Roses are red, violets are blue,
I saw a sticker, that Darwin loves you?
Bumper stickers have always amused me. Some clever, some controversial, some political, some simply helping hold the bumper on the dilapidated car. I was on the way home from church on Sunday, and was “blessed” to see a bumper sticker that said “Darwin loves you.” That one was a new one for me. How can you say someone that I have never had a relationship with and who has never done anything for me possibly really love me? This is someone whose unproven “theories” have shaped “modern” scientific thinking in a negative way for decades. I also had trouble understanding why someone would be motivated to go buy a sticker like this and put it on their car.
When googling this bumper sticker, I found some interesting things. Apparently there is a book by George Levine called “Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection and the Re-enchantment of the World” in which he talks about the bumper stickers of Christians putting fish on their cars and then atheists putting bigger fish (or reptiles) eating the smaller (Christian) fish. In his book, Levine tries to reframe Darwin’s theories as not a negative force, but according to one reviewer “makes a moving case for an enchanted secularism–a commitment to the value of the natural world and the human striving to understand it.”
Even if Darwin’s theories were true, and even if Darwin was working to make the world a better place, it is still a logical stretch to say that he loves me (or you). When contrasting that to that reality that the maker of the universe (that Darwin is making his theories about), who has communicated in a written word to us about the nature of love, Darwin’s “love” for us becomes of absolutely becomes of no consequence. We have to go no further than John 3:16 to see that God loved us enough to give his son Jesus, who by accepting Him, gives us eternal life with God forever. Rom. 5:8 tells us that it was while we were sinners Christ died for us.
In his last words to his disciples before his crucifixion, Jesus said this to his followers in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jesus, not Darwin, loves us, as he gave himself for us. Matt. 20:28 says “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” That is love.
So, on this Valentine’s day, how should we live and love? Like Christ did. John 15:12 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” Love everyone. Even those with bumper stickers you don’t agree with.
Seems to me that anyone who believes in the theory that implies feelings don’t exist because we are a random mixture of chemicals that somehow makes a human being shouldn’t be claiming that the founder “feels” or “acts” on a motivating factor. They’ve defeated themselves there. And love is often action before feeling. Jesus was often disappointed in his disciples and other people, but still loved us and gave himself for us. I struggle with giving myself as a living sacrifice to God to use, yet Jesus gave himself as a dying sacrifice. I can’t match that, and I don’t have to. Gal. 2:20-21 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
A thought-provoking post, for sure. There is a really funny video by Tim Hawkins where he makes a parody of “Jesus Loves Me” and turns it into all about the theory of evolution and Charles Darwin. Funny that you should mention him in your post!
I think that iollowing Christ is all about sacrifice and love. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a “living sacrifice”. Likewise, 1 Corinthians 13, affectionately known as the love chapter, tells us that if we give our bodies to be burned, but don’t have love, we are nothing. I also think that love can take a variety of forms. Love may be accepting someone who is different than you. Love may be giving -passion to someone when they won’t in turn give it to you. Just some thoughts. Great post!!
Admittedly, when first reading this, I did not feel very loving toward whoever owned that bumper sticker. In fact, this whole past year, and this insane election cycle, has revealed to me just how hard it is to love other people that I don’t agree with in the slightest. Living in the Christian community bubble that is Cedarville makes it easy to love the people around you: they’re your family. But on November 9th when reading about all the protests and responses to Trump’s election, I noticed my first reaction was bemusement and looking down upon those that were so upset. It wasn’t until a conversation I had with a good friend later that really put things in perspective: that those people, angry and childish they may be, are lost, and desperately need love and hope. It revealed to me just how loving I must be toward the lost, and how I have failed to do so in the past.
Thank you for the thought and reflection provoking post Dr. O!
This is intriguing to me. Lately there has been a lot of talk and thoughts of integral desires that man has. One of those desires is a desire to love and be loved. Humans have a natural inclination to both care about someone or something and be cared about in return. We can see this multiple place in the world but the one described above is new to me. It seems to me that whoever had this sticker and whoever wrote that book recognized that an evolutionary worldview does not satisfy their desire to be loved and tried to fit it in by illogical conclusions from Darwin’s speculations. When I read this I did not feel angry but rather sad. The reality is that our desire to love and be loved can only be fully satisfied in God and to see other people looking to fulfill it elsewhere should cause us to take action to show the truth. please don’t read this as some sort of pharisaical declaration of “woe is them”. The fact is people are looking to fulfill these desires and they can be fulfilled, and fulfilled rightly, in Christ. When we see people looking elsewhere we should have compassion and take action for Gods glory and the good of the other person. People need God to be made whole and when they don’t have Him they put parts of Him into whatever worldview they have.