This week, we continued our summer theme of tackling tough and controversial issues/questions posed by the good folks of the Oxford and McDonough United Methodist Churches. We tackled the debate surrounding Evolution vs. Creation.
I began by asking everyone to identify their own personal views on this issue, by asking them to stand on one side of the sanctuary or the other depending on whether they leaned more toward Evolution or more toward Creation. I also allowed people to stand in the middle if they were unwilling to share their views, or if they sincerely felt they held a middle of the road opinion. In both congregations the majority favored Creation, with roughly the same number of people standing in the middle and leaning more toward Evolution.
I then asked the two groups where they got their respective views from. The Creation side, largely pointed to the Bible and more specifically the first chapter or two of Genesis. For the Evolution side, their opinions where largely formed and informed by science and physical evidence.
At this point I suggested that the Bible is not a science book, a math book, or a history book. To help illustrate this assertion I used the example of Galileo Galilei, the 16th-17th century astronomer who spent the final years of his life under house arrest. Galileo suggested that the solar system is heliocentric (with the sun at the center), as opposed to the popular belief of his time that the solar system was geocentric (earth at the center). For this belief, which turned out to be correct, Galileo was declared a heretic and kept under house arrest by order of the Inquisition. The Church pointed to biblical passages that suggested (at least if read literally) that the earth is unmovable, and that the sun revolves around the earth. Unfortunately for Galileo the Church took passages from scripture out of context and used them to describe things that the passages themselves were not intending to comment on.
With this example I pointed out that the Bible is less concerned with giving an explanation that literally explains how things happen, and more concerned with getting a point across. That point, I suggested is the faith story of God's chosen people and God's interaction with those people.
With this in mind I turned to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where the author echoes the Creation account from Genesis, but instead of focussing on how it happened, he points to why Creation occured. It was at this point that I suggested that the entire Creation vs. Evolution debate is asking the wrong question. Such debate and study asks "how" (How did we get here? How were we made?) when we really should be asking "why" or "what" (Why are we here? What are we here to do?). I also asserted that often times this discussion/debate only degrades into personal attacks, attempts to portray the other side in a polarizing and negative way, and essentially grown-up name calling.
I briefly attempted to answer the "why" and "what" questions by suggesting that we are here because we have a Creator who loves us and wants us to know we are loved, and that we are then supposed to share that love with others who have yet to discover it. Our purpose in life is to know God and tell others what we know. That's it!
I concluded by affirming people who hold both stances, as well as those who stand in the middle, emphasizing that to spend any more time on the issue would be to waste time that could be better spent fulfilling our purpose in this world, as God's chosen people.
I hope your week is going well and that you're able to take some time to come to better know your loving Creator.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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