Naturalistic Evolution, Theistic Evolution, Old Earth Creationism, Young Earth Creationism, which one is true? Or is there some other I’ve not heard of yet that is the “truth” about how we all got to be where we are?
I have been forced to reject Young Earth Creationism for its blatant silliness and implausibility. I mean, clearly the earth is far older than 10,000 years! Look out at the starts and the idea that it was all created "last Tuesday" is just plain silly! Stuff has clearly been out there, and around here, for billions of years. If you can't fit that in with the bible then either the bible is flat wrong or you are reading it wrong. Then there is the Young Earth take on the flood, explaining all of the geology we see around us based on the result of a single massive world wide flood. All of the "science" I read from the YEC perspective was simply bad science, it made no sense at all.
Theistic Evolution is, as I understand it, the idea that God directed the gradual evolution of life up until today and beyond I suppose. God used evolution to create all species on earth including man. The difficulty I have with that is figuring out where would you draw the line between man and animal, how do you get the Imago Dei (image of God) into humanity through evolution? How then can you define the fall and sin? It seems that the essence of Christianity, that man is a fallen creature needing redemption by Christ, vanishes into the fog with this idea.
Naturalistic Evolution simply ignores God altogether, God is not necessary or even desirable with this paradigm. But this idea has many problems that have not yet been explained. The initial origin of life for example has not yet been plausibly explained by those who maintain that it all happened without the intervention of any creator. Heck, the existence of the universe itself hasn't been explained this way ;-) The fossil record that is supposed to show gradual change over time instead shows great stability followed by sudden leaps and changes, what Stephen J. Gould called "Punctuated Equilibrium." The thing is there is no real explanation for how this happens! The solutions provided by Gould and others are not all that strong, in my layman's opinion anyway.
All of which leaves me with the idea that I'm currently studying, Old Earth Creationism. This is the idea that the science that says the earth is billions of years old is correct, as is the fossil record that shows change in the number and types of species living on earth over the millions of years since life first appeared on earth. This idea, as expounded by Reasons to Believe, a group who tries to do real science based on this idea, is that God directly created life at the beginning, and has periodically intervened directly to create new life as He prepared the earth for the creation humanity in the last couple of hundred thousand years. They harmonize all of this with the bible, taking it quite literally but reading it somewhat differently than the Young Earth folk do.
I am not yet completely convinced that the Reasons to Believe model is the way to go, but it is interesting and compelling, and, if it really holds up, it allows me to have my cake and eat it too! I can have study of the past, replete with dinosaurs and Homo Erectus and myriad other fascinating creatures, along with direct creation of the species and, most importantly the direct creation of man with the Imago Dei and subsequent fall and then plan of redemption still makes perfect sense.
I am still doing more reading, currently I'm reading "Origins of Life" by Rana and Ross, and recently read "Who was Adam?" by the same authors. I'm hopeful that this finally reconciles what I know to be true about the history of the earth and what I know to be true about the history of redemption through Christ.
I have been forced to reject Young Earth Creationism for its blatant silliness and implausibility. I mean, clearly the earth is far older than 10,000 years! Look out at the starts and the idea that it was all created "last Tuesday" is just plain silly! Stuff has clearly been out there, and around here, for billions of years. If you can't fit that in with the bible then either the bible is flat wrong or you are reading it wrong. Then there is the Young Earth take on the flood, explaining all of the geology we see around us based on the result of a single massive world wide flood. All of the "science" I read from the YEC perspective was simply bad science, it made no sense at all.
Theistic Evolution is, as I understand it, the idea that God directed the gradual evolution of life up until today and beyond I suppose. God used evolution to create all species on earth including man. The difficulty I have with that is figuring out where would you draw the line between man and animal, how do you get the Imago Dei (image of God) into humanity through evolution? How then can you define the fall and sin? It seems that the essence of Christianity, that man is a fallen creature needing redemption by Christ, vanishes into the fog with this idea.
Naturalistic Evolution simply ignores God altogether, God is not necessary or even desirable with this paradigm. But this idea has many problems that have not yet been explained. The initial origin of life for example has not yet been plausibly explained by those who maintain that it all happened without the intervention of any creator. Heck, the existence of the universe itself hasn't been explained this way ;-) The fossil record that is supposed to show gradual change over time instead shows great stability followed by sudden leaps and changes, what Stephen J. Gould called "Punctuated Equilibrium." The thing is there is no real explanation for how this happens! The solutions provided by Gould and others are not all that strong, in my layman's opinion anyway.
All of which leaves me with the idea that I'm currently studying, Old Earth Creationism. This is the idea that the science that says the earth is billions of years old is correct, as is the fossil record that shows change in the number and types of species living on earth over the millions of years since life first appeared on earth. This idea, as expounded by Reasons to Believe, a group who tries to do real science based on this idea, is that God directly created life at the beginning, and has periodically intervened directly to create new life as He prepared the earth for the creation humanity in the last couple of hundred thousand years. They harmonize all of this with the bible, taking it quite literally but reading it somewhat differently than the Young Earth folk do.
I am not yet completely convinced that the Reasons to Believe model is the way to go, but it is interesting and compelling, and, if it really holds up, it allows me to have my cake and eat it too! I can have study of the past, replete with dinosaurs and Homo Erectus and myriad other fascinating creatures, along with direct creation of the species and, most importantly the direct creation of man with the Imago Dei and subsequent fall and then plan of redemption still makes perfect sense.
I am still doing more reading, currently I'm reading "Origins of Life" by Rana and Ross, and recently read "Who was Adam?" by the same authors. I'm hopeful that this finally reconciles what I know to be true about the history of the earth and what I know to be true about the history of redemption through Christ.
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