Charles Darwin's Recantation
I just happened upon the following report of Darwin's last days and wanted to share it. The source is listed at the bottom of the following piece which I cut and pasted and changed in no way.
Darwin's Final Recantation
Lady Hope, who visited Charles Darwin during his last days on earth, has the following to say regarding his views on evolution towards the end of his life:
It was on a glorious Autumn afternoon when I was asked to go and sit with Charles Darwin. He was almost bedridden for some months before he died. Propped up with pillows, his features seemed to be lit up with pleasure as I entered the room. He waved his hand towards the window as he pointed out the beautiful sunset seen beyond, while in the other he held an open Bible which he was always studying.
"What are you reading now?" I asked.
"Hebrews," he answered, "still Hebrews. The Royal Book, I call it." Then he placed his fingers on certain passages and commented upon them.
I made some allusions to the strong opinions expressed by many unbelievers on the history of the creation and then their treatment of the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis. He seemed distressed, his fingers twitched nervously and a look of agony came across his face as he said, "I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything. And to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them." Then he paused and after a few more sentences on the holiness of God and the grandeur of this Book, looking at the Bible which he was holding tenderly at the time, he said:
"I have a summer house in the garden which holds about thirty people. It is over there (pointing through the open window). I want you very much to speak here. I know you read the Bible in the villages. Tomorrow afternoon I should like the servants on the place, some tenants and a few neighbors to gather there. Will you speak to them?"
"What shall I speak about?" I asked.
"Christ Jesus," he replied in a clear emphatic voice, adding in a lower tone, "and His salvation. Is not that the best theme? And then I want you to sing some hymns with them. You lead on your small instrument, do you not?"
The look of brightness on his face I shall never forget, for he added, "If you take the meeting at 3 o'clock this window will be opened and you will know that I am joining with the singing."
Quoted from the Bombay Guardian, 25th March 1916, by Prof. H. Enoch in Evolution or Creation (Union of Evangelical Students of India, P.O. Box 486, Madras 7, India, 1966), pp. 165-167.
Published by Pat Burroughs
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24 Comments
Post a CommentI have. It's called the Bible. People can dispute it all they like but nobody can prove it untrue. Those who don't believe it just don't understand it.
1. This story is suspicious for two reasons. First, It's a second hand account reported over 40 years after his death. Second, Darwin's own daughter never mentioned it and she was with him during his last days and when he died.
2. "What Darwin said" is irrelevant. You're using an arguement from authority. Something is not valid or invalid because "_________ said it". Darwin's theory is valid because in 150 years there has never been a seious challenge to it, every attempt to overturn it has failed and every new discovery strengthens its validity. Don't believe me, do the research for yourself.
To Chris,Well then i guess the theory of Gravity would have meant Jesus would have plunged inti the water then Eh! What a stupid answer you came up with you blow your own theory out of the water...oops i meant sunk it into the water hehe.
Thinking everyone else to be fools, Charles Darwin, in his early years,put forward his Theory of Evolution in order to 'explain' the origon of species.But did he really succeed?I should say he failed miscerably.
All speceis start their existence with/from a tiny speck of protoplasm. Can this protoplasm be created from non living things? Scintists claim to create protoplasm in the labotratory, but how? In the first place, the scintist who brings about the phenomena or the product is a living person.
Life can come only from life.
Next was it enough Darwin explained the origon of speceis alone? How about The Sun, the moon, the planets and the myriads of celestial beings? What or WHO kept them at the exact distances so that the seasonal cycles go on as per the set pattern thereby enhancing the species on earth survive successfully and reproduce their kind?
The Evolutiunists defy the creation described in the Bible(Genesis).Well let them not believe it.But I want them to
As the son of a minister, and a former pastor and theological student myself, I don't understand why Christians insist on such a literal interpretation of the bible. Even the early Christians didn't interpret the bible as literally as they do today. It not only hinders the spreading of the true message of the bible, but also causes countless social problems, conflicts etc. It almost reminds me of the early Jewish Christians in Paul's time who insisted that all the gentiles get circumcised as per the bible, thereby hindering the spread of the true message and turning countless people off of Christianity.
I am a Christian and I do not believe in Macro-evolution. However, I also don't believe we need made up stories to prove our God is the God of creation. Please before holding on to the idea that Darwin recanted his beliefs take a look at this wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hope about Elizabeth Hope. I do not believe Darwin recanted, but likewise I do not believe him dying still believing what the believed make our God any less powerful, or creation any less believable.
Darwin simply took Micro-evolution, which is real and true, and read too much into it.
If you would like to email me to discuss this more my email address is cking.photos@gmail.com
The theroy of evolution is unproven and will never stand up to scrutiny It is like trying to walk on air when the pull of gravity will cause you to plunge to your death. It is pathetic and if Darwin did not get saved on his death bed then on Judgement day he will have to stand before the God of Creation and explain his theroy to Him which would laughable if not so tragic. His theroy is sending all those who do not believe by faith that God created the heavens and the earth etc... to an ever enlarging hell not originally meant for people. How sad and tragic that almost 95% of todays scientists believe this Lie and the public school systems are pumping this lie into impressionable children's minds. Our only hope is for Jesus to take us out of here and that is one time when the pull of gravity will fail lol Thank God Amen to that.
Jack, to borrow your vernacular, if you want to further your ridiculous belief in the wild imaginings of a common man, do so without sullying the good name of the Creator who made your "brilliant scientists." You say "produce evidence of your god instead of attacking good men of science." The evidence of my GOD, not a god, are all around you. Consider just one major system of the human body and tell me how such complicated and ingenious workings could happen as a result of a big bang, or whatever malarky your "brilliant scientists" can come up with. You may have descended from a monkey, but I didn't. Tell me this, in your dying moments, to whom will you turn for comfort? None of your "brilliant scientists" will be able to help you, but God can, and He will, if you just ask Him.
This is a despicable attack on Darwin's good name and all his achievements. Ugly and patently false. "Lady Hope" deliberately spun this disgusting yarn to further her own cause, which was quite clearly to keep the likes of you in the Dark Ages for all of eternity. As for its truth, those in the scientific community have long held that it's about as believable as a man walking on water and later rising from the dead. In other words, it is a complete fabrication. If you want to further your ridiculous belief in the supernatural, do so without sullying the good names of our most brilliant scientists. Produce evidence of your god instead of attacking good men of science. Rely instead on your dim-witted apologists.
As I said, Jennifer, no one but God knows how old the earth is. The Bible says one day is as a thousand years with God, so He apparently didn't see a need to explain exactly when He created the world. It really doesn't concern me when it was created or even how. God created whatever was created in the way He saw fit to create it. And that's good enough for me.