And Christ rose from the dead. And he worked other miracles. What science does that necessitate we reject?
I think it necessitates the rejection of the standard theory of evolution.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
Through him all things were made.
The diversity we see in living forms is directly caused by the Word of God. The beauty and grandeur of the world’s fathomless wonders are a manifestation of His glory.
No random activity based on the properties of matter led to the creation of the cell with its almost infinitely complex, interrelated chemical processes. And, once life was created, it did not spontaneously become more complex in the totality of its form, let alone in the material properties we can know directly through the senses. This goes against revelation and reason.
As to natural selection, the projection of utilitarianism and our own self-centredness onto nature, the simple fact is that what has been created is a garden, an environment, a totality of interrelated and interdependent organisms, emerging from the earth, water and air, fuelled by the sun. The world grew and changes as one, its individual constituent expressions of life coming into and going out of being.
There are several facets to evolutionary theory which can affect one’s faith:
The obvious one is its attempt to explain life and mankind as arising independently of a creator. While it may entertain the existence of a deist god, it sees no final cause at the beginning which would express itself in everything that transpires in nature, and no active and direct involvement by God in each moment of His creation.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven
Science is not religion, and in making that trespass, evolution becomes bad science, presenting the distorted vision of reality that is materialism. Doing so, it also becomes bad philosophy and bad religion.
Materialism reduces living organisms to physiological processes, condoning their treatment as such, and not in accordance with the care to which they are entitled and that we are expected to give. However honourable our initial motives, the developing relationship with life changes who we are. Becoming someone less connected and less respectful of life, we see reflected back in the other, an image of ourselves as something less, deadened and empty, in a spiral of deepening alienation. We come to treat even one another as if we were things. Thus abortion rates have skyrocketed into the many tens of millions; and fewer and fewer people care. This isn’t to blame the theory of evolution for the disintegration of society and mankind, but rather to highlight the role it plays in this tragedy. It’s a warning in effect.
The concern is not so much about it being the bad science that it is. String theory seems also to be bad science, but no one cares. The issue with evolution, with all its failings, is how deeply it is woven into the cultural fabric, influencing how we see ourselves, our neighbour and our obligations.
