Some thoughts on faith and evolution
the marriage of which has been on my mind lately.I drew my own conclusions on this matter when I was about 9. I had been fascinated by paleontology since the age of 5, but had been told by my opinionated great aunt (Godresthersoul) I could not believe in the evolutionary science portrayed in those books and still be a good Christian. Geekily enough, it was during an episode of Doctor Who that I has my epiphany. It was the 5th Doctor episode "Four to Doomsday", and when Tegan ( was it Tegan) wanted to know why the megalomaniac frog alien guy wanted to go back to the beginning of time, The Doctor replies, "he thinks he'll meet himself. He thinks he's God". Ding! Though it may not have been the intent of the writers, but it was the first time I had been presented with that concept- God there at the time of the Big Bang, rather then a literal interpretation of the Genesis account. Of course, countless Great Thinkers had come to that conclusion before me, but remember where I grew up. From there, I was able to smoothly integrate my faith and science.
So the issue has come up recently from several fronts. Darwin's 200th birthday approaches, and the Lutheran magazine had a wonderful article about how we as Lutherans can embrace the miracle of evolution, and celebrate Darwin's contribution ( wish I could link it to you, but you have to be a paying subscriber to view online. bah) I posted a similar article on my Facebook, which sparked some interesting discussions. This coincided with Matthew's confirmation class studying the Creation story in Genesis, with assigned discussion on whether you ( parents and student) believe in evolution, and if you, how you marry that to your faith. Matthew, Brian and I share very much the same view- the "days" in Genesis are not literal 24 hour periods, but eras/ epochs; The Bible is a religious book, not a science text, and should not be treated as one; science explains how, faith explains why. I was pleased to see the post class handout expressed much the same sentiments ( though it does not actually suggest whether one should or should not believe in evolution. Lutherans are very big on "read for yourself, decide for yourself)
I am sure I will be continuing my thoughts in this- I have placed many books on the subject on hold at the library, as I like to be an informed discusser of things.
posted by gojirama @ 2:03 PM
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