Tomorrow will be the 200th birthday of one of the world's most influential people. Of course we all know that tomorrow is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, who was also one of the world's most influential people, but the man I am thinking about is Charles Darwin.
On our journey to the Galapagos Islands last summer I became very interested in Darwin and his explanation of how the world came to be full of so many varieties life. In the Galapagos evolution is evident everywhere you look. The islands are home to species that have evolved to meet needs that are uniquely different on each island.
The cormorants there do not fly. Their wings have become small and perfect for swimming and diving.
There are swimming iguanas there. It is the only place in the world where these land animals have learned to swim because their food is found in the ocean.
The finches and mockingbirds have adapted to the conditions on each island and have become unique species.
Darwin figured out that living things evolve over time to fit their environment. He said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change.”
Adapting to change is fundamental to survival. Seems like a very important lesson for people as we go through life.
I recently read the book, “The Language of God,” by Francis Collins, the brilliant scientist who headed the Human Genome project and mapped our DNA. Collins discusses the reasons that the theory of evolution has so little public acceptance. He says that from a biologist's perspective the evidence in favor of evolution is overwhelming and utterly compelling. Darwin's theory of natural selection provides a fundamental framework for understanding the relationships of all living things. The problem of acceptance seems to be from a lack of knowledge of what Darwin really says and a lack of knowledge about what the Bible really says in Genesis. Darwin never denies God's involvement in creation. He does not speculate on the origin of life. Genesis is a powerful and poetic narrative of the story of God's creative actions. Genesis never claims to a scientific text.
Personally I have never quite understood the conflict. It seems to me that scripture and science are very compatible in explaining the origin of life. I believe that in the beginning God did create the world and everything in it. I believe that evolution was one of the tools God used to create the great diversity of life. To quote Collins one more time, “I do not believe that God who created the universe, and who communes with His people through prayer and spiritual insight, would expect us to deny the obvious truths of the natural world that science has revealed to us, in order to prove our love for Him.”
Do you believe that science and faith in the Almighty God are compatible?
Happy birthday, Charles Darwin. Thank you for making so many people think.
4 comments:
I hate those little car magnets that have a Jesus fish with "Truth" written inside swallowing up a Darwin fish. Have you seen those? If those people actually read what Darwin was saying and didn't just blindly adhere to whatever their preacher says, they would know that science is not antithetical to God.
The whole evolution thing never bothered me either. God would have all that change and adaptation figured out ahead of time. But you're right, Darwin's theory doesn't explain origin of life, just perhaps origin of species. I just watched Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. You've got to see it!
I've never had a problem reconciling science,and the Bible..It seems like science only ever proves that creation happened in virtually the same sequence of events chronicled in Genesis.
God wouldn't put knowledge dead in our path,and then expect us to walk around it.
I read the book by one of the AM shows resident Doctor......his reconciling the two was well written....
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