Sometimes, I wonder why I don't believe in evolution.
In Psychology class, we're studying Developmental Psychology, which is the study of human behavior during different periods of their lives (i.e., how a todler would behave in relation to how an old geizer would). It's quite interesting stuff, except that my professor decided to morph this class into a sex-ed class. I'm not sure why... or how... Perhaps it's been her life goal to teach how sex works to a class of awkwardly quiet freshmen. Who am I to judge...
Anyway, once we got past the awkward stuff, she started showing us pictures of the developmental stages of the fetus in the womb, and I must say I was completely astounded at how alieny and unhuman we look when we first begin to be people. During the very first stages we actually have a tail that looks like the tentacle of an octopus. I felt like I was looking at the image of a very small martian or otherwordly being. But no. That was me. That was everyone. We all start out having tails, and then we develop eyes and a heart, and then a brain, and then fingers and fingernails, and then somewhere along the line we loose the tail and develop a buttox and genetalia instead. It's all very interesting. Very weird, sciency, and evolution-y.
I'm glad I believe in a God. People say that believing in a God is like believing in an imaginary friend, like you're schitzophrenic or something. But, honestly, no matter how pathetic and unlogical it sounds, I'd rather be considered a clinically insane schitzophrenic who talks to someone who's not there, than place a blind hope in the concept of chance and random selection (which usually ends in chaos) as the meaning to this life. Evolutionists seem like such lonely people, with their cold, hard naturalistic approach to everything, unwilling to accept that maybe there is some sort of personal force out there that might love them.
Perhaps I'm just using God as a warm blanket. I hope I'm not. I hope God can be something more than an artificial invention to make lonely people feel less alone. I'm sure He's more than that. All I'm saying is that I'm greatful, I guess, that there IS a God, and that He DOES make us feel less alone, we who believe.
I'm also glad that we lost the tail somewhere along the developmental process. We would look rather ridiculous with dinosaur tails sprouting from our hind ends.
2 comments:
I only say this because I think you'll receive it well- believe me that I have no intention of belittling you.
I have always thought that Christianity and evolution cannot go together, that they are against one another. However, as I grow and interact with different people (namely my fiance) I am learning that some aspects of the evolutionary theory are plausible, even with an accurate understanding of God's sovereignty over creation. I now believe differently, not because I was compromising my beliefs. I allowed myself space to consider the arguments and accept the ongoing discussions instead of being ignorant (all the while pretending I understood them and could refute them, which wasn't true). I won't go into tons of detail, but suffice it to say Christianity shouldn't be opposed to science, and it's very easy to come across that way when you give the blanket statement that evolutionists seem lonely. The fallacy you used is called a false dichotomy- considering only 2 arguments when others exist. You don't have to choose to believe in God OR believe in evolution, and I would imagine that your credibility with people of different belief systems would highly respect your efforts to consider the "in-between" theories. Again, don't compromise, but don't be so stuck your world view that you can't consider Truth presented by someone with a differing perspective from your own.
Good luck in that class... sounds like MY psychology class this semester :)
While I agree [with Erin] that Christians should be more grounded and knowledgeable and less dogmatic about these issues, I don't think you used a fallacy. Richard Dawkins himself says that only a fool would believe in both evolution and God.
I strongly believe that Christianity does not oppose good science. Sloppy and skewed science however...
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