On the plane from Atlanta to Dallas today I set by a former missionary and had a good chat. When the conversation came around to Evolution …
Brief Aside: Most of my conversations come around to Evolution and Creation if they go long enough because that is the subject matter of my pilot project for my new production company that has consumed my life for the last 18 months and this run on sentence and yes it also ate all of the commas. So it would make sense that it usually makes its way into my conversations. I would apologize, but I’m not sorry and I don’t want to be more neurotic than necessary to sustain my reputation.
Anyway, I don’t think I’m the only one that does this. In fact, I believe we all do. That is, we all steer conversations toward things that we are passionate about. Most of the time such maneuvering goes unnoticed because everyone does it.
Homework: Try steering your next conversation towards something unusual that you normally wouldn’t talk about. Let’s say your chatting with the pizza delivery guy; well see how quickly you can lead the conversation towards alien abduction or the danger of vaccinations. Seriously, it will be fun. Me, I’m going to somehow lead the next conversation I’m in tomorrow towards the dangers of underground sinkholes (as opposed to the celestial sort). The art to this exercise is in doing it in such a way that it seems natural and intelligent. Doing it too quickly will be coming out of left field, and too slowly and you may lose your audience to the dangerous sinkholes that are creeping up on us every day. And no that last sentence doesn’t count as completing my homework.
Brief Aside Over – Return to actual blog entry …
So when the conversation came around to Evolution it was interesting to see how quickly this missionary, bible translator and lifelong Christian ceded much of Biblical teaching regarding Creation to current scientific thought regarding the age of the earth (estimates say about 4.5 billion years give or take a year).
And this isn’t a criticism of him. Its more of a thought. I myself am trying to keep myself open to truth no matter how uncomfortable it makes me at first.
But how quickly should I recast clear biblical teaching about a relatively young earth (6 to 10 thousand years) to accommodate current scientific thinking? In other words should I just accept the experts’ answers and reinterpret the first half dozen chapters of Genesis so that I appear more reasonable and intelligent?
Or maybe I should hold my theologically sound ground against ALL the evidence so that I maintain my spiritual peace of mind whilst not using any of my mind’s other pieces?
If you know me (which if you haven’t met me you really should – I would love to meet my reader), then you already know that neither extreme appeals to me.
My conclusion; as Christians we should be very careful when we cede biblical teaching to contemporary scientific (or social, political, parental, economic, etc…) thought without first making them show their work. If they’ve done the work and are willing to show it then we shouldn’t be afraid to consider, evaluate and test it and follow the truth where it leads us.
If; however, they aren’t willing to show the work and just expect us to swallow it hook, line and sinker then don’t take the bait. We’re to be fishers of men, not mounted guppies.
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