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With Regard to Meditation

So sometimes I like to watch these ‘off the wall’ videos that are a little ‘out there,’ just to see what other people have thought up, think about, imagined or perhaps sensed in some way.  One in particular, regarding Andromedans (sp?) - an alien race from the Andromedia Galaxy, who supposedly sent a message through a medium, telling us about a special connection in the brain that has not yet evolved in most of mankind from the pituitary gland to a “black area” in the back of the brain called the Superia Nigra, which allows for communication through “feeling” (also known as telepathy).  It talked about the importance of clearing our minds and “just feeling” and I thought to myself, ‘this is what I do when I meditate’ – I enjoy just being.  From this just being, my mind begins to wander… and I see visions.  Some may call that daydreaming; my mom always did.  But, that’s the way I meditate.  After all, what is a vision, but a dream?  I believe dreams come to us from an inspired place anyway, so it makes no difference to me what label it’s given.

I’m thinking I need to do a video, or videos, on the practice of meditation, providing others with instruction on how it works for me; maybe they would find it more fitting for them as well than the traditional required pose, meditation music, supposed clearing of the mind, etc., which was never my thing.  The mind clearing is only momentary and is only a clearing of deliberate thought; thoughts are supposed to flow freely as I see it so that the energy that encompasses this universe can bring whatever message we are supposed to receive to us, be it in the form of language or ‘a daydream.’  So I soak it all in.  The visions start simply as colors, which I see by looking “through my eyelids” so to speak; they begin to form into kaleidoscopic shapes and then, eventually, to form images.

There are so many possibilities for each and every one of us, it is unreal – quite literally.  To imagine the whole of mankind, and then the possibility of other worlds yet unknown to us, it is simply just astounding; sometimes, after several minutes of meditation, I have to stop because it is just too overwhelming the places where my mind will go.  I refocus on the here and now, contemplate, and then slowly allow my mind to free itself of deliberate thought and go into the “daydream” state again.  Sometimes it returns to where I left off; other times I am some place entirely different, but seemingly just as important.  I do my best to remember the things I am shown; some stick easier than others… I should probably write it down every time, but, I get busy going about my day once I get done, and journaling usually gets done later.

For those of you who would like to give meditation a try, here a few simple tips:

1. Make yourself comfortable; any way you prefer to position yourself is fine.
2. Pick a “quiet” spot; this doesn’t mean there has to be complete silence (I prefer to be outside where I can hear the crickets chirping, birds and frogs singing, and breeze blowing)… I find nature sounds to be extremely calming and relaxing.  You can even play soft music if that is what helps you to relax.
3. Spend a few minutes practicing deep breathing techniques; this helps prepare the body to relax and helps focus the mind.
4. Close your eyes; I like to face the sun, allowing myself to “look through” my eyelids – keep your eyelids relaxed.   Don’t squeeze your eyes closed.
5. Now “clear” your mind; this means, for just a moment, try not to think of anything in particular – if you do, start over.  Keep clearing your mind of deliberate thought, until your mind simply wanders freely and randomly.
6. Pay attention to the images now flowing freely through your mind; notice if there are any themes, or any particular figures that have significant meaning to you… take note of anything out of the ordinary, anything than stands out to you.
7. Spend at least ten minutes doing this; take as long as you like, as long as you are comfortable and at peace, remain in this state of free-flowing thought.
8. Reflect on the images and converse with the spirit; take time after meditating to try to replay some of the images or messages in your mind, now with deliberate thought.  Makes notes in your journal if you remember anything significant.

Infinite Waters & Koi Fresco Topics Discussed - A Candid Conversation

The Bible - A Good Book

Thesis Paper
Dennel B. Tyon
Composition II/ENG 102 (April, 2011)

Module 7, Assignment 2
Argosy University Online
Dr. Pamela Allegretto-Diiullio

I.
I never understood why God and Evolution could not go hand in hand.  And yet, the church I was attending as a young child was telling me that it just was not so.  God created man in an instant (and woman an instant after that)… the Bible said it was so – and we just had to believe it.  But the idea “poof, here’s man” just never made sense to me.  I could not buy that.  There had to be more to it.  God would have put much more thought into His creation.  Why would He not go to such extravagant lengths as to spend billions of years preparing the earth for us, and millions of years on our construction.

The Bible is generally seen as a “divine authority”, which should not be tread upon, but what is it that makes it divine?  Ordinary men wrote the words within its covers – perhaps a few extraordinary men, as well, but men all the same.  Whether inspired, or imagined, the words came to them as they put pen to paper (or etched on metal tablets) and preserved their thoughts for future generations.  These writings that eventually became known as the scriptures were originally written in many different languages and found in various places around the world.

Some of the languages were obsolete by the time tablets were found and had to be deciphered using ancient means by scholarly men who had studied language.  Oxford and Cambridge theologians, as well as their colleagues in various European universities were greatly advancing their understanding of the ancient languages by the discovery and use of ancient documents (Wilson, 2011).  Approximations had to be made for words that no longer existed when translation was made and, in addition, being written by imperfect beings, these writings could have contained some incorrect information in the first place.  Hence, although the book known as the Holy Bible is highly respected by a majority of Americans, and esteemed by many religions worldwide, it is truly just a book, which was written and published by men; and is, therefore, prone to human error.

II.
In our arrogance, we fail to appreciate that the “majority of important, ancient scholarly works were lost” (Deloria, 2002, p. 163).  What we have found represents only a tiny portion of what was once known by our ancestors.   One certain Sumerian tablet was discovered which takes us “back to circa 11,000 B.C., when Man had just begun to til the land” and there are numerous Chaldean documents recording the stars “going back 370,000 years,” (Deloria, 2002, p. 166).  In addition, Babylonians kept the horoscopes of all children born for thousands of years (Deloria, 2002, p. 166), perhaps in an effort to find some sort of pattern.  For whatever reason, people have documented their history and individual thoughts for as long as they have been able.  These ancient civilizations, as well as many others, recorded great catastrophes, which wiped out nearly all of mankind, and predicted the occurrence of similar disasters in the future.  Noah’s flood really is not that unique.  Over the centuries, however, “many ancient libraries were destroyed in wars and religious purges” (Deloria, 2002, p. 164).  There have been a minimum of 1,700,000 books – in scroll form – which have been burned to ashes over the centuries as so many great libraries have been destroyed, either by consequence of war or deliberate order of certain ancient leaders (Deloria, 2002, p. 164).  Who knows how much we could have learned much from these ancient writings if they had been preserved?

There are many other ancient writings, from the same time period as those of the scriptures.  Some of them have now been published in book form and called The Lost Books of the Bible.  These writings, among others, were reviewed by a limited number of men (who were appointed by the Catholic church) and discarded as not worthy of canonization.  The chosen writings were taken and compiled by these men, and in 400 A.D., set and bound to form the first book ever printed.  Declared holy by the Roman Catholic Church, the Bible was then massively distributed to the people and indoctrinated as the Word of God.  Since its first printing, the book has been revised and reprinted time and time again.  The scriptures have been translated so many times it is highly likely that errors in translation have been made from the original writings.

In 1250 A.D., the scriptures were divided into chapters… the division, as we know it today, was made about 1550 A.D.  An eight-volume work, which held the Latin translation of the Bible, together with “the best available Hebrew, Greek and Chaldaic texts in parallel columns, together with lexicons and grammars of the Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Syriac languages” (Wilson, 2011) was fashioned in 1572.  This massive work was known as “the Royal Antwerp Polyglot… [and] By 1600 there were no less than seven different versions of the English Bible [which] did not in all respects ‘answer to the original’” (Wilson, 2011).  Most antiquarian was the Tyndale New Testaments, which had been around for 70 years.  Then there was the relatively new Douai-Rheims text, which supported Catholicism and the superior authority of the church.  But the most commonly-read version was the Geneva Bible” (Wilson, 2011).

In 1604, the King declared “that there should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the English Tongue” (The Epistle Dedicatory, p. 16, The Holy Bible, King James Version).  Among Christians, there was already a great variety of beliefs and attitudes by this time.  There was also a great variation in people’s status.  Society ranked from a sovereign monarchy, with nobles and bishops, to the country priests and peasants.  Religion and politics were one and the same.  But some people, like the Puritans, felt that there should be a “clear distinction between church and state” (Wilson, 2011).  Party differences were set-aside in an effort to develop what would simply be the best English translation of the Bible yet (Wilson, 2011).  It took seven long years before they completed this translation.

With individual scrutiny “on chosen parts of the text… committee and sub-committee discussion over minute details of word selection and grammatical inflection” (Wilson, 2011) and despite the death and replacement of some of the original committee members over the years, they finished this so-called final translation of the Holy Bible.  This, The Authorized Version of the Holy Scriptures (being the English translation, which is otherwise known as ‘the King James Bible’, now in common use) was published in 1611 A.D. (The Bible Reader’s Aide, The Holy Bible, King James Version).  And even though my King James Version strictly forbid the changing of even a tittle, changes have been made to it too, as there are now numerous different versions out there in the marketplace.  Nonetheless, the fact is, in the first place and the latter, the words were written by men.  Whether inspired or not, they are, therefore, prone to error (because no man is perfect).

The proof is in the book, itself.  It is full of paradoxes and clear contradictions.  In order to make sense of it, you have to understand that men wrote it – not God.  There are differences galore, particularly among the four books of the Gospel, like the fact the day of Jesus’ death differs, Jesus’ attitude is calm on the day of his death in one book and he is distraught in another, and “John says he performed miracles to prove his provenance; Matthew says he demurred” (Ehrman, 2009).  Most of the books of the Bible were actually written many years after Christ’s death and only eight of them have been verified to be written by the people originally ascribed as the author.

When the Bible was canonized, there were lots of so-called Gospels being spread around.  It is unclear why some endured and others did not, but the ones that did simply “reflected contemporary biases” (Ehrman, 2009).  

III. 

Being imperfect, as we are, we struggle with the question of whether we are just human beings who occasionally have a spiritual experience; or if we are spiritual beings, who are having a human experience.  Either way, we feel the need to band together to come up with an answer to this question.  In an effort to do so, we formed congregations.  From these, sprang up numerous religions.  And so many different religions around the world now revere the Bible as holy, holding it to be the true Word of God, so it appears that it would be blasphemous to insinuate that it is otherwise. 

However, if it were – in fact – truly the Word of God, then it would be reasonable to assume that it contains no errors.   Contrary to what we now know as scientific fact about the creation and evolution of our Earth, the Bible says that God created the entire world, including man and animals, in a matter of days.  But we don’t have to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible to believe in a divine influence upon the history of the earth.  It makes perfect sense to me that God would have used evolution as the means for our creation.  In fact, “the majority of people who believe in evolution also believe that there is a God” (Sonder, p. 25). 

Further, fossil studies support scripture in that there was, in fact, a genetic boom, where many different species arose in what seemed to be an instant – in comparison to the overall age of the earth.  Fossil studies have revealed “a ‘biological big bang’… about fifty separate, major groups of organisms, or ‘phyla’, (including… basic body plans of most modern animals) emerged suddenly without evident precursors” (Forrest, 2005, p. 50).  Although this period of time did not actually include the creation of man, I must admit, it does give credence to the writings of the Bible.

It has been determined that the biggest explosion of life, which occurred during what is known as the Cambrian period, began about 500 million years ago, although life – itself – began only “about 3.7 billion years” ago.  (Ruse, 2001 p. 18).  Fossil records also show evidence, in several places around the world, which seems to be consistent with catastrophic flooding.  The fossil record actually reveals “… sudden death and destruction that is consistent with Biblical teaching concerning a Worldwide Flood” (Parker & Shimmim, 1997, p. 367).  However, although the geological record does show evidence of a massive flood in several different areas of the earth, there is no evidence that the entire earth was ever flooded at one time. 

Aside from the fossil evidence before us, there are many similar stories in other cultures around the world like those of Adam & Eve, Noah’s Ark and many others.  These similarities in legends give all the more credence to the writings of the Bible, showing that many different cultures had people who knew of these supposed events.  The similarities, however, could also be a byproduct of pure and simple inspiration having been given to several different people in different places around the world, probably at different times.

IV. 

The similarities of the Bible stories to those in other cultures should be seen as evidence that the Bible cannot be taken literally, or every other culture around the world would have to be deemed wrong, as the details of facts among the legends vary so.  In addition, the facts among the stories of the Bible, itself vary to such a degree that it is simply impossible for the book, in its entirety, to be considered literally.  Dan Barker, who is an ordained minister, also points out that there are hundreds of discrepancies in the Bible… going so far as to state, “Even if a defender of the bible were to eliminate all of the above (and no one has come close), we are still only scratching the surface. The bible is a flawed book” (1992). 

Furthermore, there are far too many contradictions throughout the books of the Bible for it to be taken as literal.  In addition, we must consider that it has only been a matter of a few thousand years that these particular writings have existed.  Many ancient civilizations prior to biblical times had their own beliefs and their own inspired writings.  As mentioned before, the majority of those writings have been lost to us.  This means that the Bible is not the only such authority to have ever been written.  A lot of other religious texts exist still to this day.  The Tora, which is technically part of the Bible, and the Q’uran, which, believe it or not is quite similar to the Bible, are just two of the better known.  These ancient scriptures also contain a vast amount of wisdom and, yet, should be considered ‘with a grain of salt’ just the same.  The Church of England even conceded that the story of Adam & Eve, as written in the Bible, was a fable when they openly accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution.  In fact, “when he died, Darwin was lionized… elevated to a place of great importance, and buried at Westminster Abbey in London” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).  This was certainly in direct contrast to Galileo’s experience with the Roman Catholic Church.

The famous astronomer Galileo held strong beliefs in the Almighty.  These beliefs are demonstrated vividly in his writing, as he contemplates:  “…‘A hundred passages of holy scripture teach us that the glory and greatness of Almighty God are marvelously displayed in all his works and divinely read in the open book of the heaven’ – Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 272).  Obviously, he saw God’s work in the stars.  But in 1632, Galileo proved scientifically “that Earth revolved around the Sun” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).  This was clearly in direct contradiction with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church at that time, “that Earth was the center of the universe,” and was, therefore, declared to be blasphemy.  Galileo was banished from the church for opposing their views (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).  Of course, we have to remember one thing.  “Christianity arose when we had virtually no knowledge of the larger cosmos and this planet was presumed to be the center of creation” (Deloria, 2002, page 214).

In conclusion, after reading the Bible cover to cover, I determined that it can not possibly be the ‘literal’ Word of God.  But I do believe that it was divinely inspired.  God has inspired all kinds of people to write things over the years – just as, I believe, He inspires me at times.  And people wrote on whatever implement they had available to them, whether it be paper, metal or stone.  I have read every single word in the Bible and to take the entire thing as literal, would mean that God has Multiple Personality Disorder, ADD, is bi-polar and a bit obsessive-compulsive too.  Okay, that may all actually be true.  He speaks of Himself as more than one being, many times throughout the book and He demonstrates many personalities… He is an angry and vengeful God, and He is a loving God in favor of forgiveness – one minute threatening to destroy all of mankind and the next, promising us salvation.  He likes to make comparisons, to talk in riddles and tell short stories to make His point and He does so numerous times throughout these writings.  The Bible, so it says, was printed in English “to make God’s holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people,” (The Epistle Dedicatory, King James Version) but in order to find the Truth in it, one has to look past the lies.

The Bible is full of Parables, sarcasms and Allegories.  The story of Adam & Eve is an allegory – a symbolic representation that uses fictionalized characters to explain human characteristics.  Time and time again, symbolic representations are used in the scriptures to tell hard truths, to give warnings and to provoke thought.  After all, “inquiry is the search for knowledge…  Fanaticism – religious, political, or cultural – is the eternal enemy of inquiry” (Forrest & Gross, p. 15).  I really think that God wants us to wonder.  He encourages it.  We should question everything. 

Why should we put so much emphasis on one single book?  Whether the Bible is considered a divine authority or not, it must be taken into consideration that the words were, in fact, written by men.  This fact alone, aside from all the others contained herein, gives credence to the claim that the Bible is prone to human error.

**

References:

Anonymous, (1611). The Holy Bible, Authorized King James Version, The Epistle Dedicatory, & The Bible Readers’ Aids, New York:  The World Publishing Company.

Barker, D. (1992). Losing faith in faith: From preacher to atheist by Dan Barker, Freedom from Religion Foundation, Retrieved from:  http://www.ffrf.org/legacy/books/lfif/?t=contra

Deloria, V. (2002). Evolution, Creationism and Other Modern Myths. Golden, CO:  Fulcrum Publishing.

Ehrman B. D. (2009). Dear Lord, let’s agree to disagree, Newsweek, 153 (13).

Forrest, B. & Gross, P. R. (2004). Creationism’s Trojan Horse – The Wedge of Intelligent Design. New York, N.Y.:  Oxford University Press.

Parker, G., Graham, K., Shimmim, D., Thompson, G. (1997). Biology – God’s Living Creation. Pensacola, FL: Pensacola Christian College.

Ruse, M. (2001). Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?. New York, N.Y.:  Cambridge University Press

Sonder, B. (1999). Evolution and Creationism, New York, N.Y.:  Franklin Watts, Grolier Publishing Co., Inc. 

Thorndike, J. L. (1999). Epperson v. Arkansas: The Evolution-Creationism Debate. Berkeley Heights, N.J.:  Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Wilson, D. (2011). The king’s good book, History Today, 61(1)

Dennel B. Tyon
Argosy University Online
Dr. Richard Craven
December 13, 2010

 SCI 110 - The Rise of Modern Science

The Evolution of Creation

     I grew up, and was baptized, in the Mormon faith.  But somehow, it always felt wrong.  We went to church every Sunday, had ‘Family Home Evening’ every Monday… but rarely ever spoke of God at home except for that.  My mom never spoke of her beliefs and my dad only told me what the church instructed.  By the age of six, I had the idea that God, Himself, was speaking to me (telling me not to believe everything I heard in church; to “take it with a grain of salt”, whatever that meant).  I left the church at the age of 15.

     After leaving the church, I started riding my horse up into the mountains early Sunday mornings.  There, I would sit and talk to God.  I told Him I was confused.  I was lost in this world.  I knew I did not belong here – and sitting there, somehow, His spirit would consume me.  He encouraged me to examine nature… to see the beauty in the world around me and to learn from it.  “Watch the ants”, I remember hearing, “they work as one”.  That is why I got my first ant farm.  It intrigued me like I could not have imagined.  As I have grown older, I have come to realize that I am not so alone as I used to think I was.

     Other people hear Him too; some are just too afraid to admit it.  And there are others like me, who believe that evolution was the means of our “creation” and it was guided by the hand of our Creator.  So my question is: Why do so many people feel they have to choose between believing in God and accepting evolution?  I believe in both.  Religion puts far too much emphasis on a literal translation of the Bible, not allowing for scientific fact… but science, without some type of intelligent design, simply is not possible.  Evolution requires the hand of God to guide it; Creationists need to accept it as fact.

A Creationist’s View Against Evolution

     Creationists claim, “the major ‘evidence’ for evolution is based upon the assumption of evolution” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 371).  “No ‘missing links’ have been found… between supposedly related organisms,” says this Beka Christian Science book.  “Thus, …no evidence that fish evolved into amphibians, amphibians… into reptiles, or… reptiles… into birds and mammals” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 294).  Another Creationist goes on to say, “thousands of extinct kinds of animals have been revealed,” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 367) but, they are all distinct kinds and “none can be regarded as truly transitional forms” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 367).  They argue vehemently that the fossil record “vividly illustrates the Biblical truth” that different kinds of creatures do not change into other kinds, but rather, that every single creature “reproduces ‘after its kind’ (Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 25)” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 368).  Creationists hold what they claim to be “the lack of transitional forms” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 382) as strong evidence that evolution has not occurred (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 382).  They say there should be a vast supply of innumerable ‘missing links,’ only they should not be missing at all.  “We should be stumbling over them every time we step out into the open;” these Creationists say, “… the earth should be packed with them”  (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 402 and 403). 

     Transitional forms, as it is theorized, could not have possibly survived.  Take the wing of a bat, for example; this is an organ, or rather a limb, that could not have developed gradually.  Supposedly evolved from a shrew-like creature, a bat’s wing is actually “extraordinarily long finger bones connected by a thin web of skin” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 382 & 383).  Admittedly, it is hard to understand how this particular transitional creature would have looked or how it could have survived with its fingers getting so long; it could not possibly use its front legs for running anymore, and yet, at this point, it would not have gained the ability to fly either.  Therefore, “such a deformed creature would not have survived and reproduced… long enough to become a bat” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 382).  Evolution demands every structure, no matter what kind, develop “one small step at a time, while remaining fully functional at every step” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 382).   Darwin knew that the discovery of any structure that could not have developed gradually “would destroy the hypothesis of evolution” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 381 & 382).

     Paleontology, from a strict Christian point of view, proves that every animal alive today was created in its present form along with those that have become extinct.  Those must have had “difficulty surviving the post-Flood environment and gradually died out” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 366).  My Beka book, which I use guardedly to home school my son, names “mammoths, dinosaurs, 40-foot-long crocodiles, 2000-pound turtles, giant birds and eagle-sized dragonflies” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 366) as some of the creatures who were living, along side man, but died off after the Flood – perhaps because the ark was not big enough for dinosaurs.  So, the book contends that the fossil record, when viewed from a purely Biblical perspective, is essentially “one of the most powerful evidences” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 366) against evolution… because, it says, if evolution had occurred, it would have left evidence of the process.  But the fossil record shows “no traces” of any sort of creature having “evolved from something else, or… into something else” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 367). 

     The fossil record actually reveals… “sudden death and destruction that is consistent with the Biblical teaching concerning a Worldwide Flood” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 367).  In order for plants and animals to be so quickly preserved, they would have had to experience a quick burial, “such as flood-deposited sedimentary layers of rock” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 294-295).

     Fossils from around the world are dated according to the presumed age of the rock in which they are found.  In Biology, God’s Living Creation, it states, there is no objective way to look at a sample of sedimentary rock and determine its age.  Rather, it says, certain fossils known as ‘index fossils’ or guide fossils are considered characteristic of a specific period and are used to identify rock layers in the field” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 370). 

     Fossils are then arranged, it says, in an “assumed order – a simple-to-complex progression – to compose the geologic column.”  (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 371).  “The evolutionary hypothesis determines the ‘age’ of fossil-bearing rocks, the ‘age’ of the rocks determines the ‘sequence’ of fossils, and the ‘sequence’ of fossils is said to support the hypothesis” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 371).  Thus, it can be said “the evolutionist dates the rock layers by checking to see what kind of fossils they contain, and he dates the fossils by checking to see what age has been assigned to the rocks.  This is circular reasoning, not scientific reasoning” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 292-294). 

     The geologic column is misunderstood.  “The earth’s crust is built up of many different layers of rock and sediment,” (Parker, 1997, p. 369), which make up the geologic column.  It theorizes, “a record of evolution should be present from the simplest invertebrates… supposedly representing some 4.6 billion years of earth’s history” (Parker, 1997, p. 369).  The geologic column is “divided into four major time divisions, called eras” and each era is “subdivided into periods and epochs” (Parker, 1997, p. 369).  The problem is that the rock and sediment are not always in the same order – it varies from location to location - “there is not a single place on earth where you can go and see the geologic column” (Parker, 1997, p. 369).  The largest part of the geologic column that can be seen anywhere on earth is in the Grand Canyon and most are represented by “only two or three periods and often widely separated in ‘age’” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 369).  Many creationists believe that the nine layers in the Grand Canyon strata are not anywhere as old as scientists claim – that is, about a million years.  “The rock in the lowest of its nine strata are thought to be much, much older… from half a billion to a billion years” (Parker, 1997, p. 369) but, the creationists’ desire is to ultimately reveal that many of the fossils, which are in the geological column, are not those of animals or plants that once lived during various eras, separated by millions of years, “but animals and plants that were probably all created at the same time” (Sonder, 1999, p. 55). 

     Fossil studies have revealed “a ‘biological big bang’,” where something like “fifty separate, major groups of organisms, or ‘phyla’, (including… basic body plans of most modern animals) emerged suddenly without evident precursors” (Forrest, 2005, p. 50).  Paleobiologist, Dr. Paul K. Chien, known for his work on the Chengjiang phosphate-rock fossils, which represented this period, “the Precambrian and the long-known Cambrian radiation”, (Forrest, 2005, p. 49-50), did not believe in evolution.   His work was steadily scrutinized.  He claimed these fossils were not nearly as old as it was suspected.

     Complications with dating methods have confused scientists and anthropologists.  A skull, “dated by the controversial potassium-argon method… judged to be about 2.8 million years old” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298) but is similar in appearance to the skulls of many people living today.  Thus, according to evolutionary dating systems, “modern man… existed long before” many of the supposed ‘ape-men’ (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298).  “In 1890, a Dutch physician named Eugene Dubois discovered bones of what he assumed to be a prehistoric human being on Java, a large island of Indonesia” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298).  He claimed these bones of ‘Java man’ were at least 500,000 years old.  “Dubois also discovered, a ‘normal’ human skull – a fact he kept more or less a secret for 30 years” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298).  Obviously, if Java man was buried in the same rock layer with a modern man, he could not be man’s ancestor.  Because of the massive lava eruptions and floods, which had occurred in that part of Java, many scientists believe that the rock in which these bones were found “could not be more than 500 years old” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298).  Some authorities now believe that Java man was fully human, and that Dubois “exaggerated the ‘ape-like’ characteristics of the skullcap” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 298).   “Another ‘human ancestor’ that has been discarded,” was Piltdown man, which was later discovered to be a fraud.  Someone apparently, deliberately placed the skull of a modern man and the jaw of an orangutan together where they would be discovered… and for forty years, from 1913 to 1953, evolutionists listed the Piltdown man as a human ancestor, “although he never existed” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 297-298).  For these forty years, it was on exhibition in the London Museum and… “represented the earliest type of primitive humanity” but it was found that this “was not a primitive man at all.  He was a very modern type of ape” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 402).  At one time, evolutionists had included (in the human family tree) a stage of development known as ‘Nebraska man’.  This stage, was based solely upon the discovery of a single tooth, and has since been discarded because the tooth was exposed as having come from an extinct pig! (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 297).

An Evolutionist’s View Against Creation

     Missing links have, in fact, been found, which support the theory of evolution.  By the mid-nineteenth century, fossils were just beginning to be uncovered and people, for the first time, were beginning to realize “that it has an interpretable pattern” (Ruse, 2001 page 18).  Fossils, which ranged from early marine forms (commonly known as trilobites), “up through the vertebrate fish, amphibia, reptiles… birds and mammals,” covered the globe (Ruse, 2001 page 18).  From the evidence before us, it has been determined that “the big explosion of life” known as the Cambrian period, began about 530 million years ago, although life – itself – began “about 3.7 billion years” ago.  (Ruse, 2001 page 18).  Thus, we see, the fossil record shows “a roughly progressive fossil sequence up from extinct forms to remains of organisms hardly different from those we see around us today” (Ruse, 2001 page 13).

     In the early 1860’s, the entire skeleton of an unknown creature was discovered, in Germany.  This creature appeared to be a “bridge across the gap between reptiles and birds”.  A transitional form said not to exist by Creationists.  This creature, dubbed Archeopteryx, had a reptilian brain, separate digits, a tail and teeth… but also had feathers and, “with the apparatus for flight, was just the ‘missing link’ that evolution demanded (Feduccia 1996)” (Ruse, 2001 page 21).  In the 1870’s, many “mammalian monsters” like the titanotheres, which was a rhinoceros-like beast “with fabulous baroque appendages” on his snout, were found buried in the American West (Ruse, 2001, p. 21).  Finally, equid discoveries made it “possible to trace the modern single-hoofed horse right back to a dog-sized creature” – strange as it may seem, Eohippus, “ran around the prairies on its five toes” (Ruse, 2001 page 21).

     The fossil record does not stand-alone.  Archeology, as well, has provided evidence that many ancient civilizations existed and “devoted considerable time and resources to the accumulation of knowledge” (Deloria, 2002, p. 164-165).  The once-great city of Alexandria in ancient Egypt housed a university, which “included facilities for the study of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, botany and zoology, and it could house 14,000 students”  (Deloria, 2002, p. 164).  In our arrogance, we fail to appreciate that the “vast majority of important, ancient scholarly works were lost and… we are dealing with only a minuscule representation of what was actually known by ancient peoples” (Deloria, 2002, p. 163).  Over the centuries, “many ancient libraries were destroyed in wars and religious purges” (Deloria, 2002, p. 164).  There have been, at the least, over 1,700,000 books - in scroll form - which have been burned to ashes with the destruction of several great libraries, either by acts of war or deliberate order of ancient leaders (Deloria, 2002, p. 164).  We could have learned much from these ancient writings. 

     Some of the most ancient writings found were taken and compiled, by men, choosing which writings to include and which to exclude for canonization and in 400 A.D., set and bound them to form the first book ever printed.  Declared holy by the Roman Catholic Church, the Bible was then distributed to the people and indoctrinated as “the Word of God”.  Since its first printing, the book has been revised and reprinted time and time again – in 1250 A.D., the scriptures were divided into chapters… the division, as we know it today, was made about 1550 A.D., - the “Authorized Version” of the Holy Scriptures (that is, the English translation, otherwise known as ‘the King James Bible’, which is now in common use) was published in 1611 (Holy Bible, 1611, p. 16), so that “there should be one more exact Translation of the holy Scriptures into the English Tongue” (Holy Bible, 1611, n.a.).  Changes have been made to it, too, as there are numerous different versions out there now - even though my King James Version strictly forbid the changing of any words.  But, the fact is, the words were written by men.  Inspired or not, they are, therefore, prone to error (because no man is perfect).

     The Eastern Indians “calculated aspects and events by means of stars” (Deloria, 2002, p. 165).   They were concerned with “perishable versus imperishable worlds, about ages, catastrophes, cycles, and new ages; and they were concerned about mathematics, causes of natural phenomena, planets, orbits and zodiacs” (Deloria, 2002, p. 165-166) and, it is said, “the Mayas and Aztecs in the unending calculations seem to have had similar attitudes” (Deloria, 2002, p. 166).  “A Sumerian tablet… begins the list of zodiacal constellations with that of Leo – taking us back to circa 11,000 B.C., when Man had just begun to til the land” and “the Chaldeans had records of stars going back 370,000 years,” (Deloria, 2002, p. 166) while the Babylonians kept the horoscopes of all children born for thousands of years, “from which to calculate the effects on humans of various planets and constellations” (Deloria, 2002, p. 166).

     These ancient civilizations, as well as many others, recorded great catastrophes, which wiped out nearly all of mankind, and predicted the occurrence of similar disasters in the future.  “If almost every other society has believed that the planet is periodically destroyed by cosmic-size catastrophes, should not this possibility be thoroughly explored?” (Deloria, 2002, p. 220).  In 1830, a noted geologist named “Charles Lyell… proposed the theory that the earth was always changing slowly and in small increments – not just by catastrophe” (Sonder, 1999, p. 9).  In 1813, English scientist William Charles Wells “formulated theories of natural selection,” as did Patrick Matthew in 1831.  “A young naturalist named Alfred Russell Wallace… had independently arrived at the same ideas” and “prompted” Darwin to announce his theory of natural selection (Sonder, 1999, p. 12), revealing “in 1858, that he was ready to propose the same theory” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 25).  “Almost fifty years before Darwin’s voyages, a French naturalist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had done extensive research in an attempt to develop this theory of gradual descent” (Sonder, 1999, p. 9). 

     Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard paleontologist and evolutionist, stated that “evolution is as well documented as any phenomenon in science” and that it can, therefore, be called a “fact” (Deloria, 2002, p. 2).  As for Dr. Chien, it turns out he has no standing in paleontology.  He “has proper scientific credentials.  However, paleontology… is entirely absent from them” (Forrest & Gross, p. 63).  Dr. Chien admits “that he has no expertise or training in paleontology” and “that he came into this issue believing evolution is not true” (Forrest & Gross, p. 62).  All of this fuss, regarding the Chengjiang fossils and the Cambrian ‘explosion’ has “nothing to do with the real scientific questions about that geological era” – like, what caused the sudden increase in the procreation of life?  In short, it appears there is not anything posing “any legitimate challenge to standard evolutionary biology as a whole” (Forrest & Gross, p. 86). 

     We have learned much in the past hundred years.  It has been a century of great discovery.  “Christianity arose when we had virtually no knowledge of the larger cosmos and this planet was presumed to be the center of creation” (Deloria, 2002, p. 214).  “To cling to past paradigms and doctrines is not the way to proceed… We should demand that we be treated as adults – no more ‘Just So Stories’ or religious myths need be fed to us” (Deloria, 2002, p. 221).

Discovering the Middle Ground – in Favor of Both

     The majority of top scientists now believe “that the universe was created in a Big Bang – a view not at odds with religious belief” (Deloria, 2002, p. 2).  Evolution is almost as widely accepted today as the concept of intelligent design.  “Public opinion polls report that 40 percent of adults… think creationism is scientifically as valid as evolution” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 116).  Recent nationwide studies show that 44 percent of Americans hold a biblical creationist view, 40 percent hold a belief in “theistic evolution” and only 10 percent are “strict, secular evolutionists.”  Furthermore, four out of five Americans “support teaching creationism as well as evolution in the public schools”  (Deloria, 2002, p. 3 & 4).  Therefore, finding the middle ground in this day and age seems to make sense.  “The anomalies in Western science and religion are so numerous that they now constitute an easily identifiable alternative to what we are presently asked to believe” (Deloria, 2002, p. 221).  Is it not possible for both to be true?

     Living cells demonstrate both intelligent design and evolution.  Red blood cells, for example, seem intently deliberate as they voyage through the blood, “loaded with oxygen to feed the other cells” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 122).  Muscle cells, constantly working, “are sleek and supple, full of coiled energy”.  Cartilage cells, with their shiny black nuclei, stay glued tightly together for strength to provide shape for such things as ears and noses.  Lastly, fat cells “seem lazy and leaden, like bulging… bags jammed together” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 122).  Organisms of different species, which have adults who take on very different forms after maturation, “have embryos which are identical… this points to a shared evolutionary origin,” (Ruse, 2001, page 18) as well as intelligent design.  A woman’s egg cell, one of the largest in the human body, with “its ovoid shape just visible to the unaided eye…” is an elegant and primordial structure, from which all other cells in the body derive (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 122-123).  Many great minds throughout history, with complete faith in the sciences, held firmly to their belief in God. 

     James Clerk Maxwell, who was known as the Father of Electromagnetic Theory, was the “first scientist to show that light was related to magnetism as well as electricity” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 66).  He probably made more contributions to theoretical physics than any other man except Sir Isaac Newton and was a devout Christian.  Prayer among his notes read, in part:  “…teach us to study the work of thy hands, that we may subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen our reason… that we may believe on Him Whom Thou hast sent, to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of our sins…” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 66). 

     Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was based on his intense belief that everything is connected.  He wholeheartedly believed that there was a greater power in charge of ‘relativity’ and experimented (attempting to prove divine intervention), although he never truly succeeded.  Many of his theories, however, still hold true today.  He just seemed to know things, almost as if he had innate wisdom.

     Sir Isaac Newton held strong beliefs in a creator.  This is evidenced by his writings where he tells, in detail, the wonders of the eye and the uniformity in the “outward shapes of all birds, beasts and men” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 285).   He saw these wonders as proof of a Being who made all things (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 198).  Newton wrote:  “ ‘The universe was rightly designed a temple of God.  This Being governs all things… as Lord over all’ – (1642-1727)” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 272).

     Galileo held strong beliefs in the Almighty, which are demonstrated vividly in his writing, as he contemplates:  “ ‘A hundred passages of holy scripture teach us that the glory and greatness of Almighty God are marvelously displayed in all his works and divinely read in the open book of the heaven’ – Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 272).  In 1632, Galileo proved scientifically “that Earth revolved around the Sun” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).  This was in direct contradiction with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church at that time, “that Earth was the center of the universe,” and was, therefore, declared blasphemous.  Galileo was banished from the church for opposing their views (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).

     Charles Darwin, contrary to what most people think, actually did believe in God.  He wrote an epigraph to be included in his ‘Origin of the Species’, which stated that no man could “search too far or be too well-studied in the book of God’s word…” (Miller, 1999, p. xii).  He never tried to disprove the existence of God… but “he knew that his research would be considered blasphemous” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27 & 28).  Because he did not provide answers to the questions of ‘What caused the first living thing to exist?’ and ‘What created the universe itself?’, he allowed that “one can be a Darwinian without being an atheist” (Sonder, 1999, p. 25). 

     We do not have to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible to believe in a “divine influence” throughout the history of the earth.  In fact, now “the majority of people who believe in evolution also believe that there is a God… they have come to be known as theistic evolutionists” (Sonder, 1999, p. 25).  Natural Selection, which refers to “a complex, interactive process” between plants, animals and habitats over a long period of time, itself, demonstrates intelligent design (Thorndike, 1999, p. 24).  Although no direct relationship between genetic developments and changes in the environment could be found at first, an eventual “link to the environment was discovered and the theory of natural selection was revised” (Sonder, 1999, p. 38) with the finding that, generation after generation, out of the total population, “mutations occur in very low percentages… at a fairly constant rate” and mutations “that prove favorable… are passed on… and more prevalent” (Sonder, 1999, p. 38).  At first, “ministers and older scientists ridiculed Darwin for his ideas,” but later, “the Church of England reversed itself and accepted Darwin’s views.  When he died, Darwin was lionized, or elevated to a place of great importance, and buried at Westminster Abbey in London” (Thorndike, 1999, p. 27).

     Carolus Linnaeus, who gave up studying theology for botany, “firmly believed that living nature had been constructed upon a pattern,” but eventually conceded to the theory of common descent (Alioto, 1997, p. 245).  Linnaeus was a creationist, who, through his studies, eventually changed his mind about the probability of evolution.  Keith Ward, a Professor of Divinity at Oxford, says “there is ‘every reason to think that a scientific evolutionary account and a religious belief in a guiding creative force are not just compatible, but mutually reinforcing’ ” (Ruse, 2001, page 11).  This is how I always felt.

     Stephen Jay Gould is a paleontologist who “sees no conflict between evolution and religion… closer to God than many conventional believers” (Ruse, 2001, page 10).  Gould has argued repeatedly and vehemently “that science and religion do not and (properly understood) cannot clash” (Ruse, 2001, page 10).  After hearing news of the discovery of the earliest known representative of the chordates – this is the division of the animal kingdom to which vertebrates, including humans, belong - Gould remarked, ‘So much for chordate uniqueness...  As for our place in the history of life, we are of it, not above it” (Sonder, 1999, p. 70).

     Plato’s philosophy fits with this integrated point of view.  As an early Greek philosopher, his writings and thoughts influenced nearly every era of history – becoming known as the doctrine of ideas.  Insisting, “realities are unchanging and eternal, independent of a changing world of sensation,” Plato held strongly to his view that the physical world, as we experienced it, was “not genuinely real”, and was, therefore “changeable and relative” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 340).  Thus, he stated, man “cannot trust his senses for an understanding of physical reality – and there are no unchangeable physical laws of nature (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 340).”  No one understood, at that time, and many people still do not, just how right Plato was.

     We can not trust our senses for an understanding of physical reality… because what appears to be ‘real’ (solid) to us, is an illusion.  “The world is made up of imperceptible, infinite atoms, moving in a void, and their motion is simply an eternal jostling in which some atoms, upon collision, adhere to one another and produce compounds” (Alioto, 1993, p. 88).  But what causes an atom to move, nobody knows.  Atomists say nothing causes it… claiming “motion is natural to matter and was with it for all time” (Alioto, 1993, p. 88), but it sounds like God to me.  They say the movement is “purely mechanical”, so there is no need to account for the motion, or change for that matter… but the energy – or electricity – that exists within an atom obviously came from somewhere.  Atoms, which make up all matter in the universe, contain this energy in the form of protons, electrons and neutrons.  The force of this electricity is so strong that it creates impenetrable force fields that give matter the appearance of being solid.  “Through infinite time”, our textbook states, “worlds come and go, never the same, an infinity of worlds built from the never-ending collisions, adherences, and rebounding of the invisible atoms” (Alioto, 1993, p. 89).  I like that.  Mind, it continues, “is only a collection of smooth, rarefied atoms, and sensation is due to the impact of atoms upon the body”.  “Both sensation and thought derive from the same thing—the physical properties of atoms. A human being is nothing more than a miniature picture of the universe” (Alioto, 1993, p. 89).  Plato was right-on.

     There is a mathematical science to nature.  Every living thing follows the same pattern.  The ‘Golden Ratio’ always intrigued me.  I learned about it many years ago, on a Discovery Channel documentary - and then learned the mathematics of it when I took a "Qantitative Literacy" class earlier this year.  Beauty, as we see it, has a number.  That number is 1.618034.  This number is derived, by dividing a line between extreme and mean ratio.  It is also derived another way, and that has to do with the pattern of nature.  There is a numerical sequence that all of nature basically follows.  It goes:  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on (each number being the sum of the two before it).  These are known as Fibonnaci numbers (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2010).  This designated sequence of numbers, works throughout nature again and again – and the ‘number of beauty’ is derived from this sequence, because dividing each number in this sequence by the one that precedes it produces a ratio of about 1.618034… the golden ratio.  “Scientists say that the 1.618 leaves per turn on plant stems give the plant the best possible exposure to sunlight and to insects for pollination” (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2010). 

     The Golden Ratio holds true time and time again… and beauty follows this rule.  If you take a “golden” rectangle (that is, one with its longer side 1.618 times longer than its short side) and divide it to make a square within the rectangle, the remaining rectangle will also be “golden” – one where a perfect square and secondary golden rectangle will be created. The number of times this can be performed within one rectangle is infinite, depending on the original size of the rectangle.  When repeated again and again, this division of a Golden Rectangle will form a logarithmic spiral (like that of a snail’s shell).

     Most flowers have, either 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 or 34 petals.  Many leaves on trees are arranged in Fibonnaci numbers; plants, animals and even humans are built, generally, based upon this principle.  The bone that extends from the third knuckle joint to the second is 1.618034 times longer than the bone between the second and first knuckle – and in turn, that bone is 1.618034 times longer than the bone on the tip of the finger.  Each one of our limbs, in turn, follows this rule, as do the proportions on our face.  This number, named by the Greeks as "Phi", is known as the number of beauty because all things (or people) considered "beautiful" by human beings follow this pattern most closely.  Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.  But Earth is simply too perfect to be attributed to chance. 

     The earth was obviously constructed to protect us from the harmful elements of the universe outside of our atmosphere.  With its invisible shield, the magnetosphere “shields the earth’s surface and lower atmosphere from the harmful effects of the solar wind, which could otherwise cause great problems or even death for living creatures” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 319).  The solar wind consists of plasma (which is made up of electrons and positively charged atoms) “streaming out from the sun’s corona in all directions” with the speed of some particles moving approximately 600 miles per second.  “These charged particles, like all forms of plasma, are affected by a magnetic field.  Thus, most of the solar wind is deflected around the earth’s magnetosphere like air around a baseball” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 319).  For many centuries now, man has used the magnetic field of Earth as an indicator for direction, but we know realize it was created for a much greater, protective role.

     With protective belts around the earth, God prevents particles from penetrating beyond the magnetosphere.  A small portion of protons and electrons from the solar wind do get through that invisible shield and are trapped within the earth’s field, forming “vast doughnut-shaped belts called the Van Allen radiation belts… centered over the magnetic equator” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 321).  So, it is chance or is intelligent design?  “Although the earth is not the only planet with a magnetic field, it is the only planet on which God created life” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 323).  Aside from this magnetic field, many other factors, such as distance from the Sun, composition of the atmosphere, size of the planet and rate of rotation about its axis, combine to enable the earth to support life.  “The perfect combination of these factors gives strong evidence for God’s creative design rather than evolutionary chance” (Parker, et al., 1994, p. 323).

     The Bible is not a scientific text, however, “whenever it speaks of scientific matters it speaks truly and accurately… items of ‘modern discovery’ were written in Scripture thousands of years ago” (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 341).  Specific “truths about chemical and biochemical processes, the ocean with all its mystery, the earth, animals and plants, the composition of the human body and its characteristics, and diseases and their prevention” are all written about in Scripture (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 341).  Many scientific truths were revealed in the Bible long before being discovered by modern scientists:  (1) Earth is a sphere suspended in space – Isa. 40:22; Job 26:7; (2) The water cycle keeps the land watered – Genesis; Job 36:27-28; Eccles. 1:7; Amos 5:8; (3) The universe is running down – Isa. 51:6; Psalms 102:26; (4) Ocean currents flow through the sea – Psalms 8:8; (5) Blood sustains life – Lev. 17:11; (6) The universe is made of invisible things – Heb. 11:3; (7) The stars are incredibly distant from the earth and cannot be numbered – Job 22:12; Gen. 15:5, 22:17; Jer. 33:22; (8) The winds form a circulating system – Eccles. 1:6; (9) Earth rotates on its axis – Job 38:12, 14; and (10) Man’s body is composed of the same materials as the earth – Genesis 2:7, 3:19; Psalms 103:14 (Parker, et al., 1997, p. 342).  This shows us that there is much Truth to the Bible.  We just need to learn how to separate the Truth from the fiction.

IV.  SUMMARY

      So why not look at Creation a whole new way?  With God’s hand in evolution, or rather, with evolution in God’s hands… it all makes sense.  As he brought life into being, stirring those very first cells into motion (as the atoms, which make up all matter began to form bodies), that “spontaneous generation” of which Evolutionists speak, occurred.  There may very well have been only one Adam and one Eve – of each Phyla – to begin with (cells encoded with DNA for a variety of species), which procreated to build future generations of all kinds of creatures.  The development of these species allowed God to prepare the earth for us, as it went through the necessary changes to create just the perfect atmosphere for our bodies to breathe.  He put a lot of thought into it… and slowly, carefully molded us into our present form through the process of evolution.  From primordial form, through all stages of our creation, God knew exactly what He was doing – and kept in mind His final design for us.
     We were created “in His image”, yes.  But as I see it, this means that we are ‘like’ Him, in that we love each other, we desire connection with each other, we have dreams and goals, likes and dislikes, we rejoice in watching our children grow… and we are individuals who truly do not want to be alone.  We love to receive acknowledgement.  And we like to be given credit for our achievements. 

           

V.  CONCLUSION

After reading the Bible cover to cover, I concluded that it can not be the ‘literal’ Word of God.  God has inspired all kinds of people to write things over the years – just as, I believe, He inspires me at times.  And people wrote on whatever implement they had available to them, whether it be paper, metal or stone.  I have read every word of the Bible and to take the entire thing as “literal,” would mean that God has Multiple Personality Disorder, ADD, is bi-polar and a bit obsessive-compulsive too.  Well, that may all be true.  He speaks of Himself as more than one being, many times, demonstrating many personalities… He’s an angry and vengeful God, he’s a loving God in favor of forgiveness – one minute threatening to destroy all mankind and the next, promising salvation.  He likes to make comparisons, to talk in riddles and tell short stories to make a point and does so numerous times throughout these writings.  The Bible was printed in English “to make God’s holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people,” (Holy Bible, 1611, n.a.) but in order to find the Truth in it, one has to look past the lies.
The Bible is full of Parables, sarcasms and Allegories. The story of Adam & Eve is an allegory – a sort of ‘fairy tale’ that uses fictionalized characters to explain human characteristics. Time and time again, symbolic representations are used in the scripture to tell hard truths, to give warnings and to provoke thought.  Some scripture, actually, leaves room for evolution though.  Genesis, throughout its first twenty-two chapters, actually tells the story of evolution (if you read it closely enough). 

The first time I read it, it was easy for me to see.  But then, I have known evolution was a fact all along… somehow, I believe, God has instructed me since my childhood.  Some people might see this as arrogant – but it really is not so.  I always told Him I did not want to ever tell people.  It was my secret.  It was just He and I.  For the longest time, God was my “invisible friend”.  But eventually, He revealed Himself more fully to me – and I began to see Him all around me.  Suddenly, I could not help but share with a few select friends how it was I was seeing Him and before I knew it, I was talking to strangers about Him, while waiting for my car to be fixed… and surprisingly, the responses I received were encouraging.  People actually listened to me.  Most actually agreed.  Circumstances eventually led me to receive my ordination with the Universal Life Church - and here I am today, trying to refrain from “preaching”, while defending God in a thesis paper! 
Yet the defense of God is really just a small part of my paper.  The larger part is my feeble attempt to provide others some explanation of how evolution could be true if “intelligent design” is actually true - and how it all fits together, as I see it.  Honestly, the truth of the matter is that I believe evolution clearly demonstrates intelligent design.  From the very first generation, with the slightest genetic variation of each creature ‘after its kind,’ God led nature on an unimaginable evolutionary journey.  With careful intent, through the process of natural selection and other natural processes, He adjusted each creature as needed to fit its changing environment, until His final design for Earth was achieved – with modern man, His ‘crowning glory’.

In my opinion, there should be no argument over whether or not God exists.  What form He takes, perhaps, is something that could be debated – but not His existence.  The obvious evidence in favor of Intelligent Design is simply too overwhelming.  But the scientific evidence, which has been carefully set right before us, is pretty overwhelming too.  Evolution is a fact that cannot truly be disputed, as it still goes on today in one form or another.  Aside from my personal feelings and beliefs from childhood, all of the facts herein, are the reasons it is my contention that God and evolution go hand-in-hand.

References:

et al., (1611). The Holy Bible, Authorized King James Version, The Epistle Dedicatory, page n.a., & The Bible Readers’ Aids, p. 16. New York:  The World Publishing Company.

Deloria, V., (2002). Evolution, Creationism and other modern myths, p. 2, 3, 4, 163, 164, 165, 166, 214, 220 & 221. Golden, CO:  Fulcrum Publishing.

Alioto, A. M., (1993). The rise of modern science, p. 88, 89 & 245. Upper Saddle River, N.J.:  Prentice Hall, Custom Publishing.

Parker, G., et al (1994). Matter & motion in God’s universe, p. 66, 272, 285, 292-295, 297-298, 319, 321 & 323. Pensacola, FL: Pensacola Christian College.

Parker, G., Graham, K., Shimmim. D., Thompson, G., (1997). Biology - God’s living creation, p. 122, 123, 198, 340-342, 366-371, 381, 382, 402 & 403. Pensacola, FL: Pensacola Christian College.

Ruse, M., (2001). Can a Darwinian be a Christian?, p. 10, 11, 13, 18 & 21. New York, N.Y.:  Cambridge University Press.

Miller, K. R., (1999). Finding Darwin’s God, p. xii. New York, N.Y.:  Cliff Street Books, Harper Collins Publishers.

Forrest, B. & Gross, P. R., (2004). Creationism’s trojan horse – The wedge of intelligent design, p. 49, 50, 62, 63 & 86. New York, N.Y.:  Oxford University Press.

Thorndike, J. L., (1999). Epperson v. Arkansas: the Evolution-Creationism debate, p. 24, 25, 27, 28 & 116. Berkeley Heights, N.J.:  Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Sonder, B., (1999). Evolution and Creationism, p. 9, 12, 25, 38, 55 & 70. New York, N.Y.:  Franklin Watts, Grolier Publishing Co., Inc.

Numbers, R. L., (1992). The Creationists – The Evolution of Scientific Creationism. New York, N.Y.:  Random House, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Linnaeus, Carl (2000 revised). Carl Linnaeus UCMP. Referenced from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnacus.html

Holt, Rinehart and Winston (2010).  Retrieved from:  http://go.hrw.com/math/cnn/course2/2_5_Golden/2_5_Golden.htm

The Grip of Organized Religion: How an Institution Like Religion Gained Control over People’s Lives

POSTED ON REDDIT, JUNE 2016: (still collecting data)

My hypothesis: People who are uncertain about their spirituality desire a doctrine to follow, and those who truly know God do not need one; those who deny their spirituality simply do not see it.

Proposed research questions: What purpose does religion serve? When was the first organized religion formed and why? Why is it that people allow an organization, like religion, to rule their lives? Why do people simply believe what they are told by supposed spiritual leaders, instead of reading ‘the word’ for themselves? Why did the ‘pilgrims’ rebel against the king and leave England to come to America, before it was duly named?

Statement of the problem… organized religion attempts to control people and their actions.

Discussion... 

As far as I’m concerned, we need to be done with organized religion altogether. Too many awful things have been done in the name of religion. Now, that doesn’t mean that we have to do away with churches. People should gather, they should congregate, they should praise. We just don’t need to be bound by rules and rituals anymore. We need to be grateful to be free, to be imperfect, to be loved. Churches should truly be a place of worship, adoration, love, reverence, and respect. Not a place of ordered obedience and conformity. We should celebrate our individualism, while recognizing our spiritual oneness; it is obvious that we are all connected somehow, so shouldn’t we embrace that and allow it to join us in spirit, while respecting each other’s uniqueness? Our obvious distinctiveness permits us to recognize one another in our physical form, yet we feel this inexplicable connection to one another that is undeniable for the vast majority of us. Why are we fighting? Although, most of us can not comprehend the fullness of this mysterious correlation, we understand it is there. Why is it that some of us are blessed enough to feel that undeniable love, while others struggle with faith and wonder if there is even anything after this life at all? That is not a question that can be answered… at least, not yet. There are many magnificent and wondrous things in this physical world that, I suppose, we are just not supposed to understand at this time. The world is still evolving; we are still evolving, growing, learning, changing – hopefully, for the better. That, only time will tell. (This is only a small portion of what MAY be a 75 page dissertation one 'n a half years from now; please understand that I am still doing research and just asking for opinions here.) Please comment and share.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt73THSyXLQ

Who (or What) Is God?

Who is God? (Posted on REDDIT as God is... ):

God is nature - He is the air, the earth, the ocean, the fire.  He is the trees, the grass, the flowers, the weeds.  He is the bird in that tree, and the snake in that grass, the bug in the flowers and the thorn in the weeds.  He is the wind, He is the rain.  He is the lightening and thunder, too.  Every mammal that moves, every fish that can swim... every sound that you hear, it is Him.

God is the universe - He is the sun.  He is the moon.  Every star up in the heavens holds His essence.  He is the energy that guides the cosmos and drives our souls.  It is His power that sustains us.  His might that holds us up.  He is gravity, He is anti-gravity... He is the impulse that controls us and the desire that lets us rebel; the force truly, that emboldens us, to proceed, though life is Hell.

God is an author - He writes the stories of our lives.  Dreaming up drama, creating a plot, developing characters with egos and eccentricities.  He furnished a definitive beginning, to a continuous saga, with no end in sight.  The same story, retold, time and time again... but each time, more exciting, more involved... a bit more complicated, more extreme.  He is the storyteller supreme.

God is a director – as by and by, he teaches us, each, to play our part.  Guiding our spirit, (ofttimes, without our knowledge) and leading us through each and every scene, to our conclusion of this play.  Offering rules to live by, some with exceptions... propagating moral standards, and through consequence, demonstrating expectations.

God is a music composer - bequeathing each creature with a unique sound all their own.  He enlightens and encourages the musicians to play and guides the orchestra of nature through night and day.  The crickets play their violins as the frogs croak out the rhythm. Whales hum a haunting tune that comes from deep within them.  Birds sing by day, melodies galore.  And the oceans chant their song as they roll upon the shore.

God is a teacher - expounding His knowledge to those who will receive it... pouring His wisdom into boundless, thirsty souls.  An instructor to instruct all instructors.  A counselor to one in need of those.  He prepares many lessons for us and occasionally springs a “pop quiz” upon us, just to keep us on our toes. 

God is a doctor - healing the heart when it is broken.  A surgeon, always repairing damage done by others.  A therapist, stimulating the body when it is weary... and a psychologist, easing the mind when it is burdened.  Soothing our soul is what He does best... renewing our strength to go on.

God is a behavioral therapist - dispensing lessons, as needed, so we will ultimately do His Will.  Offering circumstances that force us to pay attention.  Relating matters of the heart.  Opening doors of opportunity and excitement, often closing those we should not walk through again.  Reminding us, continually, to be wary of the ways of this world.  He is, in fact, our instinct – and it is through insight, His knowledge, transferred to us, that we learn right from wrong.

God is an architect - constructing majestic mountains that touch the heavens and endless rock formations... guiding rivers to cut their way.  Windows, He creates, to frame the sky and paths for our feet to walk on.  Blowing sand with His mighty winds, He bestows a subtle curvature to a harsh landscape. 

God is a painter - and He’s the best... no one can paint a sunset like He can.  Each one, unique, but every bit as beautiful as the last.  He put color into every thing, bringing His canvas to life; empowering His creation to grow on its own.  With every hue imaginable, He laid His pallet out.  The browns, the greens, the blue, the yellow... and with careful strokes, He placed them.  Here, there, everywhere.  His talent is obvious to those with eyes who can truly see.

God is a sculptor - molding the clouds that float in the sky, creating formation after formation, for our wild imaginations.  Building bridges with mud.  Constructing dams with fallen branches... molding us, bit by bit, into His perfect creation (although imperfect, we are), He still has hope for us.  An artist, who never gives up on his creation.  Reconstructing when necessary, re-mixing, revising... redoing, again and again.  Always creating something new.

God is a maintenance man - cleaning up the earth with His mighty power.  Clearing old, dry wood from forests with fires that, afterward, promote new growth among the ashes.  Washing the land with the rigorous floodwaters, which always recede and produce bountiful plenty in the end.  Constantly providing water for parched land, and sun for needed warmth... so His creation may thrive.

God is an anchor - to sustain us, through good times and through bad.  Always there to hold us when we are feeling sad.  He pulls us up and keeps us grounded.  Holding, steadfast, to His commitment.  He is the weight that pulls us back and the force that moves us forward. 

God is a Shepard - watching his flock.  Offering protection and shelter and sustenance.  He leads us to water and urges us to drink and shows us all the best pastures to graze in.  He watches day and night, from dusk to dawn, through dark and light.  In storm or in calm, he stands His ground.  Observing always, only intervening when necessary and replenishing our supply, continually.

God is a father - a protector and instructor.  He is the law, the final word.  He is, the ultimate boss.  We are but children under His wing.  We feel indestructible, thinking we know it all (as teenagers do)... but we know so little.  We are vulnerable without Him.  He encourages us to keep trying. He promises to hold our bike seat, only letting go, when we are able to balance on our own.

God is a mother - giving birth to all creations.  Nurturing, providing, comforting, supporting and teaching... He has always known us, as every mother knows her child, from the very heart.  He conceived us, first in His mind, then in His spirit... and he made way for us to enter this world, designating surrogate mothers, in His bodily stead.  In this physical world, He provided for us, the means to survive. 

God is a brother - there to talk to, there to walk with, there to learn from.  He once walked with us, in the flesh of Jesus, and forever claimed our hearts.  Teaching all who would listen and hear, about the love of “our father” and the evils of this world.  He offered advice for clean living, instruction for worship and died a slow,  painful death, just to prove a point to us all... that life and death are temporary.

God is a gambler - He knows that sometimes we will listen, and sometimes, we will not.  He understands that there are risks involved in each and every day, but He places His bet on our hearts and rolls the dice.  Letting the chips fall where they may.  Then He decides, what to do next... another gamble, another chance... of course, the odds are in His favor.

God is a distributor - with always another opportunity to present.  A deliverer, both of promises and surprises.  He waits patiently, until we come to ask, and gladly gives what is ultimately earned.  His gifts are not always what we want, but they are always what we need.  Without realization, we allow Him to guide our lives, while somehow, maintaining our own free will.  He is efficient with His deliveries, as they always arrive just when they are needed and He is swift, with discipline, when punishment is deserved.

God is intelligence - Wisdom beyond words.  He is our mind... not just in it, but truly a part of it.  It is His energy that compels us to seek knowledge, His energy that empowers every cell.  He invented everything that ever existed upon this earth (and beyond).  He constructed an ecosystem, beyond all  comprehension, rehearsing every detail, until He got it just right.  And still, He is contemplating.  Every day brings about change of some kind.  A little adaptation here.  A minor tweak there.  Occasionally, a major adjustment or two.  He knows exactly what to do and when to do it. 

God is love - pure, pristine, undefiled love.  It is His love we feel, when we love one another.  It is His love we crave, whether we know it, or not.  It is His passion that drives us to achieve... His desire that we succeed.  It is His generosity that spreads charity, His kind demeanor that spreads good will, His temper that often disciplines us, and His compassion that grants us reprieve.  It is His strength that always protects us and His understanding that brings us awareness.  His love can cure any ailment and heal any wound.  His affection is endless, it is infinite.

God is the one and only - our Saviour through and through.   No matter what life brings us, He will one day, bring us to... the “pearly gates”, as some would say... His kingdom, whatever it be.  Calling us, to return to Him, so we may truly see.  His love for us is unconditional.  There is no such thing as condemnation.  He will bring us home again one day, no matter what we do.  Though threats were made, He made a way... for every soul to get back home.

God is everything, everywhere… always Here, always aware - offering opportunity to those in need and distributing food so that all can feed.  He is our breath, He is our heart.  He is within us and without.  He abounds around us.  Always there... always open to receive our prayers.  He knows our pain and offers relief.  He is our Lord, our Redeemer and our advocate.