My Perspective

Years ago, as a Protestant Fundamentalist Christian, I was taught (and believed) such notions as:

The universe and all life on earth was created in 6 days of 24 hours each.
The earth (and universe) is only 15,000 years old.
Before Adam and Eve sinned, the animals did not eat one another (because sin/death had not entered the world). Nor did tree limbs fall and injure anyone. Nor did mosquitoes suck blood.
A global flood (Noah's flood) resulted in all the geologic features which exist on the earth today.
Adam was created from the dust.
Eve was created from Adam's rib.

These views are not compatible with the notion that new species evolve from existing species (macro-evolution).

These Fundamentalist Christian views troubled me to various degrees. My concerns (in the order in which they greatly troubled me):

The proponents of the global flood failed to offer convincing evidence that such huge geologic features as the Himalaya mountains and the Grand Canyon were formed as the result of a flood. And where did all the water go? The canopy theory seemed bizarre and unbelievable. The idea that isostatic adjustments created the mountains and the ocean basins seemed far-fetched. A catastrophe of the magnitude of the global flood would surely have resulted in an inhospitable planet for many years.
I was skeptical that the universe was only 15,000 years old and suspicious of the idea that God had created it with the appearance of age when it was, in fact, young.
I started to suspect that there was death, pain, and suffering in the world before Adam and Eve sinned.
I noticed that the word "day" in Genesis chapters one and two does not literally mean a 24 hour day.

As a result, I began to distrust the Protestant Fundamentalists who taught such things.

Since then I have converted to Catholicism and I am much happier with the Catholic Church's respect for science.

In this article I speculate on various scientific topics. These speculations are all in harmony with the teachings of the Catholic Church. I believe that the teachings of the Catholic Church are trustworthy and true. I should note that the Catholic Church does NOT teach what I am proposing; her teaching on these topics are very general and leave room for many ideas. Here are links to the Catholic teachings on various topics:

Evolution: Communion and Stewardship, Humani Generis (search on the word "evolution") - note that the Catholic Church allows for evolution as long as it does not deny God's role.
The Flood: Patristic Witness - note that the Catholic Church has no official teaching on whether or not the flood was global.
Adam and Eve - note that the Catholic Church has no official teaching on the extent to which the story of the creation of Adam and Eve is figurative.

The Earth

God created matter and the natural laws. It would seem that the natural laws are sufficient to explain the development of geological features. Assuming the existence of the Big Bang, the following stages of development:

A uniform cloud of hydrogen gas.
Random motion of molecules results in "clumpiness."
Gravity causes clumps to collect into bigger, more dense clumps.
Critical mass is reached and the stars ignite.
Stars create the many elements which are ejected into space.
Heavy elements clump together and planets form.
Planets are initially very hot due to radioactivity and gravitational collapse.
Heavy elements sink to the center.
The molten rock forms a skin on the surface.
There is severe volcanic activity.
The stresses due to the earth's rotation cause crustal plates to break into smaller pieces.
Over the hundreds of millions of years many and various geologic features develop.

Note that God did not need to intervene for any of this to happen. He created the universe in such a way that this would happen "all on its own."

Origin of Life

I postulate that in the early stages of the earth's development there were certain locations in which conditions were suitable for the building blocks of life to be formed.

If some molecules were to become self-replicating it would trigger the law of natural selection. I would imagine that during the early days of the earth there was more radiation than there is now and there was more volcanic activity, including under the ocean.

Evolution

A word about irreducible complexity. I think it is wrong to say that biological organs with many interrelated parts could not form. They could form as long as each step of the progression was not harmful to the organism. For example, humans have an appendix which serves no apparent purpose. But it does not harm us either.

I assume natural selection to be true.

Mutations

People seem to assume that mutations would result in small changes to the organism. I don't see why this must be the case. Human DNA has billions of molecules and contains encoded instructions for the characteristics and development of humans. If a small mutation affected a part of DNA involved in some critical stage of development, it is easy to imagine that the effects would be large.

A thought experiment: Consider two strands of DNA from two similar creatures; one with some "new" organ and one without. What kind of mutation would be necessary for the one creature to become the other creature? Perhaps a massive mutation event could occur causing such changes.

One factor which is overlooked: Suppose a creature encountered mutations which affected its offspring. And assume that the offspring were able to survive. If there were multiple offspring, presumably this mutation would express itself in multiple ways. Thus, one mutation would be magnified. This would be especially pronounced in creatures with many offspring.

As this mutation propagated through subsequent generations it would result in various forms.

In conclusion: A small mutation could result in large changes. I can imagine that life started and evolved in this way. But God established His creation so that this could and would happen.

Souls

Do plants have souls? By soul I mean a conscious awareness. God creates each soul and associates it with a body. I think plants are merely biological life. They can reproduce but have no soul.

There must be different kinds of souls corresponding to the different kinds of awareness. For example, ants have a different kind of soul than apes. Souls can experience pleasure, pain, emotion, rational thought, etc. depending on what kind of soul (creature) it is.

Each soul is unique. God creates each one. Only man has a soul which can sin or worship God. But as the proto-man creatures became more and more manlike, they displayed humanlike characteristics. Thus, they could use tools, they painted, they buried their dead, etc. but they were not yet human, created in the image of God.

Adam and Eve

Adam was born from a proto-human mother and was a mutant. He was reared in a clan of these creatures. But God materialized a human form at times and taught Adam human socialization skills -- language, etc. Adam mated with one of the proto-humans and Eve was born. Eve had some of Adam's genes but Adam and Eve both had different sets of genes deriving from the proto-humans. Later, Adam mated with Eve and many children were born. It took many generations for the combination of mutated genes and the two flavors of proto-human genes to stabilize. The genes changed -- perhaps Adam and Eve would not be able to bear offspring if they mated with a modern human. This explains the diversity of humans today, the various "races", etc.

The Genesis Flood

The Black Sea only recently filled with water. The proto-humans did not co-exist with humans for very long. Somehow the Nephilim (giants of the Bible) were an important aspect of the flood story. Perhaps a tribe of humans migrated to the area which is now the floor of the Black Sea. And perhaps there were proto-humans living there. The humans found them attractive and interbred with them.

The Black Sea flooded and all the inhabitants (except Noah and family) were killed. Perhaps the heavy rains triggered the flooding by eroding the last embankment which held the Mediterranean Sea back. The ark would naturally have been pushed by the flood waters to the base of the mountains of Ararat.

The Firmament

The idea of a firmament is a key component of ancient cosmology. This model has elements which are false, yet the Genesis creation story uses these false elements in telling the story. Fundamentalist Protestants typically interpret the meaning of the word firmament so that they can claim the Genesis creation account is literally true in every detail. But this is dishonest. We should understand the text the way the writers did.

Links: North Forest | Christian Topics | Christian Musings | email us

Please feel free to email: js16@northforest.org
http://www.northforest.org/ChristianMusings/ScienceAndBible.html	Christian Musings
Revised: Jun 23, 2006