Put on your party hat! Charles Darwin, author of The Origin of Species, and Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th President, were born 200 years ago on the same day—the 12th February.

Therefore, 2009 will be the year of celebrations for the separate and distinct influences these famous individuals have had on succeeding generations.

Cambridge University, Darwin's alma mater, leads the way by organizing dozens of lectures, film showings, tours, exhibitions, and workshops on Darwin. Altogether there will be at least 712 events in 45 countries celebrating his life and works.

While Lincoln was profoundly confident that a Supreme Being was guiding many of the events in his life, Darwin was making the case for "natural selection" to replace belief in a Creator.

Darwin admitted a weakness in his theory

Most of the Western nations have now adopted Darwin's philosophy, despite the evidence of serious errors in his conclusions. Yet, in The Origin of Species Darwin is very honest about there being inadequate evidence to fully support his theory.

One of the greatest deficiencies in Darwin's theory of evolution is the absence of intermediate varieties or transitional species in the geological record.

Darwin candidly acknowledged this.

He wrote: "But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? (The Origin of Species, 1st ed., ch. VI, p. 171).

Darwin also admitted, "If numerous species, belonging to the same genera or families, have really started into life all at once, the fact would be fatal to the theory of descent with slow modification through natural selection" (p. 302, emphasis added)

Notice Darwin's answer for the missing transitional evidence: "The explanation lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record" (p. 280).

His conclusion was that since no available evidence supports his theory the evidence that is available is incomplete and over-rated! Yet, to this day no evidence of his supposedly missing intermediate links has ever been found in the actual geological record.

Lincoln's belief in God

Abraham Lincoln also drew conclusions from the evidence that he observed. I grew up in the Land of Lincoln and celebrate his historic leadership. A balcony on a large house where he sometimes gave speeches was only a few blocks from my childhood home.

In his Proclamation of a Day of Prayer, issued July 7, 1864, he argued, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

In his farewell address in Springfield, Illinois, as he was about to leave the state to become president during a time of national crisis, Lincoln said, "Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, and I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

In the years after Lincoln and Darwin's time it was Darwin's theory that won support in the political and academic circles. The next century became the most bloody and violent in all history. Wars killed and maimed possibly more humans between the years of 1900 and 2000 than in all earlier human history combined.

Ancient King David's perspective

The patterns Lincoln saw and commented on were also noticeable in ancient Israel. Over three thousand years ago that nation's King David wrote, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good" (Psalms 14:1).

Who is right, Lincoln and David or Darwin?

That's the challenge these conflicting perspectives present!

Get the facts! Request, download or read online our free, informative booklet, Creation or Evolution, Does It Really Matter What You Believe?

 

Charles Darwin: Evolution of a Man and His Ideas
Almost 150 years have passed since the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species launched a theological, philosophical and scientific revolution. Nearly everyone knows about the theory of evolution, but few know the man and motives behind it.

Lincoln: President and Prophet?
The Bible shaped Lincoln's thinking. His words echo those of the biblical prophets.