It's the age old question, if you're right, must I be wrong? What if I'm right? Are you wrong? It's always assumed that it works this way. After all, someone has to be right, and if they are, the counterpoint must be wrong. Right? Wrong. Those who know me, know that I don't see the world in black and white. I plan on tackling some touchy subjects, and making a case for an up the middle solution. Some people call it being wishy washy. Some people claim I can't get off the fence. Some people find it cowardly. Tell me, can you make a strong argument against your case? If you believe in something to the point where it's ingrained in your identity, can you state the case for the other side of the coin? It's not cowardice to understand the other half of the world, it's called being open minded, and understanding. I pride myself in such practices. But, enough about me, let's dive in.
I've had a number of conversations regarding the concept of creation and the concept of evolution. Let me make one thing clear, I have a very strong belief in this matter, and I'm opposed to give up my stance. That doesn't matter. There are enough good questions to be asked to convince me that a middle ground is feasible. Creationist (Christians) believe that a single entity, God, spoke and created the earth, its land masses, its bodies of water, and its inhabitants. They believe that it was created in 6 days, and that was that. God created everything, end of story, and took a nap on day 7. Evolutionists (and aethiests, agnostics, and followers of other faiths or practices) believe that millions of years ago, atoms collided and sent matter scattering throughout the universe. They believe that some of this matter collected together, and formed the earth. Some of this matter developed into a life form, and life began to evolve. I can reason with myself and convince myself that either possibility is legitimate.
Let's start with creation. According to the Bible, in the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Vague? Sure. When was the beginning? (10,000 years ago?) What is the Heavens? How many are there? Does it mean just the sky? Does it mean the place we assume that God "lives", where our loved ones go when they are through with this planet? What is the Earth? More specifically, does it mean just the Earth? Or could it mean the entire solar system/universe? If it means the universe, where was God in the beginning? Where was he a year prior? A month? An hour? A minute? A second? How does one define the beginning? Are we simply talking about the beginning of the Earth, or the beginning of time? It's a fine line, and I, for one, have never heard it explained. That's the ting about religion, in order to understand it, you need faith. What is faith? It is, by definition, believing in things you can't see, and quite possibly can't understand. In fact, many things you're not supposed to understand. Before you think that I'm tearing apart religion, and the Biblical creation story, let me state that it makes sense. God not only created the Heavens and the Earth (we'll lump this together for the rest of this post, and refer to it at the universe, as I believe it to mean), he created each and every single natural item on it. Trees, flowers, weeds, water, dogs, cats, mice, snakes, people, and even the dinosaurs. He created each being to appear just right, and, as stated, he created man (humans, possibly specifically man, resulting in us referring to God as he, not she?) in his own image. If you believe this, it can be very difficult to buy into the thought that maybe the world has been changing for centuries, or that it's possibly much older than you were taught.
Now, we'll visit the other side. According to the theory of evolution, at some point in ancient history, millions, perhaps billions of years ago, atoms collided, and sent a sonic wave across the vacuum of space. These particles drifted, and some of them collided, forming the Earth. the rock began small, and after a series of explosions, heat ups, and cool downs. This resulted in drastic climate changes, and a growing rock. This rock was capable, eventually, of sparking life into a single cell. Wait. What? So, with this explanation, I'm expected to believe that, from nothing, something was created, without the aide of any outside influence? What exploded and made the particles drift? Is it reasonable that these particles collided by chance, and in exactly the right place, that they were able to create not only a planet that could support life, but over its combustible years, create life capable of adapting, and thinking for itself? How do scientists know when this happened? What was around just before this explosion? If there was nothing before, where did the explosion come from? I'll be honest, the thought that life has changed so drastically over many, many years makes some level of sense. The fact that life on our planet has adapted to every new phase in the history is believable, and may actually connect a lot of the dots that the Bible and its theologians neglect. Science has a way of connecting the dots. Science doesn't like unanswered questions. Science doesn't operate on belief, it operates on evidence. But, what if?
What if the truth lies in between, or is a combination of the two trains of thought? I'm programmed to accept the idea of creation, and I do. I believe it 100%, and I'm not ashamed to admit so. But, the questions are legitimate. According to the timelines that I can recall, God created the earth somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. What happened one day before creation? Have you ever considered eternity? It's easy, to a point, to consider the fact that you will exist for ever (unless you believe that you will simply cease to exist when your body dies). In fact, I think that's built into our beings. We can't imagine the end of time, and until we reach a certain point in our life, we have trouble imagining the end of our time. But, do yourself a favor, and look at the other end of the spectrum. We are taught that God is infinite, this means that he has no beginning, and no end. No beginning. Wait, I thought that, "In the beginning..." Something needs explanation, and the math doesn't add up. This is where my thought begins. What if "In the beginning" simply means the beginning of this Earth, this time? Or possibly, this earth last time? Or even the beginning of our solar system? We know that there are black holes, and there are enough stars in the sky to host millions of solar systems. What if we're not the only ones out there? I'm not going to explore the possibility of multiple Gods, that's a topic for another time, should I be able to wrap my head around it. Let's assume that there is just one creator, one God. He created our Earth, our Sun, and our Solar System. But, for the sake of neutrality, what if this wasn't his first creation? What if "In the beginning" does just mean for our Solar System? I've got another theory that perhaps God is not just the Father and the Son, but also our Sun. But, that's another blog, as well. Maybe our spot in the Universe is millions, or billions of years old. I believe the Bible to be true, to be fact. I know people who find it too fantastical to be true. I can understand that. These people tend not to believe that the Bible is a history book, but a story book, created to portray fables, like Aesop made popular, stories to teach humanity lessons. There's some sense in that line of thought. But, what if the opposite was true, but not exactly how we think of it. What if this is not a history of this Earth? Assume that our spot in our Solar System, in our Universe is a billion years old (just to pick a number). Assume the Bible is accurate, and our Earth is 10,000 years old (again, to pick a round number). Where are the other 999,990,000 years? What if there have been 10 versions of this Earth? 20? 50? 100? It's not ridiculous. God, as explained, has been around forever. It's written that God created man in his own image. There's a running joke that suggests that God does, in fact, have a sense of humor. Let's look at everything as fact. So, God is older than time, our spot is a billion years old, therefore God has been around for more than a billion years. Also, he has a sense of humor. I've yet to meet someone who has a sense of humor who doesn't get bored. What if he created the Earth, much unlike the one we know, but did it nearly a billion years ago? He created a number of different versions over the millenia. He created them with a plan, as the Bible states, but the plan had a finite timeline - again, the Bible preaches the end of times. This would open the possibility that the Bible as we read it is a history of a past Earth. The other Earths could have been the versions of fire, water, and ice that the evolution theory suggests. Perhaps, they were all critical to the development of this version of Earth. Perhaps, God saved the good pieces from the last iterations, and gave them to the new ones. Maybe, that's his plan with our Earth.
I'd love to hear your feedback. What side of the fence do you live on? How "out there" is my proposition? Are you able to buy into any of it? :Eave a comment, but do it in a civil manner. This is intended strictly to open minds, and open a discussion of what might be true. This is precisely the kind of conversation which may save the world's political landscape. It's entirely possible that the truth always lives in the middle ground. Nothing ever has a simple answer, nor is it ever black and white.
