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GIVE IT A CHANCE YOU ACCEPTING AND LOVING CHRISTIANS
Concerning Evolution
By: Clay Griffith
Let me preface this by saying that this is simply an essay of opinion. If you should choose to read further that is your’ decision. This essay is nothing more than me expressing my opinions and views in type. You, as the thoughtful, intelligent, person that you are, must consider these arguments as opinions and then and only then form your own opinions from them. Lastly, I do not care what your opinion of my faith is so don’t even bother.
Let me start by giving you some background. As a young child my father who at the time was a policeman began to daily teach my brother and I of one of his favorite things, science. Nightly we would learn of chemistry, biology, and physics. Also as a young child, I became a Methodist. The mixture of these historically divided fields of study since the earliest stages of my life have helped me to develop the following views.
Most will argue that evolution and Christianity are polar opposites. In fact most will argue that if one claims to be a Christian and supports the theory of evolution then they need to reevaluate their faith and most importantly be “savedâ€Â. However, in my views this is not the case. After all I am a Christian-evolutionist.
Let’s consider an example. Generally, in nature the male of a species will compete with the other males of his species for the privilege of mating with a certain number of females with the sole goal of spreading his genes so that he may be continued into the future. Now in theory if this male is successful in competing with the other males many times his genes or traits will be continued in many offspring. Now, consider the bird. Many types of birds are known for their unique forms of attracting females. Some types attract by color, some by dance, and others by building nests. Now imagine a bird with small hands equipped with fingers at the ends of his wings. Imagine his astoundingly superior ability to build a nest over his competition. He is able to not only employ his beak and feet as the other birds do but he is also able to build with hands. Now imagine the bird-mansion that this small bird would be able to build and consider the amount of offspring he would create (all with hands of-course) with the many birdets that he would undoubtedly attract. Eventually, assuming that these offspring continue their father’s effect on the females, birds with hands would become common.
Now consider the traditional Christian view. In this case the bird with hands would never exist because birds with hands have not existed since the beginning of time.
Or have they?
I have physically existed for a little longer than 18 years. However, my soul or “life†has existed since “The Beginningâ€Â. This is a traditional Christian belief. God created me “In the Beginning†and my life on earth was begun in 1986. Therefore it is reasonable to say that God did in fact create me in the beginning but I came at the time he planned for me to come.
Now let’s return to the bird with hands. Considering my existence one will see that this bird with hands has always existed (for the sake of this example) and that just because it has not come does not mean it will not and does also not mean that God didn’t create it “In the Beginningâ€Â. To say that this is impossible is in my opinion slander on God’s divine power.
There are however a few things to take into consideration here. For one, drastic changes in anatomy such as this one do not happen in nature. Another is the possible argument that God created all species in the first days and that they have existed as a species since the beginning so therefore the assumption that birds with hands will appear on earth would be against God’s word.
Now we must examine these arguments.
First off, the bird with hands example is an exaggeration. The changes suggested would take place over many generations over many years. Likely the evolution, if you will, would start with simple stubs on a bird’s wings; basically small featherless bumps. As time progresses this bird’s offspring would gradually develop more and more advanced hands until an effective building tool would be created. The latter argument is a bit more complex for it does in fact refute many of my suggestions. In order for a person to comprehend evolution as part of creation they must see species as simple human classifications of animals that resemble each other physically and genetically. It is necessary to see each of God’s creations as individual. The bird with hands is after all a bird, just as I, a human with blue eyes am a human. Evolution is just this. The part that angers many Christians is the statement that humans evolved from monkeys which, if read literally, gives the image of a female monkey giving birth to Adam, the biblical first man. However, if this scenario is considered in depth as the bird with hands was, it is reasonable to guess that over many years the monkey would become more and more human of for no other reason than to survive. You might think of this as adaptation over many years which is in fact the basis of evolution. Might God have actually created all life in those first days just as an artist creates his piece long before it is made for the world to see? After all aren’t all things possible through God?
Now I’d like to address another assumption I once heard an agnostic state. He declared that if a baby human were cloned, that would be evidence of the falseness of creationism. Many evolutionists likely agree with this assumption simply because if humans “created†life then this would conquer the belief that God is the only means of creating life. However, like the case of evolution, the cloning of a human could be explained. Instead of a body being created in the traditional way of sexual reproduction it would be created in a laboratory. Either way God would still be the sender of the soul. And after all, cloning as it is today, still must use an existing entity to create a new one. However if future developments in biological engineering were to occur that would eliminate the need for pre-existing life, or if scientist were to construct totally new beings, not mere clones with a few extra parts, who’s to say that God wasn’t the one to actually create that life? Don’t most Christians believe that God is the initial creator of all things? And isn’t it reasonable to these Christians to believe that if a man were to build a car, it is still initially God’s creation?
The days of Christians being forced to naïveté in order to adhere to the teachings of the Bible must end. If we as Christians can open our minds to the logic of science without fearing betrayal to our faith we will be able to better understand our creation and hopefully finally realize the logic of our faith.
GOD BLESS
OH AND YEAH THIS IS MY VERY FIRST POST SO IF YOU THINK I SHOULD JUST SHUT UP, PLEASE SAY SO.
Concerning Evolution
By: Clay Griffith
Let me preface this by saying that this is simply an essay of opinion. If you should choose to read further that is your’ decision. This essay is nothing more than me expressing my opinions and views in type. You, as the thoughtful, intelligent, person that you are, must consider these arguments as opinions and then and only then form your own opinions from them. Lastly, I do not care what your opinion of my faith is so don’t even bother.
Let me start by giving you some background. As a young child my father who at the time was a policeman began to daily teach my brother and I of one of his favorite things, science. Nightly we would learn of chemistry, biology, and physics. Also as a young child, I became a Methodist. The mixture of these historically divided fields of study since the earliest stages of my life have helped me to develop the following views.
Most will argue that evolution and Christianity are polar opposites. In fact most will argue that if one claims to be a Christian and supports the theory of evolution then they need to reevaluate their faith and most importantly be “savedâ€Â. However, in my views this is not the case. After all I am a Christian-evolutionist.
Let’s consider an example. Generally, in nature the male of a species will compete with the other males of his species for the privilege of mating with a certain number of females with the sole goal of spreading his genes so that he may be continued into the future. Now in theory if this male is successful in competing with the other males many times his genes or traits will be continued in many offspring. Now, consider the bird. Many types of birds are known for their unique forms of attracting females. Some types attract by color, some by dance, and others by building nests. Now imagine a bird with small hands equipped with fingers at the ends of his wings. Imagine his astoundingly superior ability to build a nest over his competition. He is able to not only employ his beak and feet as the other birds do but he is also able to build with hands. Now imagine the bird-mansion that this small bird would be able to build and consider the amount of offspring he would create (all with hands of-course) with the many birdets that he would undoubtedly attract. Eventually, assuming that these offspring continue their father’s effect on the females, birds with hands would become common.
Now consider the traditional Christian view. In this case the bird with hands would never exist because birds with hands have not existed since the beginning of time.
Or have they?
I have physically existed for a little longer than 18 years. However, my soul or “life†has existed since “The Beginningâ€Â. This is a traditional Christian belief. God created me “In the Beginning†and my life on earth was begun in 1986. Therefore it is reasonable to say that God did in fact create me in the beginning but I came at the time he planned for me to come.
Now let’s return to the bird with hands. Considering my existence one will see that this bird with hands has always existed (for the sake of this example) and that just because it has not come does not mean it will not and does also not mean that God didn’t create it “In the Beginningâ€Â. To say that this is impossible is in my opinion slander on God’s divine power.
There are however a few things to take into consideration here. For one, drastic changes in anatomy such as this one do not happen in nature. Another is the possible argument that God created all species in the first days and that they have existed as a species since the beginning so therefore the assumption that birds with hands will appear on earth would be against God’s word.
Now we must examine these arguments.
First off, the bird with hands example is an exaggeration. The changes suggested would take place over many generations over many years. Likely the evolution, if you will, would start with simple stubs on a bird’s wings; basically small featherless bumps. As time progresses this bird’s offspring would gradually develop more and more advanced hands until an effective building tool would be created. The latter argument is a bit more complex for it does in fact refute many of my suggestions. In order for a person to comprehend evolution as part of creation they must see species as simple human classifications of animals that resemble each other physically and genetically. It is necessary to see each of God’s creations as individual. The bird with hands is after all a bird, just as I, a human with blue eyes am a human. Evolution is just this. The part that angers many Christians is the statement that humans evolved from monkeys which, if read literally, gives the image of a female monkey giving birth to Adam, the biblical first man. However, if this scenario is considered in depth as the bird with hands was, it is reasonable to guess that over many years the monkey would become more and more human of for no other reason than to survive. You might think of this as adaptation over many years which is in fact the basis of evolution. Might God have actually created all life in those first days just as an artist creates his piece long before it is made for the world to see? After all aren’t all things possible through God?
Now I’d like to address another assumption I once heard an agnostic state. He declared that if a baby human were cloned, that would be evidence of the falseness of creationism. Many evolutionists likely agree with this assumption simply because if humans “created†life then this would conquer the belief that God is the only means of creating life. However, like the case of evolution, the cloning of a human could be explained. Instead of a body being created in the traditional way of sexual reproduction it would be created in a laboratory. Either way God would still be the sender of the soul. And after all, cloning as it is today, still must use an existing entity to create a new one. However if future developments in biological engineering were to occur that would eliminate the need for pre-existing life, or if scientist were to construct totally new beings, not mere clones with a few extra parts, who’s to say that God wasn’t the one to actually create that life? Don’t most Christians believe that God is the initial creator of all things? And isn’t it reasonable to these Christians to believe that if a man were to build a car, it is still initially God’s creation?
The days of Christians being forced to naïveté in order to adhere to the teachings of the Bible must end. If we as Christians can open our minds to the logic of science without fearing betrayal to our faith we will be able to better understand our creation and hopefully finally realize the logic of our faith.
GOD BLESS
OH AND YEAH THIS IS MY VERY FIRST POST SO IF YOU THINK I SHOULD JUST SHUT UP, PLEASE SAY SO.
: I think you should check out Maddox.xmission.com, particularly the hate mail section. You two would like eachother. I personally love Maddox so I sympathize with your request. And to my new friend The Barbarian, thankyou for the support man. I like that there are others out there that share an honest approach to logic and faith. That and maybe a sence of humor.