I wish I could devote more time to this discussion as even though comments were non-existent, I have had hundreds of readers during this series. I may look to continue this at a later day.
For now, I close with one last question. It’s not from both perspectives as previous posts, but this is my formerly-atheist-now-Christian perspective as a final (two-part) question for atheists.
Question: If Darwin’s evolution encompasses constantly evolving in order for the survival of the fittest to be true, where does that leave us as human beings and at the top of the food chain? Why are those creatures at the bottom of the food chain not evolving to move up the ladder still?
As an atheist, I truly believed that science pointed to proof that we are a part of an evolutionary cycle. We started from a primordial soup and from cellular growth have become who we are today. Even if science supports this in your mind, is it reasonable?
We as humans are the top of the food chain. We are the most intelligent of beings on this earth. However, once we die we do nothing to contribute back to the cycle. We are either cremated and put into urns or buried in caskets protecting us from the elements. With us, the cycle stops. Everywhere else in creation, creatures have more purpose other than being takers of the land. For example, a bat eats mosquitoes. It helps to control the mosquito population. It drops feces on the ground which helps fertilize it for sustaining plant life. When the bat dies, it either temporarily becomes food for another creature, or it’s remains decompose and fertilize the ground. Birds eat fruit and carry the seeds of that fruit to other areas and deposits them through their droppings so that the trees can continue growing. As with the bat, when the bird dies it either gets eaten by another creature or decomposes and acts as fertilizer.
A humans, we eat plants and animals and it is just to sustain ourselves. We don’t pass seeds along and our waste isn’t used as fertilizer. When we die we serve no additional purpose.
As I think about this cycle, it really makes no sense. We, the most intelligent creation on earth live a life pleasing to us, robbing our environment of life and dumping back into it pollutants and toxins which could possible wipe us out in the future through depletion of the ozone layer, and then we die. Seriously, that is a depressing thought!
Additionally, if evolution was about our survival and our continuation to be the fittest creatures we can be, why do we have such individualized things as fingerprints? Fingerprints are not things that we share with other creatures. It is not part of an evolutionary process as it started with us and ends with us. Even amongst us as human beings, no two individuals can possible have the same fingerprints. As random as you want to make the odds to be, we have had enough people on the face of the earth over time that statistically it should be possible to find two people with the same fingerprints. However, it hasn’t happened and it never will!
Darwin couldn’t explain our unique fingerprints, but as a species, why must we be unique? In the animal kingdom, there are many animals that look identical and the only differentiator is there scent. For us, even identical twins will have some attribute that allows us to tell them apart. If God created us uniquely as individuals with an individual purpose and an individual journey, being able to see that through identifying factors such as our appearance, our unique fingerprints and irises helps us understand that. There is no scientific or evolutionary basis for why we always have individual fingerprints or irises. These serve no purpose to help us propagate our species for survival.
Another thing is that for as advanced as we are, we are some of the most helpless of all creatures at birth. When a horse gives birth, the colt comes out of the womb and shortly thereafter stands on it’s own and walks/runs. When a whale gives birth the calf comes out being able to swim and recognize the language of it’s mother. However, for us our babies come out of the womb totally helpless. They can’t talk or understand language, they can’t walk or run. If left to their own devices, they would just stay in one place and cry continuously. Anyone could come and snatch them away. How does having such helpless offspring confirm our standing as the most-fit creatures for survival on earth?
If God wants us to know him and share that love with others, when we have children we are forced to be in that position whether we like it or not. I’m sure momma horses love their colts and momma whales love their calves, but their offspring are fairly self-sufficient upon arriving into this world, while our babies don’t walk or communicate until after their first twelve months of existence. They are completely dependent upon their mothers to be nurtured. Without the love of others, our babies would not make it in this world.
If you are an atheist and love your children the way I love my daughters, then we have a common bond. Our only difference is that I believe God called me to love him and that he loves me unconditionally. If you could love and be loved more profoundly through a relationship with God and know that you have a greater purpose than just to take from the world and then die and be cremated or buried, isn’t it worth doing what you can to find out if that is the design of this life? I did, and I am eternally grateful for knowing that it’s not just about about me and my meaningless life.
Related posts:
- Atheist vs Christian: Smackdown!
- Atheist vs Christian: Is God A Murderer?
- Atheist vs Christian: California’s Proposition 8
- Atheist vs Christian: Evangelism…keep it to yourself
- Atheist vs Christian: God is Love?
Tags: agnostic, atheist, darwin, evolution, humanist, relative truth
The image of God is Spirit. That is what makes humans unique. Love is part of God’s nature. Humans have the capacity for love in the image of God. Other creatures have the capacity for attachment and nurture and thereby care for mates, offspring and at times other species. God is love and humans share that divine attribute. So if we are evolved in Christ then let’s prove it by loving our neighbors. Peace!
Great thoughts Calvin…thanks for your reply!
Great blog David. It’s funny how clear and logical things become once we are in Christ.
I believe that there are two types of atheists. Ones like yourself who when confronted with the truth are open and willing to hear and consider an opposing idea. They are people who perhaps have never heard the Gospel and the Christian perspective explained prayerfully and intelligently. I pray that those atheists will find your blog.
The other kind are the ones that Paul talked about in Romans. They won’t listen because to believe would mean that they would have to change and they don’t want to. They decide against believing before they hear, when they hear and after hearing.
Many years ago I watched a documentary on the first moon landing. The show spent a great deal of time explaining why they put giant plate like feet on the lunar lander. Based on their assumption of the moon’s age and their calculations about space dust, they were prepared to land in many feet of dust. When they got there they found very little dust. So they reversed their moon dust accumulation calculations to redetermine the age of the moon and found it to be closer to the age creationists say it is. However as I continued to watch I heard them go on to build a new moon theory that helped them avoid the obvious conclusion that maybe the creationists are correct.
It boggles my mind but those who desire darkness and no accountability will go to great lengths to stay where they are and justify it.
I love apologetics and I believe that the story that each Christian has of a personal and daily encounter with our loving heavenly Father is the most powerful testimony to His existence. Love never fails and our testimony and demonstration of that love breaks down the toughest barriers.
Thanks again David!
Rick, thanks so much for your thoughts! Just to clarify though, I wasn’t open to the gospel or God until just a few months before committing my life to God. I had all the answers and knew how to overcome any evangelistic questions with disdain and disinterest. I had everything I had ever wished for in life and wasn’t looking for anything, especially change. I feel as if the Holy Spirit grabbed me and drew me to God. It seriously came out of no where. When people talk about miracles, I believe I am living proof that miracles happen today as most Christians around me during my atheist years probably believed there was no hope for me. I was very proud and enjoyed a prosperous life. In the end, I’m so grateful for Christ giving me new life and appreciate all that he is doing through people like you that keep the faith :)
Is not evolution much like the Tower of Babel – when we as humans are trying to figure out God or be like God – which really is what led to the original fall from Heaven of Lucifer. Pride is the root of all sin in my humble opinion – in these cases, men trying to be or wanting to be smarter or greater than God. Sorry folks – it ain’t gonna happen.
Jesus said – “Come to him with faith like a child”; what does that really mean? Does it mean be inquisitive and asking? Yes…, but it also implies – Love and Relationship and very simple faith. A faith that does not doubt or try to figure out if God is really real – you just believe He is and go on from there.
I just think that subjects like Evolution, Sickness and Disease, Death/Life, etc…, are simply questions of Faith. In other words – you either “TRUST” God or you do not. It always comes down to the subject of “choice” and the loving gift the Father gave us in being able to choose (or better known as “free will”).
Sorry to be so simplistic, but this is just how I sees it my friend! :-)
Love ya bro!
Richie
Richie, a lot of our thought process behind evolution really isn’t important to those that can live a life of faith and believe in the Word of God. However, many Christians take the position of being simplistic in topics such as evolution, but then after debating with atheistic evolutionists, they begin to question their faith and end up falling away, thinking it was all just a lie. For me, coming from a position where I used to fully believe in the Darwinistic theory of Evolution, I needed to know that there was some other plausible explanation before I could believe that God created man as described in Genesis. There are many others out there going through similar journeys, so I’m just trying to be provocative and engage those people that cling to evolution and the “we’re born, pay taxes, then die” way of thinking.
Praise to you as Jesus said that those of us that see things with the eyes of a child are admired. Due to my background and the people I engage with, just saying it’s a matter of faith won’t win any arguments :)
Thanks for reading the post and sharing your thoughts! Much appreciated and much love to you and God’s people in the Lehigh Valley! Go Legacy Christian Church!
The problem comes from the perspective of the individual. Atheists seem to see the solutions to the questions of life will eventually come through science. Given the advances over the past 200 years there is great optimism that solutions to the gaps will be discovered. I think that is why some of the conundrum you highlight is dismissed as a “God of the gaps” argument.
For the Theist the solutions seem plain and obvious as the author of Romans clearly states. The creation itself testifies to the reality of God and His existence.
I think one of the best arguments for Theism is found in the explanations of thought and will. Where do thoughts come from and how do chemical processes of the brain or evolution ever account for them? Isn’t it much more plausible that thought and will testify to a soul rather than a random evolutionary outcome?
As a Christian I am willing to follow the evidence wherever it leads and I’m unafraid of the outcome. Today there is a willingness on the part of Christian scholars, philosophers and yes, scientist to engage the Atheist and discuss the evidence. I don’t see that same willingness from the Atheist community. When there is a philosophical presupposition based on Naturalism rather than an objective evaluation of the data, the Atheist will hold firm to their broken model of evolution to the bitter end.
Thanks for your thoughts David!
David, welcome to the blog and thanks for your thoughtful insight! One thing I can tell you as that one of the pet peeves I used to have as an atheist were people that claimed to be agnostic, yet never searched for anything. They were basically atheists afraid to claim that they absolutely believed God was not real, yet defended the absence of proof of God with a closed mind. As an atheist, I was sold-out to a world where God was not possible and that religion was basically a lie. So, there is hope for some, no matter how far away from God they may appear. It’s the awesome power of the Holy Spirit and one of the things I believe confirms that it is God’s call to man, and not our own openness that results in coming to know God. One day I started seeking to know if God was real, and about 6 months later he showed me that he was. I was kicking and screaming and in denial the whole way :)