Reconciling Evolution with Scripture (Part 2)
Continuing on with our line of inquiry from Reconciling Evolution with Scripture, it is instructive to review exactly what Young Earthers tend to find wrong with Evolution: the idea that the fortuitous changes recorded in the fossil record could possibly be random. Nobody argues with the concept of Natural Selection itself, which deals the survivability of a species once a change has occurred. What people do argue against however is the idea that these changes can occur on their own and at random. There are several approaches to this, several particular criticisms, and several responses to each, and I do not think I need to cover them all. However, I don’t have to because there is one response I have which will inform me in every case: whatever God did, He did on purpose. The question is, what is it that God did on purpose?
There are degrees of randomness that one might consider in the universe, and God is aware of them all, knowing that nothing that happens at random will thwart His perfect. For example, quantum theories appear to work only with randomness as a real factor… or at least that is one interpretation. The basic problem is that at quantum levels, every possible state of a particle appears to co-exist until one of those states is ultimately tested for… and the one that’s tested for always passes. The result? The rest of the states disappear! This co-existence of all possibilities at one time is what gives the appearance that randomness has a true play in the universe, because it seems to imply that somehow a single state was chosen. But how did it get chosen? Well, if you don’t believe in God, then the answer is that we do not yet know. However, soon after the big bang, the universe was too large to survive in a purely quantum state, and so one of the infinitely possible universes had to emerge… and it was ours! After all, we’re here. So, how did that happen? Without God, there’s no answer.
Without getting too much deeper into theory, physics requires that time actually be part of the universe. Therefore, once the universe was big enough to have a single state, it suggests that the fate of the universe was sealed. However, such a view is only possible if you gloss over scripture, and simply chalk up this first concrete state to unknown randomness. I for one look at that first concrete moment as being touched by the finger of God. And as for the universe’s fate, God chose a universe in which the people within it would have free will… an interesting decision that has resulted in the universe growing through time with our conscious inputs. It results in a universe in which God does not choose every single thing that happens, but does use everything that happens to accomplish His will. Most people find it confusing that He can both know our future actions and allow them at the same time, but it’s quite simple if you realize that God, as the universe’s creator, is therefore outside the universe, and hence outside of time. To Him, it’s all just there. For all we know, He has been going back in forth touching things in the universe here and there, past, future, then present again, and in a completely different sequence than we perceive. You just cannot know. But from God’s perspective, no matter what we choose, and yes we genuinely choose, God’s perfect will WILL be done. Nothing can stop that. Nothing. I repeat… nothing.
So, how does this relate back to evolution? Well, let us suppose that humanity’s free will were not the only force in the universe that God chose (I said chose) not to control, but to use and react to. Suppose that were the case. Well, He deals with our actions pretty well, perfectly in fact, and some people even choose to thwart Him! How much would it be for God to deal with a force that acted with no will? A force that occasionally results in mutations in DNA, some advantageous and some not, but some of which Natural Selection eventually spreads throughout the world. Why should the lack of human will thwart God any more than willful human disobedience. The answer is that it wouldn’t. Now, I don’t believe in any random force within the universe that God is dealing with; in my opinion, things only appear random because we cannot yet grasp everything that is happening, and modeling it as randomness is the closest that we can get… and a true scientist would agree, or at least agree that it’s a reasonable supposition. So, if I am not trying to convince Christians that they should actually be open to the randomness they argue against when they object to evolution, then what am I trying to convince them of? If anything, it would be to stop appearing so threatened by the idea, because if such randomness exists, it should be even easier for God to work His will into than human free will… even easier! And yet, as a community, we act threatened… and it makes us collectively appear foolish to otherwise compassionate people who would make great additions to the Church.
So then, what of those “evolutionary” changes that we see? What were they the result of? Did they happen on their own? If they did, my faith is not threatened. In that case, I would guess that quantum theory had something to do with it… but quantum theory to me would suggest something outside the petri-dish that is our universe that is choosing the final state of whatever change we are talking about. In that case, God would be the one pulling the strings of Evolution. Is that so hard to accept? For most people, it is absolutely hard to accept! And I do get why, I but I find it completely unnecessary. Whatever God did, He did, and He did it on purpose; and here we are!