I was talking to my friend yesterday about the evolution theory. Neither of us believe it, of course. She told me that when she's talking to other people about it - people who believe it - she asks them, "If we're descended from monkeys, why are there still monkeys here?"
She said they usually take a while to think of an answer.
I don't know why, but this never occurred to me before. It's so simple! People just have to be stubborn. "I don't want to admit that there's a God, so let's think of ways to debunk Christianity by taking apart the story of creation," they say. They start with the Big Bang.
Nothing.
Nothing suddenly explodes.
Now there are various substances floating around which then become
Everything.
Makes sense to me!
First of all, the human mind can't comprehend nothingness. It can comprehend
darkness, but darkness is simply the absence of light. The reason we can't comprehend nothingness is because
there was always God. Check that: there always IS God. Time doesn't exist for Him. We say He always was, is, and will be, but He often refers to Himself only in the present tense. The name He gave Himself to the Hebrews in the Old Testament was "I AM".
How'd I get on this subject again? Oh yes. Big Bang.
So you see? God was there. God
is there. So where did the Big Bang come from? Now one might say, "God made the Big Bang happen." OK, let's think on that for a minute. I don't know exactly how the Bang is supposed to have worked, but somehow that doesn't sound right. Possible, I suppose....but what's the point? If we take as a given that God was always there and He created the world, why would we have the account of creation in Genesis that is clearly not the Big Bang, if He used the Bang? Why would it have taken this long for people to realize the true story of the world's beginnings?
OK, I think that takes care of creation. Moving on to evolution.
There are some kinds of evolution that can be accepted. It is true that over years and years, certain animals have changed to adapt to their surroundings. But that is change
in body only. Man has a soul. Qualities of the soul are free will, the use of reason, a conscience, and an advanced intellect by which we can use what we already know to discern that which we don't. How can these things be gained through evolution? People in a sound state of mind know the difference between right and wrong. Monkeys and other beasts of the earth don't. They don't need to. There really isn't right and wrong for them. There is simply survival and instinct. It makes no sense to think that simple animals can evolve to have the same kind of mind and soul we have.
Now, Fr. Laux brings up a possibility that is definitely to be considered. What if God shaped Adam by evolving him from an animal, and when the man's body was finished, God then breathed into him a soul (and all that other stuff). It would explain all the similarities in skulls and skeletal set-up (and my little brother's monkey-like behavior). This is a compromise the Church is willing to accept; it does not oppose any doctrine.
Why would God do it that way? Not a clue. But, you've all heard it before: The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Then again, there's the question my friend brought up... now I'm confusing myself... you, dear reader, can take it from here.
Well, this has been fun. I didn't even plan on posting all that. I was going to stop with "It's so simple!" but the train of thought kept chugging on and I was enjoying myself far too much to slow down. I hope it isn't too randomly thrown about. I wasn't really trying to write a formal essay, although sometime I probably will....
