If mankind has evolved and will continue to evolve, how are we related to Christ? How is He fully God and fully Man if we are evolving away from the life form that He took on? And how is Adam representative of man if we are evolving away from Adam? If we are just another animal, which evolution and Darwin basically claim, then what is so sublime or special or unique about man that God wishes to save us over a baboon or a hamster? We are theoretically just a sophisticated animal on an evolutionary journey toward God-knows-what, so why is man unique or special at all?
The Fall is just a murky mythological tale when combined with evolution because it seems to get demoded into a cheesy folk tale that seeks to explain something that only our modern scientists have uncovered. It's almost as if now we know the "truth" about evolution, we have no need of these quaint creationist stories in anymore. oh sure, you can believe them if you want, but they're pure allegory and a bit silly, out of the groove of hard science. That is the vibe I get from evolutionary thinking.
Has the Darwinian legacy made us BETTER humans? Think about it, has it? How has evolution informed our theology and morality as human beings? I don't think we've covered these ramifications in this discussion very much. I tried to bring this up earlier. Frankly, I think most people these days see humanity as a bunch of glorified animals with manners and more ability and talent! We are essentially just apes with skills! We have given in more to perceived "animal instincts" in modernity. Humans shack up, have dropped away from these 'quaint' rituals of marriage, 'swinging' is common now in 'open marriages,' abortion is rampant, homosexuality, all sorts of animalistic things. In fact, has anyone noticed how the argument 'there are animals in nature that are homosexual!' is often invoked in the homosexuality debate? In other words, 'the animals have gay sex, and since we're just more sophisticated animals ahead of them on an evolutionary continuum, yet still related and animals ourselves essentially, why is gay sex wrong?'
Social Darwinism, eugenics, contraception, abortion, and all sorts of other Frankensteinian social tinkering ideas flowed out of the post-Darwin world.
As jckstraw has pointed out in multiple posts, ArmyMatt and Rus as well, Orthodoxy DOES indeed teach that man was created for eternity with God. Man was vibrant with life coursing through his veins and soul, and nature was in harmony with God. The Uncreated Light was with Adam and Eve, and the destiny God laid out was an eternal one with theosis and perfection as the endgame. Life was abundant. "And it was good" is the constant reminder in Genesis after each creation. Man was not meant to die. Death was a concession after the eating of the forbidden fruit. For if death weren't allowed, the second tree would've been consumed and the sinfulness and imperfection and flawed matrix created by the sin of Adam would've been perpetuated eternally. Death was a concession.
The Fathers are clear that eternity and life were the goal, and that death was not a factor in mankind until the Fall.
Through an evolutionist-Christian imagery, should we change the Holy Icon of the Resurrection in which Christ is pulling Adam and Eve out of the bowels of death? Would we change the icon to a more hip and modern look and have Christ pulling out a bunch of evolving beings? In an evolutionary vision, it is hard to believe there was just ONE set of first parents, right? If there were homo erectus, homo habilis, australopithecines and Neanderthals running about, and all were on a human journey toward evolution, it would be pretty silly to surmise that they all died off except for one first couple that was the Adam and Eve final product of the Darwin factor? In fact, in the evolutionist vision wouldn't there have to be hundreds, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of these monkey-like hominids roaming around the world, mostly in and around Africa, steadily turning more human-like, only to be killed off somehow with only one human male and female left alive? Would God allow all this creation to evolve all over the place only to kill it all off except for one set to use as Adam and Eve? Because if not, then God made MANY first parents and Adam and Eve are super-allegory! And that is extremely at odds with the Fathers! There were not multiple first parents.
So I maintain that evolution not only creates bizarre, sketchy, questionable theories about the First Parents, it creates a first man and a savior with whom none of us can truly identify (this point was made eloquently by Rus), it creates a new theology about man that really demodes him to a glorified animal rather than an exalted being in God's image, it opens the door to philosophies that are Hitleresque at worst and Kahn Star Trek style eugenics at best, and it creates a vision of a humanity that retains animal instincts and needs rather than self-control and human betterment? There is just a huge can of worms that evolution opens up that really causes major tension and conflict with traditional Orthodoxy theological and moral teachings imho. And I see in this thread how much it causes doubts in some as to the truths and illumined thinking of the Ancient Fathers. It causes one to second guess the venerable, holy, awesome Fathers in whom we trust so much, venerate, and adore, and puts more faith and direction toward the evolutionary theorists of modernity from which there are constant changes and adjustments in their theories that can change with the tide.
