The Unknown Genesis

For 150 years Christians have fought like wet cats against the theory of evolution. But it’s been a futile “culture war” whose only victims are our own.

The other side doesn’t really lose anyone in the fray. They may have an intellectual or political stake, or have some ego investment in who wins each engagement, but beyond that, what’s for an “evolutionist” to lose should we persuade some of them to believe in God, even to become Christians? Few, if any, even give up their beliefs in science and evolution. The proof is in the thousands upon thousands of scientists who are Christians, but are relatively untroubled by the “great satan”, the theory/concept of evolution. The proof is in my own life. Losing my faith in evolution merely opened me up to gain faith in God. And the hope of eternity. But should I now lose my Faith in God because of …

When we lose a child, when one of our sons or daughters, or any of the millions of adult Christians, when one is persuaded that evolution is probably true we tend to really lose them! We have set this war up such that they are rarely able to believe in both God and evolution. Why is this so? Because we have done it again, we have put God in a box, defined Him by some preconceived beliefs of who and what He is, and how He created this universe (which we can never really know). It is something we’ve done with several paradigm shifts in science, no better example than the Galileo affair.

We have, for at least 150 years, insisted that we know just how God created life on this earth, all based upon a translation of Genesis that was put in print by a committee of scholars some four centuries ago! And the most amazing (or “sad” is a better word) part of this is, is that there is nothing in Genesis that actually tells us HOW the various parts of His creation came into being. We are merely told that He commanded they do come into being. That He was the author and designer of it all, and that Jesus was the one who actually executed his Father’s will (John 1:3)!

No, we have not been like Bereans in our practices. We have not, every day, reexamined the scriptures to see if we understand them rightly, and if what others (not just Paul) tell us that other testament, nature itself, might tell us about Him. We have not taken the precept of Romans 1: 18-20 to heart. Like the church of centuries past, we ignore the testimony of the natural creation and cling to ideas and interpretations of scriptures that date to times when no one had more than an inkling of the true extent and nature of the creation. Times before telescopes and microscopes, before we’d dug into our planet or escaped its gravity. Before science could reveal to us other possibilities for the interpretation of the simple ancient language and lexicon of the Hebrew. Times before we could, utilizing all the intellectual and cultural powers that God gave us, discover the fuller truth of Romans 1:18-20, discover how study of His creation could reveal the mysteries and deeper truths buried in the expanse of His immense universe, and the depths of the earth, and shadows of time in His scale.

Do you think Romans 1:18-20 was meant more for the lonely shepherd or wandering prophet of 100 AD, or for the scientists and theologians of 2000 AD? Which of them could most likely best discern “God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature … from what has been made (by Him)”?* I tell you the truth, many, if not most, of those scientists (about 40% of all scientists, and more among physicists and astronomers) have become believers because they have learned through science. I am convinced that the Romans 1 verse was really meant for this generation (if not my grandfathers!).
[*Source text: NIV]

Everything I have said here I know as truth by way of my own experience. I was once a scientist and taught evolution and evolutionary principles to my college students in a variety of subjects and applications. And I confess, to my great sorrow, I always tried to proselytize the young Christians. With all too much success.

There came a time when the zealotry of the “Evolutionists” turned me against them. There were too many unsolved problems with data and techniques, for me, to substantiate their claims for the theory, and I began to doubt. God took that as an opportunity to lead me to himself. Still a scientist, I soon insisted with equal (Berean-like) vigor that the Bible be tested and verified as the foundation of my faith. I could not see myself defining God for myself, as some are wont to do, but felt that it was vital the Bible remain the first and foremost source of our knowledge of God. As such, I was following the theory of inerrancy.

That lead to a crisis of faith. I could not reconcile Genesis 1 & 2, the Creation Account, with what I knew from my scientific knowledge and experience. Like many others of similar training and education that I knew, I tried ignoring those first chapters of the Bible. Which did not help me have confidence in the rest of the book! And that, I have found, is what happens to many a Christian. Stumbled from the beginning, the rest is very much put into doubt.

God took care of that, for me. I was “blessed” with an illness that sidelined me for several years, and I took the opportunity (and leading of the Spirit) to look into what the Hebrew language of the Scripture might really say. I spent two years conducting what I can only describe as a forensic investigation and analysis of Genesis, chapters 1 & 2 and a bit more. And I wrote a book on the process through which. I discovered just how unfounded our stand in this 150 year-old cultural war with evolution is.

Genesis does not describe creation but provides a historical outline of creation. Its more like an introductory chapter, or table of contents for a text book on creation. It gives us just a brief overview of the subject. In its time, that was enough. But in our time, we need more. And we get it! Like so much of the Bible, it prophesies. It tells us something that only we could appreciate. Only we can test and verify. Here’s the point: someone 3500 years ago could not possibly know or comprehend in any way what we know now in this time. If you read what I have shown the Hebrew texts can be understood to say, you can see that God did not bother to tell us the “how” of His creation (truth is, no one really thinks any of us are capable ever knowing or understanding that) but instead shows us that He was there, that He has seen it all, that He knew how the universe and the earth and life would proceed to develop in the future. Into our days. In that way, He turns Genesis into a testimony to the truth of Him and provides, Just as Romans says, another rock upon which we can found our beliefs!

Science has progressed much in the last decade or two. And I have come around to seriously considering the possibility that “evolution” is real. Almost all the gaps in the fossil record, which I once saw a woefully incomplete and woefully over-stated, have been filled. And genetic and anatomical evidence has shown the means and ways evolutionary processes could work. And I have come to realize that God, as the Author and Designer of all the laws of this material, dynamic entity we call “creation”, may well have chosen to utilize a process we call evolution. We know He did not create a plastic terrarium that merely cycles through time with nothing new, or nothing changing. We know that. And the creation clearly shows that He loves and enjoys endless change and variation, both in the cosmos and the web of life on this planet. No two roses are exactly the same. Who would want them to be? And every day we might find an entirely new blossom appear. Its part of what makes our rose garden exciting. And I am sure that we are only emulating Him. Sharing in His nature. So what better way to provide an endless supply of delightful variety and surprises than evolution?

At least I am sure God is not afraid of such a process. No more than the inventor of kaleidoscopes or lava lamps or disco balls would be afraid of them. So why are we? God is not diminished, nor is He bound by what we once thought about Him. We are the ones who must grow, and avoid giving our children such horrific choices, or ultimatums: evolution or God!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Bible & Science, Culture Wars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.