This year the world remembers two men whose impacts upon society are beyond measure. July 10th marks the 500th birthday of John Calvin. Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago on February 12th.
By any reckoning, both men are giants of history. But it would be difficult to find two men with more contrasting visions of life and its significance. Darwin wrote that the laws of nature, apart from God, can explain “the beneficent arrangement of the world.” Rejecting a sovereign Creator, Darwin argued that an evolutionary process in which the fittest survive produced the human race.
Calvin taught the existence of God and that all men are accountable to Him. A product of God’s creative work, humans are obligated to worship God their Creator, seeking forgiveness for their sins that are an offence to His holiness.
The consequences of a Darwinian worldview are abundant and devastating. If men are the products of time and chance, ultimately life has no meaning. There can be no moral absolutes because God doesn’t exist. People are free to follow their own whims, biases, and perversions. No one is in a position to condemn the lifestyle of others. Darwinian thinking thus leads to moral and spiritual chaos.
Conversely, Calvin emphasized that the moral absolutes of God’s character must be the standards of human society. We can condemn certain lifestyle choices because God does. As Creator, He sets the standard for His universe. Moreover, there is such a thing as sin that must be recognized and restrained by society. Our own republican representative government grew out of a Calvinistic mindset. Darwin’s followers became proponents of Marxism and totalitarianism.
Calvin has left a legacy of respect for human life, the family as defined by the Bible, and the necessity of society operating under the law of God. The fruit of Darwinism is moral relativism, leading to abortion on demand, racism, eugenics, and oppression of the helpless.
Thank God for Calvin!
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