Finland School Shootings: The Sad Evolution Connection

Finland School Shootings: The Sad Evolution Connection 

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, July 1, 2025 (Donate) 

“I am prepared to fight and die for my cause, . . . I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection. No, the truth is that I am just an animal, a human, an individual, a dissident . . . . It’s time to put NATURAL SELECTION & SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST back on tracks!”[1]

Sadly, these words were among the last things said before a self-proclaimed Social Darwinist took action in a shooting rampage in Jokela High School about 40 miles from Helsinki, Finland. At least eight people were reported killed by the student gunman named Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who had an online alias “Sturmgeist89,” in a tragic event that has shocked the country that sits in the far northern region of Europe.[2]

Image from Presentation Library

The Rise Of Evolution

Finland, like many other European nations, used to be very Christian in its culture. They still have a Nordic blue cross on the flag of their country. But over the years, evolutionism began to infiltrate in schools, universities and so on. Evolutionism is a religious view that denies that the Bible is God’s Word and that God is the final authority. Instead, the evolutionary religion has man as the supreme authority. Evolutionists have made clear the meaning of evolution:

“Christianity has fought, still fights, and will fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the son of god. Take away the meaning of his death. If Jesus was not the redeemer that died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing.”[3] 

And: 

“Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear . . . . There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.”[4]

In such a religion, if God is left out, then the only other option for supreme authority is mankind. If that is the case, then each person can determine what is right and wrong in his or her own eyes (Judges 17:6). In this little town in Finland, this is exactly what the gunman did, with no regard for human life.

Image from Presentation Library

In today’s culture there is a war over true history. This war is significant, since it deals with how people live their lives. The way people view their history affects how they live their life, i.e., their purpose, goals, and views of morality.

Mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, for example, lived his life believing evolution was true history, and therefore, it affected his theology (believing there was no God) and how he lived his life (without regard for other human life). Dahmer said:

“If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…”[5]

Fruits Of Evolution

This student professed to be a “Social Darwinist,” which is a fancy way of saying he held to the religion of evolution. Even his revealing quote that initiated this article confirms his evolutionary beliefs. And like Darwin, he felt some people were “unfit” to survive. Charles Darwin wrote:

“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes . . . will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian [Aborigine] and the gorilla.”[6]

Darwin was not afraid to admit that people may one day exterminate others. Many have applied his ideas on a grand scale and others are doing it on smaller scales.

Hitler, Marx, Stalin, And Others

Darwin’s teachings have influenced many in the past, such as Hitler, who tried to get Nazi Germany to conform to evolution. Sir Arthur Keith, a prominent British anthropologist (and evolutionists himself), pointed out that Hitler, based on his writings, was an evolutionist:

“The German Führer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.”[7]

Karl Marx, Pol Pot, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin—to name a few—avidly held to Darwinian evolution to justify their actions.

Now that evolution is being taught in most parts of the world, it is logical to assume this influence will sadly continue to bear more fruit. But after the fruit that was born by the Marxist teachings of Hitler and Stalin, can mankind afford more fruit like this?

School Shootings and Mass Murders in the US

School shootings in the US often now only invoke brief headlines because so many have occurred. Amish children were killed, and in a Cleveland-area school, a shooter opened fire killing four while cursing.[8] Few forget the evolutionary kids who made news in Columbine, where one of the two gunmen was even wearing a “natural selection” T-shirt while racing through the school shooting fellow classmates on April 20, 1999.[9]

Who Has A Right To Be Upset?

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by any shooting tragedy like this, though nothing can replace those they have lost. As Christians who hold that people are made in the image of God, there is a basis for the value of human life and for absolute morality.

If evolutionists are upset about this tragedy in Finland (or any other school shooting), then on what basis could they make a case to condemn it? On the basis of their materialistic beliefs, what they just observed was a random set of chemicals reacting with another random set of chemicals. Do evolutionists get upset with baking soda reacting with vinegar?

Often, however, even evolutionists are outraged by the school shootings, but in order for them to justify being outraged, they have borrowed from the Christian worldview to acknowledge that such things are wrong.

But the fact remains that these murderers were living a life consistent with the real teachings of atheistic evolutionism. Children catch on quickly and eventually put two and two together. When they are taught that there is no God, no right and wrong, people are animals, etc., then they may reason: “Why not kill or steal?” and so on. It is a logical connection.

Creationwise by Dan Lietha; Image from Presentation Library

So long as evolutionism is forced onto children (no God, people are animals, no right and wrong, etc.) and so long as they believe it and reject accountability to their Creator, then we can expect more of these types of gross and inappropriate actions.

Did God Make The World Full Of Suffering And Death?

In today’s culture, when news like this hits, one of the most common questions people ask is this: “If there really is a loving God, then why did he make the world like this?” It disheartens me to hear the wrong answer to this question—and Christians even, more often than not, are giving the wrong answer.

The answer is to death and suffering is simple. God didn’t make the world like this. He originally made it perfect (Genesis 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:4). There was no death, pain or suffering (Genesis 1:29–30). But due to man’s sin (Adam and Eve) against God, death and suffering entered into creation (Genesis 3). Death is the punishment for sin (Genesis 2:17). We all sin and fall short of God’s holiness and glory (Romans 5:12, 3:23). Thus, according to a holy and righteous God who gave us life to begin with, we all deserve death.

Yet God loved us enough to send His Son to die in our place to offer salvation and peace with God. John 3:16–17 says:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Image from Presentation Library

God truly is a loving God to have offered Himself a perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sin and to offer us the free gift of salvation. One day those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will experience a world where there is no longer any death or pain and where the tears will be wiped from our eyes by God Himself (Revelation 21:1–4). When we see sad news like this, it should be a reminder that sin is serious and has consequences, but in the same respect the good news of Jesus Christ can set us free from the eternal consequence of sin. When viewing the world’s history and life either through an evolutionary or biblical perspective, only the biblical view has any real hope.

If you don’t know that your sins are forgiven and you are reconciled to God, can I encourage you read the book of John (Link) in the New Testament part of the Bible.  And then turn from your sin, tell God you are sorry and that you gratefully trust in what Jesus did on the cross to pay for your sins.  Then find a church where the Bible is taught and believed as the authoritative Word of God.  

Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

Originally at Answers in Genesis; Edited; Republished by permission.

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[1] As reported by Sami Torma, “Seven killed at Finland School after YouTube Post,” Yahoo! News; “Finland School Gunman Dies,” AOL News; Anonymous [missionary in Finland], email message to author from a missionary that listed the shooters recent post in detail, November 7, 2007.

[2] Ibid.

[3] G. Richard Bozarth, “The Meaning of Evolution,” American Atheist, 20 Sept. 1979, p. 30.

[4] William B. Provine, Origins Research 16.1 (1994), p.9.

[5] Jeffrey Dahmer, interview with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC, Nov. 29, 1994.

[6] Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (New York: A.L. Burt, 1874, 2^nd ed.), p. 178.

[7] A. Keith, Evolution and Ethics, Putnam, NY, USA, 1947, p. 230.

[8] “Police: Suspended Boy Shoots 4 at Ohio School,” MSNBC, October 10, 2007.

[9] D. Catchpoole, How to build a bomb in the public school system, Creation 22(1) December 1999, p. 17.

Why Is There Death And Suffering?

Why Is There Death And Suffering?

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, June 7, 2025 (Donate)

We live in a broken world—marred with suffering, death, broken relationships, disasters, wars, famines, and diseases. People often ask, “will it ever end?”, “how did the world get like this?”, “why did God make the world like this?”

Image from Presentation Library

These are great questions—did you know that the Bible answers these questions? Let’s start with the last question first and work backwards.

Why Did God Make The World Like This?

The answer to this is quite simple—He didn’t. It’s a common misconception that God made the world full of all this evil and terrible things like suffering and death. God did not make it that way.

Instead, a perfect God of life made a perfect world at creation. A world with no death in it. That is what we expect from a perfect God.

God miraculously created all things in 6 days and rested on the seventh. This is not too hard for an all-powerful God. Consider upon the completion of Creation Week that God declared all things “very Good”.

·       Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:31, NKJV

Because God is perfect, we expect His works to be perfect—including the work of creation. Consider:

·       He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. Deuteronomy 32:4, NKJV

·       Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. James 1:17, NKJV

God didn’t make the world full of brokenness, pain, and sorrow. That now brings us to the next question.

How Did The World Get Like This?

Our perfect creation was short lived. In only the 3^rd chapter in the Bible, we read of the historical account that devasted everything. Our mutual ancestors rebelled against God and committed high treason against the God who create them.

Adam and Eve sinned against God defying His command not to eat from a particular tree. They elevated their own thoughts and actions to supersede what an all-powerful, just, and truthful God had commanded them. Instead of being holy and happy, they were now thrust into a world of sin (i.e., rebellion against God in thought, word, or deed) and misery.

God, being perfectly just, had to punishment mankind for their sin—the punishment for sin was death (consider Genesis 2:17 and 3:19).  Furthermore, the entire dominion of man had now fallen with a curse—animals and the ground itself!

Because of man’s sin, death and suffering now exists. It is the due punishment for our sin against God.

Now you might be thinking—why am I being punished for something Adam and Eve did? Get ready to have your mind blown—you and I were a part of that rebellion (Romans 5:12 and Hebrews 7:9-10) and we continue to sin in our own right (Romans 3:23). Adam lived 930 years and has one sin on record. You and I have more sins in one day that we can count!

We all deserve death for our sin (culminating in an eternal death where the wrath of God is on us. God is a God of life and death is like a parasite on good and life itself. God originally created the world "very good" (Genesis 1:31), meaning there was no death, disease, or suffering. For instance, man and animals were originally vegetarian (Genesis 1:29–30), and there was no predation, pain, suffering, violence, diseases, wars, or tornadoes and hurricanes.

The world changed due to sin and we are given a taste of what life is like without God and His blessings.

The Origin Of Death And Suffering

Death, and the associated anguish and pain and suffering, entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve. When they disobeyed God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:17; 3:6), they brought a curse upon all creation. This event, known as the Fall or the Curse or the Corruption, introduced death, suffering, disease, and decay into the world (Romans 5:12; Romans 8:20–22). From that point forward, all of creation was subjected to corruption because God is no longer sustaining it in a perfect state.

Take note that this view directly contradicts the false religious idea that millions of years of animal death and suffering existed before man. Accepting long ages (as in atheistic evolution or old-earth-syncretized-with-Christianity models) undermines the Gospel, because it puts death before sin. Death before sin is a huge theological problem for any old earth worldview that tries to mix the secular religious story of origins with the Bible.

If death came before sin, then death cannot be the penalty for sin but part of God’s “very good” and “perfect” creation, which undermines the whole reason Christ came to die! Christ died to take the infinite and eternal punishment for our sin—because Christ, who is the infinite and eternal God, was the one in a position to take the these eternal and infinite consequence for our sinful treason!

Human And Animal Death (e.g., Genesis 1:29-30)

Human death is both physical and spiritual. Adam’s sin brought physical death (the body returning to dust) and spiritual death (separation from God—unless we are saved will be an eternal separation with the wrath of God abiding on sinners in hell forever).

All people inherit a sin nature from Adam (called original sin) and are under the same sentence of death for our individual sins (Romans 5:12–19). Animal death and suffering are also a consequence of the Fall, though animals are not moral beings like man (e.g., they were cursed for their involvement in sin through the serpent and Satan’s use of it in Genesis 3). God’s original creation was free of carnivory, predation, and diseases; these came only after the Fall—with the majority of the fossil record being a testimony to the Flood. This now brings us to the first question!

Will It Ever End? Yes—The Solution Is To Receive Jesus Christ

Jesus the Christ or Messiah is the only solution to death and suffering (John 3:16-18, 14:6; Acts 4:12, Roman 10:6). Jesus, the infinite Son of God, came into the world to take the punishment we deserve brought by Adam’s sin.

By living a sinless life and dying on the cross, Jesus took the penalty for sin upon Himself (Isaiah 53:5–6; 1 Peter 2:24). His resurrection demonstrated victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 26).

Through repentance (truly being sorry for your sin) and faith in Jesus Christ—who He is, His death, burial and resurrection—one can receive eternal life, spiritual restoration, and the promise of a future where suffering, tears, death, famines, wars, and pain will be no more. Revelation 21:4 describes the new creation as a place where God will “wipe away every tear,” and “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.”

Again, God will make things new (a new heaven and a new earth) and perfect for an eternity of good and amazing things to which we can’t even comprehend on this side of heaven. God will one day restore creation to its original perfection (called Consummation).

This includes the removal of the curse and the reestablishment of a death-free, suffering-free world for those who are in Christ. The current suffering is temporary and will be replaced by eternal joy in God’s presence (Romans 8:18; Revelation 22:3).

Take hope in that. Those in Christ have passed from death to life (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14) and look forward to an eternity with loving and infinite God.