Theistic Evolution is a topic that interests me. When I was a theist, I considered myself a theistic evolutionist, as I accepted modern scientific theories yet still believed in a god. In general, I have more respect for theists that adapt to and coexist with science than those who constantly try to push against it, so I usually hold theistic evolutionists in higher regard than other groups (with all other things being equal, and including exceptions).
It strikes me, however, that Christianity has a large discrepancy with the theory of evolution, and I have yet to have someone explain away this discrepancy in such a way that satisfies my logic. This topic is somewhat well known, yet often swept aside.
In Christianity, the basic foundation of doctrine is that God is perfect and made a good world, but mankind has sinned and so the universe is no longer good, and Jesus is the bridge that allows mankind and the universe to become good again. This makes sense to young earth creationists that argue, however ignorantly, that God made the earth X,000 years ago without suffering or death and that humans messed it all up. The one thing I do agree with young earth creationists is that evolution is incomparable with orthodox Christian teachings.
With the theory of evolution, geology, and cosmology, mankind is only a recent addition to the universe. Life on earth has been around for billions of years, and fossils show us that creatures have died long, long before humans have ever come around. Predators and their prey have long been engaged in a battle of arms, with evolution equipping predators with ever more elaborate, deadly, and often painful ways of capturing their food. What works and what is strong lives on, while what is weak dies and fades away. Mankind has also arisen out of this cold process.
Where then, was the sin? At what point was the universe good? Where is God's benevolence, if his entire system is based off of strength, death, and cold, mathematical physics? Modern cosmology and the biological sciences point to a universe that was never pleasant. The universe has always been a desolate place with destruction everywhere, from its hot beginning to it's cold present. Even our earth's history shows massive extinction events where most life has died. Life may even exist on other planets completely unrelated to life on earth.
I'm really interested in hearing how theistic evolutionist Christians reconcile this long past of death and suffering with a benevolent God, and how mankind has anything to do with it.
I talked to a man once, and his view was that prior to mankind's "fall" (which he was unable to identify), animals certainly did kill but none of them suffered. His view was that upon this unidentified fall of humanity, all creatures in the universe suddenly and miraculously grew nerves and started suffering. This explanation left me unsatisfied.
I talked to another man who at least tried a little bit harder. His argument is that God does not exist within time (which, hypothetically, I would agree with I guess), and said that mankind's sin re-wrote the history of the universe. In other words, he argued that there really is suffering and death in our past, but said that it wasn't like this before our fall. Much like the first man, when I asked him when humanity fell, he was unable to identify a time. This, however, is an unfalsifiable argument, and also doesn't really explain why some mistake somewhere should cause countless, completely unrelated creatures across the universe to suffer in the past and present.
To some extent in my opinion, evolution seems to conflict indirectly with other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, but it doesn't directly contest the doctrine like it does in Christianity.
Reconciling nature and a benevolent creator deity has always been a key focus of mine, and was one of the key reasons for me to discontinue being a theist. I would watch the Discovery Channel and learn about some of the most wicked animals. Lions that kill cubs of competitors and violently hunt prey. Creatures with elaborate venom and injecting systems. Diseases like smallpox that killed half a billion people last century. It just all seemed so cruel, so lacking in design, and I was unable to reconcile it with a god that I would want anything to do with. When I see predation, rampant disease, genetic defects, and just plain old gruesome violence, I don't see intelligence or a well-made design, I see blind progress based on chance with no regard for aesthetics or suffering.
Is this the glory of God?
It strikes me, however, that Christianity has a large discrepancy with the theory of evolution, and I have yet to have someone explain away this discrepancy in such a way that satisfies my logic. This topic is somewhat well known, yet often swept aside.
In Christianity, the basic foundation of doctrine is that God is perfect and made a good world, but mankind has sinned and so the universe is no longer good, and Jesus is the bridge that allows mankind and the universe to become good again. This makes sense to young earth creationists that argue, however ignorantly, that God made the earth X,000 years ago without suffering or death and that humans messed it all up. The one thing I do agree with young earth creationists is that evolution is incomparable with orthodox Christian teachings.
With the theory of evolution, geology, and cosmology, mankind is only a recent addition to the universe. Life on earth has been around for billions of years, and fossils show us that creatures have died long, long before humans have ever come around. Predators and their prey have long been engaged in a battle of arms, with evolution equipping predators with ever more elaborate, deadly, and often painful ways of capturing their food. What works and what is strong lives on, while what is weak dies and fades away. Mankind has also arisen out of this cold process.
Where then, was the sin? At what point was the universe good? Where is God's benevolence, if his entire system is based off of strength, death, and cold, mathematical physics? Modern cosmology and the biological sciences point to a universe that was never pleasant. The universe has always been a desolate place with destruction everywhere, from its hot beginning to it's cold present. Even our earth's history shows massive extinction events where most life has died. Life may even exist on other planets completely unrelated to life on earth.
I'm really interested in hearing how theistic evolutionist Christians reconcile this long past of death and suffering with a benevolent God, and how mankind has anything to do with it.
I talked to a man once, and his view was that prior to mankind's "fall" (which he was unable to identify), animals certainly did kill but none of them suffered. His view was that upon this unidentified fall of humanity, all creatures in the universe suddenly and miraculously grew nerves and started suffering. This explanation left me unsatisfied.
I talked to another man who at least tried a little bit harder. His argument is that God does not exist within time (which, hypothetically, I would agree with I guess), and said that mankind's sin re-wrote the history of the universe. In other words, he argued that there really is suffering and death in our past, but said that it wasn't like this before our fall. Much like the first man, when I asked him when humanity fell, he was unable to identify a time. This, however, is an unfalsifiable argument, and also doesn't really explain why some mistake somewhere should cause countless, completely unrelated creatures across the universe to suffer in the past and present.
To some extent in my opinion, evolution seems to conflict indirectly with other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, but it doesn't directly contest the doctrine like it does in Christianity.
Reconciling nature and a benevolent creator deity has always been a key focus of mine, and was one of the key reasons for me to discontinue being a theist. I would watch the Discovery Channel and learn about some of the most wicked animals. Lions that kill cubs of competitors and violently hunt prey. Creatures with elaborate venom and injecting systems. Diseases like smallpox that killed half a billion people last century. It just all seemed so cruel, so lacking in design, and I was unable to reconcile it with a god that I would want anything to do with. When I see predation, rampant disease, genetic defects, and just plain old gruesome violence, I don't see intelligence or a well-made design, I see blind progress based on chance with no regard for aesthetics or suffering.
Is this the glory of God?