Guest post by an ex-creationist Christian
4/18/2008 | 12:15 PM | Evolved Rationalist
Below is a post by a Christian theistic evolutionist who abandoned young-earth creationism after looking at the scientific evidence, and I have posted it as it is. Despite the fact that he is still a theist, I feel that the most important message we should take from his story is that we should not be afraid of exposing creationist arguments for the vacuous piles of dung that they are. We should not be spineless appeasers who tiptoe around stupid beliefs to avoid offending anyone, as we never know when somebody's life may be turned away from irrational dogma to open-minded scientific inquiry. As for the two websites he mentions at the end, I have to disagree with the way evolution is put forth there. One of the websites advocate praying before making up your about evolution and the other seeks to reconcile Bible verses with evolution. The theory of evolution itself does not claim that there is a god or that there is no god, and Talk Origins and the Understanding Evolution site are excellent resources for learning about evolution without religion being dragged into the issue. --Evolved Rationalist
My story is an interesting one, being that within scarcely a year and a half I went from being a rabid anti-evolutionist to being a reluctant defender of ToE.I became a Christian when I was only five years old, this at first had little effect on my life because I was already an avid churchgoer and was really into my faith. Things were so simple back then, I didn't wonder about the existence of God or anything, to me, God's existence was a given. Between the ages of 6 and 8 I was not interested in science or math. When the subject of evolution came up the primeval answer of mine to that paradox was there had been a really long time between Adam and Noah.
My story is an interesting one, being that within scarcely a year and a half I went from being a rabid anti-evolutionist to being a reluctant defender of ToE.I became a Christian when I was only five years old, this at first had little effect on my life because I was already an avid churchgoer and was really into my faith. Things were so simple back then, I didn't wonder about the existence of God or anything, to me, God's existence was a given. Between the ages of 6 and 8 I was not interested in science or math. When the subject of evolution came up the primeval answer of mine to that paradox was there had been a really long time between Adam and Noah.
Then it came, when was about eight years old I first watched the Kent Hovind videos, the worst mistake in my life. His statements against evolution and the like stirred up a hatred for science in me. Suddenly I was sensitized of the problem of evolution and galvanized into action.
During the next 4-5 years I didn't like science much by I was by no means not an intellectual. I was fascinated by history, geography, and other cultures, in fact I barely thought about evolution but when I did it was in a light so hostile that if feelings could Richard Dawkins would have had a heart attack right there and then. During this time I was very religious but not spiritual, my religion was legalistic and I didn't really try to be the proverbial Abraham. Perhaps I was not spiritual but I definitely wasn't a skeptic. I accepted almost every claim there was about faith-healing, demonic possession, and the like. And it scared the heck out of me. I remember not being able to sleep because I was afraid the devil was going to possess me or steal my soul or something.
Fortunately I became more rational, but I still didn't like science but I around the time I was twelve I gained a fascination for astronomy and spaceflight. It seemed so exciting and awe-inspiring. Finally I came to the conclusion; against all odds I was going to be an astronaut. Instantly everything changed. I started to love science, mathematics, and technology. I got way better at math and science and entered a new age. A wonderful age, the age of reason. Now in my research (not in school being that I was homeschooled) I often heard "this rock is 3.5 billion years old," or "the universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old" I gradually became used to it. I began to unconsciously accept much of modern science. I realized there were magnetic reversals, I realized that there was an Oort cloud, that there were enough neutrinos to prove the sun was burning by nuclear fusion, and that evolution did not say we came from rocks, then evolved into rats, then to monkeys, then boom a chimp gave birth to a humans. While still a creationist even I began to take only about half of what Kent Hovind said seriously (I had never really believed the conspiracy theories or anything although they did make great inspirations for my sci-fi short stories). Well things went like this for about a year. During this time my belief in young earth creationism remained unchallenged (and I will add my religion was much saner at this point) . Then it happened...
In the summer of 2006 my faith was punched in the stomach by a crisis of faith. Suddenly I began to question almost everything about my faith, I nearly left the faith there and then. However I looked at Christian apologetics books and creationist seminars. This is when I really got into the creation/evolution controversy.
In October I went to spacecamp. By this time my crisis of faith had subsided and my certainty about the existence of God was nearly back to what it had been before the crisis. I was far too excited about spacecamp to be worrying about a crisis of faith which had since lost its sting. Now at spacecamp there were among many others two people, Anali and Elles. I did not realize this at the time but they were not exactly creationists. Anyway it was late the first day and we got to talking about things we had done when we were bored. I mentioned that I had calculated there were 1,174 chapters in the bible; I don't quite remember how it got to this but Anali ended up asking me if I believed the bible, then along the road she asked me if I was a creationist. After this I was the center of attention, everyone wanted to have their turn to sling mud at my creationist beliefs. One of the very first questions following that incident was "Who did Cain marry?" When I answered "his sister," one of the girls gave a very intellectual response, "Eww." That evening while we were at dinner was the site of the first all out attack on creationism. As soon as I saw them slander creationism, God, religion etc. I realized that idea that most intellectuals were theists was pure fantasy (even though a lot of them are). The next morning I my position on Man descending from a single couple on the basis of inbreeding. When I tried to explain that the human gene pool was not as impure as it is now (standard creationist rhetoric) and used an analogy of making a copy of a paper successively to the one hundredth generation. And she took it upon herself to hit me on the shoulder with her bag and say "That's not how it works!" And there are a lot of other funny or embarrassing instances which I won't tell to save time, but the most excruciating defeat was when I butchered the definition of natural selection, I hate to be made to look like a fool and then I looked like the king of fools. Spacecamp was great but the creationism part was mortifying at best. I watched, stunned, as argument after argument for a young earth fell flat on its face, At this point God seemed a million miles away, I began to wonder if he did even exist.
When I left spacecamp I was rather shaken up. I went over the discussions I'd had with Anali and Elles over and over again. Elles will probably take this as a compliment but she was the first hardcore anti-creationist I had met. Well to make a long story short I met Anali again, and much later I met Elles. During this time I read anti-creationist sources and they slowly eroded my faith in young earth creationism. Finally sometime in July 2007 I was in serious doubts about YE creationism. To the point where I was ready to give up. Then I came across a site that was old earth creationist. I t was on that night that I officially abandoned young earth creationism.
Now over the next couple months I met Elles over the internet and Anali. Elles actually had very little affect on my conversion to theistic evolution but outside sources did. Of course at this time I was still a creationist and did not really believe in evolution. Then I went to spacecamp and listened to George Von Tiesenhousen give a lecture on the Big Bang (the last time I went it was on the Solar System and my brain temporarily shut down and I tried to defend my creationism; to any creationists on this board, don't ever do that). I asked him one question, it was whether the Big Bang could have been directed by a higher power, he said although science didn't know, he believed it did.
This somehow pushed me to come to an immature verdict of believing in theistic evolution. So being that I did not believe in it for any rational reason I soon slid back into Intelligent Design (I was now an OE creationist not a YE creationist). Then I looked a video by Kenneth Miller and read about ERVs and pseudogenes on Wikipedia. At this moment I came to a rational decision to become a theistic evolutionist. A few months later I was alerted to the Ben Stein movie (Expelled) and I have begun to actively defend both Darwin and Christ.
This somehow pushed me to come to an immature verdict of believing in theistic evolution. So being that I did not believe in it for any rational reason I soon slid back into Intelligent Design (I was now an OE creationist not a YE creationist). Then I looked a video by Kenneth Miller and read about ERVs and pseudogenes on Wikipedia. At this moment I came to a rational decision to become a theistic evolutionist. A few months later I was alerted to the Ben Stein movie (Expelled) and I have begun to actively defend both Darwin and Christ.
Now for a final word, I would like to say this to my fellow theists who may or may not be creationists. It is ok believe in both God and evolution. I understand what it is like to be intimidated by evolution which seems to so easily rule out any need for God at all. But there are many strong believers in both God and the theory of evolution. I have accepted evolution and my religion is stronger and more enriched then it has been for a long time.
If Evolved Rationalist will allow me to, I will point you to two sites which changed my mind
That is my story.
James T. Kirk
Posted in
Creationism,
Evolution
|
James,
Do you accept the myth of Noah's Ark? If so, how do you reconcile that with evolution? If you don't take it literally, how do you know which parts of the Bible are literal and which are not? Couldn't the resurrection story be fictional as well?
Anonymous,
You asked a very important question; yes I do believe at one time in earth's history there was a catastrophic (local flood) which most humans in that area were killed and one famiy did survive by building an ark. where it is located is the question. I believe it happened while humans were still not widespread and before the dispersal from Africa, which was a long ago as 200,000 years ago and as recent as 50,000 years ago I believe. And I did hear there was a genetic bottle neck about 150-200,000 years ago around the time of the mitochondrial eve which offers credibility to this idea atleast scientifically. As far as the biblical credibility goes; first you must remember that the bible author's probably thought the flooded area was the whole world. But lets read through Genesis 7:17-24; one thing to notice is that in verse 20 when it says the water covered the high mountains, the actual word can mean a range of hills, this could be interpreted to mean it covered the highest hills in the area. And the word for earth can also mean a local region in all cases in that part of the bible. Also thw word for heaven when it in chapter twenty where it says everything under heaven simply means the visible arch of the sky. Itm ay not necessarily mean the entire atmosphere.
And finally to answer your last question, Theologians have actually put a lot more thought into the meaning of genesis then creationists seem to think. And allegorist takes on genesis existed long before the creation/evolution controversy. In fact Saint Augustine and many of his contemporaries in the 5th century AD thought be because of 2 Peter 3:8 that they days in Genesis were a thousand years long!AnywaY I believe the bible should be interpreted allegorically or literally on four things, 1) what the orginal word meant, 2) unless it was a miracle if it is supported by science 3)if Jesus thought it was literal and 4) if it is theologically correct. To save space (and if evolvedrationalist will let me) I'll give you the link to a site which a webpage which pretty much explains why some christians think modern science and the bible are compatible, http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/other_papers/greg_moore_does_old_earth_creationism_contradict_genesis_1.shtml
Note on the links in this article:the links I made in this comment as well as the article mainly for creationists and religious people who do believe in God. For the atheists and agnostics, and other non-religious people places such as talkoriigns are much better sources.
Hi James: I suggest two books by Michael Behe. "Darwin's Black Box" and " The Edge of Evolution." Look around the web and see how they slander Behe and you'll know he struck a nerve with the evolutionists! His basic thesis in "The Edge of Evolution" is that, knowing what we know about change in the malaria gene, macro-evolution is not mathematically possible.
I also suggest "Reasons to Believe" (www.reasons.org) led by astronomer Hugh Ross for a solid foundation in how an understanding of an old earth squares with an interpretation of Genesis. Hugh Ross is a good guy. Smart!
haha i see you still have some learning to do, but good to see that you're making progress! ^^
"It is ok believe in both God and evolution. I understand what it is like to be intimidated by evolution which seems to so easily rule out any need for God at all."
First sentence - agreed. I believe in evolution but not God, though who am I to take God away from a believer?
The second sentence seems to indicate that you were bullied into giving up creationism. Would you say that's true? Again, I am an atheist here, I just hope you changed your views for the right reasons.
Cheers! -Ted
James,
Why do you believe that the Bible is the correct holy book and that the Christian god is the real one? Don't you think you would have thought differently if you were brought up in, say, Saudi Arabia?
John Murphy,
Read Jerry Coyne's review of Behe.
Are you aware that Behe accepts that humans evolved from earlier primates?
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