I am publishing this page now, even though there is far more work to be done. I would appreciate any feedback, and also please recognize that it is a work in progress and may change. Some Christians will be horrified at the position I present here, but it is long overdue that we Christians actually put effort into understanding our faith in relation to an evolutionary process. Evolution does not need to destroy the Gospel, but it will if we keep our heads in the sand and refuse to grapple with the issues presented by it.
Use this as a challenge to join me in the journey, rather than a reason to attack what is presented. Most of my propositions are not new. Many other writers, for example C S Lewis and others have provided great insight into this area.
For the atheist, there will no doubt be things you disagree with, but if nothing else, I invite you to look along the light, not at the light, and see the difference.
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Evolution is seen by many as a challenge to the existence of God. Many have and are endeavoring to address this issue, and I have made my small contribution on my page The “Evolution Deletes God” Myth.
However, there is another difficult problem. If one accepts Theistic Evolution, or Progressive Creation, the Gospel message of Calvary is immediately confronted. In a world where life has grown out of survival of the fittest, bloodshed, death and chaos, how do we fit Jesus dying a bloody death, as God, on a cross for the sins of the world?
Perhaps that endless cycle of life and death, blood and chaos is the very reason humanity needs God to break in upon our reality with something which could be produced in no other way.
Progressive creation may also make God look less omniscient than we like to believe he is. Let’s remind ourselves that in the story of Noah’s flood, God himself said he regretted making man. He was saddened by the outcome to that point. Did He not see this coming? Another example is the choosing of Saul as king over Israel. The outcome seems to suggest it was a poor choice.
True, we can explain these poor outcomes of God’s choices by human free will, and end up in debates over predestination and the like, but perhaps it would be more sensible to reconsider what we mean by omniscient? There is probably no doubt that traditional views of God as Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent will come under review in seeking to understand the Gospel in relation to evolutionary processes.
Whatever answer one gives or finds to do justice in regard to science on the one hand, and uphold what is unique to Christianity on the other – it will not be easy.
I am reminded of Dr Bruce Waltke, Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, who was ultimately dismissed from his position over these type of issues. Darrel Falke of Biologos in concluding his remarks about Waltke’s courage had this to say:
“Decades from now, when the Evangelical Church has come to terms with the reality of evolution, we hope she will look back at those who were the pioneers of its journey toward a fuller understanding of the manner by which God has created. I could list any number of whom are good friends and colleagues. Right there alongside them will be Dr Bruce Waltke who, in the latter phase of an extremely distinguished career, had the courage to tell the Church what it needed to hear. The fact that he did so with a remarkably gentle spirit in love will be a reminder to all that the real battles are won when we simply live the reality of the Gospel. To do this – in the face of adversity – is the ultimate in courage.”
I think that describes a journey Faith must take. It will not be easy, and may in fact be generational in that some will go to their graves unable to come to terms with change.
The concept or teaching that all that is, us, the universe – everything equals “God”, would have us believe that our life is simply a small contribution to a mountain of suffering built upon by a myriad of past generations of life.
One of the key reasons some dismiss an afterlife is horror at the suggestion that anyone could enjoy an eternity of beautiful life while knowing that someone else was enduring an eternity of torment. I agree with this horror. The concept of enjoying eternity while loved ones, or anybody for that matter, are suffering in torment is untenable, but it is the teaching that should be challenged, rather than using it to throw out God. There is less evidence supporting such a doctrine than there is pointing to the existence of God. To dismiss God in the basis of a debated teaching based on emotional response is untenable.
In addition to this, the suggestion that the ultimate meaning of the religious experience finds its fruition in the understanding that all reality is “God” is a self serving circle. To say all reality is god is to have worship point around a circle and back at ourselves. On this basis, I am part of god and god is part of me. All reality is one. Instead of this circular reasoning, it would seem that the kind of worship we are hard wired for points outside of and beyond ourselves.
Ultimately all human hopes center around a desire for something. Many times this “something” is internal, a desire, a state of being, or an experience, but many times it is pointing outside of ourselves, to a future, to a dream, to a goal, to a beyond. Why? Even in the absence of suffering it is still human to hope. Even hope in God. In fact the more beautiful life is, the more we may in fact hope for something greater, deeper, or beyond. Perhaps if we take all human hopes seriously we will find God in their depths as their source? Clearly, we could say we are hard wired to hope regardless of our circumstances. This hope has expressed itself in remarkably similar ways across all peoples and cultures. What has triggered this deep seated longing or desire in the evolution of humanity?
Of course some would say that very sense of “need”, or desire is what caused us to “invent” God in the first place, but this also faces the problem of similarity across cultures and time. It seems highly improbable the very same “invention” could spring into being with remarkable similarities across different, distinct people groups around the world.
If there is nothing and nobody beyond ourselves why such universal outcomes and similarities? Is there any human hope, need or desire that does not have God within it?
So whether these are driven by either the wish to avoid suffering, or to enjoy more of what I have, who’s to say that they are not growing out of a greater, external reality?
Light from every Angle
The context of the material that follows is my belief that religious worship, cultures and practices across humanity are the results of something or someone beyond. From the shadows of paganism to the Christian Bible and every other tradition we find shafts of light pointing in the same direction. Some of these shafts of light are faint, others bright, but taken collectively they provide a compelling evidence for God. I suggest we should search these shafts of light to find the core principles and teachings and distill them. There are those who will disagree with me, but I believe a lions share of this revelation belongs in the Christian Bible, particularly the New Testament. Let me quickly add, this does not mean that I see it as an infallible source. It is not. The belief that it is, is perhaps the cause of the array of denominations and theologies that have sprung out of its interpretation. It would be better if Christians could put aside fine tuned interpretations, which provide the many barriers between one another, and seek the core elements underlying the Gospel.
It seems to me that the historical reality of Jesus cannot be doubted, and that in the events of his life and death God was truly breaking into our reality in a profound way, but more on that later. However, there is little doubt that this world and life has come to be what it is through primarily natural processes, and that is how it continues to this day. In other words, God is not in the business of suspending natural laws. He may work through them, and within them, but rarely outside of them.
In what follows I will share what seems to me to be the central anchor for religious faith. I will present it as a perspective from the Bible, but please keep in mind that this is done because it is a convenient source which does pull together a great portion of the “shafts of light” that it can be argued God has shed on this world.
Who are we? Or perhaps better, what are we?
First of all lets take three almost universal facts about humans and our experience:
1. We are physical beings. We see, we touch, we smell, we taste.
2. There is an almost universal representation of the view or teaching about unseen, or spiritual entities.
3. There is an almost universally represented view that we have, or are (a) spirit.
Now, as noted, at this point I am going to turn to the Christian Bible. Not as an authority, because it may not be so for you or I, but as a tool to illustrate this theme or concept. You can apply it from whatever framework you are coming from and see how it measures up. I think you will see a common theme.
In the New Testament book of Hebrews the writer is addressing believers, and talking about people who have believed in the God of the Old Testament during that period. He is also speaking of the change that has taken place as a result of Jesus’ death. Here is what he says:
Hebrews 11:39,40 “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Notice there was a delay in people in the Old Testament times or prior to the time the writer was living, where people were not “made perfect”.
Now, notice Chapter 12:1 and 23 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses….” and v23 “..you have come (in faith) to the spirits of righteous men made perfect…”
Notice the act of making, or at least declaring perfect, is completed. These “righteous” people are also described as spirits, who at least metaphorically, “surround” us.
Paul, another prolific New Testament writer, in 2 Corinthians 5:1 – 10, describes our physical body as a tent, in which we dwell. He adds that if this body is destroyed, we have a building in heaven, and eternal dwelling. Death, is considered as “naked” or “unclothed”. Inhabiting our heavenly dwelling is called being “at home” with God.
In verse 10 he explains a key to this transition: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him, for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
Let’s summarize the key points of recognition:
1. We are in a physical body
2. We are spirit
3. There is a transition centering around death, or an action (of Jesus)
4. There is a judging based on actions (of the spirit?) while in the body
How many worship or religious cultures around the world do NOT have similarities with this?
Human spirits are not the only spirits in reality.
To illustrate this I am going to use a statement from Hebrews, and two fascinating snapshots from Jesus. Again, not as authority, but to illustrate. You can fit these into your perceptions of the world, but look for similarities.
Hebrews 1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
Next is the story of the Demoniac in Mark chapter 5. Jesus confronts a man possessed by an evil spirit. After Jesus commands the spirit to come out of the man, the spirit enters into dialogue with Jesus. In doing so, the spirit identifies itself as many more than one, and begs Jesus not to send them out of the area. Instead, they beg to be “allowed” to go into a herd of pigs nearby. Permission granted, they do so, and the entire herd race over the steep bank and drown in the lake. Presumably leaving a crowd of evil spirits homeless.
The next snapshot is Jesus describing evil spirits to his listeners. Luke chapter 11:24-26
“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left’ When it arrives it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the fist.”
Let’s note the key points from these.
1 There are good/ministering spirits (angels)
2. There are evil spirits which can come into or leave a person without death being involved. Therefore, they are separate entities.
3. Evil spirits like to have a place to live – a body or tent if you like. They do not like being “Naked”. We could also take this literally to mean they cannot dwell in God’s presence and therefore cannot have a “home”. We should not assume from this that the origin of these spirits is dead people, anymore than that the ministering spirits (angels) originate from dead people. Both seem to have their own identity, and at least the angels originate with God.
4. A human’s body or tent can be taken over by an evil spirit while still living.
5. A human has a choice what or who he allows to “possess” him, but there seems to be a tension between the three spirit worlds. Ours, the good, and the evil or bad.
It is worth noting at this point that the suggestion that we have or are spirit, and that there are “other” spirits is backed up by experience and claims of many people. You do not have to look far to find vast numbers of people who will vouch for experiences with a spirit dimension, be it near death experiences, or other spirit phenomena. Of course there are people who do not have such experiences, and would deny the existence of such, but I personally think we are hard pressed to deny there is something to this global reality.
God and the Spirit Dimension
What we have done to this point, is make some observations that add weight to one basic assertion: There is a spirit dimension, and we have evolved with an intimate relationship to it.
This brings us to the point I made in my page “The ‘Evolution Deletes God’ Myth”. As I pointed out, the powerful human trait of religious worship is itself a key pointer to the reality of the divine.
Perhaps the clearest footprints of God are in our very being, in our spirit, pointing to the existence of God. Many of us, including Dawkins are looking in the wrong place. We look on the natural, physical level, but perhaps God tugs on our lives on a spiritual level. Maybe He walks quietly into our lives on that spiritual level and leaves his footprints on our hearts!
This common theme of a spirit component of what we are, and what is around us, point to the divine. The Christian Bible, and many other religious cultures would tell us God is Spirit.
Based on these points, I think we can draw at least a tentative conclusion: We have evolved as a spirit being, or human with a spirit, which has a sense or awareness of the Divine. There are good and bad spirit beings which are quite separate from us, but not isolated from us. Could there not be a spirit being we call God?
Now, we could discuss which came first, us or God. We could take a more traditional view and just say He has always been. However, I am going to take the lower road and suggest we assume “God” has evolved in some way. At least that way I only have to placate Christians, I don’t have to deal with irate evolutionary atheists on two fronts. Evolution and Theism or Intelligent design etc.
This brings us to a central suggestion: spirit is the link in a relationship between two dimensions or two realities, and it is a view of almost every religious culture that there is tension between the two.
There is no doubt that evolutionary processes have “used” a very physical method to bring us to where we are. Our history is littered with chaos, change, bloodshed, and disease and death. Perhaps the spirit dimension in which God exists is not governed by death. We clearly are. Again, a common theme in most cultures is that man does not have access to god/God in our current state. Again, that tension between the two.
We have come full circle
Let’s now remind ourselves of those key points illustrated from the Christian Bible: Transition from one form to the other, from body, through nakedness, to home, seemed to depend on a choice by me, and a judgment by God.
I am now reminded of a simple section in the Christian Bible that can sum this up: It’s found in John chapter 3, verse 5, 6, and 16. “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. …For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life”.
What does all this mean? We could make some suggestions:
1. Flesh gives birth to flesh. There is nothing within our evolutionary process that can take us out of this cycle. All life is physical and in spite of all evolutionary change it remains so.
2. God is stating that He is involved.
3. He has offered something, beyond the physical realm and cycle, which depends on a choice – what I choose to do in this body. Whether He has the right to “call that shot” because he is offering something I cannot get any other way, or because He indeed was overseer to my evolutionary process makes no difference. Either way He would be justified in calling the shots.
4. The Christian Bible gives us a simple tenet to live by if we wish to be in his team: Love God, Love your neighbor.
That is perhaps the good news. As we look at our personal, little spec of time in a long evolutionary process, our psyche reaches out for more. We wish for something beyond, as if we were being called home – not always just because of suffering – but because we sense this life should be the beginning not the end. The Gospel of Salvation through a God in Jesus, stepping into the shadows of our reality with a gracious gift is indeed good news. Wherever you find that core message, you have found good news. That is the message of many religions, but it shines with the most glory at Calvary and a Sunday morning when natural laws were flung aside for a brief moment and death was beaten. As C S Lewis puts it on p 88 of “Surprised by Joy“:
“If ever a myth had become a fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this. And nothing else in all literature was just like this. Myths were like it in one way. Histories were like it in another. But nothing was simply like it . . . Here and here only in all time the myth must have become fact; the Word, flesh; God, man. This is not “a religion,” nor “a philosophy.” It is the summing up and actuality of them all.“
As Kathryn Applegate points out, Lewis believed the earlier pagan stories that predated Genesis and underlie many myths foreshadowed the true narrative of Christianity. Christianity is the ultimate myth become fact.
I accept the death and resurrection of Jesus as fact for many reasons, but perhaps the most simple one is that if he or his followers were intentionally orchestrating a way of perpetuating his message and “organization”, death and resurrection would be a standout failure of an idea and the last one sane people would think of.
Jesus tried to tell them he was going to die and rise. They did not get it. When he did die – they got it. So much so they thought it was all over and returned to their respective homes devoid of any belief. It took physical appearances and a major mind shift for them to accept he had risen, but the end result was hundreds of witnesses. Nobody can orchestrate a series of events like that. Buddha is dead, Mohammed is dead. Nobody in their wildest dreams has tried to copy the totally unscripted events of Calvary because without the evidence – a risen person – it would only create a mockery of their message. There was no mockery within the circle of the disciples as they were shocked out of disbelief by his post resurrection appearances. Instead they turned the world upside down!
Why is it so difficult for many to find God if He Is?
I am going to borrow an illustration I read in C S Lewis many years ago. “Meditation in a Toolshed” In it he describes going into his dusty, backyard tool shed. There, a small hole in the roof created a shaft of light through the dust. He makes the observation that one can either look “at” or “along” the shaft of light. The two outcomes are profoundly different. Looking along the light provides a far truer experience of the reality that shaft of light is telling about. Yet, how often do we hear belief in God dismissed by those who have perhaps only ever looked at the light, and not along the light? Can one ever find the footprints of God without looking along the light?
Dawkins, and many others look at the light, they look for footprints of God in the universe, in the natural world, and in the miraculous – which they find impossible to discover. These are the wrong ways and the wrong places to look. The most discernible footprints of God are on the spiritual level, and to see that truth one must look along the light. It will never be found looking at the light.
Bottom line
The human being seems hard wired to reach out in response to something. Most cultures describe somebody reaching out to us. Is this really just a figment of their imagination? Hardly.
There was a moment in time when she could look at him and say: “I am, you are, let’s dance”, and he could say “I’d love to”. At that moment each looked along the light of that relationship and experienced it profoundly different to an observer of their dance. Just as surely, there is in the human heart a desire for relationship with the Divine, and since that first dawning of a new level of relationship man has endeavored to look along the light. Perhaps it is that first dance with one another and the Divine that captures the essence of what it meant for humans to become Adam and Eve.
As desire for a dance in relationship was met in those first moments around a stone age campfire in the reality of a mate, so the desire for God is met when I look through the smoke of that fire, along the shafts of light that come my way and believe that He Is.
Footnote: What about bloodshed and cruelty in the Old Testament?
There are several things we must do:
1. We must accept an evolutionary process, and see every sacred or religious writing, from every culture, as man trying to see through a dark glass into another reality. Man’s endeavor to look along the light.
2. We must recognize there are signs of evolution of God, or at least in understanding of God, within the Old Testament and into the New.
3. If we are the result of an evolutionary process, to what degree should we hold “God” responsible for the “evils” of the past, in a world where natural processes are law?
4. What difference does it make to our ability to “blame God” for all the “bad” things if man and life are primarily the result of those “natural” processes?
5. If there is a God who is reaching into our reality with a gift, but in a rather “non interventionist manner” does this diminish the importance of His efforts? Or prove His non-existence?
Perhaps there are barriers that make it difficult for God to reach out from His side of reality as well.
Copyright: oldearthmygod.com 1. 01. 2011
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