Chuck:
I agree. I also believe that "specialness" is an important component to
the creation/evolution debate. You know, it's like people who think
they're "better" than everyone else simply because they arrive at their
destination via First Class. They arrive at the same place as everyone
else and in exactly the same time frame, but they get to "feel"
important because of the *way* they arrived.
It seems that many who are opposed to evolution might harbor that kind
of feeling - a sense that they have to have gotten here via a means
different from all other life forms. Otherwise, they won't be special
in God's eyes.
Naturally, I believe the "specialness" God is looking for among all of
us is much, much deeper than "how we got here." After all, getting here
didn't require any effort on our part either way you look at it. It's
what we do while we're here that counts (in my opinion).
Lucy
attached mail follows:
Lucy,
My guess is that "mystery," as you call it, does play a role in the
"determined assault against the teaching of evolution." A literal
interpretation of the Genesis creation account would support some sort of
mystery when it records that God breathed his spirit into man. It is not
recorded that he did this to animals. There have been many electrons moved
around in this forum in a debate as to where to place Adam and Eve in
history but it appears to be clear that, at some point, God intervened and
that the soul not just sort of happened as a result of a gradual evolution
of a soul-less precursor.
There was an interesting article in The Banner (publication of the Christian
Reformed Church) entitled "Those Godless Meteorologists" where the author,
Craig Menninga, mentions the inconsistency of many Christians who won't
accept evolution because it denies the creative power of God, but who
readily accept that current weather conditions are caused by cold fronts and
gulf moisture, instead of ascribing them to God's power over the wind (Jan
15, 2001, p 29). I'm sure I don't do full justice to the article in just
one paragraph, but you get the point.
Chuck Vandergraaf
-----Original Message-----
From: Lucy Masters [mailto:masters@cox-internet.com]
Sent: Wednesday May 23, 2001 10:51 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Griffin #2]]]
Lucy adds:
OK - thanks for all the great responses! Now let me pose another
question. Do you think that this issue of "mystery" or "ignorance" or
"lack of understanding" (whatever you want to call it) plays a major
role in the determined assault against the teaching of evolution? I ask
this because in my conservative town folks like to express that God's
creation of man is a miracle that can never be understood. They seem
very much to prefer it that way. So as a (former) science teacher, I
came to believe that parents hated the teaching of evolution because it
was **explanatory** - and the understanding sort of took the "zap" out
of faith. It was almost as though they could not conceive of humans as
"special" unless our mode of arrival was fantastic - like the sprinkling
of pixy dust or the waving of a wand. In order to feel a special bond
with God, these folks needed to believe that we arrived in a mysterious
and abrupt way.
As you might imagine, my personal relationship with God is not impacted
at all by thoughts of "how I got here." But that does seem to be
terribly important to thousands of other people. What do you think?
Lucy
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