Dear Trekker,
Oh, that word… evolution! As I was reading earlier this month news accounts of the “great” creation/evolution debate in Kentucky between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, amidst my inward chuckling, I said to myself, “I can no longer be silent.”
Such debate is literally a “no end proposition”! The first so-called law of thermodynamics (oddly enough, discovered by man, but nowhere to be found in Holy writ) states that neither matter nor energy can be created (by man) out of nothing, nor can either be completely eliminated or destroyed. The origin of either matter or energy is inexplicable; hence, it is not a stretch to conclude all matter and energy occurred by a force outside the universe. How or when all this initially occurred, you and I as trekkers in the Christ who was fully God and fully man (another conversation), even those who are avid evolutionists, know not nor can we know with any degree of accuracy or certainty. All we have is the profound beginning of God’s story… “in the beginning (how long ago is irrelevant) God created (how we are not told) the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1. That God did it is absolute and non-negotiable! But I don’t want to go too fast… let’s back up.
Appealing to my early, undergraduate years in philosophy, I must bring to the surface the name of René Descartes! If there is an author of the “great debate”, though he did so unwittingly, it would be Descartes, in my judgment. He set things in motion 500 years ago. French philosopher and mathematician, Descartes can be considered the father of modern, or Western, philosophy. Though a good Roman Catholic who insisted on the absolute freedom of God’s actions in creation, he laid the foundation for the school of rationalism in philosophic thought, which led in turn to the unprecedented growth of science, natural science particularly, for explanations of the universe.
As the so-called Enlightenment developed in Judeo-Christian Western Europe, unfortunately, the authority of God and straightforward statements of Holy Scripture concerning the nature of man and his place in the universe, were glossed over or not taken as seriously as they had been for hundreds of years, or were in fact, dismissed entirely. Only if God could be proven to exist, i.e. by scientific inquiry, would the enlightened believe. So… if one’s belief were to wane and God’s very existence were being questioned on many fronts, since one rationally cannot prove a negative, then “God doesn’t exist.” For sure, man alone will never “find” God; man has been found by God, his Creator, who pursues reconciliation with his creation.
Over the last 500 years, an anthropocentric (man created vs. God created) world has gained enormous momentum, even though about 50% of U.S. adults (according to Gallup) still believe “God created humans pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.” Appealing to my understanding of the subject, I recall some turmoil at my alma mater (Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL) 50 years ago between the science and Bible/philosophy sides of the campus. “Circumscribed evolution” was believed by some science professors; most Bible professors were quite suspicious of any evolutionary theories. At that time, I was heavily influenced by a book published in 1954 (its science now somewhat dated) entitled, “The Christian View of Science and Scripture” by Bernard Ramm. Ramm was then Director of Graduate Studies at Baylor University. “Ramm shows how 20th century evangelicals (in the main) have fought and lost their battle with science on too narrow a strip, deprecating and ridiculing apparently damaging empirical data, while they should have been developing a philosophy of science… (and) by grossly over-simplifying the complex questions of creation (not if but how) so that it is reduced to an either/or matter of instantaneous creation or atheistic developmentalism. Evangelicals (says Ramm) have forced themselves into a position where they have no recourse but to fight any development in any of the sciences, a position which virtually condemns the facts of science. (The publisher, Wm. B. Eerdmans, in their marketing commentary for the book.)
In my judgment… the age of the earth, whether all creation was completed in six 24 hour days, whether the flood in Genesis was local or global, etc. has little or nothing to do with evolution. The cosmos could be a trillion years old (or more) and spontaneous generation still could not have happened. Only the God who created the heavens, who began space and time, knows when and how He did it and continues “to do it”. The intramural squabbles among Christians (like I encountered at Wheaton College 50+ years ago) of the “how” and “when” should not be a part of the creation vs. evolution divide. Such a debate has to be more basic! Did or did not God create ex nihilo, out of nothing? You either believe it and incorporate science into such valid belief, or you don’t; but then one succumbs to the impossible task of explaining unique life origins without a Creator God.
Genesis 1 has no scientific language because the Bible is a story (God’s story) book of God’s love for the man He created. It pre-dates science. There are other very imaginative, picturesque passages. Perhaps II Peter 3:5-7 is most relevant: “But they (scoffers) deliberately forgot that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
Trekker, we must be focused on God and God alone. Let’s not force the Bible to be anything more than it is… God’s story of love and redemption. God as Creator explains not only the origin of matter and energy. Man made in His image allows the concept of design, of mind over matter, of beauty, of morality… yes, of science. But no science can prove an evolutionary theory of origins. And no science can prove creation… yet, with an open mind, one can see how science increasingly supports creation by a loving God.
We are more than a random collection of molecules. We are created in the image of God with a choice to believe or not. Belief has always been the linchpin of history. Choose God trekker; choose Jesus. Don’t be threatened by provocation trying to justify unbelief.
Focusing on a loving Creator/Redeemer,
Jim Meredith
