Some people try to make evolution and biblical text compatible, but it does not seem anything more than shoehorning one into the other to force this unnatural cohabitation. A good example of this incompatibility would be the formation of the sun. The theory of evolution places the formation of the sun prior to the earth, and the Bible does just the opposite. Some try to say the days of creation were long periods of time, but if the biblical text is true, each long period of time would still consist of a morning and a night. So, we'd be left with millions of years of light followed by millions of years of darkness, which means no plant would survive. It seems clear that both viewpoints cannot be true.
However, to clear up which is true and which isn't is not the goal of this post. In studying both sides of this extensively, I've been fascinated by the completely arbitrary mutual points of agreement each side comes to, and it seems nothing more than a coincidence that they have both made reference to such specific, similar factoids. The purpose of this article is merely to lay them out.
1. Humans' advanced knowledge is the reason women have pain in childbirth
- Creationism holds that Eve's choice to eat the forbidden fruit gave her new knowledge: knowledge of good and evil. God subsequently cursed all females to have pain in childbirth. So, the reason womankind suffers in labor is because of the advanced knowledge of the human race.
- Evolution holds that when humans diverged from chimpanzees, they evolved a larger brain to allow for greater intelligence, e.g. capacity for speech. A bigger brain naturally necessitated the evolution of a larger skull. But the woman's anatomy has yet to catch up evolutionarily - therefore, while most primates give relatively painless births, humans are tortured by the larger infantile skull. So, the reason womankind suffers in labor is because of the advanced knowledge of the human race.
- Creationism proposes that in Eve's temptation by a serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, the fruit was pleasant to her eyes, and after she ate it, her eyes were opened. She could see things she never saw before. We extrapolate the same for Adam - both at the hand of the serpent. While this perhaps refers more to insight than eyesight, the following can still be stated accurately within this paradigm: Fruit and snakes are the reason for humankind's advanced vision.
- Evolution proposes that humans evolved color vision apart from our prosimian relatives specifically because it was advantageous in discerning ripeness. To eat unripe fruit is detrimental to health, and as such, we evolved color vision to detect its edibility. Additionally, the lower half of our vision is much better than the upper. This is owing to how many of our mammalian ancestors all the way through chimpanzees were hunted by snakes lurking below. Fruit and snakes are the reason for humankind's advanced vision.
3. Expanding universe
- Evolutionary astronomers note that there is a red shift in the spectra of starlight, indicating that everything is moving away from everything else. This indicates that everything used to be closer - even compact. This is where the Big Bang Theory came from. The universe and everything in it is apparently being spread out.
- Biblical scholars note that God stretched out the heavens (as a tent). There is no mention of a central point of creation, but it follows that if the heavens are being stretched out, their contents used to be more compact. The universe and everything in it is apparently being spread out.
4. The human constitution ultimately came from rocks
- Evolution proffers a few ideas relative to the origin of life, two of which are: abiogenesis and panspermia. Abiogenesis is the idea that when the earth was a rocky mass, noxious chemicals created perpetual acid rain which dissolved the rocks into the seas, creating a mixture of chemicals out of which life first arose - life from non-life. Panspermia is a hypothesis that microbial life entered our planet on an asteroid, which evolved into all the forms of life we see today. Either way, rocks are responsible for the composition of human form.
- Creationism proffers the idea that the origin of human life is that God formed man out of the dust of the earth. Of course, dust is nothing more than granulated rock. Or perhaps rock is nothing more than compacted dust. Either way, rocks are responsible for the composition of human form.
5. The tree of life portends of eternal survival
- The Bible called the tree in the middle of the garden of Eden the tree of life. When mankind sinned, they were ejected from the garden lest they should eat from it "and live forever." The Bible also claims this tree will be in heaven, ostensibly providing eternal life. A creationist calls the mechanism by which life continues perpetually the tree of life.
- Charles Darwin called a diagram he made connecting all species, extant and extinct, the tree of life. This is a drawing showing how each animal slowly evolved into higher or more favorable forms. Its lines of connectivity show how all life is related - and the tree has no end because as long as life keeps evolving, it will find a way to adapt to whatever new environment presents itself, so that, theoretically, life could go on eternally. An evolutionist calls the mechanism by which life continues perpetually the tree of life.
6. Time, space, and matter all came into existence at once
- Scientifically, we cannot admit the existence of anything not made of matter. If we are to say it exists but has no matter, that leaves the realm of natural science and goes into philosophy, or more specifically, ontology. Neither can we admit the existence of something that does not take up space. For anything to take up zero space, that means it simply isn't anywhere - it doesn't exist. If we say something is not within time, then we certainly can't interact with it in any physical fashion. No one has ever observed an object move through time backwards or at a stand-still, and observation is the great anchor of science. If anything is purported to exist, it must hold those three titles simultaneously. That is why the Big Bang was the beginning of time, space, and matter.
- Biblically, the beginning of the universe is described thus: "In the beginning (an expression of time), God created the heaven (an expression of space) and the earth (an expression of matter)." So all three are mentioned simultaneously. It is of interest that it seems if they were to be created independently of each other, it would have to be in that order. If matter were created first, there would be no place for it, and if space were created first, there would be no principle of cause and effect (time) for it to dwell within. Time, then space, then matter seems a plausible order if not in synchroneity. That is why the creation was the beginning of time, space, and matter.
7. The way the world ends is by consuming fire
- According to 2 Peter 3:10, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” This isn’t necessarily creationist so much as eschatological, but as creationists adhere to this species of eschatology, it can be said they believe the world ends by being enveloped in fire.
- According to astronomical models, in approximately 7.5 billion years, the sun will become a red giant whose radius will exceed one astronomical unit, meaning that it will swallow up Mercury, Venus, and indeed the Earth. This isn’t necessarily evolutionary so much as astronomical, but as evolutionists rely upon astronomy integrally with many of their theories, it can be said they believe the world ends by being enveloped in fire.
The fact that two diametrically opposed world-views agree on these seven maxims is so odd to me, I hardly know what to make of it. I suspect they indicate some deeper truth as of yet unapprehended.
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