As a Christian, I was exclusively taught the story of creation growing up. And while I can no longer tell you precisely which miracle of existence occurred on which day of the week, I can safely say it followed a sequence even Darwinists may find intuitive (well, probably not).
But there was light and then there was water so vegetation could grow and animals could eat. And along came people who could eat the animals and a few veggies here and there.
One glaring difference, of course, between evolution and creation is that even the primates remained animals in the Bible. Also, there were no cavemen, which seriously jeopardizes the credibility of Geico’s advertising. On a side note, isn’t it ironic how that campaign itself refuses to evolve?
I believe in the Bible. Because I want to. And because I need to.
I need to know there is a God. I need to believe this world is bigger than me, advertising, a few half marathons and even 5 adorable nieces and nephews. And I really need to know this world is greater than depression, the recession and cancer. Just to name a few.
But what I also need to believe is that life isn’t so black and white. The parameters of religion, even my own belief system, feel too rigid at times. And I think they’re that way for a reason. For instance, it’s easiest to teach children absolutes. Why else do parents (and aunties) sweat it so much when there’s no definitive answer to a child’s always-present question of “Why?”
I heard this story about Darwin and his family recently on NPR. It took two decades for Darwin to publish his ideas about evolution in part because they were so drastically different from his Christian wife’s belief in creationism.
How could she believe in something so strongly, he wondered, without theory and reason and science to back it up? I suppose it’s true – much of Christianity seems farfetched. But if religion were filled with tangible proof, it wouldn’t take so darn much faith to believe it.
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Editor’s note: There is one other thing before Darwin’s birthday month passes us by. You know the symbol of the Darwin fish swallowing the Jesus fish? That’s sort of inaccurate. Jesus didn’t create the world, he walked it.
Unscripted 