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Deliver Us From Evolution?: A Christian Biologist's In-Depth Look at the Evidence Reveals a Surprising Harmony Between Science and God
Is evolution an enemy to faith? Can God, Scripture, and science be reconciled? What evidence is there for evolution? Is it true?In this tour de force of scientific rigor and biblical insight, biologist Aaron Yilmaz examines the Creation vs. Evolution controversy from a scientific and biblical perspective, undergirded with psychological and philosophical understanding. With over 600 citations from peer-reviewed scientific journals, books, and university literature, he objectively and exhaustively investigates the evidence for not only an ancient earth but for the reality of evolution. With humility, humor, and wit, Yilmaz presents a surprising harmony between science and God, far more satisfying than Creationism or Intelligent Design. This fast-paced and engaging book powerfully demonstrates how science and faith, when properly understood, do not conflict and on the contrary lead to a deeper appreciation of God and a more intellectually fulfilling and spiritually rewarding life. Aaron R. Yilmaz holds an M.S. in Biology from the University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford, Connecticut (2015), and a B.S. in Biology with departmental honors from Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan (2013). He has formally studied evolution at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, performed research leading to peer-reviewed published scientific literature, and has taught biology at the college level.
- GenresScience
242 pages, Paperback
Published December 10, 2016
13 people want to read
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June 23, 2017
The creation/evolution debate in our American culture is an area that both fascinates and concerns me. Why should anyone care? What does it matter? To me, as a Christian and an evangelist and apologist, it actually matters quite a bit.
This book makes a strong case that it's time for us, as Bible-believing Christians, to purposefully strive for the best science possible, and to leave the modern creationist movement behind us. If you think that's an oxymoron, or if you think anyone who believes so is a moron, I'd encourage you to spend trivial amount that this book costs, and give it a read. The quality of this book is much greater than what you should expect given its cost and relatively unknown author. It's well-researched, well-written, and I'd put the content of this book on par with much of what's available in Christian apologetics these days, even from well-known authors.
I want to list the specific things I've enjoyed about this book that warrants its five-star rating.
1. The author's heart for the lost, the wandering, and the frustrated Christian shows through, in both his personal anecdotes and his explanation for why he wrote the book. He has a heart for reaching people who are otherwise struggling to reconcile science with their Christian faith. The book was suggested to me, and this is exactly why I decided to read it. His tone throughout the book is gracious and pleasant.
2. He opens with a good treatment of how we should approach Scripture as a Christian. Many books in this genre do the same, and no doubt a "young Earth" reader who believes in a 6000 year old Earth is going to reject any approach other than a literal reading as liberal nonsense. Of course the author knows this... he grew up believing the same thing. What changed his mind? What is it that that convinced folks like C.S. Lewis, Dinesh D'Souza, William Lane Craig, and even St. Augustine nearly 1600 years ago that the Bible is not talking about the mechaniscs of creation? How do we reconcile evolution with statements that are even made in the New Testament? Given that many, many trustworthy conservative Christian voices use this same approach today, isn't it worth giving it a chance? I'd urge you to give this author a chance to explain it, as someone who has been there.
3. This is critical. The author describes in detail what science can and cannot do. Specifically, he gives due treatment to the limitations of science. Can science provide us with Truth, with a capital T? If not, what does it provide? Why should we trust it? (And the lingering thought is, "...instead of the plain reading of the Bible we know and love?") What good is methodological naturalism? There's a very long history of thought on this very topic, and you'll hear some truthful statements on this topic that you'll never get from "creation science" organizations. He also spends quite a bit of time on why an acceptance of God's use of evolution is not evil, and it's not yielding anything (anything!) to atheists.
4. The author gives many examples of phenomena that point to an old Earth, with plenty of color diagrams and some photos, such as varves, ice cores, and geomagnetic reversals. And even for events that didn't happen millions of years ago, he demolishes the timelines proposed by young Earth proponents. Take fossilized trees, for example. Why can we trust the core samples taken from trees? Young-Earth books and web sites will try to poke holes (no pun intended) in the methodology used to date one or two examples of specimens. This author provides not one or two, but six or seven examples.
5. The author spends nearly half of the book on the ample evidence for evolution, including human evolution. I'll list just a few of the topics covered in enough depth to make a strong argument, while giving ample citations for further examination: anatomical homologies, chromosome anomalies, pseudogenes, endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), vestigial organs, generation of new information in DNA (one of my favorite topics), the nature of beneficial mutations, atavisms, fossil layers and the implied timeline, transitional fossils (many examples are given), rejoinders to the common creationist arguments that all such fossils are incomplete reconstructions. He also talks about abiogenesis and what this means in relation to evolution.
6. I agree with "Intelligent Design" as a worldview, and so does this book. Of course God designed everything, and He's the supreme intelligence. But the methodology of "Intelligent Design" is not science. It's not a scientific methodology, but rather a philosoply. Try all you want, but you cannot make mathematical or logical arguments about intelligent design. It's an error of category. The author covers common "Intelligent Design" misconceptions such as the Cambrian "explosion" (hint: if you want to use this argument as a creationist, you must acknowledge "millions of years"), micro vs. macro evolution, irreducible complexity, and even new creationist concepts such as specified complexity. Again, it's not something that be described or quantified using the tools of science.
7. I love the conclusion the author makes. I would quote that chapter in its entirety within this review, if I could. But that wouldn't be fair to the author or to the reader.
8. There are several hundred citations and references, in scholarly fashion. There is so much support for an old Earth, evolution, and the claims made from solid evidence and strong logical reasoning. If you want to disagree, then the hundreds of scientists behind these references, all coming from various backgrounds, must be in some huge global conspiracy to suppress the truth that the Earth was created in six days, is a few thousand years old, and all animal forms were created without any common ancestry, *and* that God planted an enormous amount of evidence to lead mankind to believe otherwise.
The book is only about 200 pages (apart from the references). It's well worth the time and minimal cost to read it.
This book makes a strong case that it's time for us, as Bible-believing Christians, to purposefully strive for the best science possible, and to leave the modern creationist movement behind us. If you think that's an oxymoron, or if you think anyone who believes so is a moron, I'd encourage you to spend trivial amount that this book costs, and give it a read. The quality of this book is much greater than what you should expect given its cost and relatively unknown author. It's well-researched, well-written, and I'd put the content of this book on par with much of what's available in Christian apologetics these days, even from well-known authors.
I want to list the specific things I've enjoyed about this book that warrants its five-star rating.
1. The author's heart for the lost, the wandering, and the frustrated Christian shows through, in both his personal anecdotes and his explanation for why he wrote the book. He has a heart for reaching people who are otherwise struggling to reconcile science with their Christian faith. The book was suggested to me, and this is exactly why I decided to read it. His tone throughout the book is gracious and pleasant.
2. He opens with a good treatment of how we should approach Scripture as a Christian. Many books in this genre do the same, and no doubt a "young Earth" reader who believes in a 6000 year old Earth is going to reject any approach other than a literal reading as liberal nonsense. Of course the author knows this... he grew up believing the same thing. What changed his mind? What is it that that convinced folks like C.S. Lewis, Dinesh D'Souza, William Lane Craig, and even St. Augustine nearly 1600 years ago that the Bible is not talking about the mechaniscs of creation? How do we reconcile evolution with statements that are even made in the New Testament? Given that many, many trustworthy conservative Christian voices use this same approach today, isn't it worth giving it a chance? I'd urge you to give this author a chance to explain it, as someone who has been there.
3. This is critical. The author describes in detail what science can and cannot do. Specifically, he gives due treatment to the limitations of science. Can science provide us with Truth, with a capital T? If not, what does it provide? Why should we trust it? (And the lingering thought is, "...instead of the plain reading of the Bible we know and love?") What good is methodological naturalism? There's a very long history of thought on this very topic, and you'll hear some truthful statements on this topic that you'll never get from "creation science" organizations. He also spends quite a bit of time on why an acceptance of God's use of evolution is not evil, and it's not yielding anything (anything!) to atheists.
4. The author gives many examples of phenomena that point to an old Earth, with plenty of color diagrams and some photos, such as varves, ice cores, and geomagnetic reversals. And even for events that didn't happen millions of years ago, he demolishes the timelines proposed by young Earth proponents. Take fossilized trees, for example. Why can we trust the core samples taken from trees? Young-Earth books and web sites will try to poke holes (no pun intended) in the methodology used to date one or two examples of specimens. This author provides not one or two, but six or seven examples.
5. The author spends nearly half of the book on the ample evidence for evolution, including human evolution. I'll list just a few of the topics covered in enough depth to make a strong argument, while giving ample citations for further examination: anatomical homologies, chromosome anomalies, pseudogenes, endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), vestigial organs, generation of new information in DNA (one of my favorite topics), the nature of beneficial mutations, atavisms, fossil layers and the implied timeline, transitional fossils (many examples are given), rejoinders to the common creationist arguments that all such fossils are incomplete reconstructions. He also talks about abiogenesis and what this means in relation to evolution.
6. I agree with "Intelligent Design" as a worldview, and so does this book. Of course God designed everything, and He's the supreme intelligence. But the methodology of "Intelligent Design" is not science. It's not a scientific methodology, but rather a philosoply. Try all you want, but you cannot make mathematical or logical arguments about intelligent design. It's an error of category. The author covers common "Intelligent Design" misconceptions such as the Cambrian "explosion" (hint: if you want to use this argument as a creationist, you must acknowledge "millions of years"), micro vs. macro evolution, irreducible complexity, and even new creationist concepts such as specified complexity. Again, it's not something that be described or quantified using the tools of science.
7. I love the conclusion the author makes. I would quote that chapter in its entirety within this review, if I could. But that wouldn't be fair to the author or to the reader.
8. There are several hundred citations and references, in scholarly fashion. There is so much support for an old Earth, evolution, and the claims made from solid evidence and strong logical reasoning. If you want to disagree, then the hundreds of scientists behind these references, all coming from various backgrounds, must be in some huge global conspiracy to suppress the truth that the Earth was created in six days, is a few thousand years old, and all animal forms were created without any common ancestry, *and* that God planted an enormous amount of evidence to lead mankind to believe otherwise.
The book is only about 200 pages (apart from the references). It's well worth the time and minimal cost to read it.
April 21, 2017
Surprisingly a very well researched and well put together book. Out of all of the science versus God books I have read, this one by far contains the greatest amount of evidence for evolution and an old earth (Finding Darwin's God would be second). The book also does a fine job refuting a number of creationist/Intelligent Design claims regarding evolution. I particularly liked the early emphasis on proper biblical exegesis and focus on original author intent. The way the book went about defining biblical innerancy, biblical genre, expectations of biblical literature, and even truth itself was praiseworthy (pun intended). I assumed that a serious scientist of this caliber would be a nominal Christian (i.e., church on Christmas and Easter only), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author is a very passionately devout Christian. In summary, this is a very refreshing book that nicely ties together the truth of modern evolutionary biology with truth of traditional biblical Christianity.
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