So there are the creation folks and the evolution folks and, sure, a pro-evolutionist may have dinner with a pro-creationist. They may even have a beer. But as far as their ideologies go, it’s usually one or the other.
It’s no wonder people remain so polarized. The argument presented in media clips and sound bites is nothing more than diluted versions of both sides. The theory of evolution is boiled down to “We came from apes and our existence is a purely random coincidence,” and the creationists’ response (in these multimedia forums) is always something along the lines of, “No we didn’t. We came from Adam and Eve who were created by God. And you’re going to hell, by the way, you Godless heretic. ”
The battle between Creationism and Evolution has had so much boring, surface-level coverage that talk about the great and beautiful mystery of the origin of humankind actually makes you want to change the channel.
How unfortunate.
And what’s more, the simplicity of each argument (as presented by the Max Headrooms of the world) does nothing but inflame the opposing side and, thus, perpetuates the argument. “What morons,” they both say, and the ensuing debate eventually degenerates into the batting of “Is so’s!” and “Ain’t neither’s!” back and forth.
Consider the following: the Neo-Darwinist theories that man came from apes and birds came from dinosaurs (a.k.a. “chance mutation” and “natural selection”) are, according to one of the most influential American theorists and philosophers Ken Wilber, no longer accepted by leaders in the evolutionary science community.
Wilber says in his landmark book A Brief History of Everything, “It takes perhaps a hundred mutations to produce a functional wing from a leg – a half-wing will not do. A half-wing is no good as a leg and no good as a wing...In other words, with a half-wing you are dinner.”
So, theories in evolutionary biology thus far have provided us educated guesses regarding numerous archeological discoveries (forensic bone and fossil evidence) and have been accepted by many as a significantly detailed, play-by-play history textbook. But, just as Wilber goes on to say in A Brief History of Everything, no one in the scientific community really knows why or how a wing came from a leg. It just did, and it had to do so without a half-winged creature falling somewhere between the two.
Wilber, along with the evolutionary biologists, point to "quantum mutation" as an explanation to the mystery of the evolutionary process, meaning all of those hundreds of mutations must have magically happened at one time, and for Wilber, this mind-blowing occurrence undoubtedly alludes to a higher, guiding force.
So, bringing it back to earth a little, what if the truth existed in the middle of the debate? What if the Darwinists and the Creationists could somehow manage to admit that there are giant gaps in each of these theories, the mytho-poetic on one hand (condensing generations of activity into several pages of genealogy in the creation stories), and a plethora of preserved fossil material from which scientists speculate the nature and evolution of the world on the other?
Perhaps this globe holds more secrets and questions pertaining to the origin of our species than any media segment program suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder can touch upon.
When the debate between faith and scripture-based believers and materialist-based believers is over, then and only then might we be able to narrow the divide which polarizes us and work together to continue the search (and research) for the true nature of ourselves as God's Family.
|
|
