I'm sure that most of us have certain things that we don't talk about in certain groups. For me, one of those things has been rearing its ugly head lately, and I've been finding myself biting my tongue an awful lot over the last few days. This is particularly troubling because the groups that I've been in have been groups that I should feel free to speak my mind with. The major issue is that the topic in question is one of those hot-button topics that can really set individuals off.
In this case, I am speaking of the debate between evolution and creationism.
Let me lay out the scenarios: In the first, a fellow Christian and good friend of mine brought up people who believe in evolution in a tone that I would expect ordinarily reserved for, say, Michael Vick, immediately following that whole dog-fighting fiasco. The implication was that Christians should not believe in evolution. This was Friday night.
The second happened Sunday morning, during our church service. The pastor was delivering a sermon on hearing the voice of God. Towards the end of the sermon, he made some statements that basically said that, if you believed in evolution, you were essentially unable to hear God, because you were too busy listening to the World (which is a bad thing).
It appears to me that this is one of those things that (like so many things nowadays) has become completely politicized and polarizing. Christians feel that believing in evolution negates God's hand in the creation of, well, everything. Evolutionists feel that believing in God means that you have checked your brain at the door and have become a sheep. Therefore, you must be one or the other, with no room for gray area.
It's not so simple for me. See, I believe both. I have spent many clock cycles puzzling out how these two things can fit together and have reached a point where I feel very confident that God, in creating the Universe, also put everything that falls under the term "Science" into place - including *gasp* evolution. Evolution, physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. It all works, and I see His glory in all of it.
Sadly, I've been made to feel like a pariah by my "family", because I don't think that Science and Faith have to be mutually exclusive. I love God, but I refuse to be willfully ignorant of the things that I know to be true, just to fit into a mold.
I thought about outlining my personal belief system here, but I'm not sure it would do any good. It might actually do bad, if people are really that vehement about it. Depending on what feedback I get, I may write up another post about it. For now, I just wanted to vent a bit about how I've been feeling.
Update: I was able to talk to one of my other friends today, and he was able to talk me down from the proverbial ledge. Most helpful: I'm not alone in my beliefs, as well as some wise words about how to proceed from here. I'm extra double grateful to have some really grounded Christians to bounce my ideas off of.
good thoughts. Not all Christians throw out evolution as viable, and not all evolutionists throw faith out with the bath water either. I, for one, refuse to discount evolution just because it disagrees with Scripture. Scripture, by the way is not a science text book, so it is a mistake when fundamentalist Christian's do so, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteBe careful not to lump all Christians or evolutionists into opposite camps, to do so makes us just as judgemental as them.
If your interested I can send you some authors that are both Christian and evolutionists. Take heart brother, you are not alone on this planet. :)
CMF
The thing is that I don't think it does disagree with Scripture. It only does if you insist on a literal interpretation of the creation story. I can offer fair evidence a literal interpretation there. We can talk offline sometime, if you'd like.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand that not everyone is in one camp or the other. Obviously, as I am firmly in both. I know many that are also undecided. I was generalizing for both the sake of brevity and because of how I've been feeling lately.