I remember when evolution was presented in science class during my high school days in the late eighties. We were instructed on how the cosmos came into being through natural means, which, from my perspective, took God out of the picture by default. It was like my science teacher was saying, “Everything you’ve heard is wrong.”

I was mad. Nobody, I mean nobody, was going to tell me that Genesis was wrong. This was more than a science class; God’s very existence was being called into question!

Since then, I’ve continued a layman’s interest in the theory of evolution and how to reconcile that with the creation account in Genesis. The evidence suggests that the process of the earth’s formation was a long, natural process of change where every species came into being slowly, not in the snap of a divine finger. Some scientists call God’s existence into question, since the process was a natural one. Add the reaction from select prominent Christian figures, and we end up with the kind of head-butting we’ve seen in Kansas and other state governments.

As Rick pointed out in his comments on my previous post, it seems that “both communities tend to act as if the other community’s body of knowledge cannot inform the other.”

Could it be that scientists are reading God’s ancient playbook when they pull fossils from a spot of ground in northern Canada? As Stan Guthrie noted in Christianity Today, an increasing number of scientists are seeing design in their evidence. It makes me wonder if God is showing his hand one card at a time.

Reflections of God’s creative power are all around us, and every “breakthrough” scientific discovery is another glimpse into His wisdom. We can’t convince every scientist to see God’s handiwork in their discoveries, but His signature is there, nevertheless.

Theories about the earth’s creation shouldn’t cause any fear in the heart of a Christian. The evolution debate is not a debate over God’s existence for those of us who believe in Him. Think about it: if you found out that evolution was God’s way of creating the universe, would you stop believing in God? I agree with Guthrie’s answer; If evolution is true, “then God is more mysterious than I imagined—but no less God.”

A fossil found last year is being hailed by science as a key missing link in evolutionary theory. To put it in layman’s terms, Paleontologists suggest that the fossil shows the link between swimming fish and four-legged, slimy land crawlers. The Tiktaalik “is a really amazing, remarkable intermediate fossil,” scientist Neil H. Shubin told the New York Times.

There is an article in Christianity Today about what these kinds of discoveries mean for Christian faith. Are they a threat? Should we continue to shrug them off as insignificant? The article is at http://www.christianitytoday.com/41438, and here is an excerpt:

Increasing numbers of world-class scientists, as a matter of fact, are in awe of the apparent design and fine-tuning of Creation. “The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture,” physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson notes, “the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”

This has prompted me to reflect again on evolution and the question of whether or not it has to be mutually exclusive with our faith. What do you think? Can a Christian believe in evolution without sacrificing their belief in God as Creator? I would love to hear your thoughts before I post mine (if you have time, read the short CT article first).