Quote:
Originally Posted by Carpenter
Someone may have mentioned this, but I believe that God could have allowed or designed the evolutionary process concerning the animal and plant kingdoms. I also believe there has been some evolutionary change in humans in terms of adaptation, however there is no way the human species developed from a more simple and less complex set of DNA...no way.
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That involves an important discussion on what it means to be "human." Are we each just the sum total of whatever our DNA code reads? I don't think so. We are created in God's "image." I don't pretend to have a complete (perhaps not even a very good) explanation of what all that means, but it does set us apart from the other "complex collections of dust" on the planet.
Also, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This "breath of life" seems to be something we share with animals (
Genesis 6:17) yet coupled with our "humaness" it is something different (
Psalm 42:5 and
Psalm 43:5).
I can see the DNA code as developing through generations of "nonhumans" until God selected a time and place to create a full human being from the life that was already in blossom.
The human genome, while similar to even fruit flies, is extremely unique when it is closely examined and compared to other genetic codes. One of the most important things that makes it so unique is the way it has passed through time. Observing the current rate of mutation in many genes we can extrapolate that we all share a common mother back around 100,000 years ago. The mitochondria that is involved is inherited from your mother and that's why we can "see" an Eve but not an Adam in this technique. And there are some very severe bottlenecks all along the way. Basically, our ancestors were never as numerous as they are now (obviously) but at times, and for generations of time, they seem to have existed in only a single small family clan like unit.
You can go and select DNA samples from a single closley related troop of chimps in Africa and look for the differences and then plot those differences on a graph. Then travel the globe and select DNA from the most widely separated humans you can find. The humans will always come out more closely related than the chimps- despite the fact that the chimps may be first cousins or even siblings and the humans in our test haven't shared a common ancestor for who knows how many generations.
This screams to us the fact that human DNA has traveled a very different path through time than the DNA of our "closest animal relatives." And yet even with that,
there is more to being a human being than just your DNA. We are related to the rest of the living organisms on this planet - and yet somehow we stand apart from all others in very significant ways.
I put that in rather non-theistic wording on purpose. My point is that we can begin a discussion on God and the things of God from an entirely scientific viewpoint - without resorting to the "Scientific Creationism" strategy of obsfucation. Look for "meaningfulness" in life and natural history. "Design" arguments can sometimes be a serious detour. Instead approach it as if you were prepared to jump into the inky blackness of nihilism if that were where the truth lay. But before you jump, stop and turn around and ask yourself, does any of this mean anything?
That's where I stood once. Filled with doubt I was forced by the evidence to confess that, yes there does appear to be some meaning here. At that point I decided to give God the "benefit of the doubt." I had so much doubt anyway, so why not put some of that doubt in His column as well? It was then that the most unexpected voices spoke to me and showed me the meaning all over again; only this time at a level so rich and deep that I was filled with awe.
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