I often hear people say that we should not brainwash our
children with the gospel. So many people believe that this amounts to
indoctrination, which they say is harmful to children.
I disagree. For one thing, everybody “brainwashes” their
children, whether they realize it or not. The atheist, whether in words or
actions, teaches his children there is no God; the Muslim teaches his children
that there is no god but Allah, etc. Our upbringing helps shape our worldview.
A person’s worldview can change over time, but what he is exposed to in his
formative years will always be a part of who he becomes.
Now consider this: when a Darwinist (or anyone who believes
in evolution) says that a Creationist (or anyone who believes that God created
the world) should not brainwash his children and blind them to science, he is
actually being hypocritical. If anyone was brainwashed into a flawed way of
thinking, it was Charles Darwin.
Darwin’s paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a popular
thinker and scientist in his own right. Although he was deceased before Charles
was ever born, Erasmus greatly influenced Charles’ life, and he was a direct
influence for Charles’ book On the Origen
of Species.
Erasmus Darwin lived in a day when virtually everyone
believed in the biblical account of Creation, but he was skeptical. His
skepticism and observations led to his groundbreaking book Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, which was published in 1794.
This work, which gained worldwide fame and was translated into several
languages, was the first case for evolution ever written.
Zoonomia classified
different types of common diseases along with their prescribed ailments
(Erasmus’ son—Charles’ father—would later become a doctor). Among the diseases
that Erasmus listed: Superstitious Hope and Fear of Hell.
Aside from this obvious detestation of God and Scripture, Zoonomia also said, “[A]ll warm-blooded
animals have arisen from one living filament…with the power of acquiring new
parts…and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own
inherent activity, and of delivering down these improvements by generation to
its posterity, world without end[1].”
Fast-forward six decades, and Erasmus’ grandson is writing a
book that says almost the same thing. Charles wrote in his Autobiography that he was not influenced by Zoonomia, but this is hard to believe. Charles was studying for the
ministry in seminary, and had written that he felt God’s call to defend the
Scriptures. It is unlikely that his trip to the Galapagos Islands led to a
quick 180 in his life, without the aid of Zoonomia.
Consider that part of Charles Darwin’s life-changing
discovery was the different types of beaks among the finches in Galapagos, and
Erasmus had written something almost identical, noting that birds’ beaks vary
by climate.
In fact, On the Origen
of Species covers almost every topic addressed in Zoonomia.
Yet Charles maintained that Erasmus’ work did not influence
him. But notice what Charles did concede in his autobiography:
“[H]earing rather early in life such views maintained and
praised may have favoured my upholding them under a different form in my Origen of the Species[2].”
So an elderly Charles had no problem admitting that it was
being exposed to his grandfather’s theology at a young age that influenced him.
That motivates me all the more to teach children the Bible from a young age.
And it also bursts the bubble of the evolutionist that says
that it is dangerous for a child to be brainwashed by Christians. Their
precious founder was brainwashed by his grandfather.
So teach your children the Bible. Why would you ground them in math, grammar, and the arts, but withhold from them that which can save their soul?
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will
not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
[1]
Darwin, Erasmus, Zoonomia, or the Laws of
Organic Life, Thomas and Andrews, 2nd American Edition, volume
1, Boston, p.397
[2]
Darwin, Charles, Autobiography, taken
from The Darwin Compendium, p.1590
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