Fact/Fiction 

Evidences

Assumptions

Mutations

Conclusion

As with most people, my first exposure to the Theory of Evolution was in public schools.  There this scientific theory was presented as scientific fact.  My teachers appeared to be respectable, reasonable, and honest.  They taught from textbooks that appeared to be factual and objective.  These informed me that life came about by happenstance in the organic soup that was on the earth.  In that primordial ooze the building blocks of DNA were formed and the most primitive forms of what we call life began.  Thereafter, through eons of time, life gradually evolved to its present stage through the process of variation and natural selection.  My teachers presented a variety of professional quality pictorial wall charts that broadly displayed the history of evolution to the present day.  We studied the legendary work of Darwin and material drawn from his germinal work, The Origin of Species.  We touched on the various evidences supporting the Theory of Evolution.

I grew to love biological sciences.  I majored in biology in college, and then went to medical school.  It was so fascinating to learn about living things, and especially about humans.  I have served as a physician for 25 years now, and I count being a part of this profession a great privilege.  However, along the way I have had to struggle with the Theory of Evolution.  The dilemma for me was simple:  If mechanistic evolution is correct, then the Bible is false.  I have either evolved as an accident of nature, or God created me on purpose.  Which concept is correct?  Clearly I am a person of faith, but I am also a person of reason.  I have become convinced that my faith cannot exist apart from my reason, nor can my reason exist apart from my faith.  I cannot go to church on Sunday and believe that there is a God who loves me and communicates to me through the Bible, and then go to work on Monday and reason that everything I see came about by mindless evolutionary chance.  I am a person of faith, but I use science every day in my work.  Therefore, the tension is always there.

I don’t know about you, but life seems more manageable when I understand what is going on around me.  For instance, I am uncomfortable until I know with reasonable certainty a patient’s diagnosis and prognosis.  Many illnesses suffered by humans are self-limited and resolve without treatment.  However, if the illness is serious, not having a diagnosis can produce fatal consequences as specific treatment would be impossible.  I view the Theory of Evolution in the same way.  It does me no good to just ignore it or deny its existence.  The Theory of Evolution is there, and has had a shattering impact on the thoughts of man.  I need to understand it, just like I need to arrive at a reasonable diagnosis to guide treatment.  It is worthless for me to shout at my patient, “Get well!”  But with reason and understanding, I may be able to help my patient.  So let us approach the Theory of Evolution with an open attitude, and see if gentle reason can help us in our dilemma.
 
 

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