Sorry it's been so long since I last posted something, but I wanted to have this looked over by another person before I posted it on the web. Hope you enjoy!
I wish to start this article with some cold hard facts. I am not a theology major. I have never taken a theology class, and there is a fair chance I never will. I also do not have a major degree in Science. I have taken courses, but only through high school so far. This article is solely my opinion. It is my attempt at finding a way for the two seemingly opposite things to mesh.
Science gives us the idea of Evolution. Evolution was spawned from Charles Darwin, a scientist from long ago. Not only was he a scientist, but he also studied theology in seminary. Evolution is often a misunderstood entity among the religious society. Over time Evolution has become a bit of a joke to them. The accepted idea about Evolution is that man was once a monkey, over time became human, and if this continues could some day end up as a rattlesnake, or some other creature. For any of the scientific community reading this, it may sound as though I am exaggerating, but sadly this is the view that many young teens expressed at a youth group. For those of you who are less informed into what evolution is, it is the idea that things adapt to their environment over a period of time. This is evident in everyday life. Every year you have to get a different flu vaccine, but why is that? The answer is evolution. The traits of one strain of the flu that survives are passed on, and the ones that die, well, don’t. By the constant act of this there becomes a new strain of flu that is impervious to the old vaccine. This relates to everyone. If a simple strand of flu, which is basically protein covered DNA, can evolve, then anything can. This is also shown in humans. Now I want to make perfectly clear, this is in no way racist. The reason we have different colors of people is evolution. For example, in Africa, the people there spent a lot of time in the sun. Because of this, the people were introduced to high levels of radiation from the sun. When people tan, its not really because the sun is cooking our flesh or anything like that. It is our skin trying to protect us. A chemical comes into the skin, and acts like a natural sunscreen, protecting us a touch more from the suns harmful rays. Freckles are an example of this as well. Well, over time, the people in Africa started being born darker skinned, instead of tanning. In Europe they were in less sunny conditions, and therefore, just tanned instead of being darker skinned all year long. In Asian countries they also adapted to their environments, resulting in a
perma-tan, and slanted eyes. Evolution is something we are affected by every day of our lives, whether you believe in it or not. It is basically adaptation over generations.
Religion gives us the idea of Intelligent Design. Details of Intelligent Design can be found in the Bible, particularly in the book of Genesis. What Intelligent Design boils down to is that God created the universe. In doing so, he created life, and created man from his own image. Please remember that, I will be returning to it. Now in Genesis it says that God created the world in seven days. While a super powerful entity like him could easily do it in seven Earth days, when he started Earth did not yet exist, for he had not yet made it. A day is merely a man made measure of time, that measures the amount of time it takes the earth to rotate 360 degrees on its axis. Before the Earth was made, there was no way to measure an earth day. Because of this, one day by God’s measure could be, thousands of years by ours. What I’m getting at is not that God is less powerful, but that time measurements are imperfect. Now if that is possible, then easily the millions of years of development we have discovered through science could be the seven days of God’s development, in a different form of measuring time. One thing the pro Intelligent Design community argues is the idea that we were made in the image of God. This is true; the bible states that god made us in his image. However, that may not necessarily mean his physical image. It is very possible that we were made in his mental image. It
isn’t overly clear as to whether it meant we look like God, or if we are closer to how he thinks. God is proven again and again to be a compassionate being, and on an individual basis, most people are as well.
The idea of evolution can play in with this idea easily. God is an amazingly intelligent entity as well. It is more than possible that when He created us, He knew we would need to adapt to our environment, and give us the ability to do so.
Now I in no way want to seem like I am bashing the Bible, or religion, or any of this. I am merely stating my opinion on this and over time it is likely that this view will change. The main point of my writing this is to emphasis the fact that science and religion can in fact coincide. As a quote I heard on Ben Steins documentary, Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed, states, “I believe that science gives us one perspective on the world, and our religious insight gives us another perspective on the world, and by putting the two together, we will see more deeply and more truly."
