by Brian Birk

Created on: January 10, 2009

I had a seminary professor who said that he did not have a problem with the big bang theory of the creation of the universe. In fact he said that it was in the Bible in Genesis. God said, "let there be light" and bang "there was light". The Bible just left out the word bang.

Darwin wrote about natural selection. He felt that mutations occurred randomly in animals and plants and that the strongest survived while the weakest perished. He observed that no two plants or animals were exactly the same. He observed natural selection in nature and he observed selection at work on farms where the strong are used for breeding and the runts are not.

Darwin has convinced me that species have changed over time and that they are continuing to change. Carefully observing plants and animals would lead anyone to conclude that species have changed and that they are continuing to change.

The question then becomes did God design species so that they would change over time, or did these changing species simply generate themselves out of nothing? The mutations that occur in nature appeared to Darwin to be random. Are they random? Is there evidence that they are random? Can randomness be proved?

If we ask these questions of Darwin's theory what questions should we ask about Genesis? Did the author of Genesis observe fossils and species of an isolated island? Was the author of Genesis a scholar and a scientist? Was the purpose of Genesis to explain the origins of plants, animals, and humans or was the purpose to introduce people to God?

I am a Lutheran pastor. I believe that the Bible is true. I also believe that species change over time. I believe that Genesis presents a very simplified account of creation. It is more about theology than it is about science. The main point is that God was in the beginning and did the creating. Genesis does not rule out God using the evolutionary process as a tool for creating. Genesis does not rule out the creating process continuing after the day of rest.

Darwin had trouble with the concept that God would create one animal and then create a parasite that would survive by eating the animal that God created. I don't see the problem. God created grass, and then God created cows, sheep, antelope and deer that live off the grass. God created lions and wolves that live off the antelope and deer. Humans have been known to eat vegetables and other animals. They have killed lions and wolves simply to obtain their hides. Some would argue those things prove that

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