So there's been some news this week. News that Pope Francis has declared that the scientific theories of Evolution and the Big Bang are not only compatible with Catholic doctrine, but preferable for understanding the creation of the universe and the origin of humanity. Well that's interesting. I wish I could find the original recording of the Pope's words because I am sure the media has distorted them either by proof-texting or just making things up. In the meantime I guess counter-articles like this one will have to suffice.
http://time.com/3545844/pope-francis-evolution-creationism/
In any case, I thought it might be fun to very briefly outline the different types of positions concerning the creationism / evolution debate.
Dogmatic and Paranoid
The Bible needs to be interpreted literally in all respects. Everyone who says differently doesn't know the TRUTH! Science is a lie from the Devil and all scientists go to HELL! Anyone who doesn't believe in a literal six day creation and a young earth is also going to Hell!
Dogmatic
I believe in a literal six day creation and a young earth. I base my position on a literal reading of the Genesis creation account and read the years in the genealogies literally as well. There needs to be a literal creation because we need a literal first Adam in order to have a literal second Adam (Jesus). Science is wrong.
Creationist
The prevailing scientific theories concerning the origin and age of the earth misinterpret scientific data and ignore instances where the data doesn't line up with their theories. Carbon Dating methods are unreliable, fossil records do not prove evolution, and a world wide cataclysm... like a flood for instance, would make sense of the data even more so than an old earth + evolution.
Faith seeking Understanding
I acknowledge that my beliefs run counter to the current scientific model. I am open to discussing it though.
Gap Theorist
The world was created in six days but there is a gap in the creation story where Lucifer was cast from heaven. The missing time must fall into that gap. God then created this world out of the Luciferian world after he destroyed it in a flood similar to Noah's flood and that explains how science sees an old earth but the Bible reveals a young earth!
Origenistic Origins
The creation narratives in Genesis were never meant to be interpreted literally. The first 3 days don't have a sun or moon to mark them and chapter 2 has man and woman being made at a different time than chapter 1. What we need to understand is that God is the one who creates not his precise method of creating.
Intelligent Design
When we look at the scientific data as a whole it seems as though someone or something guided the process with a purpose in mind. Look at the harmony of how the ecosystems work on the earth, or how our human bodies work, or how the galaxy seems to be formed precisely just so that this planet can support life. Coincidence? I think not...
Catholic Position
God is not a magician who just pops everything into being. He uses the natural laws which he established to build and form the world and everything in it. Faith and Science are not enemies. Science requires the divine creator as a starting point and faith needs science to understand the physical elements of creation.
Genesis as Saga
God communicated the beginning of the earth in a way that the original audience of ancient Hebrews could understand it, as a creation narrative that mimicked other creation narratives of their neighbors. We shouldn't take the stories literally because historical criticism.
Agnostic
Don't know. Don't care.
Evolutionist
Science says that the earth is 6.5 billion years old and the universe started with a big bang. Here, take a look at these carbon dating / fossil tables / quantum physics.
Atheist
The data is clear. The earth is 6.5 billion years old. The universe started with a big bang. The Bible is WRONG! People who believe it are STUPID!
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Friday, October 3, 2014
The Death of Summer
It is cold today. The wind is has pulled most of the leaves off the trees, leaving brown and grey skeletal fingers where beauty and life used to be. The sun shines brightly, but holds no warmth, and shines less and less every day. The clouds are grey thick and mournful with no life to them. The birds have gone, the night sounds are gone, even the bugs are gone, all that remains is cold wind. Dead leaves blow across dying lawns and everybody braces for the long deep cold of winter.
Today I finish my job at Briercrest. The weather outside is a fitting parallel to my mind and heart. So many warm memories and yet none of them exist except inside my mind and heart. I open my eyes and I see that they are all gone and who will remember them if I can not? I kept a cheery disposition and encouraged and stayed encouraged until the last but now I feel a tremendous loss.
Clearing out my desk I found memories. The Distance Education pads I used to order by the dozen. We used to use them a lot. They were so useful and a rather ingenious marketing tool. Everyone used to use them, for everything. They were part of a different era. Now they are no more and the two pads hiding in my desk are the last ones. There was also business cards that predated me, Calvin probably printed them off and they reminded me of Charles, my first boss, and 9 years ago in 2004 when I first came to Briercrest. So many friends, so many memories, fellow students and co-workers, and Christians who I loved. Now gone, and I do not know where most of them are.
I erased the board today. A trivial task but oh so hard. I had drawn cavemen, a new one everyday when we found out that layoffs were going to happen, so that the department would have something to be encouraged by. There smiling faces and silly poses, now gone, except for the first one who peaks out from behind the 'away' section looking up with smiling expectation. They were precious in this time, and now they are gone. How long will my first and last little caveman exist?
Gone also are the old 4Imprint magazines from when I used to be their main contact. Gone are the raffle entries for free courses, the hand written inquiries about distance education, the accursed Moodle handbook (even this makes me sad), and every other work related keepsake I had held on to over the years. My work that I used to do is ending and soon I will also be gone from here.
I pause to consider what the future will hold for Briercrest and for Distance Education, but it is out of my hands and sorrow weighs me down. The way is clouded and the part of me that has remained ever hopeful and sees things through the eyes of faith is weary. There is something sacred about memories, the realization that I am so far removed from what made them hurts me. I will grieve and then I will move on, such is the way of things.
Time to face the long deep darkness of winter. It must come but only for a time. Winter must give way to summer, darkness to light, and grief to joy, Such is the reality for all of God's chosen.
Today I finish my job at Briercrest. The weather outside is a fitting parallel to my mind and heart. So many warm memories and yet none of them exist except inside my mind and heart. I open my eyes and I see that they are all gone and who will remember them if I can not? I kept a cheery disposition and encouraged and stayed encouraged until the last but now I feel a tremendous loss.
Clearing out my desk I found memories. The Distance Education pads I used to order by the dozen. We used to use them a lot. They were so useful and a rather ingenious marketing tool. Everyone used to use them, for everything. They were part of a different era. Now they are no more and the two pads hiding in my desk are the last ones. There was also business cards that predated me, Calvin probably printed them off and they reminded me of Charles, my first boss, and 9 years ago in 2004 when I first came to Briercrest. So many friends, so many memories, fellow students and co-workers, and Christians who I loved. Now gone, and I do not know where most of them are.
I erased the board today. A trivial task but oh so hard. I had drawn cavemen, a new one everyday when we found out that layoffs were going to happen, so that the department would have something to be encouraged by. There smiling faces and silly poses, now gone, except for the first one who peaks out from behind the 'away' section looking up with smiling expectation. They were precious in this time, and now they are gone. How long will my first and last little caveman exist?
Gone also are the old 4Imprint magazines from when I used to be their main contact. Gone are the raffle entries for free courses, the hand written inquiries about distance education, the accursed Moodle handbook (even this makes me sad), and every other work related keepsake I had held on to over the years. My work that I used to do is ending and soon I will also be gone from here.
I pause to consider what the future will hold for Briercrest and for Distance Education, but it is out of my hands and sorrow weighs me down. The way is clouded and the part of me that has remained ever hopeful and sees things through the eyes of faith is weary. There is something sacred about memories, the realization that I am so far removed from what made them hurts me. I will grieve and then I will move on, such is the way of things.
Time to face the long deep darkness of winter. It must come but only for a time. Winter must give way to summer, darkness to light, and grief to joy, Such is the reality for all of God's chosen.