As the early church grew in the Graeco-Roman world, the apostles and fathers preached to men who believed in evolution. In Athens, Paul encountered Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.¹ These and other early philosophers were also scientists. They observed the world and attempted to explain its nature and origin. They had many views on origins, all evolutionary.²

The Bible reveals to us various principles which God used in the creation through the Word; by will; from nothing (ex nihilo); spontaneously; through JESUS CHRIST. Let us examine one aspect, which is spoken of in Psalm 104:24. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom thou hast made them all: the earth is full of thy riches." We encounter these works, so wisely conceived, at every turn.

"And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness … so God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.' " Gen. 1:26-27.

An intriguing development in recent evolutionary thought has been the growing repudiation of neo-Darwinian orthodoxy (that is, the idea of slow and gradual evolution, accomplished by the mechanism of small random genetic mutations preserved by natural selection) in favor of the idea of rapid evolution caused by rapid environmental changes.