I think it's a good time to come clean
I believe in the creation of all things by God from nothing. I do not believe that our origins lie in a process of evolution through natural selection, whether or not guided by God.
I also think the earth is much less than billions of years old, though I don't know how old. I suspect that nobody yet does.
I consider that God made the world in six days, each day being roughly a day in length.
I have always thought like that. Through my A level Biology course. Our Botany teacher helpfully discussed the issue with us and told us of his engagement with it over the years - he had come down finally on the side of creation. Through my degree course in Biology, where we studied genetics and population drift. Before and after my Christian commitment.
To begin with I rejected evolution because it didn't make sense to me. Everything degrades and decays. Why would life go in the other direction spontaneously and by accident? We see a massive loss of genetic diversity all the time as species are competed out of existence. Why believe that this same struggle for survival as a result of competition gave rise to diversity? I studied ecology and read of man's destructive influence in the world. But if man is just another species, then so what? Who cares?
Later on I rejected evolution because of my commitment to Jesus Christ, and especially to his death and resurrection and the reason behind it. Paul puts it best, of course. 1 Corinthians 15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
Some Christians say that they believe that God created by means of evolution. So death did not come through a man, did it? Man came through death. Death cannot be the last enemy, can it? It is the creative power through which God made all this wonderful diversity we see today. Death cannot be the wages of sin, can it? It's a wonderful, positive thing, death!
All accounts of our origins pose us with huge mental puzzles. Belief in Biblical creation does too. The Bible doesn't answer all our questions. It doesn't claim to.
But neither does the concept of our existence coming from nothing, spontaneously, by accident.
http://www.boundlessline.org/2007/06/jesus_was_not_a.html
I also think the earth is much less than billions of years old, though I don't know how old. I suspect that nobody yet does.
I consider that God made the world in six days, each day being roughly a day in length.
I have always thought like that. Through my A level Biology course. Our Botany teacher helpfully discussed the issue with us and told us of his engagement with it over the years - he had come down finally on the side of creation. Through my degree course in Biology, where we studied genetics and population drift. Before and after my Christian commitment.
To begin with I rejected evolution because it didn't make sense to me. Everything degrades and decays. Why would life go in the other direction spontaneously and by accident? We see a massive loss of genetic diversity all the time as species are competed out of existence. Why believe that this same struggle for survival as a result of competition gave rise to diversity? I studied ecology and read of man's destructive influence in the world. But if man is just another species, then so what? Who cares?
Later on I rejected evolution because of my commitment to Jesus Christ, and especially to his death and resurrection and the reason behind it. Paul puts it best, of course. 1 Corinthians 15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
Some Christians say that they believe that God created by means of evolution. So death did not come through a man, did it? Man came through death. Death cannot be the last enemy, can it? It is the creative power through which God made all this wonderful diversity we see today. Death cannot be the wages of sin, can it? It's a wonderful, positive thing, death!
All accounts of our origins pose us with huge mental puzzles. Belief in Biblical creation does too. The Bible doesn't answer all our questions. It doesn't claim to.
But neither does the concept of our existence coming from nothing, spontaneously, by accident.
http://www.boundlessline.org/2007/06/jesus_was_not_a.html
Comments
I saw in your blog profile that you have a degree in Biology. I was interested on what your take was in evolution, so I searched your blog, and found this entry.
Are you not letting your definition of evolution bleed over into theories of abiogenesis?
After all the Theory of Evolution makes no claims for origin of life, and only seeks to explain speciation.
Do you not think that evolution explains speciation very well, given the data in the fossil record and the DNA of existing species?
On the subject of creation, if you believe in a six day creation, do yo feel the Bible is accurate in its subsequent genealogies of humanity - Adam through Noah through Abraham? And if so, do you think the world is about 6 to 10 thousand years old?
I read that you thought it wasn't billions of years old, but that we couldn't be sure how old it is, but is 6-10000 in your ballpark?
However, although some Christians think that Darwinianism and its later forms (Neo-Darwinism, etc.) explain speciation very well, I don't. A fairly large part of my degree was concerned with population drift (that is, changes in the genetic make-up of populations of organisms) and with micro-evolution and (in theory) speciation.
The problem comes when you try to define a species. It is just not easy to find a definition that works. Hence the huge debates in taxonomy about "lumpers and splitters" and so on. It's all about trying to decide what a species is.
The fossil record shows immense variety in the past - amazing organisms that have become extinct. It would fit very well with a world created with amazing variety where decline and a struggle for survival has led to death, extinction and ... simplification.
Personally,I don't think that the genealogies were written up in the intention of allowing us to date the origin of mankind and I would not be at all surprised if they were not exhaustive. Accuracy and precision are different things. If I were describing my family's history I would talk a lot about my grand-dad who moved from Devon to South Wales, but my father who just stayed put would not get as much attention. His life was less remarkable for the purposes of tracing the family history. I might even leave him out and skip to my tribe and our migration to France. That would be just as accurate, but not as precise.
Not everyone would agree with me there, though. Some see the genealogies as useful evidence in working out the date of mankind's origin.
I don't know how old the earth is. I rather suspect that nobody does. If someone lined me up against the wall I'd suggest rather more than 10,000 years, though. I think the tracing of language and the simplification of the complex older structures would be useful in sorting that out - but it's a real reconstruction job.
What I think is that people of all persuasions - those who hold to the Theory of Evolution as well as those who do not - present their theories in far too doctrinaire a manner. Things are rarely as simple as folk make out !
A good place to discuss this further would be chez my friend Paul Fernandez - here's the address. http://exilefromgroggs.blogspot.com/
I had never before considered "species problem" and will read up on it. On first view tho I don't see that the problems of categorisation caused by the weirdeness of certain organisims would cause major divisions amongst biologists over the processes of evolution. But it is a fascinating area.
I find it intriguing that a biologist would favour creationism over evolution, but I'm in no position to criticise given that you have a degree in the subject!
Have you read any of the info on observed instances of speciation?
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html
I'll take a look at Fernandez's site.
I love the interwebs - so much to learn!