Late Night Philosophy

The Bible and Evolution

 (This entry was edited by synthetic on 05-30-01 @ 12:46 pm EDT)

I know that the Christian God is said to be perfect and can make no error, but don't you think that a man could make clerical errors and plot embellishment where God made none? Do you really think that if God told you the story of how He created the universe, that you'd understand it or could write it down in a way that would make sense? If you were God, would you fill the world full of incest? That last one is probably not appropriate, but I'll leave it in. The point is, God may be perfect, but we are not. I mean, God trying to tell an ancient person how the universe and man-kind came into being is like a nuclear scientist explaining sub-atomic theory to a retarded person. You can be sure they wouldn't get it. The scientist would have to dumb-down the explaination until it was something that could be easily understood. Is it so hard to beleive that God had to dumb-down the explaination so we could understand it? And would it also not follow that God would put the clues to the real truth around us so that we would eventually, when we are ready and able to comprehend it, discover what He truly meant? I mean, there is probably some truth in the Bible as to the origin of everything, but it is NOT and CANNOT be the whole truth. We have to find the truth for ourselves. Another way to think of it is like a teacher and a student. Does the teacher just spoon-feed you information? In a good school, the teacher gives you a basis to work upon, the tools you need, and the clues to make connections, and you discover the information for yourself and make use of it.

As for evolution, I decided which of the choices made more sense to me. The slow progression from stupidity to knowledge (like a baby to an adult) or the magical creation of life out of nothing. I mean, look around you! Everything evolves and improves itself on a daily baisis. You, yourself, evolved throughout your life. Did you start life as a fully-capable adult with all your knowledge at your fingertips? Of course you didn't. You started out as a baby, barely able to contain your own drool. Eventually, your body EVOLVED and developed to handle and process the information around you. If we are really made in the image of God and since evolution is part of your daily lives, then don't you think God meant for us to evolve from something else (just like you evolved from a baby (lesser form) to an adult (greater form))?

Not to mention the idea of automation. As a species, we can made machines that are almost completely automated. They can perform the same functions within their design limits. If we can create and automated machine, then it would follow that God can and did too. The universe is an automated machine (of sorts). It follows design paramaters and performs functions within its limits. Don't you think that maybe God just set everything motion (in essense, turning the machine on) and let the universe design itself? I understand that God is perfection, so couldn't He design a universe that operates independantly and will create His divine plan by itself? Wouldn't He want a place that is mature and ready for His children to occupy? Of course, I can't say what God was really thinking (Thinking in human terms, impossible). These are just ideas; considerations.