IN AN INTERVIEW A COLLEGE PROFESSOR RELATED THE FOLLOWING INCIDENT

     In my class one afternoon, the subject of evolution was under discussion, and I asked one of the young men to read from the textbook we were using.

     You know, of course, the gist of what he read - that man has gradually evolved through the centuries from one single cell to his present exhalted position.

     As the young man finished his reading and sat down, we were all electrified when one of the young ladies spoke up and said, “don't believe a single word of what Dwight just read!”  You would have to know the young lady to appreciate our surprise.  Without doubt she was the most self-effacing of anyone in the class.  I have seen her blush to the very roots of her hair when called upon to recite; so if the clock on the wall had suddenly voiced its disapproval of the Darwinian theory, I could scarcely have been more surprised than I was at her vigorous outburst of disapproval.

     When we were somewhat recovered from the shock this trumpet of no uncertain sound had produced, a titter ran through the class, which I instantly silenced.

     “I hope,” said I, “that we are all ladies and gentlemen, and this young lady has just as much right to her opinion as we have to ours.”  Addressing them I said, “Perhaps you will tell us why you do not believe what our textbook states.”  Without a moments hesitation, she replied, “Because I am a Christian.”

     “A Christian?” I exclaimed, scarcely believing my own ears.   “What's that got to do with it?  I believe it.  Don't you call me a Christian?”

     “Not if you believe that.  You can't possibly be if you really believe that.”

     That was the first time in my life that anyone had voiced a doubt as to my Christianity, and the girl's words cut me like a knife.

     “Upon whose authority do you dare to question the fact that I am a Christian?”  I asked with no slight show of resentment.

     “Upon the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself,” she answered without the slightest sign of her old-time nervousness and diffidence.

     “Show them to me,” I fairly yelled in my rage.

     “Before I do,” she replied, “tell me, please, who wrote the book of Genesis?”

     “Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch,” I said.  “What's that got to do with it?”

     “Search every line that Moses ever wrote, and you won't find one syllable that teaches evolution.  You can't possibly believe what Moses wrote and evolution too, for they are diametrically opposed.”

     “Moses taught that man was created in the image of god, and because of sin, fell from his high estate.  The only way he can be restored to fellowship is by means of the new birth.”

     “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  (John 3:3).

     “Those are the exact words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and these are also his words, found in John 5:45-47.  Listen to them carefully.”

     “Do not think that I will accuse you to the father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.   But if you believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”

     “You just told the class that you believe in evolution and in what Moses teaches at the same time, and the Lord Jesus Christ plainly states that if you do not accept Moses, neither can you accept him.  How can you be a Christian without believing Christ?”

     She surely had me cornered, and you can imagine what a relief it was to hear the bell announcing that our time was up.

    That night I couldn't sleep.  I just tumbled and tossed, thinking of that young lady.  You remember what we read in Acts 4:13?

     “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John...they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

 It was her boldness, coupled with the Scriptures, that I couldn't get over.  I knew that she had something that I didn't have, and, oh, how I longed for it!   So I commenced, for the first time in my life, really to read my Bible; and to save my life I couldn't find that I had a leg to stand on.   The only thing I had to my credit was church membership and social service.  And when I read Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,” I fell to my knees and begged Him for mercy; and, of course, I rose from my knees saved.

By Kenyon Palmer