In middle school, I believe it was, I was introduced to Evolution, per the Neo-Darwinist school of thought:
Simple animals developed at random into more complex animals through mutations that were beneficial. The better the mutation, the better a new animal could survive in varied climates. The mutations would be random, and those animals without mutations or with harmful ones would eventually die off, being replaced by better animals.
Wonderful! Perfection! What a beautiful system! Simple creatures would become bigger, better, more interesting creatures when something triggered their genes to mutate, creating a wonderous variety! One small shift in genes would get us lions, housecats, bobcats, and pumas. A slight change would create a rainbow of colorful birds to fill the skies. How many different types of beetles are there, and how many types of butterflies? Variety! Hallelujah!
To my mind, this was the most eloquent engin that God designed on the Earth. Weather patterns can be unstable, sometimes causing hurricanes (Thank you, Ike, I was without power for 10 days!). Photosynthesis seems lacking in the grab-you beauty, though it’s perfectly functional. The molton core of the Earth flowing out as lava periodically does grab the imagination, and can bring to mind the power and beauty of God’s creation, but the same forces cause earthquakes, and those can be disruptive.
Now, naturally, all those negatives that we humans find in the natural engins of the Earth are probably caused by the Curse. After all, God declared everything “good” at the beginning, so most likely hurricanes weren’t a factor before the whole apple incident.
But evolution? We humans haven’t been able to find a way to mess that up, or to brush it away and ignore it. Even those who believe in the literal six-day Creation know that animals evolve, because we have so many different types of dogs and cats, because ancient humans specially bred corn plants until the male and female parts switched genders on them, because we were able to selectively change the animals we live and work with.
It’s the perfect engin. Of course, that whole “random chance” thing doesn’t wash with me, because every animal fits too perfectly into its environment. Something has to program animal DNA to change properly as the world around the animals changes.
I was always a believer, but Natural Selection was the best evidence I had in nature that God’s hand is always at work in the world, even today.
Just my personal opinion, but eh.
Christian Panentheism is not at all the Stoic doctrine of pantheism, or any other; the Stoic type of pantheism does not distinguish between God & the world - but this distinction is fundamental to any doctrine of God that aspires to be Christian.