confusion of Languages.

. Professor S. R. Driver stated: “Languages, however, differ not only in grammar and roots, but also . . . in the manner in which ideas are built up into a sentence. Different races do not think in the same way; and consequently the forms taken by the sentence in different languages are not the same.”

(A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by J. Hastings, 1905, Vol. IV, p. 791) Thus, different languages require quite different thought patterns, making it difficult for a new learner to ‘think in the language.’

So, it appears that, when God confused the speech of those at Babel, he first blotted out all memory of their previous common language and then introduced into their minds, not only new vocabularies but also changed thought patterns, producing new grammars

Is there any secular evidence to confirm the biblical record of the origin of the various languages?

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica says: “The earliest records of written language, the only linguistic fossils man can hope to have, go back no more than about 4,000 or 5,000 years.” (1985, Vol. 22, p. 567)

An article in “Science Illustrated” of July 1948 (p. 63) states: “Older forms of the languages known today were far more difficult than their modern descendants . . . man appears not to have begun with a simple speech, and gradually made it more complex, but rather to have gotten hold of a tremendously knotty speech somewhere in the unrecorded past, and gradually simplified it to the modern forms.”

Linguist Dr. Mason also points out that “the idea that ‘savages’ speak in a series of grunts, and are unable to express many ‘civilized’ concepts, is very wrong,” and that “many of the languages of non-literate peoples are far more complex than modern European ones.” (Science News Letter, September 3, 1955, p. 148)

Sir Henry Rawlinson, Oriental language scholar, observed: “If we were to be thus guided by the mere intersection of linguistic paths, and independently of all reference to the scriptural record, we should still be led to fix on the plains of Shinar, as the focus from which the various lines had radiated.”—The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1855, Vol. 15, p. 232.

From the foregoing it becomes obvious that there is ample scientific evidence, not only contradicting the evolution and higher criticism theories, but also supporting the Biblical account of how the different languages came to be. Furthermore scholars investigating the ancient religions of mankind have found that similar beliefs and customs are found in all religions but of course under different names. And this is circumstantial evidence supporting the above.

In Part 2 of this article I will continue to show the results of the scattering of mankind

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