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An International Missionary Outreach Dedicated to Evangelizing the Lost By Sharing The Gospel According to the Scriptures
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DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES
Commentary
by Roger Oakland
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My wife says that I can be a very confrontational person. When I am confronted with a serious problem or recognize a contradiction in someone’s reasoning, I just cannot let it go. A few years ago, while I was touring Westminster Abbey, a historic church in London England, a troubling issue came to light. I discovered that Charles Darwin, the famous promoter of evolution, was buried there. As I had read his autobiography, I knew what he believed about the Christian faith. Why was this man buried in a church, which claimed to be Christian, I wondered? This seemed ridiculous. Was there a way to find out?
I asked one of the guards at the door if he had an answer to the question, but he just shook his head and said “no.” However, he directed me to the Westminster Abbey library. I rang the buzzer next to a large wooden locked door. A voice over an intercom asked me what I wanted and then told me I could come in. As I walked through the door into the room, all I could see were shelves filled with old books. It looked as if no one was around. Finally, a man appeared from a second floor balcony and invited me to come upstairs. When I asked if he could tell me why Charles Darwin was buried in the Abbey, he went to a shelf, picked up a book called The Survival of Charles Darwin by Ronald W. Clark, and turned to page 196.
As I had
expected,
documentation
in this
book
revealed
Darwin
had not
been
buried
in
Westminster
Abbey
because
of his
great
love for
Jesus
Christ.
Following
his
death,
which
occurred
April
19,
1882,
his
family
planned
to bury
him in
the
cemetery
at Downe
where he
lived.[1]
But on
April
21,
twenty
members
of
Parliament,
including
Henry
Campbell
Bannerman,
the
future
prime
minister
of
England,
wrote
the Dean
of
Westminster,
Dr.
George
Granville
Bradley
and
stated
the
following:
“We hope
you will
not
think we
are
taking
the
liberty
if we
venture
to
suggest
that it
would be
acceptable
to a
very
large
number
of our
fellow-countrymen
of all
classes
and
opinions,
that out
illustrious
countryman,
Mr.
Darwin,
should
be
buried
in
Westminster
Abbey.”
[2]
Of
course,
the
burial
was
a
very
controversial
event.
By
the
time
of
his
death,
every
thinking
person
knew
the
impact
Darwin’s
theory
had
on a
belief
in
God,
the
fall
of
man,
and
the
need
for
a
Redeemer.
Darwin,
himself,
would
have
never
consented
to
being
buried
in
Westminster
Abby.
He
had
written
in
his
autobiography
that
believing
in
Jesus
Christ
was
a
“damnable
doctrine.”
Although
Charles
Darwin
may
have
been
considered
by
the
political
leaders
of
his
day
to
be
an
“illustrious
countryman,”
by
biblical
standards,
he
was
certainly
no
“saint.”
While
many
of
the
vaults
within
the
Abbey
are
inscribed
with
Scripture,
the
slab
over
Darwin’s
tomb
has
only
his
name,
date
of
birth,
and
date
of
death.
Perhaps
it
would
be
appropriate
to
add
an
additional
statement:
“Here
lies
Charles
Darwin.
Billions
of
people
have
rejected
the
Creator
because
of
his
contribution
to
society.
His
God
was
evolution.
Have
you
accepted
his
faith?”
I am
Roger
Oakland.
This
has
been
a
biblical
perspective
to
help
understand
the
times.
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