Dr. Cecil Sherman on Evolution

by Keith Ninomiya                                                                                             Vol. XIII, No. 5, May 2000

On January 19, 1975, Cecil Sherman preached a sermon on evolution at FBC-Asheville, NC, where he served as pastor, saying the following:

"Here is what I think: I think the theory of evolution is the best explanation for the way life appeared on this earth. It is an explanation of the process. It remains a theory, but the evidence is overwhelming. Science has built vast systems of thought on this theory. Nearly all medicine, archeology, geology, botany, and anthropology is built upon this theory. I hold to the theory of evolution for an explanation of the sequence or process by which life came to this planet.

"This sermon is really about the Bible, but I have gone into great detail about the theory of evolution, detail as sermons go. Why? So many people feel that the Bible is undone by the theory of evolution. Here is where the sermon becomes useful to devout people. Your Bible is not the answer to everything in life. If you want to get the right answers from the Bible, you have to ask religious questions. If you want the answer to scientific questions, you must ask a scientist. This limitation many Christians have never been willing to place upon the Bible. Christians have the answers to so many of the hard questions that life puts upon us, until we sometimes think that we have more answers than we do.

"You still have the best explanation for why we are in the mess we are in. Genesis 3 has the story of the fall of man. You know that story as the part about the apple, Eve, the serpent, Adam, and rebellion. This story is not literal, but this story is true. Genesis 3 is one of the most serious and important parts of the Bible. The human family will always be in trouble. We are always reliving the story that is told there. I do not believe the Bible because there really was a fruit tree, a serpent, Eve, and Adam. I believe the Bible because the Bible has told the story of me. I was born in innocence. I was given choice. I was tempted. Eve was there, for there is a social quality to all temptation . But the choice was mine. Satan was a presence in my fall ... just like the story said. I am in penalty. I have been tossed out of Eden. I do now earn my living by the sweat of my brow ... and I felt the curse. This is the story of my life. If you take away that story, I don't understand what is happening to me.

"What has evolution done to the Bible? Good has come from the theory. We know more clearly what nature is like. This helps, for we live in the environment that nature provides us. Limits have been put on preachers who claim too much for the Bible and for our religion ..."

[Comment: Dr. Sherman was the first National Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and now teaches at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (BTSR). Note how he draws an unnecessary and fictitious dichotomy between actual and symbolic truth. He does not address why God should not provide that the events described in Genesis be true both actually and symbolically. Sherman fails to address the statements of the more honest evolutionists that they interpret data from the perspective of materialism ... that is, they do NOT evaluate scientific evidence objectively but rather only allow themselves to consider purely materialistic explanations. Sherman does not believe the biblical account of the fall: no tree, Adam and Eve were not real people directly created by God, they did not eat of a forbidden tree.

Does any of this apply to Baptists in Virginia? Yes, certainly. The World Mission 3 budget track offered to churches by the Baptist General Assembly of Virginia sends no money whatsoever to the Southern Baptist Convention. Instead, all the money that goes to a national organization is sent to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the very organization formerly headed by Dr. Sherman and in which he remains influential. In turn, the CBF budget sends some of those dollars to the BTSR, the heretical seminary in Richmond where he now teaches. The World Missions 2 BGAV budget track (where your church is automatically placed unless you have specifically chosen a different route) sends only a hair over 12% of the dollars to the SBC; for example, the six SBC seminaries combined only receive a bit over 1% of WM2 dollars while BTSR gets over 9%!

Do you know how your church gives? Should it be donating its gifts more biblically? TCP]