The Bishop’s Ridicule Backfired

THE date was 1860. At Oxford University, the British Association for the Advancement of Science was in session. Present were evolutionist Thomas H. Huxley and a bitter opponent of the theory, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. Wilberforce, however, spoiled his argument by making “an offensive personal inquiry about Huxley’s simian ancestry.”

Huxley recognized that Wilberforce had ruined his case. When he was called upon to make a reply, he said: “If . . . the question is put to me, would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence, and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion​—I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape.”

Wilberforce’s ridicule backfired. How much better it would have been for him to have heeded the Bible’s admonition: “A slave of the Lord does not need to fight, but needs to be gentle toward all, qualified to teach, . . . instructing with mildness those not favorably disposed.”​—2 Tim. 2:24, 25.

The true Christian has not only the inspired Word of God in proof of creation by an almighty, all-intelligent personal Creator, but also all the incontrovertible facts of the natural world to back up his unwavering belief in divine creation.