Creation or Evolution? Maybe That’s the Wrong Question

Creation, Evolution, and the God Factor – Part 1

Category: Faith
Platform: No Longer Common — The Spiritual Development Platform
Related Platform: Beyond the Church — The Everyday Faith Platform
Source: Beyond the Church Podcast, S3E5 — Creation vs. Evolution

Most people hear creation versus evolution and immediately assume they have to choose a side. Either God created everything, or things developed and changed over time. Faith sits over here. Science sits over there. Pick one.

I’m not convinced that’s the right argument.

One of the things that came out of our Beyond-the-Church conversation was this thought: if God created everything that exists, then anything that truly exists—including processes of growth, development, change, and adaptation—has to operate within something God created.

So maybe the question isn’t creation versus evolution.

Maybe the better question is: Where does God fit into what we’re observing?

Start Where the Bible Starts

Genesis begins with a simple statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Before Scripture explains what happened, it tells us who was responsible for it happening.

God.

And notice that it says He created the heavens and the earth. We have a tendency to make everything about earth because this is where we live, but earth is only one part of something much larger.

Then Genesis tells us that the earth was formless and empty and that the Spirit of God was hovering over it. In other words, something existed, but it wasn’t finished.

Then God began developing it.

Light appeared. Light was separated from darkness. The environment developed. Vegetation appeared. Creatures filled the water, the sky, and the land. Eventually, human beings entered the picture.

God created, and then what He created continued taking shape.

That doesn’t threaten my faith.

It strengthens it.

Why Does Development Have to Compete With God?

Look around you. Development is everywhere.

Seeds become trees. Children become adults. Knowledge expands. Technology improves. The earth itself changes.

Why would the fact that creation develops somehow eliminate the Creator?

That’s where I think common thinking puts us in a box. The majority of people are taught that they need either a scientific explanation or a faith explanation, as though understanding one automatically cancels the other.

But science studies what we can observe.

Faith helps us understand that what we observe didn’t come from nowhere.

Science can help explain a process without answering every question about the purpose or origin behind that process.

Faith Still Matters

At some point, this conversation gets down to faith.

John tells us that in the beginning the Word already existed, that the Word was with God, and that everything was created through Him.

I can’t take you back to the beginning and show it to you.

Neither can a scientist.

None of us were there.

At some point, every person makes decisions about what he or she believes based on the information available.

The difference for people of faith is that we don’t require complete physical proof before trusting God. If we did, it wouldn’t be faith.

That doesn’t mean we stop asking questions. It doesn’t mean we stop learning. And it certainly doesn’t mean we become afraid of science.

It means we understand that human knowledge has limits.

Cultural vs. Biblical

Cultural: Faith and science have to compete.
Biblical: God created the reality science studies.

Typical: Assumes development eliminates the need for a Creator.
Intentional: Asks what the process reveals about the One who created it.

The Crowd: Needs every answer before believing.
The Set Apart: Continues learning while trusting God beyond what can be completely explained.

The Uncommon Truth

I’m becoming less interested in forcing creation and evolution into a fight.

My faith starts somewhere much simpler:

God created.

From there, I can study how things grow, develop, change, reproduce, and function without becoming threatened by the answers.

Most people believe discovering more about creation somehow gives us less reason to believe in God.

I think discovering more should give us more to wonder about.

Understanding how something works doesn’t eliminate the One who made it possible.

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