Debate fuelled on beginnings

Nate Feldmuth of Fuller Seminary traced the threads of differing beliefs in creationism, evolution, and intelligent design to a packed house in the Parlor of Laguna Presbyterian Church on March 19.

Feldmuth explained that Christians hold differing beliefs on these topics.

“I personally know Christians who hold each of these positions,” he said.

Feldmuth did not try to persuade his audience toward any point of view, rather, he shared anecdotes and history from each perspective, to give his audience tools to make their own faith decisions.

Feldmuth began with Darwin, and shared how Darwin’s major work on evolution, “The Origin of the Species,” was researched. While sailing on the Beagle from 1831 to 1836, and traversing much land in between ports because he was subject to sea sickness, Darwin found evidence of fossil shells far from shore, and noticed finches that were similar, but not identical in various locations. From his observations, Darwin drew his theories of “survival of the fittest,” adaptation, and “speciation.”

Speciation seems to be where some Christians take issue with Darwin because it suggests that new species develop as animals and birds adapt to new environments, as opposed to being “created” by God.

Debates on the topic raged during the 1900s, when many British scholars accepted a theory called theistic evolution, countered by Louis Agassiz, who held out for special creation of new forms by God.

B.B. Warfield of Princeton Seminary taught the basics of what is now called “theistic evolution.” A fundamentalist, Warfield believed that evolution did occur in animals, but that humans are a special creation of God, Feldmuth said.

Intelligent design began in the 13th century when Thomas Aquinas argued that a complex system such as the solar system could not be explained without positing a creator who is intelligent. According to Feldmuth, arguments for the various positions suggest that fossil-shell deposits could have been left by the Great Flood, or the shifting of tectonic plates, not by adaptation or speciation.

Also, that the theory of speciation is possible, as long as one looks to God as the original creator; the concept of God creating on Day 1, Day 2, etc. is figurative and implies thousands of years in between each act of creation; that God relates differently to humans at different times; the Bible may only be interpreted literally, or that the Bible is a book of faith, not of science. Feldmuth has an upcoming book on these topics.