"Can God and Darwinism Coexist?" an article I did on Helium.com

Throughout much of the modern media today, both the extremes of atheistic evolution and young earth creationism have found the spotlight. As our science has developed over the centuries, the piercing question of, "Is there really something out there?" has continued to plague us. Such developments include the publishing of the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin in 1859 and the development of Gregor Mendel's Laws of Inheritance just a few years later finally began to shed some light on this question much to the dismay of the church.

In lieu to the more pertinent question at hand, "Can God and Darwinism coexist?" we must determine a few things if we are to have a successful "experiment in logic and science" at all. The questions that we have are, "What God are we talking about? The God of the Jews, and the Christians? Perhaps Allah of the Muslims?" We could even be referring to the Bhagavn of the Hindus. I think this question would be most objectively argued from the perspective of a "model deity" meaning the general sort of "God" concept that all faiths share in some fundamental way with whom they attribute the creation of the universe and the state of affairs and relationships between that deity and man. However, this particular inquiry is to some degree loaded to bring the God of the Jews and the Christians, Yahweh, into the spotlight. The next set of questions that we have must define what we mean when we say "Darwinism." Certainly we are not to place ourselves in nineteenth century Europe and debate about the issues plaguing both the Darwanists and the Theists of that day; no, we are indeed talking about whether or not the God of the Bible could possible coexist with the modern theories of evolution as recognized today.

To make sure that we cover all bases, I'm first going to discuss the two extremes that we often hear about in the media. The first of which being that of young earth creationism, the second being atheistic evolutionism.

"Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets." This transliteration of Hebrew contained in Genesis 1:1 reads, "In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth." He went on to say, "Vayomer Elohim na'aseh adam betsalmenu kidemutenu veyirdu bidegat hayam uve'of hashamayim uvabehemah uvechol-ha'arets uvechol-haremes haromes al-ha'arets. Vayivra Elohim et-ha'adam betsalmo betselem Elohim bara oto zachar unekevah bara otam. Vayevarech otam Elohim vayomer lahem Elohim peru urevu umil'u et-ha'arets vechiveshuha uredu bidegat hayam uve'of hashamayim uvechol-chayah haromeset al-ha'arets." (Genesis 1:26-28) This was the concerning the first account of the creation of man. Many passages such as these tell of a creation that took place in six "days" (I place quotes around days because of the various opinions surrounding the translation of the Hebrew word for day, yom, as potentially being translated as an undefined period of time or era), and picks up with the story of Adam and Eve leading all the way through to the story of Moses and the Patriarchs. As there are numbered lifespans ascribed to the various people in the Genesis account, many Christians who subscribe to the very literal interpretation of Genesis and thusly young earth creationism would testify that Genesis tells us that man, the earth, and the universe for that matter are approximately six thousand years old. This is how we will define "young earth creationism."

As we come to atheistic evolutionism, to be fair, we do not restrict ourselves to just this field of science. For the purposes of this particular discussion we will encompass both the field of evolution, and the commonly accepted Big Bang Theory so that we might level the playing field in regards to time. Though there is no scientific consensus on the origins of life (though there are proposals), I do not deny that the science of tomorrow will only further develop the theory of evolution; in this way we will give evolution the benefit of the doubt. So too with modern physics, we will entrust that later developments in physics will allot for our present lack of understanding in the mechanics regarding the initial moments after the Big Bang.

It first should be reminded of us that there are a great many Christians, and some Jews that also adhere to another particular "literal" translation of Genesis relating back to the Hebrew word, "yom", we discussed earlier. Many make an attempt to reconcile the "literal" translation of "yom" as being "and undefined period of time; or era" with that of the precepts of evolution current theories about the origins of the universe. This, in a sense, would allow for some sort of reconciliation with these two vastly different doctrines. This explanation by some modern Christians, coupled with a similar argument recounted and summarized by another author on Helium, Eric Lannak, details of a dialogue between man and God about the "creation event." The dialogue, in a somewhat humorous manner, reminds us that mankind did not always have the understanding of science that we have today, and that, consequently, such an explanation of evolution and the creation of the universe (if it matched those current theories of evolution and astronomy) would make little sense to a man of prehistoric cultural foundation. This is important to note in our discussion, not that some individuals interpreted Genesis in any particular way, but that man had little scientific knowledge between 500 and 1000 BCE (when Genesis is believed to have been written and reached its final form).

A noted Hebrew scholar, Dr. Ting Wang (a professor of Biblical Hebrew at Stanford University in California) would argue that Genesis "means what it says" and that the earth, and the universe are indeed told by Genesis to be 6,000 years old. He gives a compelling argument that one should interpret "yom" as meaning "day" and not "an undefined period of time or era" as it is modified by a number and is contextually surrounded by the descriptive terms of having an evening and morning. Others aside from him would argree that Genesis indeed "says what it means", meaning, that though Genesis recounts its events as "days" that the style of authorship, much like other pieces of literature and creation tales of the time were written allegorically or even poetically. Though Wang disagrees with this notion as an explanation, many scholars hold firm on both sides of the fence.

As our question bears further down upon us we really do have to ask, "Does the Book of Genesis really recount events describing evolution and the Big Bang, or are we simply trying to fill in the "gaps" of the Bible with scientific data of today?" This is a question perhaps best left for another time; another "yom." if you will. Something I do think is very important to all of us, however, is that as seekers of truth, we ought not fall into the politics of arguments such as these, or any for that matter, and that we analyze the data best available to us at the time and attempt to make some sort of decision for ourselves.

When it comes to creationism of any form, both "young earth" and "old earth" we have to remember that we cannot conduct any sort of scientific experiment to verify the existence of God. Whether it be the God of the Jews, the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Jains, etcetera or any for that matter, we cannot provide "proof" sufficient for the scientific community. This I believe has much to do with a proposition as fallible as "Can God create a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it?", and that is that theists around the globe are being challenged to "prove" the existence of a supernatural being, with natural explanations. If indeed there is a God, most would agree that "He" would "exist outside" of this universe and that the mechanics with which we explain phenomena within it (physics) would become useless to us.

Something I brought to our attention earlier was that when the Book of Genesis was written, mankind had no understanding of science as we do today. Such explanations were meaningless to human beings at that time. From research too arduous to go into detail about in this article, the archaeological community is finally having a picture of the ancient world form before their eyes. They see the Sumerians emerge with a written language around 3000 BCE and the Egyptians erecting the great pyramids of the Pharaohs. Many of the great epics of history were recorded from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Enuma Elish. The great laws of Hammurabi stretched its hand from Babylon all the way through our recorded history. Many of these themes we see in the Bible: accounts of creation, great floods, laws for civilized man on and on to give us context for our treasured creation narrative. I think that as more is learned about science the creation account in Genesis will be given more and more light, for better of for worse.

I would just like to say that no matter how you view the Book of Genesis, that from what we know it is a book that contains history. Whether or not it is a historical book is up to you. It contains stories of love and struggle, of hardship and defeat, and of a relationship between God and a peculiar people of the Mesopotamian region. I think that the important question for us to ask really is not whether or not the events described in Genesis really happened that way, but to discern as to whether or not the account tells us about a relationship between God and a people that is of use to us. Does it show us anything about human nature that we can use today? Does this story of creation teach us about the role of God in the creation of the universe? I think so.

In Christ,

Stephen

The World (a supplement to Something Called History)

The world has a way of instilling into people what they "ought" to believe, what they "ought" to think is important, and what they "ought" to think gives their life meaning. We have the dollar, clothes and cars, sex, alcohol and worse- praise for indulging or adhering to the ways of the world. All of these things, though pleasurable, are merely temporal pleasures. They are here one day and gone the next. We as humans NEED that sense of fulfillment in life, a sense of purpose. We create "fixes" to our desire for meaning, hope, and worse- addictions. In the same way that a drug addict needs that "fix" to keep himself going, so too do we engage in these things of the world that our culture has made us to believe are important, right, fulfilling and what we "ought" to do.

But there will never be fulfillment in these things. All that you have had, your house, your car, the expensive restaurant that you dined at with your co-workers, the wonderful drinks that make you feel so warm and fuzzy not worrying about the things of the world, could all be gone tomorrow and what then would you have? All these things that we have been convinced that have meaning and real importance since birth, have ended up owning us (thanks Brad Pitt, lol). A good way to think of it would be to remember Hurricane Katrina. It was a culture that had it all and then it was taken all away. All of the temporal pleasures slipped away and all that was left was the lives of the survivors.

This tells us something important, that fulfillment must come on a deeper level than the physical. You cannot fill a glass by surrounding it with other things or by letting it go afloat upon a great body of water. You must fill it from the INSIDE (wow my metaphors suck lol).

Everything that we know about life has been shown to us by our culture: what we should do as teenagers, what we should eat and what we should buy, but I tell you, the world has a way of making people slaves to it. You know this, I know this, we all do, but it is the extension of that truth into the real world that will help us to overcome this "fix" that never fulfills. Just like with any fix, you always have to go back for more.

In Christ,

Stephen

Something Called History

At one point I was the one of the most difficult people to convince of anything. As an atheist, I was a logician, a philosopher, an ethicist and many others. My intellect has in no way compromised by my spiritual pursuits, but if anything been far more liberating and challenging than any other endeavor that I have ever partaken in. Also, as a former Buddhist, I was very deep seeded in eastern philosophy and spirituality, but nonetheless I was an atheist (as all non-Tibetan Buddhist practices fundamentally are).

Perhaps the difference between me and my fellow Christians is that I don't get preachy to people who are not Christians. It's just a plain bad idea. There is hardly a soul who would come to Christ, in my experience, if he/she were just shoved in their face and were told to "eat of this bread."

Some time ago, depression struck me when my mother passed away from breast cancer, and insomnia soon after came. Days upon days I would be awake. Living, but as the walking dead, an empty mass of flesh. Nine days solid I was once awake and the hallucinations were terrible. Buddhism was a way to calm me and give me peace at the time. It, however, was about inward focus of the self. The goal was the betterment of the self, not others. One can see this recurring theme throughout the faith by the large monastic community that much of the Buddhist community is a part of. This is one of the fundamental differences between the Buddhist faith and Christianity.

If you have ever studied psychology, the human mind has a way of "experiencing" things the way it sees fit. A way of interpreting "truth" as it deems appropriate. In other words, the mind sees what it wants to see, and hears what it likes to hear. The only way to prescribe whether or not that is occurring is by the removal of the self from one's own thoughts (if that makes any sense to you, as I'm sure it does); to forget the self and realize the greater things that are at play in your midst. Philosophy, logic and willpower became the primary focus; a sort of meditative practice focusing on nothing but "truth" and what we can know to be "empirical." There is also intuition. This is when things become complicated for making judgments as to whether or not we are being the creators of our own truth. Sometimes we just "feel" when something is right. Often times when we forget ourselves, the truth is revealed for what it is. To forget the self, and leave behind what one deems as important and meaningful brings about (surprisingly) an important and meaningful life.

The pursuit of happiness is far more deeply rooted than in just what we find in the world, which has the Buddhists would say has a quality called "anitya" or "mujo" both of which mean "impermanence,” that is, that none of these things last forever and can never give us a REAL fulfillment and sense of meaning as we would like.

Haha, do you remember the movie, "Fight Club" with Brad Pitt? He said something in that movie that I really responded well to and that I thought contained a lot of truth (seriously, whoever wrote that movie is a genius lol). He said, "Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives." He also said, “The things that you own, end up owning you.” Now you just think about that. If it came down to it, would you be able to leave everything behind in pursuit of truth (whether that be Christ, or not)? Most would say, yes, however this I know not to be true. Honesty with the self is the first key to freedom from everything.

The world has given us a false hope. I'm not referring to spirituality in any way here either. They just tell us that if you want to be happy, that you get a "nine to five", a house, kids, and a 401K. All they do though is create barriers and limits. It makes us stuck where we are. You hear people talk about it all the time. They say that they would love to just pick up and leave, but they just "can't." They are "stuck", enslaved to the things that they own, their commitments and their careers.

If you travel outside of America, which you have, there is a very different attitude about travel and life than here in this country. Even in Japan, it is commonplace for people to pick up and just leave for a one month vacation every year. EVERY YEAR. In Europe, Australia, and the Indian subcontinent it is common for people to travel the world when they are finished with school before they even start to work. What tops it all is that they don't say, "I can't." or "I'm stuck."

Stress comes in many forms, we just have to be sure we are presupposing what the sources of that stress is correctly if we are to overcome it and truly achieve peace and happiness. What we need is freedom, not an antidote for stress.

The real freedom that comes for me, as a Christian, ultimately comes from the bible and God. In the book of the Psalms, (103:19) it is said, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all." This tells me that no matter what happens in this world we can look to God and be comforted by the fact that so long as He is on His throne, His will shall be done. This is coming from a Christian perspective so do try to understand that (seriously, do try to understand that). If you were a Christian, this would be what speaks to you. However, though you are not, that does not mean that nothing speaks to you. lol

This is my story. I hope that will help you to understand a little about myself and why I may speak in the way that I speak. I'm still a very uneducated person in relationship to the scholars out there. I aim to become one myself someday, but so long as I know one truth about this world, it is my duty as a human being to proclaim it. It is my responsibility to be an open book of information for anything that anybody needs. And it is my purpose to be a living example of the hope that is in me for you, my friends, and the whole world for that matter.

Think of it this way, if I were commanded to go forth and preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Mark 16:15) and I knew somebody pretty personally or even let's say not very well at all. If I knew somebody, and had the power to share even a word of the gospel with them and potentially *save them (try to realize this word from a Christian perspective) and didn't, then not only would I be breaking the covenant that I made with God, but would also be responsible for their *damnation (try also to understand this word from a Christian perspective, however difficult it may be. lol Most Christians even have a hard time knowing what this word is really about. lol).

The whole point to this near-novel that I just wrote is to articulate that I am here for anything. Anything that you need to talk about personally, spiritually, intellectually, philosophically... anything. So, lol, I hope that I'm not coming off as the type that will never get off of this kick and just chat, because I will. This, I thought, might just help with discussion and direction for what to say, or more importantly how to say it, now that you know more about me and who I am. lol

In Christ,

Stephen

Fatter than the fattest fat times infinity...

Just for the sake of putting this out there, the all star Olympian Michael Phelps has not only blown our minds with his swimming abilities, but with his eating abilities as well. In addition to the unreal amount of exercise he gets in a day, he eats over 12,000 calories worth of food a day. THAT'S OVER SIX TIMES WHAT YOU AND I ARE SUGGESTED TO EAT. My mind is perpetually baffled by the notion of all of it. I understand that he needs all of that food/energy for his caloric demands, but seriously. How big does his stomach have to be? Shoving down the food that he takes in would not only be painful, but torturous for even the "fattest" of Americans. If you bother to search the internet for him, prepare to have your mind warped and your stomach blown.

...on my failure to blog. haha

It's been quite a while since my last post, namely because I have this strange problem with not posting something unless I feel that I really have something to say. It seems that whenever I do, I'm not near a computer to voice myself. I suppose it's not about that though, blogging just seems to be about ranting about whatever you want, whenever you want. So I guess I'll try to do some more of that so that every time someone visits my blog they aren't bored with just one or two posts. So snickedy snack...

Why do I blog?

People are touched in many different ways by words so I find it necessary now to start up one of these things (blogs). As it is said in the book of Matthew (28:19) and Mark (16:15) to preach the gospels and make disciples of the whole world. No medium of communication may be left untouched that people may or may not be touched by. Ministry seems to be my calling and as such I must do as I am commanded to do by the scriptures. So I do as I must by a motto my friend Neil lives by, "trust and obey."