Natural Selection

Ok so I don’t know very much about Darwin’s Theory of natural selection (and I’m not going to even get into evolution), but I want to write about some of the thoughts that are milling around in my mind. And yes Adam (Hanly), this subject was inspired by a humanities course that I’m currently in.

After listening to a lecture given by a famous professor, Stephen Gould, some thoughts and ideas came to mind concerning creation. During lecture subjects, such as the one I’m currently referring to (the ones which aim to undermine the existence of God) I usually find myself either: a) frustrated by the harm this is causing to the rest of the people in my class who are searching for some fact of tangible substance to explain the meaning of their existence here on earth, b) feel the burden of the Lord for the issue that is being wrongfully sent out as “truth” to His creation and inheritance and somehow, in my weak state, attempt to intercede on their behalf, or c) to be honest, I try not to think about the subject matters error and in a sense, ignore it and keep moving on in thought (basically go about my day, business as usual) — I really try not to do this one.

Well, to my surprise, during this subject/lecture today (natural selection), I felt something quite different. Yes, though the other previous options above did present themselves slightly, I found myself thinking about God being the Creator of all things in such an intricate, fascinating manner like I have never thought of before. Of course we all agree with the statement that God, being the Creator of all things is fascinating and beyond understanding – But I received a little bit of revelation in my heart that reminded me that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow And also He is the same across the spectrum of all things: The way He creates, the way He governs, the way He has compassion, and the way He manages His creation. Let me see if I can convey this more clear. I’m just going to jump in to what the lecture was about and some specific points that stuck out to me, and some basic concepts that were mentioned.

There were two arguments that were discussed: Design and Natural Selection. Gould stated that the main argument for Design was that “God’s existence, benevolence, omniscience, and intelligence are apparent in creation by (1) organisms design and (2) the harmony of the ecosystems” (I do disagree with the fact that this statement implies to putting restrictions on God’s nature and attributes). Gould argues that natural selection undermines this argument from Design by first, agreeing that organisms are well-designed, but that does not prove God to be the ultimate Creator. Natural selection argues that organisms are all “out for themselves” and that does not support the goodness of God in creating organisms (they view that the process of natural selection is “cruel” and not expressing benevolence). And this poses many misconceptions about the true nature of God, and how the universe was formed.

I’m going to use the following statement from Gould in which he tried to prove that natural selection undermines (used for lack of a better word) the concept of God being Creator, and use it to show/convey a thought or idea that moved my heart to see a facet of the perfect God and His leadership:

“Organisms are struggling for individual success” 

Basically what I’m trying to say is that this statement made me think about the pride of Adam and Eve in the garden; They  essentially agreed in their hearts to disobey God and agree with Satan, and the main issue in their hearts was pride. God gave the “keys to the earth” to man, and by man agreeing with Satan, man gave the keys to the earth to Satan. By Adam and Eve wanting to be equal with God, they were seeking for “individual success” , which through that event in history, you physically see the effects in all creation. Because of this act the earth was put under curse. This may sound like a stretch but the idea that even every organism that was created is fighting for the individual success for themselves is continually expressing the pride of the earth. That’s intense. 

Does any of that make sense?