Going from a Christian school to a public school can be very challenging. One of the challenges my oldest is facing is biology... Her teacher is a strong believer in evolution.. He has very strong opinions about his belief system.. What he is teaching as fact goes against everything my kid has grown up to believe.. My daughter asked me what she should do about this... My answer was to absorb everything he is teaching... I think it is very important to learn all sides of different belief systems... How can we participate in a conversation about what we believe and why without having some kind of knowledge about other beliefs? To say we believe by faith.. does not go very far with a scientist who looks to Darwin as the Father of Science.
I do believe that there are many things that evolve over time... Take viruses and bacterias for example.. How often have you heard the term antibiotic resistant... This happens when the virus/bacteria evolves into a stronger force and stronger medications are needed... Our body's resistance to germs has evolved over time as well.. I remember watching the War of The Worlds when the aliens started to die - Morgan Freeman's voice over tells us why the aliens could not live on Planet Earth.. Because their bodies did not have the ability to fight the single cell bacteria that humans had evolved over time to fight and continue living...
Today on the way home Nicole (my daughter) told us about an answer her biology teacher gave to a student who asked where the AIDS virus came from... This is how she described her teacher's answer..
"Well you see there was this one cell bacteria that evolved over time into the African Green Monkey... Some human decided to eat this African Green Monkey and the human caught AIDS either my eating the monkey or cutting the monkey open and getting it's blood in a wound.." Yes, this is a true story... I had heard the theory about the African Green Monkey - I know that it has been said that many primates carry the virus that is similar to AIDS.. What I found very odd was that the teacher started the answer by adding "there was a one cell bacteria..." It's crazy to me how a person's belief system can be added to topics that have nothing whatsoever to do with the belief...
For the record - I do not believe humans and/or animals evolved from one cell.. I find the theory incredibly silly.... But I believe it is important to learn the Theory of Evolution - for the fact that many people believe this theory and to wear a Christian chip on our shoulder and refuse to listen and/or understand their beliefs would make us arrogant.. and arrogance is not going to get you a good grade.. nor is it going to give us an opportunity to share our beliefs...
I love C.S. Lewis on Evolution
An egg which came from no bird is no more "natural" than a bird which had existed from all eternity. And since the egg-bird-egg sequence leads us to no plausible beginning, is it not reasonable to look for the real origin somewhere outside sequence altogether? You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?
I think your encouragement to hear the evolutionist point of view is refreshing. You're right - people get stuck in their beliefs and put blinders on. Science and religion can co-exist and it's my opinion that the only thing more dangerous than not having any answers is believing you have ALL the answers. Keep up the great posts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with HiFi, in that I do think it's possible to reconcile scientific fact with your faith. I watched a really interesting documentary recently that explains the facts of evolution in a very simple and straight-forward manner, without any supposition as to the origin of life. I bet you and your kids would all enjoy it.
ReplyDeletehttp://topdocumentaryfilms.com/facts-evolution/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TopDocumentaryFilms+%28Top+Documentary+Films+-+Watch+Free+Documentaries+Online%29&utm_content=FaceBook
(sorry, you'll have to copy and paste, I'm not sure how to make that a link.)
I think there's a way to reconcile the two ways of thinking, and you're pretty wonderful for telling her to keep an open mind and listen to what he says without shutting it down before hearing it!
ReplyDeleteBut where did that one cell come from? :)
ReplyDeleteI have to say I totally agree with previous posts.
ReplyDeleteokay...first...love this picture. He's soooo cute. And what you said...me too...totally agree.
ReplyDeleteI like your level-headed approach. Dogmatic thinking leads to deep ruts that are almost impossible to get out of. You are teaching your daughter how to think for herself...examine the facts, hear all sides, decide for yourself. Good job.
ReplyDeleteRosemary