My husband is a scientist. Well, first, he is a Christian, and a fabulous
husband. But he is also a scientist. So everyone has to ask him about the
'creation vs. evolution' problem.
Trouble is, I don't SEE it as a problem. To me, it's really more of a
mystery than a problem.
This is a personal blog, so I'm going to share my personal thoughts, here, and not give a ton of references from books I've read or studies I've done. If you want those, email me and I'll fill you in. I just want to share my ideas.
The book of Genesis, indeed the entire Old Testament, was written at a time when keeping history was very different from what it is today. Today we want just the facts; no biases, no morality, nothing subjective thrown in. We want to make up our own minds about things and just have the facts to do this with. This is fine.
The Old Testament, however, was written at a time when keeping history had a bigger purpose. First of all, there was a point beyond the history itself. Histories were written to get a point across.
For example, Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Here's a huge problem if you want history to be exact facts. The two histories don't even match! But if you understand that there is a point beyond the story you see this:
1. God created everything.
2. God considered it good.
3. God made people to commune with Him. Since it is the first relationship mentioned, it is the most important.
4. God created people to commune with each other. Since the second relationship is husband/wife, it must be very important as well.
5. We are to take care of God's creation and enjoy it, not abuse it or neglect it.
There's a lot more there, including the sin problem (we brought it upon ourselves) but the idea here is that this ISN'T a story to tell us HOW God created, or WHEN or what He was thinking. Maybe God just took a bunch of dirt and said 'man' and man was. Maybe man wasn't what man is today...maybe we evolved, maybe we didn't. Here's my though...IT DOESN'T MATTER!
At least, it doesn't seem to matter to God. And how would we understand it if He DID explain it? I think (and this next statement I take from my dear hubby) the creation vs. evolution problem was invented by The Adversary to divide the church.
After giving it a great deal of thought, I can't see how it makes a difference in my life one way or the other. If I evolved from monkeys, I am still me today, here and now, created to worship and commune with God. If I evolved from a man very similar to my husband, I am still me today, here and now, created to worship and commune with God. It makes no difference to salvation, sin, forgiveness, peace, the need for food, shelter, and love...it makes no difference to my own existence or purpose, if there is such a thing.
Maybe for Christmas I should have a plaque made that people can read when they visit his office or our house so they don't need to ask the question. Then we can get on with the 'communing with other people' part. LOL.
This is a personal blog, so I'm going to share my personal thoughts, here, and not give a ton of references from books I've read or studies I've done. If you want those, email me and I'll fill you in. I just want to share my ideas.
The book of Genesis, indeed the entire Old Testament, was written at a time when keeping history was very different from what it is today. Today we want just the facts; no biases, no morality, nothing subjective thrown in. We want to make up our own minds about things and just have the facts to do this with. This is fine.
The Old Testament, however, was written at a time when keeping history had a bigger purpose. First of all, there was a point beyond the history itself. Histories were written to get a point across.
For example, Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Here's a huge problem if you want history to be exact facts. The two histories don't even match! But if you understand that there is a point beyond the story you see this:
1. God created everything.
2. God considered it good.
3. God made people to commune with Him. Since it is the first relationship mentioned, it is the most important.
4. God created people to commune with each other. Since the second relationship is husband/wife, it must be very important as well.
5. We are to take care of God's creation and enjoy it, not abuse it or neglect it.
There's a lot more there, including the sin problem (we brought it upon ourselves) but the idea here is that this ISN'T a story to tell us HOW God created, or WHEN or what He was thinking. Maybe God just took a bunch of dirt and said 'man' and man was. Maybe man wasn't what man is today...maybe we evolved, maybe we didn't. Here's my though...IT DOESN'T MATTER!
At least, it doesn't seem to matter to God. And how would we understand it if He DID explain it? I think (and this next statement I take from my dear hubby) the creation vs. evolution problem was invented by The Adversary to divide the church.
After giving it a great deal of thought, I can't see how it makes a difference in my life one way or the other. If I evolved from monkeys, I am still me today, here and now, created to worship and commune with God. If I evolved from a man very similar to my husband, I am still me today, here and now, created to worship and commune with God. It makes no difference to salvation, sin, forgiveness, peace, the need for food, shelter, and love...it makes no difference to my own existence or purpose, if there is such a thing.
Maybe for Christmas I should have a plaque made that people can read when they visit his office or our house so they don't need to ask the question. Then we can get on with the 'communing with other people' part. LOL.
