Introduction

The last thing I wanted on this website was a section just on Evolution. However, people hear "Old Earth", and they jump right to Evolution. It is such a strong association, that I decided an Evolution section was warranted. Here are some of the things that many Christians believe that Evolution is:

1) The theory that life can evolve without God's involvement.

2) The theory that random events can create new species, or even life.

3) The theory that God just tipped the first domino, and then effectively walked away.

4) The theory that humans are no more special than the animals.

These are unbiblical perspectives that I do not share.

A Biblical Perspective on Evolution

The physical signs of Evolution would not seem to require God. However, neither would David's defeat of the Philistine army in 1 Chronicles 14:15-16...

15 "And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle,

for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”

16 And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.

God went out to strike down the philistines, then David and his army went out and struck down the philistines. If a forensic scientist studied the battle's aftermath, he would find physical evidence for David's victory... and the fact that David should have lost. The scientist might say, "David's victory was unlikely, but it happened. However God, if he exists, left no physical signs of divine involvment." And so it is with Evolution.

Evolution and God

The GeoCreationist view is that Evolution does not account for the spiritual, only the physical. The proper way to view Evolution is similar to how we view David's battle: God went out before the land to bring forth life, then the land did as God commanded and brought forth life. God was no less involved in Evolution than He was in David's victory.

Evolution and Randomness

The GeoCreationist view on randomness is that where one species gives way to another, it was through God's will. Left alone, nature would never produce more complex creatures from lesser. This is not because it cannot, but because it does not. For example, monkeys left in a room pounding on typewriters will just get you broken typewriters. But it is not impossible for them to produce a Shakesperean play; they just won't. If however God blocked some random acts and not others, so as to get the desired result, would a scientist find evidence of God's involvement? No. It would appear to the scientist as if a random process produced a play. It might appear to a Young Earth Creationist that God placed the play in the room amidst the monkeys, fully written. It would appear to me as if God's will was done through the monkeys. And it was through Evolution.

God Tipping the Domino

The GeoCreationist view is that whether God set up the dominos, tipped them, watched them, or otherwise interacted with them, God was active in His Creation. To say that Evolution is not Biblical if God merely tipped the domino is like saying David's victory over the Philistines was not biblical either, because God merely tipped the domino. There is no merely. This is not to say that God tipped the domino and just watched; God guided things here and there, in ways not recorded or outright detectable. God of the gaps? Perhaps. How much God did does not matter. The fact that scripture records His continued presence for everything should be enough.

God's Special Creation

The GeoCreationist view is that to create mankind, God started with the dust of the earth 4.5-4.4 Ga (billion years ago), when there were no shrubs, no plants, no rain, and no one to work the ground. However the entire surface was watered by streams coming up from the earth (Genesis 2:5-6). From the dust, God oversaw the development of life, from bacteria, to plants, to animals, to man. He left only physical evidence behind. Though no one can say exactly what God did, we know much about the sequence in which He did it, and we know that it was His will.

It is through this process that a man (Adam) was finally formed. God breathed new life into him. Though his body had evolved from the dust (because God let it be), Adam's spiritual awareness came directly from God. According to Genesis 2, after God created the heavens and the earth...

7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

According to Genesis 2:4-7 -- by describing the precise conditions of the new earth 4.5 Ga -- the entire evolutionary chain was for the sake of creating Adam from the dust, and by extension, us. That should make you feel pretty special.