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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.
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Published April 20, 2017
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May 22, 2019This book was one of the most powerful defenses of Evolutionary Creationist that I have ever come across. While other Evolutionary Creationist books that I have read thus far tend to focus primarily on the compatibility of Christianity and evolution, Yilmaz actually spent an equal amount of time addressing both (1) Christianity and evolution's compatibility and (2) the scientific evidence Darwinian Evolution.
In the case of the latter, Yilmaz presented a very powerful case for macro evolution and responded to many of the rebuttals special creationists typically raise in response to that evidence. Furthermore, Yilmaz had read a ton of Intelligent Design material prior to his becoming a proponent of evolution, and in fact used to be an ID proponent himself. This puts Yilmaz in an excellent position to have knowledge of the arguments and counter-arguments on both sides. I must say, I've been on the fence between Old Earth Creationism and Evolutionary Creationism for a while now. Yilmaz' case was so strong that if I fall off the fence, his book will most likely be the deciding factor. Aron R Yimlaz brought up evidence for common ancestry that I had never even heard before, such as Avatisms and Endoscopic Retroviruses. I kept thinking in the back of my mind, "These seem like powerful arguments for common ancestry. Why have they not been discussed in the ID literature? Even if they gave bad responses, one would expect responses to at least be present" Moreover, he addresses the ludicrous "It's an atheist conspiracy" line of thinking that I've seen prevalent in YEC and ID literature such as Lee Strobel's "The Case For A Creator" and Frank Turek's "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", and in movies such as "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". I myself used to hold to this line of thinking, but Yilmaz has shown me how absurd it is. He shows statistics that 99% of scientists accept Darwin's theory and yet around of them are also theists (whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or what have you), so if the wide acceptance of Darwinism were founded on wanting to explain life without God, why would so many theistic scientists embrace it?
I was a little disappointed with the semi-final chapter, where Yilmaz attacks Irreducible Complexity and Specified Complexity. I've read Behe's and Dembski's work and it was apparent that Yilmaz did not understand the logic undergirding their inferences to design, and invalidly accused them of committing logical fallacies that I don't think they committed. He also seemed to contradict himself when he criticized William Dembski and Stephen Meyer for using improbabilities in arguing against abiogenesis when he himself used improbability in a prior chapter to argue that various different kinds of great apes couldn't have ended up with the same endoscopic retrovirus in the exact same place in their genomes by mere happenstance. Was that not a "Gee Wiz" improbability argument?
Overall, I think this is a great book and I would highly recommend. As someone who was once a convinced ID Proponent, I can attest that he accurately represents young earth creationist and Intelligent Design claims accurately, with the exception of that semi-final chapter. I recommend this book to Christians and non-Christians alike. Evolution is not an arrow through the heart of God. Evolution is not a good argument for atheism. Evolution is not cause for throwing out The Bible. If it happened, it was a God thing.
In the case of the latter, Yilmaz presented a very powerful case for macro evolution and responded to many of the rebuttals special creationists typically raise in response to that evidence. Furthermore, Yilmaz had read a ton of Intelligent Design material prior to his becoming a proponent of evolution, and in fact used to be an ID proponent himself. This puts Yilmaz in an excellent position to have knowledge of the arguments and counter-arguments on both sides. I must say, I've been on the fence between Old Earth Creationism and Evolutionary Creationism for a while now. Yilmaz' case was so strong that if I fall off the fence, his book will most likely be the deciding factor. Aron R Yimlaz brought up evidence for common ancestry that I had never even heard before, such as Avatisms and Endoscopic Retroviruses. I kept thinking in the back of my mind, "These seem like powerful arguments for common ancestry. Why have they not been discussed in the ID literature? Even if they gave bad responses, one would expect responses to at least be present" Moreover, he addresses the ludicrous "It's an atheist conspiracy" line of thinking that I've seen prevalent in YEC and ID literature such as Lee Strobel's "The Case For A Creator" and Frank Turek's "I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist", and in movies such as "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". I myself used to hold to this line of thinking, but Yilmaz has shown me how absurd it is. He shows statistics that 99% of scientists accept Darwin's theory and yet around of them are also theists (whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or what have you), so if the wide acceptance of Darwinism were founded on wanting to explain life without God, why would so many theistic scientists embrace it?
I was a little disappointed with the semi-final chapter, where Yilmaz attacks Irreducible Complexity and Specified Complexity. I've read Behe's and Dembski's work and it was apparent that Yilmaz did not understand the logic undergirding their inferences to design, and invalidly accused them of committing logical fallacies that I don't think they committed. He also seemed to contradict himself when he criticized William Dembski and Stephen Meyer for using improbabilities in arguing against abiogenesis when he himself used improbability in a prior chapter to argue that various different kinds of great apes couldn't have ended up with the same endoscopic retrovirus in the exact same place in their genomes by mere happenstance. Was that not a "Gee Wiz" improbability argument?
Overall, I think this is a great book and I would highly recommend. As someone who was once a convinced ID Proponent, I can attest that he accurately represents young earth creationist and Intelligent Design claims accurately, with the exception of that semi-final chapter. I recommend this book to Christians and non-Christians alike. Evolution is not an arrow through the heart of God. Evolution is not a good argument for atheism. Evolution is not cause for throwing out The Bible. If it happened, it was a God thing.
January 29, 2019
Yes
Because it makes sense,gives God the glory and opens human minds to the truth that God works through his own science and then we can study and apply the understanding we receive.
Because it makes sense,gives God the glory and opens human minds to the truth that God works through his own science and then we can study and apply the understanding we receive.
August 26, 2018
The full title of the book is, Deliver Us from Evolution? A Christian Biologist's In-Depth Look at the Evidence Reveals a Surprising Harmony Between Science and God. As you might have guessed Yilmaz's audience are evangelical Christians. Indeed Yilmaz has a heart to talk to his fellow believer about the topics of young earth creationism, intelligent design, and biological evolution. He attempts to reason and even pleads with them to consider the arguments he outlines in his book.
The work is divided into three sections: the nature of science and scripture, the evidence for an old earth, and evidence for evolution.
The first section Yilmaz argues why Christian beliefs and science do not have to be at odds. He discusses how one can approach the Bible and their faith on the one hand and science on the other and find a way to integrate them. He doesn't think there are necessarily easy answers and that the believer will have to work and struggle through the theological and scientific issues to get there. The second section, the shortest of the three, on the age of the Earth packs in a lot of information and gives many endnotes so that the reader can do further research without the text becoming too complicated. The section on evolution is straight and to the point, again packing in a lot of information and giving many notes for further research.
This is one of the better short books on the topic of young and old earth creationism, intelligent design, and evolution. Yilmaz does a great job showing some of the strongest evidence for the great age of the Earth and for biological evolution and shows how and why the many ad hoc claims of YEC and ID are simply not adequate.
I will have to say that from my own experience as a former young earth creation/ID proponent and as one who engages with those who still hold to those beliefs, one of the things that I've noticed is that the biggest hurdles to acceptance of evolution tends to be more theological rather than scientific. Although Yilmaz does deal with how one can approach the Bible and faith and integrate them with science and how to think about some of those theological issues, I suspect that most will not be convinced. There are many reasons for this that go beyond this book review. It takes someone who is willing to reconsider how they see the world and most people aren't prepared to do that.
On a side note the author contacted me last year (2017) requesting that I read his book. Unfortunately I put it to the side to get to later. This is a great book and I wished I had read it earlier.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in these topics, especially evangelical believers.
The work is divided into three sections: the nature of science and scripture, the evidence for an old earth, and evidence for evolution.
The first section Yilmaz argues why Christian beliefs and science do not have to be at odds. He discusses how one can approach the Bible and their faith on the one hand and science on the other and find a way to integrate them. He doesn't think there are necessarily easy answers and that the believer will have to work and struggle through the theological and scientific issues to get there. The second section, the shortest of the three, on the age of the Earth packs in a lot of information and gives many endnotes so that the reader can do further research without the text becoming too complicated. The section on evolution is straight and to the point, again packing in a lot of information and giving many notes for further research.
This is one of the better short books on the topic of young and old earth creationism, intelligent design, and evolution. Yilmaz does a great job showing some of the strongest evidence for the great age of the Earth and for biological evolution and shows how and why the many ad hoc claims of YEC and ID are simply not adequate.
I will have to say that from my own experience as a former young earth creation/ID proponent and as one who engages with those who still hold to those beliefs, one of the things that I've noticed is that the biggest hurdles to acceptance of evolution tends to be more theological rather than scientific. Although Yilmaz does deal with how one can approach the Bible and faith and integrate them with science and how to think about some of those theological issues, I suspect that most will not be convinced. There are many reasons for this that go beyond this book review. It takes someone who is willing to reconsider how they see the world and most people aren't prepared to do that.
On a side note the author contacted me last year (2017) requesting that I read his book. Unfortunately I put it to the side to get to later. This is a great book and I wished I had read it earlier.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in these topics, especially evangelical believers.
November 18, 2020
This book is written for a lay audience interested in this subject and has 3 parts. Part 1 discusses the nature of science and scripture. The author covers the nature of scripture, how to read and understand biblical genres, and concerns with biblical literalism.
Part 2 examines the evidence for an old earth. This section challenges young-earth claims about the age of the earth and Noah’s flood. The author describes senior organisms that are older than 6,000 – 10,000 years and ancient natural phenomena that reveal the age of the earth to be far older than 6,000 – 10,000 years.
Part 3 evaluates the evidence for evolution. This is one of the best overviews at a lay level of the evidence for evolution. The author looks at the similarities and predictions of common ancestry, vestigial features, endogenous retroviruses, mutations, information, atavisms, fossils, transitional/intermediate species, and more. The chapter on objections and Intelligent Design was particularly interesting.
The author really offers a comprehensive overview of each area, capturing essential points of the subjects. I especially appreciated his discussion of Intelligent Design and its continued failure to establish credibility. This would be an outstanding book for a youth pastor/leader, high school or university student encountering the scientific evidence, or an adult trying to reconcile their faith with modern science.
Part 2 examines the evidence for an old earth. This section challenges young-earth claims about the age of the earth and Noah’s flood. The author describes senior organisms that are older than 6,000 – 10,000 years and ancient natural phenomena that reveal the age of the earth to be far older than 6,000 – 10,000 years.
Part 3 evaluates the evidence for evolution. This is one of the best overviews at a lay level of the evidence for evolution. The author looks at the similarities and predictions of common ancestry, vestigial features, endogenous retroviruses, mutations, information, atavisms, fossils, transitional/intermediate species, and more. The chapter on objections and Intelligent Design was particularly interesting.
The author really offers a comprehensive overview of each area, capturing essential points of the subjects. I especially appreciated his discussion of Intelligent Design and its continued failure to establish credibility. This would be an outstanding book for a youth pastor/leader, high school or university student encountering the scientific evidence, or an adult trying to reconcile their faith with modern science.
June 23, 2019
Well wrotten
Written from the position of a person who used to be a creationist, a lot of the arguments didn't matter to me, as I am not a creationist.
What is done very well though, is summarising science and biology in a way that a lay person can understand and follow the argument.
Worth a read!
Written from the position of a person who used to be a creationist, a lot of the arguments didn't matter to me, as I am not a creationist.
What is done very well though, is summarising science and biology in a way that a lay person can understand and follow the argument.
Worth a read!
December 2, 2017
He writes a strong push back against YECers and IDers. He goes over many lines of evidence and asks how the other views can counter them. Already convinced, I still learned some things like the Italian lizard story amongst others. No technical science at all so easy to read for all.
June 27, 2020
I recommend this book. It is well written and has sound information.
July 24, 2022
Thoughtful and persuasive
Well written, thoughtful in its approach, solid in its arguments, a useful resource for all those who desire to fearlessly love God and love truth.
Well written, thoughtful in its approach, solid in its arguments, a useful resource for all those who desire to fearlessly love God and love truth.
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