The Hunt Is On!: my whimsical story of creation

http://blog.beliefnet.com/flunkingsainthood/2010/09/why-mormons-should-embrace-evolution-byu-biology-professor-steven-peck.html#preview

MY COMMENT TO THIS ARTICLE WAS....

http://www.thehuntison.com

I love evolutionary theory as a THEORY, but not as a fact (as some are want to prematurely take it). I am grateful and patient with scientists as they mull over bones and rocks to fashion this fantastic collective STORY about our genesis, which they call evolutionary theory.

But there is something I love even more than their evolving story. I love the freedom God grants me, as an individual, to create my own stories---to believe whatever I want. And I am the kind of guy who likes to exercise my freedoms fully (and playfully) right up until the buzzer sounds: until the ref (prophet) calls the game and tells us all in plain, simple language the clear TRUTH of the matter.

And so, until our little guessing game is over about this evolution stuff I delightfully take the same liberty I see Steven Peck (and everyone else) taking with evolution (and all the other things) God has left in play (open to theorizing/interpretation).

Until the buzzer sounds I will, like brother Peck, create and spout my own theory/story/belief/guess about the matter.

Here is my theory.

The cool thing is my theory jives perfectly (logically) with brother Peck's story AND the scriptures (read literally) AND all the wonderful main-stream science.

MY THEORY/STORY. God created a faith-based world for us to live on. It is a world that is not what it appears (to every common sense we have). It was created in such a way that UNcommon senses (spiritual gifts and leaps of faith) are needed to BEST understand and negotiate it(both morally and functionally).

MY THEORY is spelled out in the creation story in Genesis in the Holy Bible, taken literally (yes 7 literal days, not 7,000, 7 million, 7 billion).

Here is the key in reconciling my Bible-based theory with all the other cool theories around now days. God created the earth and all things in a way that it would REQUIRE us to use our UNcommon (spiritual) senses if we were/are to see HIM in its handiwork.

In 7 days he molded all creation to align with (and seemingly agree) with the most advanced scientific story (theory) of our day. He layered the earth (strata) with rocks and bones in such a way that it looks (to the common eyes) like there is no need for God in our stories of creation (as the great scientist Stephen Hawking recently stated). [he carefully removed all definitive evidence that he had been there]

I can understand perfectly why scientists (if they rely only on their common senses) would guess such a thing. But I, like brother Peck, choose to use my UNcommon senses to embrace a story that makes room for God, the Bible, the prophets...and, oh yea, science too.

So, I've got MY story and I'm sticking with it until the buzzer sounds (then I'll give it up to the ref). And until then, every evolutionary finding by our great scientists (those wonderful story tellers that they are) becomes for me just further confirmation of how careful my Father in heaven was during the creation to align nearly every (common) phenomena and particle with evolutionary theory as we now know it (the best theory going, except one).

I will continue waiting for that buzzer...for more light and truth...but until then, I say let's play!

Dr Muller:

Thank you for chiming in. I too held a similar belief when I was young when my less educated parents tried to explain the evidence of "God's word" as recorded in the rocks, trees, and stars. They believed that God had taken whole bits of strata from other worlds and "pasted" them all together. But there is nothing in the Bible nor in the evidence of the earth that could be taken to validly infer such a hypothesis.

Your theory seems to be based solely upon your tenacious will to hold to a relatively new Evangelical doctrine (Protestant) that the Bible must be taken literally in all cases, and is infallible in all cases. I could be wrong, but it just sounds like Biblical infallibility.

s I read and study God's character in the Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments) I find that his character is inconsistent with a God that makes the earth falsely appear to be billions of years old when it's only 7 days old. And what of the light we see in the night sky? That light traveled billions of light years to reach us. What of an expanding universe filled with creation? Does create mere illusions for us to study? that have no truth values at all?
To sum this up succinctly, such a theory requires that God created an elaborate hoax and willfully continues to perpetuate a false image of reality.

Are God's laws merely illusions too? Such a hoax calls into question whether God can be trusted or whether his promises are sure. This theory is entirely inconsistent with the eternal nature of matter, energy, and the laws that sustain the most fundamental constituents of existence, upon which God himself depends for his eternal happiness.

It is no greater leap to believe that Adam's body was made from a long process of evolution over billions of years than to believe that his body was instantly created perfect out of the dust of the earth.

This simple acceptance allows me to see God's handiwork in all of his creation - everywhere in the universe as it appears - no hoax required.

And, as a side note, if Adam already had a perfect immortal body, why did it need access to the Tree of Life that was placed in the garden, before the fall?

James,

Cool theory, yours! I hope your personal story (theory) is keeping you as happy, as mine is keeping me. I hope brother Peck's is working for him too.

Having a working theory is cool. But anyone's particular theory (of creation of anything) is not going to work for everyone, in its particulars. And I'm good with that. I celebrate that. I count on that.

Good point you make, but I'm sure your keen enough to know that if I (like you) am gifted enough to take the leap of faith required to believe in God (which I do) I can certainly protect my simple creation story (like you protect yours) until the buzzer sounds. And too, you know full well that I am creative enough to keep my story free and clear of your dire implication: that Heavenly father HAS TO be assigned nefarious motives and means if I am to retain my story.

When it comes to the creation story I like to stick with a simple story, like many of the apostles before did. I adjusted my creation story to make peace, and actually love and understanding too, with modern evolutionary theory.

All that said, I should admit to you that I hold my story lightly, playfully and hopefully. I can give it up, easy...if I want. And I will when the ref (prophet) proclaims the end of guessing (theorizing). But until the buzzer sounds, I like believing what I believe about creation....and who the greatest band in history is (Queen), and the best political party (mine)...and who is the most beautiful woman in the world (my wife)...and a bunch of other important and less important things. I am grateful God grants me such liberty of free thought. I am sure (and celebrate) that you take the same liberties in believing what you believe (creating your own story), even if it may on certain points run counter to mine.

No harm, no foul. Let's play.