By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
Lesson Six of the Leadership Guide of the Global Methodist Church (GMC) outlines the denomination’s teaching about Creation.
The Guide is, at best, vague. Actually, it is close to the United Methodist Church’s (UMC’s) position that the GMC left. Specifically, it says the GMC “does not have specific statements about how God created the Earth and universe.
We do not take a specific position on whether God created our world in seven literal twenty-four-hour days, or seven periods or eras of time.
We leave it open to the study and understanding of our members to determine (if at all) the record of creation in the Bible is compatible with evolution.”
This position is close to identical to the denominations that have largely rejected belief in Biblical inspiration. In contrast, the conservative churches follow John Wesley’s teaching.
John Wesley’s Teaching on Creation
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, accepted a literal understanding of Genesis’ teaching on creation. He emphasized that God created humanity in His image as the pinnacle of His creation, with Adam being specifically formed from the earth and God’s breath.
Furthermore, “Nothing causes its own beginning. Wesley attributed the order of this universe to a first cause, namely, God. He asserted that a mindless chaotic beginning would not account for the order observed in the universe.”
Furthermore, Wesley held that God – “created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh. This meant that God’s creative activity primarily ceased on day seven. Wesley agreed with Bishop Ussher’s chronology that the creation was very recent, a mere 6,000 years old.” (John Wesley, 1872. The Works of John Wesley, 34 volumes. From Volume 2, page 407.)
Why This Issue Is Important
The importance of this issue is fourfold. As I have documented in my book, The Methodist Darwin Syndrome: Consequences of Adopting Darwinian Theology (Looking Glass River Publishing, Lansing, MI, 2021, 278 pages), the rejection of the creation account and acceptance of evolution was one of several major reasons why the UMC has declined in recent years.
Furthermore, as I document in my book, Darwinism is the Doorway to Atheism (Leafcutter Press, Southworth, WA, 2019), the acceptance of evolution is one of the major reasons why people reject Christianity and theism as well.
Surveys of why people believe in God reveal that a primary reason is the evidence of God’s creation of animal and plant life, and the natural world. Darwin, therefore, wanted to come up with another explanation for the physical creation.
Instead of God creating life, Darwinists proposed that the created world can be explained by mutations producing variety, which are selected by natural selection.
Darwin’s purpose in developing his theory of evolution was, in his words, to “murder God.” If Darwin were on the earth today, he would be amazed at how successful he was.
In Darwin’s day, virtually all naturalists accepted creationism. Today, 97 percent of all biology professors accept evolution as the means of life’s creation. This fact is a major reason explaining why atheism, embraced by the “religiously unaffiliated” or “the nones,” is the fastest-growing religion in the Western world.
Acceptance of evolutionism, as covered in my book Darwinism is the Doorway to Atheism (Leafcutter Press, Southworth, WA, 2019), is a major reason for leaving Christianity and accepting atheism.
Gallup polls tracking the percentage of Americans since 1982 who believe humans were created in their present form within the last 10,000 years show a steady downward trend. In 1999, 47% of Americans believed humans were created in their present form. By 2024, that figure had dropped to a new low of 37%.
The acceptance of evolution coincides with a rise in atheism. The percentage of Americans who believe humans evolved without God’s involvement has tripled since 1999, reaching a record high of 24% in 2024.
Furthermore, the younger generation is much less likely to accept creationism than are older Americans.
The secular worldview attempts to answer the questions of where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going when we die. Evolution teaches that we evolved from simpler life-forms, we are here to survive and reproduce, and when we die, we are gone forever. This is a secular religion.
Conversely, Christianity teaches that God created all life, that our purpose is to serve our Creator God and our fellow humans and to raise a family, and that our afterlife depends on our life in this world.
The answers to these religious questions should be central to church teaching. Unfortunately, many churches are derelict in this obligation.
People trained in science often have a problem accepting Genesis because they assume that evolution, defined as From Goo to You by Way of the Zoo (the title of a popular biology text), is supported by science. In fact, the evidence against evolution is overwhelming.
The evidence for the harm this worldview has caused, such as racism and Nazism, is also overwhelming. A major part of my speaking is covering this topic, which many people assume is controversial. In my over 400 presentations to church groups, all have gone very well.
I am not aware of a single person who was upset at my presentation. Though some churches may not officially accept young-Earth creation, many churchgoers accept this worldview.
In the end, the choice is between Jesus’ claim that he is the creator of all life and Darwin’s claim that Jesus is wrong and Darwinism, that all life was created by mutations and natural selection plus time and chance, is correct.
Colossians 1:16: “For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him.”
Hebrews 1:2 identifies the Son through whom God “made the universe and everything in it,” Exodus 20:11. “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.” The Quran teaching is almost word-for-word identical.
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Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology for over 40 years at several colleges and universities including Bowling Green State University, Medical College of Ohio where he was a research associate in experimental pathology, and The University of Toledo. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. He has over 1,800 publications in 12 languages and 60 books and monographs. His books and textbooks that include chapters that he authored are in over 1,500 college libraries in 27 countries. All 60 of Bergman’s books are on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other bookstores.