Back to evolution. As I've stated, one of the main problems I have with theistic evolution (and I know that there are many strands within it) is the "point of creation." By that I mean two things:
1. When is the actual 'point' of creation. When was man - as we know him, not a version 1.0, 2.0 or whatever, but the actual man that we know - when was he created? Was it on a timeline or was there an actual point. What is the defining moment of man? Does it even exist? I think for man to have a purpose, he must be defined.
2. What is the 'point' of creation. If there is evolution to the current state, then there must be continual evolution to a future state. In other words, if this present state is still just a transition on the eternal evolutionary timeline - is there an eternal point to the man that I am right now? Or am I simply a part of a procession of continual creation.
If man as he exists right now is the finished product, then that doesn't gibe with the whole premise of evolution, which is always moving on to something else. Has there been one permanent man, one defining moment that stamps forever who he is? This is crucial. There has to be a permanent definition of man, not a nebulous, ever-shifting concept of who he is and who he was and who he is becoming. The definition brings the purpose and pushes 'the plan' into action.
These two points matter to me. It is very important for me to know that I am a special creation of God. I think losing this has caused the Evolution Generation to become somewhat lost in the larger scheme of things, and the resulting insignificance has played out extremely chaotic, as evolution tends to be.
We need to know that there is a point to our existence, and for that to happen, we need to know that our beginning was a significant event. I constantly remind my children that they were created by a loving God and two parents who dearly love them. Their beginning was divinely ordained.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." (Jeremiah 1:5)
"My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:15,16)
You have no idea how important this is to a child. It's no accident that the children of dysfunctional families have the most likelihood of problems down the road, and of continuing the cycle. They don't have a sense of divine origin. They are the product of random chaos.
Does that sound familiar? It's the basis of evolutionary thought: You are the product of random chaos. It's the ultimate dysfunctional family planning and it's "children" bear witness to this. The insignificance of life is evident in the mindset of this generation.
We must be able to look back to our wonderful, planned creation to move forward and bear fruit.
Psalm 100:3 "Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
In Psalm 104 we read of how all creation looks to Him. Verse 30 "When You send Your Spirit they are created, and You renew the face of the earth."
Psalm 136 is an entire song of remembrance, of praising Him for His creation and His sustaining power.
These are just a few of the passages in which Israel looks back to their special creation in Abraham and deliverance out of Egypt. It was very important for them to know this, so when the deep waters surrounded them they were able to have hope. If you take that away, I can't tell you how overwhelmingly sad that would be. If you take away my special creation, then you cannot imagine how depressed I would become. My ability to know and remember that man as a whole is a special creation and that this includes me personally is crucial to my understanding of the whole plan of our redemption through Christ.
It's true about our re-creation in Christ as well. Three times Paul's testimony is given in Acts. Three times! (9, 22, 26) He looked back to that moment, when God spiritually created him out of dust, as the defining point in his life, and he referred back to it over and over in times of trouble. I believe this to be true in the physical sense as well. We need to know that there was a defining point in our creation, when we were physically created ex nihilo, out of the dust into God's loving arms.
So all I ask of those who believe in theistic evolution is this: Consider the two points. When was the point of man - and what is the point of man. If you can't look back and remember, then you will have trouble moving forward and being fruitful.
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