I remember when Mr. Fox was giving the lecture on evolution, he handed out a paper for us to take home and fill out. I took it home and filled it out. And I filled the margins with all my creationism arguments against evolution. I was a die-hard literal 6-day creationist, and evolution was the antichrist. When Mr. Fox saw it, he thanked me for my comments but made sure that I knew that I had to know the evolutionist's view of things for the test. I said, "Of course," and was proud that I had defended God.
Here's my confession. If I ran into Mr. Fox today, I would tell him, "I believe more in evolution than I do 6-day creationism."
They call it cognitive dissonance. It's humanity's inherent desire to ignore unpleasant facts. For too long I ignored the obvious facts that warred against my 6-day belief: the age of the universe, the fossil record, etc. I tried to explain them all away, but under my veil of 'facts' that proved the earth was young and such, I felt a certain discomfort, like I knew I was perverting the truth.
I have come to realize that if my faith in God is real, then science is not the enemy, but the ally. Science is wonderful. It is beautiful. And as a follower of Christ, I believe it is my mission in this world to explore and develop my intimacy with creation. And to me, this means understanding how it works--and how it all fell together.
I know evolution has holes. I know 6-day creationism has holes. I imagine the truth lies somewhere between.
Ironically, that which drew me into my 6-day belief was a misinterpretation of the scriptures. I believe that the beginning of Genesis is as symbolic and evocative as the middle-to-end of Revelation. The original readers/hearers of what we know as Genesis 1 would not have seen it as literal, but rather as proof that however it happened, God was at the center of it.
And even science can't deny that.
Here's my confession. If I ran into Mr. Fox today, I would tell him, "I believe more in evolution than I do 6-day creationism."
They call it cognitive dissonance. It's humanity's inherent desire to ignore unpleasant facts. For too long I ignored the obvious facts that warred against my 6-day belief: the age of the universe, the fossil record, etc. I tried to explain them all away, but under my veil of 'facts' that proved the earth was young and such, I felt a certain discomfort, like I knew I was perverting the truth.
I have come to realize that if my faith in God is real, then science is not the enemy, but the ally. Science is wonderful. It is beautiful. And as a follower of Christ, I believe it is my mission in this world to explore and develop my intimacy with creation. And to me, this means understanding how it works--and how it all fell together.
I know evolution has holes. I know 6-day creationism has holes. I imagine the truth lies somewhere between.
Ironically, that which drew me into my 6-day belief was a misinterpretation of the scriptures. I believe that the beginning of Genesis is as symbolic and evocative as the middle-to-end of Revelation. The original readers/hearers of what we know as Genesis 1 would not have seen it as literal, but rather as proof that however it happened, God was at the center of it.
And even science can't deny that.
4 comments:
Anthony if all is said, I believe in evolution much more than a literal 6 day creation. Don't get me wrong, i don't think we evolved from monkeys. but for us to put human time on God's creation is arguable. Evidently people don't think of the fact that our measure of days and time is based on the earth's rotation and orbit around the sun, both of which were not created until the third day. So how did we measure the first two days. certainly not by God's measure of time. He is beyond time. time is something that man needs and uses, not God.
Anyway, that's my two cents.
i am going to go back to my tree and eat a couple bananas now.
I love it when I ask Christians to account for the age of the earth - how there is no way it can be only 6,000 years old - and they counter with "Well, God just made the earth look old." Why in the world would He do that?
I am reading a book called "The Science of God", and the author talks about all that stuff. A very good book, I highly recommend it.
who is cslewisadmirer? sounds like someone i would like to have coffee with.
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