In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth
was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean and Gods spirit was
moving over the water...
CREATION. Just reading those few lines sends a shiver down
the spine; this is the beginning of everything. And us humans love beginnings;
think of all those things you start and never finish, think of the excitement
at the start of a great film, think how obsessed we are about discovering the
origins of life.
For Christians and scientists alike, the beginnings of the
universe, life and our own species are fraught with controversy. You’ve probably
seen a Christian or scientist loose all dignity and reason arguing their view
on this topic.
In school I was a hard-core creationist. My mother told me
unwillingly about evolution when I asked but it was a taboo topic; I felt dirty
just thinking about it. However, those fish crawling out of the primordial soup
captured my imagination in a way boring old Genesis could not, and once I learned
the theory of evolution properly in science class I began to consider the idea
that God might use evolution as a method of creation.
Let me pause there. There
are many people who strongly oppose evolution (my Grandad would be first in
line!) and I absolutely respect and understand them. For all I know they are
totally right and I’m just a fool dabbling in Darwinism. BUT if you’re
interested to hear why any God-fearing woman (or man) would support evolution
then hear me out.
First you have to have a basic grasp of what the theory of
evolution entails. I don’t have space to explain it here but suffice it to say
it has little to do with fish or soup (BBC Bitesize explains it very well). In
short the reason that I accept evolution as Gods creation method comes down to
his character. He is creative, innovative and beyond our understanding. You can see endless evidence of Gods
character in creation: for instance, if you created a world where every single
life form needs water where would you put the water? I don’t know about you but
I would put it on the ground where the life is. But God? Oh no, he sticks it up
in the sky and not only that, but the sky water is part of an infinitely
complex hydrological cycle where water is reused and travels through the air,
sea and deep in the earth. That’s intentional, God didn’t just do it as a last
resort because nothing else worked.
You only need to think of the crazy variety of plant life,
or mammals as big as houses traversing the deepest oceans or insects that make
a delicious toast topping from nectar and their own saliva (sorry anyone who
liked honey) to see how creative God is.
When I think about Gods character it seems to match up
better with evolution than creation; forming things out of mud is a very human
idea to me. So when I managed to get past the idea that evolution is
blasphemous and on a par with witchcraft, it seemed the most beautiful, complex
and mysterious force in the natural world. God doesn’t need to get things done
in seven days to show how powerful he is; he works on a timescale of decades and
centuries and millennia, far beyond our understanding.
Picture the rich history
of each species on earth, woven from the threads of trillions of lives
interlinking, and as the eons pass an animal or plant can change into something
different, something more beautiful, better adapted, more intelligent. And some
people have the cheek to use this to argue against the existence of God!
But still, I recognise that this is my interpretation of
what God is like and what the world is like, and Gods glory can still be seen
in creation however you think it came about. All I would suggest is that whatever
you believe, when you think of God, don’t limit his power to something that is
easier to understand. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes “No one can understand
what God does here on earth. No matter how hard people try to understand it,
they cannot. Even if wise people claim to understand, they cannot. No one can
really understand it.” Ecc 8:17.
Fin.
Thank you for reading my first ever proper blog post! What a
wonderful human being you are. If you have any feedback don’t be shy, post in
the comments or message me directly. I’m hoping to post about once a week so
watch this space.
I should point out that I am not a theologian, my knowledge
of the Bible comes from what I’m taught at church and what I have discovered by
studying the Bible myself and getting to know God. I am primarily an artist,
and my methods and knowledge are based in science.
