Good News! You Don't Have To Choose Between God And Evolution!

informnotpersuade.com [domain reserved]

[8/30/03 Draft]

More specifically, you don't have to choose

between Christianity and evolution!

Many sincere Christians voice a conviction that one must make an either-or choice between God and avowedly godless evolution. However, a great many other Christians simply do not experience this choice as they work toward integrity in their personal Christian faith and living.

These equally devout Christians see and appreciate evolution as a God-created process and an integral and natural part of his Creation.

The purpose of this no-frills page is solely to briefly outline several different evolution-related perspectives held by Christian believers. The diversity in these perspectives derives in large measure from differences in how each Christian balances two considerations:

• understanding of the character, substance, and purpose of scripture
  
  
• information and insights gained through nature and the processes of science.

With that in mind, the following is offered to inform, not persuade, leaving the latter to the realm of your own heart, mind and inner illumination by the Spirit of the Creator himself.

No attempt is made to fully explore any of the topics to be discussed. There are advocates and detractors (some quite passionate!) for every perspective to be described, and pros and cons are readily accessible in virtually every medium of communication.

1. First, a Breakdown of "Evolution"

When the word "evolution" is used in the context of an either-God-or-evolution proposition, important distinctions among several different aspects of evolution are most often ignored. Instead, "evolution" is used as a collective term for all the concepts of evolution that are objectionable.

In actuality, it is helpful to consider three distinct evolution considerations. The way a thoughtful Christian responds to the subject of evolution is likely to be determined in large measure by a response to these three evolution-related considerations:

1. Microevolution - small changes in inheritable characteristics in any given kind of creature that occur from generation to generation, but not resulting in differences as great as between species.The strict biological definition of evolution is "a change in allele frequencies over time", an allele being one of two alternative forms of a gene responsible for inheritable traits such as eye color. When one speaks of a dominant or recessive gene, they are referring to an allele. Microevolution describes relatively minor change over a number of generations of inheritable characteristics (such as protective coloration and patterning) of a given creature kind. Microevolution is disputed by few if any Christians, though its range of "directions" (beneficial to detrimental) may be contended.
   
   
2. Macroevolution (Common Descent, speciation) - the idea that all living creatures are descended over millions of years from a common ancestor, and that the differences from species to species are the result of mutation, natural selection and other evolutionary processes and influences. Most people seem to associate the word "evolution" with the common descent. Distinctly different kinds (species) of creatures are the result of evolution along different developmental paths over long time periods. The common descent theory is often misrepresented in a statement like, "man descended from apes". The correct common descent model is much like a bush, with many branchings at various distances from a single root (and with humans and apes at the tips of two nearby branches). The common ancestor for similar creatures (e.g., apes and chimpanzees) is likely to have existed in the less remote past than for substantially different kinds (e.g., grasshopper and bat).
   
   
3. Origin of Man - the question whether man is a product of evolution (common descent) or special creation, body or spirit, ...or both - the essential man and how he came into being. There are several views among Christians dealing with the creation of man. The first in the list following is perhaps the most widely held view among Christians at large. Men of science, particularly those in the life and paleo-sciences, tend toward the third view.

   o Physical humans and spirits were uniquely and miraculously created as Adam and Eve in present human form.
   
   o Physical humans and spirits were created uniquely and miraculously, and may have continued to evolve to a lesser extent in parallel with other living things.
   
   o Physical humans evolved in common ancestry with other living things; the gift of the spirit was the unique "in the image of God" creation in man.
   
   o Physical humans evolved in common ancestry with other living things, in time developing a spiritual capacity and awareness as well.

2. A Range of Christian Perspectives Regarding Evolution

Fideism places heavy reliance on faith rather than reason (it is felt that reason corrupts revelation), eliminating any motivation to reconcile differences between a literal interpretation of Genesis and naturalistic explanations of origins. There is no place for evolution.

Creationism uses unique "Creation Science" to bring scientific observations into harmony with a literal Genesis creation account. God brought all living things into being through special (miraculous) creation within six twenty-four hour days. This creation occurred about 6-10,000 years ago, and the creatures were little different then from how we see them today. Creationism is usually synonymous with "young-earth" Creationism (YEC), vigorously rejecting evolution theory with the possible exception of microevolution. Such evolution is often thought to be only "downward", corrupting, moving away from the perfection of Creation.

Concordism comes in several variations, but the unifying premise is that it is possible to find harmony between scripture and the findings of science by proper interpretation and understanding of the Biblical texts. This contrasts with Creationism - a type of concordism - which seeks harmony by focusing on proper interpretation and understanding of scientific findings. In both cases, the Bible is authoritative and teaches truth, and science seeks truth as well so they must ultimately agree. Many concordists are comfortable with each day of creation corresponding to a long geological period and many consider evolution to be a God-created process. Some insert a long period before the days of creation (Gap Theory) in order to accommodate both an old earth and literal 24-hour days of creation.

Progressive Creation seeks to harmonize the Bible's description of God's agency in creation with the fossil evidence in nature which is accepted as old. It explains that evolution is "horizontal" (producing relatively minor changes), taking place between periodic bursts of direct creational activity by God. Diversity in life forms as the result of God's special creation of diverse "seed" life forms, which then develop in relatively minor ways via natural evolutionary processes.

Intelligent Design (ID) focuses on "irreducibly complex" structures in nature which are clearly unexplainable in terms of natural evolution. Accordingly, such structures are evidence of supernatural creative activity interspersed in an otherwise fairly orthodox evolution of living things. Evolution in this view is a God-created natural process, with God intervening from time to time to do physical creational things that are seen to be outside the capability of the natural world. Intelligent Design's distinctive idea (aside from the capitalization) is more like "intelligent intervention", not quite the same as the universal Christian belief in intelligent design of the universe and its life.

Theistic Evolution (Day-Age theory) generally accepts the perspectives of modern cosmology including the scientific views of evolution, which satisfactorily explain the diversity of life that exists today. This generally includes the evolution of man. The days in the Genesis creation are metaphoric, representing periods which may be millions of years in length (Day-Age). This is the view held by many Christians who work in the sciences, particularly the particularly relevant life- and paleo-sciences. Believers differ as to whether life at its beginnings was a special act of creation (biogenesis), or developed from inorganic resources through natural processes (abiogenesis). A common thread is that the truly unique "in the image of God" creative act in man was the gift of spirit or soul.

Fully-Gifted Creation views the universe as created and put into motion by God with every resource, process, and potentiality required to actualize every kind of physical structure and biological organism that has ever appeared in the universe's formational history, without any supernatural form-conferring intervention. This perspective does not rule out God's interacting (miraculously or otherwise) with creation and creature to accomplish his ultimate objectives (which may or may not directly involve the natural physical world). Evolution is not an issue, being seen as an integrated part of Creation.

3. A Final Note

If you carry away a new awareness that there are many, many thoughtful and devout Christians who share a conviction that evolution is not a god-less and wrong-minded concept, but a God-created and blessed process of nature through which a portion of his will and purposes are being worked out, then the objective of this small site has been met.

Again, the preceeding was offered to inform, not persuade, leaving the latter to the realm of your own heart, mind and inner illumination by the Spirit of the Creator himself. — Blessings!

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