• Community
  • Church
    • Blog
    • Recommended Reading
    • How People Describe Us
  • Cafe
  • Contact
  • CALENDAR

Creation & Evolution Pt 1: Understanding Darwin

4/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Welcome to the first of our 3-part series on creation and evolution. It's a topic full of 'noise' and many misunderstandings. There's some big things to debate and disagree about between both perspectives, but there are many shared views to celebrate that are often missed as well - and there are some key aspects of Darwin's own work that shed wonderful light on God's genius in designing biology with the ability to adapt.

​So, to get things off on the right footing we wanted to kick off by understanding Darwin's work and contribution properly. But first, a bit of fun. If you're not familiar with the Darwin Awards, click on the picture and it'll take you to a tongue-in-cheek ode to those who's foolishness has ultimately self-selected themselves permanently out of the human gene pool. There are some classic near-miss stories too (my favourites are often the burglars and other petty crime capers gone wrong). Enjoy...and then we'll get into it. 
Picture
Picture
Interpretive Frames
I was walking home from work recently and saw these monstrosities in a shop window. Who gives someone a 30,000 piece jigsaw? Surely that's the sort of gift you'd give someone you hate? Nevertheless, it did set me thinking about the origins debate. 

​We all have the same evidence before us, but the way we interpret it differs wildly. It's exactly the same as with a jigsaw - you assemble the pieces based on what you believe the picture on the box looks like. That picture becomes the mental model that defines how you assemble the pieces. The origins debate is much like that - our starting assumptions are key to how we approach the evidence. 

Picture
Challenging Assumptions
One of the key assumptions that Darwin was wrestling with was the idea that everything around us - every flower and insect we see, every breed of dog, cow, fish, and bird we know - we specially created by God. 

It's an idea that's referred to as the "Immutability of the Species" - basically, the idea that each individual species on the planet was specially created by God and could never fundamentally change. 

Yet, on Darwin's voyage with the HMS Beagle, he began to notice tiny variations between species of birds (finches in particular) sharing the islands. Then he noticed similar minor variations in traits for other species on separate bodies of land and it became increasingly obvious to him that these species of birds were in fact related, not isolated 'special creations.' That was the catalyst that led to the formulation of his theories (it's worth acknowledging other scientists had developed the same essential idea as natural selection, but Darwin formulated in what was perhaps the most succinct and accessible way).   

Check out these two youtube videos for a really great explanation and overview of his voyage and his work. 

Three Key Ideas
Darwin proposed three essential ideas based on his research: 
  1. Species are not immutable (fixed) - they do change
  2. Species develop through natural selection, favouring the best adapted kinds ('survival of the fittest')
  3. This process forms a branching tree of descent that can be extended to all life

Up until then, it had been commonly held that everything that existed - every bump and every life-form  was a hand-made specimen, specifically crafted by God. Suddenly that assumption could be called into question. 
Picture
Darwin was, of course, absolutely correct. The best modern example we have to illustrate this is dogs. All dogs are related through their canine DNA to wolves. As canines were secured by humans as pets and working animals they followed their owners and a range of variations began to take shape as communities moved apart, isolated different clusters of canines who had a decreasing pool of genetic information to breed from. 

After domestication, humans bred over 400 types of dog within a single century. This is natural selection at work, but it isn't evolution. You can see the links in the following charts. 

Picture
And it was a fairly small leap from there to say that if God didn't create every single little variation, then what if he didn't create the big differences? Perhaps whole genus of animals developed one from the other through small variations over time. ​For those who would follow after Darwin, it led to the following questions: 

  1. If all species of animals have a common ancestor, what about humans?
  2. So if evolution can happen within species, could it not happen across species? 
  3. If animals evolved by selected mutations across species (transmutation), could humans trace our descent back to the animal kingdom? 

Darwin & Racism
One of the other key charges that is often levelled against Darwin and Darwinian evolution by the Christian community is that it is inherently racist - with the implication that it was a racial prejudice of Darwin's own that informed his work. 

While Darwin's theories have certainly been (mis?)used to justify racial agendas, it might not be entirely fair to place this charge entirely on Darwin's shoulders. Let's explore. 
Darwin’s work reflects the prejudices of the time

It's correct that Darwin saw slavery as an inherent part of Natural Selection, but found it abhorrent when he came into personal contact with it. Darwin writes in his follow-up text, The Descent of Man: 

“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes [Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangatans] will no doubt be exterminated.

The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape  as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.”

– The Descent of Man, Chapter 6. 

However, anti-racism critiques of Darwin are more a critique of the worldview of his culture and time, than they are of Darwin himself. 

Most of those who criticise Darwin for racism aren't aware that Darwin’s family helped fund and support William Wilberforce’s anti-slavery work. Darwin himself was opposed to slavery and found it repulsive, yet he also saw it as an inherent part of natural selection.

“Slavery, although in some ways beneficial during ancient times, is a great crime; yet it was not so regarded until quite recently, even by the most civilized nations.  

And this was especially the case, because the slaves belonged in general to a race different from that of their masters. As barbarians do not regard the opinion of their women, wives are commonly treated like slaves.”

 - Descent of Man, Chapter 3

The real tragedy is what others did with Darwin's work - and the atrocities they used it to justify.
Nazi Germany
“Bravery, cunning and competition are virtues…
Darwin must become the new religion of Germany…
the racial struggle is necessary for mankind.”

– Otto Ammon, Author of "Natural Selection among Humans" (1883)

Darwin's work was used to horrendous purpose to justify the Nazi regime as they worked to exterminate the lesser races. Which brings us to a critical question: 

Is it fair to hold someone accountable for what others do with their ideas/work? 
​

I believe we're going to have to agree that it isn’t fair to judge someone for the way others misuse what they created.

Otherwise the same criticism must be leveled at God on an even grander scale. 
Darwin's Own Closing Challenges
Darwin's work really was insightful and on the theory of natural selection - variation within species as a result of increasing isolation in the gene pool - he saw something that many others of his  time could not. 

In reality, Darwin highlighted God's genius by placing sufficient genetic information within the cellular structure of each species that they could survive, adapt, and thrive as the ecology and physical and social environment around his creations changed. It's brilliant; but it's not evolution. 

The fact that there is change and adaptation within species is a fact we all agree on. We can quickly breed different forms of dogs by manipulating the breeding pairs. The same thing happens in nature as animals become dispersed over team and draw on smaller breeding pools, with different traits being more inclined to thrive in different environmental conditions. However you can't turn dogs into fish that way; you can't cross the boundary between animal kinds (the word the Bible uses).  
 
Darwin didn't have the same insight into the research into genetic mutations that we do, which we'll talk about in a future thread. As he was wrestling with the problem of providing credibility to the possibility of evolution across species, he described what he saw as the two biggest problems for his theories: 

Lack of ‘transitional forms’ 
“Why if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not everywhere see inumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being well defined?”
– Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, Ch 6, p102   (1982).

Irreducible complexity
“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances, for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration could have been formed by natural selections seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.

But when it was first said that the sun stood still and the world turned around, the commonsense of mankind declared the doctrine false.”

– Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, Ch 6, p111   (1982).
Darwin acknowledged these problems as incredibly significant, but had faith that science and more extensive research would resolve them in time to come. 

The majority of the world believes this is exactly what has happened since. 
Others feel the opposite is true and the broader theory of evolution is less credible than it's ever been. 
What do you think? 
0 Comments

Seeing the Kingdom where we live...

4/20/2018

0 Comments

 
It's been a while between posts while we've been setting up the cafe - with that now growing momentum like a firestorm it's a good time to get these back on track. We'll get a summary of our 3 week Creation Evolution discussion next, but first let's close off the final part of our Live-Work-Play series...seeing the Kingdom come where we live. Read on...
As you'll see in the slides below, we kicked this session off by asking what 'Home' means to each of us - do we see it as a fortress to retreat to, an oasis that rejuvenates us, or something else?  Biblically, we see that home is depicted as a place of blessing (slides 3-7).  
Picture
Thinking of the ideas of home and family, it becomes interesting when you look at how God introduces himself in scripture. The Bible opens by introducing God as plural being who is a Creator first and foremost, and then we meet the mind-boggling concept of "I Am" in God's introduction to Moses - introducing himself as someone who always IS, always will be, and never wasn't...God is life itself, the very essence of BEING (as in a literal personification of the verb TO BE).
​
​It's mind-numbing stuff for us created ones. More on that another time perhaps.

And from there God introduces himself consistently as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - the God of three generations of family. From there God increasingly reiterates his promises to the Israelites based on his history/credibility as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (slides 8-12). 
God inescapably works generationally - he works in and across families. In our individualism we unwittingly focus on our own lives and ask God to bless our endeavours. It seems it's frequently his pleasure to do just that but ...he has a much bigger story and a much bigger game at play that he's inviting us into. He is working across generations, across families, calling us into a larger destiny and inviting us to leave a legacy behind us as we go, giving a head-start to those that follow. 
Picture
Why? The answer to that is the same as the reason why I hate tomatoes...it just is...it's who I am. This is just who God is...it's part of His being I AM. He works in families. He is family. And if you have somehow lost family or had it taken from you, he'll set you in family again: 
"God sets the lonely in families" - Psalm 68:6
It's beyond us to fathom why God is the way He is but given that He is the very essence of life itself, when we live in line with His character increased qualities and experiences of life are the result. When you live, work and build generationally, you build enormous momentum across time. It's the difference between the speed our best runners can set doing a 100m sprint from a standing start, and the way they totally blitz those times again when it's a relay race where the runners hit the track running.
God is inviting us into a generational relay race that will set unstoppable momentum and increasing resource behind our lives. 
This has the potential to create enormous freedom so, obviously, the kingdom of darkness is desperately trying to undermine it. 
Picture
Things like divorce have an obvious effect - dividing the inheritance and splitting the wealth of a family, let alone the emotional trauma for all parties, but where does it begin? Could it be the modern dating culture that draws us to experiment with relationships in isolation and then flick them off when something goes wrong? Modern dating offers intimacy without commitment and essentially trains us for divorce by leading us to dump and change partners rather than work through conflicts together (an essential ingredient for a healthy marriage). 
How are parents and elderly people typically presented in Hollywood? We're so seldom given images of parents who have the backs of their kids no matter what, or kids who seek advice and support from their parents. Authority is almost never to be trusted in Hollywood's gospel. We're left swimming in imagery and themes that do anything but support a link or a partnership between generations. 
Picture
The western world's portrayal of sex as simply another expected part of any relationship at any age beyond puberty is perhaps the most powerful way of attacking the link between family, generational momentum and legacy. 
What is meant to be the unique glue that holds a lifelong oath together through fun, adventure, longing, frustration, highs and lows, just becomes another shortlived moment of hormonal pleasure devoid of real intimacy. As casual relationships inevitably break the scarring on our hearts build up until we can share our bodies with each other but are no longer able to share our souls. It's a brief moment of physical intimacy that's robbed of the full pleasure of emotional, spiritual intimacy. What God designed as a 3D experience becomes reduced to 1D and we wonder why it's not all we thought it was cracked up to be. Ironically, our so-called sexual freedom actually leaves us impoverished. And the pattern is set... 
Picture
God is inviting us to a radically different, much more powerful way of living across generations. Their is a massive legacy flowing through your veins just waiting for you to get in touch with...and there's a torch in your hand for you to pass on to others (whether their in your bloodline or not). 
What might your generational inheritance look like? It could be any of the following and more: 
  • Natural personality traits that run in your family - excess joy, being at peace, hospitality, graciousness, generosity. These are all different aspects of God's character that he gives to different cultures and families.
  • The gift of the gab - an easy way with people, natural skill at creating relationships, public speaking etc
  • Physical health, wellbeing, strength 
  • Specific areas of knowledge or insight passed down (hunting skill, traditional health knowledge, music, crafts etc)
  • Skill with money and business
  • Leadership abilities
  • Art - the ability to see the world in different ways and capture and express that
  • Skill with conflict - natural confidence in confronting physical, emotional, spiritual conflict
The list goes on!! 

Consider: 
  • What inheritance has been given to your bloodline? 
  • What skills and abilities can you consistently see in your relatives and ancestors? 
  • How are you growing and giving voice to the legacy that lives in you? 
  • Who are you passing the baton on to? 

0 Comments
    Picture

    The Local   

    Faith, laughter, food, community & dialogue in place of religion, dogma & hierarchy.




     

    Archives

    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    August 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly