some thoughts on evolution

It's true that evolution's account of the nature of the world contradicts the traditional Evangelical interpretation of the Bible's account of creation. Many Christians devote incredible resources to rally against it. I, personally, think our time and money would be better spent elsewhere.

The creation story tells us more about the character of God than the character of the world. The point of the account is not to tell us about the nature of the earth. It is to tell us about God's ultimate love, power, and authority in relation to all created things. Evolutionary theory doesn't necessarily challenge that truth.

Imagine you're in the Garden of Eden. You see Adam and Eve as God created them. They're adults, not babies. Imagine all the trees. They're not seeds or saplings. They're full grown too. Now imagine the ground under your feet. The rocks aren't brand new. Neither is the dirt. The Bible is silent about the actual age of these things, and I choose to believe, then, that God created a mature world filled with mature things. Adam and Eve would have had fused growth plates in their bones, reflecting their adulthood. Trees would have had growth rings, reflecting their status as fully formed plants. Most importantly for this discussion, the rocks and mountains would have been full of old carbon and, I'm guessing, a truck load of fossils. The whole world reflects its maturity.

This are exactly what we find when we examine God's creation. There are fossils. There are super old rocks. There is a record of things that no longer exist. There is evidence of old age. Could all this evidence be fake and part of a giant conspiracy to destroy God's authority. Sure. And that's exactly how it would have to look if we relied solely on our traditional interpretation of the creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2.

But there is no biblical mandate to stick to this traditional interpretation. So we can choose to continue to reject the claims of evolutionary theorists and other scientists outright. We can say that they are doing their sciences wrong, that the rocks really aren't that old and that the fossils were created during the flood. But anyone who has read the biblical text in even the most cursory way will observe that the creation accounts are silent about the age of the objects in the universe. So when some of the smartest people in the world, people who have devoted their lives to their sciences, speak, I choose to listen. And I choose to believe their evidence because the Bible doesn't preclude me from doing so. My science, my faith, and my life are all enriched as a result.