God revealed himself to me today as Creator while I was sitting outside in a lawn chair. Thomas and I picked a little group of trees to sit under – Thomas has plans for that spot as soon as he gets an extra $47.
I looked to my right to see one seed left on this dandelion. I thought to myself, “there is no freakin’ way that evolved. Oh the fantasy life of the evolutionists! To think that the first dandelion plant had the sense and ability to perpetuate itself, and then the genious to produce near-weighless seeds atop a launch pad each specially rigged to a umbrella/parachute-like lift system designed to catch the wind to transport the seed… ugh!” A fool says in his heart there is no God. If this doesn’t reveal the brilliance of a Creator I’m not sure what does.
That this was designed by a Designer is a plain fact – you hear that science community? Fact! Your theory is ridiculous fantasy. It’s remarkable to me that there is even a debate on our origins. The existence of a Creator is not religious dogma, it’s just a plain-as-day, open-your-blind-eyes fact. There isn’t even a remote chance this seed or anything else evolved. Please don’t offend my intelligence or force the children of the world to accept your fairy tale theories.
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June 1, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Teresa
Sounds like you were in a feisty mood when you wrote this post! Tell Thomas great idea!-lying in a hammock, gazing up at the sky through the trees is a great way to reflect on the Creator-at least during summer!
June 2, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Steve Hickey
Teresa – I was in no more fiesty mood than normal – Kristen will tell you there are a handful of subjects that provoke me and obviously this is one of them! Blessings!
June 2, 2008 at 11:19 pm
William
I find it interesting that many SENIOR scientists (not trapped in the race for government grants for research funding) admit that the more they know, the more questions they have, and that acknowledge their believe in a creative force (even if they can’t quite call it GOD).
Has mankind changed at all throughout history? Yes, of course, but only in subtle ways that can be attributed to better nutrition and cumulative advances in science and resource management. Fundamentaly, mankind is, and always has been, mankind.
We have a thin veneer of civilization that allows many people to think that mankind has evolved to a higher level than it has. Stripped of this veneer, through war, terrorism, natural disaster, etc., mankind reverts to it’s natural level.
I guess the bottom line is: My GOD is bigger than YOUR HUMAN any time, I’ll place MY faith in GOD.
June 3, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Steve Hickey
William – I appreciate your comments! Right on.
June 6, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Ian
I’m enjoying your blog Steve, after stumbling over it via the great thinking you’ve been doing on the Florida Outpouring.
A question, not an opinion this time: what’s your view on Christians who believe that evolution is the mechanism by which God created? If you believe the surveys they make up the majority of Christians wordwide, and outside the US the majority of evangelicals.
They would (I guess, I’m not one of them) say the dandelion did evolve. It is the latest in an unbroken line of organisms that survived, and thus passed on their traits, adapting over the generations. In fact they’d say the same as the scientists in that regard, except that they’d say God ordained it to be thus, and guided the process.
From what I’ve seen they then jump through some hermeneutic hoops when it comes to Gen 1, but, like I say, its not my heresy
My question is, do they rattle your cage as much as the scientists?
In other words is it the theory of evolution itself that angers you, or is it way that atheists and materialists use it to try to gain leverage over the Body of Christ?
@William – oh how true, devoid of God, we do a pretty good job of adopting base animal passions and desires. Closer to animals than we admit, but by choice, not design…
June 7, 2008 at 5:41 am
Steve Hickey
Ian – I frequently say that if I were God (and I’m not) and I were eavedropping on the cultural conversation today, there would be two words in the English language that profoundly offend me – choice and chance. Choice coming from those who say life or death is our to decide (that would offend my soveriegnty) and Chance coming from those who say all that is just happened randomly (that would offend my creativity). I’m seeing Christians adopt both of these cultural creeds and morphing them into Christianity. This especially happening with theistic evolution. I’m going to paste now a partial transcript from one of the messages in my recent “Origins: God’s Green Earth” series where I talked about theistic evolution. I think God will soon deal with the arrogance of the academic world – Romans 1:21-23 talks about how wise people are given over to foolish and futile thinking, given depraved mindsets, etc.
Here’s the message portion that I thought was relevant…
Kristen and I have some debate on all this even within our own family/relatives, perhaps you do to. There is much debate on all this even within the church. The debate within our own camp is not so much the rejection of Creationism and the acceptance of Evolutionism, it’s in the merger of the two. We had a relative tell us one time “my God is big enough to use evolution to create the earth.” This is a typical comment among church folk who ascribe to theistic evolution.
Sometimes this is called evolutionary creationism, but whatever you call this it’s the view that God and creation are compatible with some or all of the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution. Folks are uncomfortable rejecting either, so they accept both. The problem with that is that neither the Bible nor evolution leave room for the other. Evolution, by definition is an unguided and mindless process – our existence is a fluke, not a planned outcome. You can’t hold to that understanding and try to fit in a God-guided creation.
In 1995, the AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BIOLOGY TEACHERS released a position paper that says;
The diversity of life on earth is the outcome of evolution: an unsupervised, impersonal, unpredictable and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies and changing environments.
Almost every word is a blatant rejection of God having any role. And so Darwinism/evolutionism means “unguided” and Creationism can’t be compatible with that – there is no way to reconcile the two at the very base level of the definition of evolution. And the Bible as well has no tolerance for limiting the role of God in creation.
In the very first sentences of the Gospel of John he launches into the Genesis foundation;
In the beginning was the Word (at the origin, there was direction, purpose, a plan, in fact… a person, etc), and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life… John 1:1-4
There isn’t even a small crack in any of this to sneak in an evolutionary process of any sort. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
There was no point where God just gathered a few ingredients and then backed off to let whatever would happen, happen. I’m bothered by how many believers ascribe to theistic evolution – I’m not sure what we are thinking here except deep inside we don’t really want to let go of God, but to society, evolution seems more true so we were adopt it too and somehow feel better. My theistic evolutionary friends may not realize it but they are propagating deism not theism.
Theism is what we find in the Bible. It’s the belief in a real, living, personal and active God. Deism is the belief in God but don’t intervene or involve himself in anything in the created order. Deism is the idea that God made the laws of the universe and the matter that is and then retired. Evolution does leave some room for the existence of God, but only a God who is a remote First Cause who establishes the laws of the universe and then leaves it all to its own devises. But this is deism not theism.
Obviously people can believe what they want but I’m concerned to challenge the Christians who are hoping there is some way to reconcile these to opposing views about our Origins. There are many evolutionary Creationists who see no harm in making concessions to bring these to views together. But really they give up everything. Trading the personal Creator God of the Bible for some remote and removed First Cause of evolution is like trading a real gold for counterfeit money. You end up with nothing which is all evolution has to offer.
June 7, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Ian
Excellent stuff Steve. Scientists are very smart people, undoubtedly, but I find it curious how the bible fails to speak in praise of being intelligent or smart. Wisdom, on the other hand, is not something they teach in grad school, and the bible has lots to say about that.
Still I do know folks who subscribe to theistic evolution who aren’t deists (i.e. who don’t see God starting the crank handle and stepping back – clearly that is anathema to the God of the Bible). They see God guiding every ‘chance’ occurrence – just as he often brings about ‘coincidences’ in our lives that are nothing of the sort. Where secular and anti-theistic evolutionists see randomness choosing between a thousand different possibilities (who survives, who reproduces, the character of their offspring), they see God making those choices, a teleological evolutionl not just a theistic one. I suspect they’d disagree with your statement “Evolution, by definition is an unguided and mindless process”
But hey, like I said, its not my poison.
Thank God for grace. I’m convinced when that dark lens is made clear for me there’s going to be plenty of things I will cringe at ever having believed.
Kind of like your comments on Todd Bently’s unorthodox look – I’m quite sure I’ve judged people on their looks / clothes / job / idyllic family life. If we all could stop trying to wed the World to the Kingdom (or evolution to creation, or designer clothes to inner righteousness)…