Theistic Evolution

Being an atheist all my life, I have been a strong believer in Darwinism. The theory has empirical proof, logic and a design that makes sense. I believe in keeping an open mind about all things. What we know not about, we shan't be able to talk about, right? So when the concept of theistic evolution was introduced to me (by my mother, to make me start believing in God!), I was compelled to start researching on it. It was only if I were completely informed on the topic, that I would be able to make a conclusion about its validity.

A school friend of mine used to love questioning everything. She questioned science by a simple question, "So if we eventually evolved from unicellular organisms, where did these organisms come from?" This is a question that we often neglect as being unnecessary. However if you are a believer in theistic evolution, you will find that this is the exact question that would form the beginning of the explanation on theistic evolution.

The concept is on the basis of God, being an omnipotent part of evolution. It can be mathematically explained by, "Theistic evolution = matter + evolutionary factors (chance and necessity + mutation + selection + isolation + death) + very long time periods + God." (atheists calculate evolution by, "Evolution = matter + evolutionary factors (chance and necessity + mutation + selection + isolation + death) + very long time periods.") This formula makes it clear that theistic evolutionist believe that evolution is incomplete without God's divine hand.

To understand, theistic evolution is an easy concept. To follow it is even easier. In simple words theistic evolutionists believe that evolution is a mixture of Darwinism and 'the seven days'. They believe that God first created the universe. As a causation to that, evolution took place. Hence God played the initial lead that was vital for not only evolution, but the creation of the universe too. They believe in a synthesis of science and religion. People of many faiths now see logic in propounding theistic evolution as all faiths believe that 'in the beginning there was the creator.'

There are lot of arguments about theistic evolution. Many people differ with it on many grounds. In fact, in his book Tactics, Greg Koukl has mentioned theistic evolution briefly and his take on it.

"Some people suggest that God used evolution to design the world. They are motivated, I think, by two impulses. The first is a desire to affirm the Bible. The second is a suspicion Darwinism may have merit. Thus, they declare both true.

These two notions however seem incompatible to me. It may sound reasonable for God to use evolution, but if you look closer I think you will see the problem.

Suppose I wanted a straight flush for a hand of poker. I could either pull the cards out of the deck individually and design the hand or I could shuffle the cards randomly and see if the flush is dealt to me. It would not make any sense, though, to design the hand by shuffling the deck and dealing. There’s no way to ensure the results. (I guess if I were really clever I could make it look like I was shuffling the deck when in reality I was stacking it, but that would be a deceitful kind of design called cheating.)

In the same way, either God designs the details of the biological world or nature shuffles the deck and natural selection chooses the winning hand. The mechanism is either conscious and intentional (design), or unconscious and unintentional (natural selection). Creation has a purpose, a goal. Evolution is accidental like a straight flush dealt to a poker rookie.

The idea that something is designed by chance is contradictory. Like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, this just doesn’t fit."

Many Christians strongly disagree with the concept on the grounds of these 10 points:

1. The nature of God in misinterpreted.
2. God occupies the spaces that evolution can't explain. (He is a filler.)
3. Several central biblical teachings are denied.
4. Sin is made meaningless, and hence, non-existant.
5. Undermining of the doctrine of God's incarnation.
6. Jesus' work of redemption is made to seem as a myth.
7. Biblical chronology is negated.
8. The concepts of creation are negated.
9. The concept of reality is misinterpreted.
10. All in all, 'The Purpose' (of God) is lost.

From this entire episode, I have come to learn one thing - the logic of faith is visible to one who truly believes in it. No matter which faith you belong to (Atheism is a faith too), you will be able to see truth in it only if you believe in it. They say, "Even God is nothing without the faith of his Followers."