{"id":105,"date":"2008-09-08T17:40:17","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T23:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/one-church.net\/wordpress\/?p=105"},"modified":"2008-09-08T17:40:17","modified_gmt":"2008-09-08T23:40:17","slug":"thank-god-for-theory-of-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/2008\/09\/08\/thank-god-for-theory-of-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank God for theory of evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

As one of my boys would say, \u201cToday was super cool!\u201d<\/p>\n

This Monday morning I began teaching for Sterling College<\/span><\/a>, a course called Servant Leadership, to about 200 incoming freshmen and transfer students.<\/p>\n

I only had the chance to personally speak to about 15 or 20 students on this first day, but I was reminded how great it is to hang out with them.\u00a0 Their\u00a0 passion for life, their questions about all things spiritual and fundamental, their desire to leave a mark on the world, and their ability to live off the dollar menu at McDonald\u2019s\u2026\u00a0 everyday!<\/p>\n

They are amazing.<\/p>\n

Even in the short time I was on campus today I over heard discussions about creation, existence, evolution and belief.\u00a0 It has inspired me to blog once again on that great topic\u2026\u00a0 The existence of God. It’s been a while, so, why not tackle the basics again?<\/p>\n

Actually, I\u2019ve been reading this amazing book by Timothy Keller called The Reason For God<\/strong><\/span>,<\/span><\/a> and one chapter (chapter nine to be specific) was a knock you out of your bed, jump up and down and slap your mama chapter.\u00a0 In other words, it was pretty good.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In recommending this read to you I\u2019d like to summarize, theorize and hypothesize a little of my own pertaining to evolution and the existence of God while referring to this resource.<\/p>\n

So here is the premise: evolutionary theory proves there is a God.<\/p>\n

I know, I know, I know\u2026\u00a0 It seems a little backward.\u00a0 Usually, when we bloggers are talking about God and evolution we\u2019re trying to stab Darwin right in the heart. The normal pattern is we have to kill one to let the other live.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a brutal battle, an ugly fight, winner take all, death match, three round, TKO, UFC rules, cage match, are you ready to rumble, pay per view extravaganza?<\/p>\n

But, not today. Today, let\u2019s be friends. Butterflies, rainbows, elevator music, the works.<\/p>\n

Let me say it again so that you get a grip on the argument: evolutionary theory proves there is a God.<\/p>\n

I am not a supporter of evolutionary theory, but using that thought process, here\u2019s how the argument goes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. All people have a moral compass, believing in some form of right and wrong. All people do. Don\u2019t murder, don\u2019t steal, don\u2019t repress women, don\u2019t endanger children, don\u2019t discriminate because of race, creed, color, etc.\u00a0 Even those who claim value relativism (you know, those who say you can’t impose your beliefs on another because there really is no right or wrong) believe it\u2019s wrong for their views to be pushed on others, or others views to be pushed on them. Thus, they have a sense of right and wrong that they don\u2019t even believe in (kind of funny, eh?).<\/li>\n
  2. Evolution says that the traits of a species are developed by natural\u00a0 selection. As the strongest survive their traits are past on to the next generation. For example, bigger males eat the smaller males, and that\u2019s why the average height of the NBA player has increased by almost 6 inches in the last decade (complete made up statistic, but you know I’m right).<\/li>\n
  3. The problem is altruism remains a dominant trait in humanity even though it runs counter to evolutionary theory.\u00a0 Altruism defined<\/em>: the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (opposed to egoism)<\/em>. This trait should have died out of our species millennium ago, but\u00a0it hasn’t. In fact,\u00a0it thrives despite\u00a0what you see the crazies doing on the news. Traits like mercy, justice, compassion and even love are not dominant signs of a species’ strength.\u00a0They are definitely not what should have survived in the evolutionary process,\u00a0yet amazingly they live on.<\/li>\n
  4. The source of these altruistic\/moral thoughts, therefore, cannot be evolutionary or functional in nature. They serve no survival purpose, in fact, ideas like love, freedom, peace, liberty and equality have been ideals deemed worthy of\u2026 yes\u2026 say it\u2026 dying for. This response is the exact opposite of the evolutionary process and yet these ideals are revered, honored, and passed down again\u00a0and again from generation to generation.<\/li>\n
  5. So, what\u00a0 is the source of these completely backward, unselfish, others focused thoughts and actions? Some say, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just the human spirit.\u201d Now we\u2019re getting somewhere. It IS a spiritual thing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Could it be that God is the source of these feelings, morals, convictions and thoughts? Absolutely.<\/p>\n

    Got to hand it to Darwin, without survival of the fittest we may never have seen this argument.<\/p>\n

    Thank God for\u00a0the\u00a0theory of evolution!<\/p>\n

    We are not a people, a culture or a world without morals. We simply refuse to acknowledge where our direction comes from, and that often causes us much grief in the process. We fight the God who is\u00a0trying to guide us and try to believe that our direction is our own.<\/p>\n

    The trick is to simply acknowledge that these feelings, morals and values we experience have a source outside of ourselves and that source is\u00a0worth exploring.<\/p>\n

    Ironically, even those who claim there is no God, really know there is one, and I think I can show it to you in this single metaphor.<\/p>\n

    If a room full of atheists were sitting at home watching the Discovery Channel on which a young gazelle were being hunted, pounced upon and devoured by a proud lioness, there would probably be little more than a sigh at sight of the gore.<\/p>\n

    But, if one of these young yuppies pulled out a gun and snuffed his neighbor there on the couch so he could have his wife because she was hot and he was ready to mate\u2026 they\u2019d all be ticked.<\/p>\n

    Now that\u2019s a double standard don\u2019t you think (he typed sarcastically).<\/p>\n

    You see, even this couch full of atheists would\u00a0instinctively know that the life of a gazelle and the life of human being are not comparable.<\/p>\n

    Why?<\/p>\n

    WHY?<\/p>\n

    WHY!<\/p>\n

    Because there is a right, there is a wrong, it\u2019s written upon our hearts.<\/p>\n

    There is a God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As one of my boys would say, \u201cToday was super cool!\u201d This Monday morning I began teaching for Sterling College, a course called Servant Leadership, to about 200 incoming freshmen and transfer students. I only got the chance to personally speak to about 15 or 20 of them on this first day, but I was reminded how great it is to hang out with college students. Their passion for life, their questions about all things spiritual and fundamental, their desire to leave a mark on the world, and their ability to live off the dollar menu at McDonald\u2019s\u2026 everyday! They are amazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}