Evolving

One of the biggest problems I've had with theism is that I've been shown such astounding evidence for evolution of species by means of natural selection. Ironically, the best explanations of what that is really and what it means, were presented by a man who professes Christian faith, and who I am certain I should have asked more questions when I was under his tutelage. Nevertheless, the issue that is at hand has very little to do with biology and a whole lot to do with the world around us. Of course the questions begin with biology-- how did the Kingdoms split and from them emerged Phyla, and on and on. But the problem is that the answers to these questions are not readily answered with a "yes, but..." approach that leads into what we now know as the argument for Intelligent Design (and within that I'm including traditional Creationism, though I realize that there is a spectrum there).

But Intelligent Design would make more sense if there seemed any rhyme or reason or evidence of success to what and who and where we are. But there doesn't seem to be. I'm not trying to badger anyone or depreciate what it is to be human. Not at all. But I find that the problem with the natural selection (which is an awkward term, when you think about it) is that the underlying proposal is that there is no selection at all. Organisms are not progressing and becoming better. Rather, life is a craps shoot with no direction whatsoever. Whatever lives long enough to reproduce "wins" and whatever doesn't, doesn't.

The way that I'd always rationalized evolution and married it back into my Christian beliefs was by way of a very different, adulterated understanding of what it all meant. I would reason that if the Big Bang happened, and that's what the evidence points to, then it would have been used by God to bring forth the universe over time. And in the universe, then, God would have guided evolution until Man sprang forth from the other primates, and God would at that point have breathed "life" (and I took that to mean "soul") into mankind.

It doesn't seem that my rationalizations make much sense, though, in light of a better understanding of the scientific theory. I do not claim that I'm explaining it well, by the way. Just explaining what I took away from my experiences. (Do your own research, people! Ensatina salamanders are a good place to start.) But by looking at the nineteenth century and the worldviews that diverged from Darwin's publication onward, it becomes clear that one may not have one's cake and eat it, too.

T