Evolution

Just what is evolution? Depending on who you ask, and in what context, evolution can mean dozens of different things. That is one of the reasons why the debate about creation and evolution never seems to go anywhere, because the definition of evolution is kept just fluid enough to make sure that no creationist could ever successfully pin something against it. In this brief article, we'll try to bring some clarity to the discussion. We'll examine a few explanations for the "history of IT ALL", and compare what they have in common, and where they are different. In order to do this most effectively, we'll dissect each explanation into three parts: Philosophy, Mechanism, and the Age of Everything.

Naturalistic Evolution

Philosophy

The philsophy behind naturalistic evolution has been labelled various things, but the most common are Materialism, and Naturalism. The essential idea being that only the physical world and it's directly observable experiences exist. All other things (divine beings, angels, demons, ghosts, etc) are imaginations of the human mind. Obviously those who hold to this view are entirely opposed to the idea that God had anything to do with it.

Mechanism

The only mechanisms available are those mechanisms which are completely 'natural'. By that, we mean that the explanation must involve only those sources of change that are directly observable, just like the universe. Traditionally, evolution has by and far been the most popular theory advanced by those who hold to this philosophy. The theory, first postulated by Darwin suggests minor changes in each successive generation of species will accumulate and eventually new features will be introduced. Some of these new features will be successful, but many will not.

Age of Everything

Very old. 10-20 billion years for the universe. Roughly 4.5 billion years for the earth. Hundreds of thousands of years for humans. Because the theory rests on the assumption that small changes yield large results, if the universe/earth/human age were to be revealed to be fairly young, it would be devestating to the theory because there would not be enough time for the small changes to accumulate. This explains, in part, why naturalistic evolutionists are so very adamant about the FACT that the age of everything is VERY old. Any evidence that appears to suggest youth is not received well (that's putting it mildly).

Theistic Evolution

Philosophy

The philsophy behind theistic evolution is completely opposite that of naturalistic evolution. This, and the following two explanations are based on a theistic (deistic?) view of the universe. While acknowledging the reality of the observable, theistic evolutionists also acknowledge the existence of the unobservable, namely God.

Mechanism

Theistic evolutionists theorize that God basically started the whole universe running with the Big Bang, then guided, molded, and slowly formed his creation. At times it can be difficult to determine God's level of involvement. Sometimes he seems to only be responsible for the initiation, and then he let's the laws of nature take over. Other times, he is seen as an active, guiding force, and that evolution could never, even theoretically, happen without him. I plead ignorance.

Age of Everything

Also very old; the same ages as the naturalistic evolutionists. Theistic evolutionism, in fact, seems to have come from Christians who found the evidence for extreme age and common descent very compelling. They see these two facts as beyond reproach, and, like the naturalistic evolutionists, will not favorably receive any evidence contrary to these facts.

Progressive Creation

Philosophy

Once again, the philosophy here is theistic. In fact, this theory requires even more involvement from God than does theistic evolution. While theistic evolution could, possibly, operate without God's intervention, progressive creation requires his intervention. This theory posits that every once in a while throughout history, God just suddenly and miraculously introduced an entirely new kind of animal (or set of animals). Obviously, this would be 'naturally' impossible.

Mechanism

The mechanism could not possibly be confused for anything but a miracle. God directly intervenes, and in a manner that is not even slightly understood by us, creates what he wishes to create. After he creates it, he waits for a while (millions or billions of years), then does it again.

Age of Everything

Also very old; just like the previous two. Progressive creationists see Genesis 1 as reflecting various 'stages' in God's creation. Each of the stages takes little or no time, but rather than a literal day that transpires between them, the 'days' represent great lengths of time.

Young Earth Creation

Philosophy

Like the previous two, this theory rests squarely on a theistic philosophy.

Mechanism

Like progressive creation, young earth creation also sees God's intervention as being direct and sudden. Miraculous, again, is the only way to describe it.

Age of Everything

As the name suggests, young earth creationists believe everything is very young. Depending on who you ask, the age of the universe, the earth, and humanity ranges between 6000 and 20 000 years. Rather than considering the 'days' mentioned in Genesis 1 as being figurative, the young earth creationists believe them to be literal 24 hour periods. Combining that assumption with the chronologies of the Bible (some of which might be incomplete), they arrive at an age of several thousand to a few tens of thousands of years.

Summary

A friend once said that, if he gets to heaven and God tells him that his views of the origin of the universe were wrong, he won't be terribly concerned. If he gets to heaven and God tells him that Jesus didn't really die for his sins, well now THAT is a major issue. Whether the earth is old or young, and whether God used evolution or not, isn't really relevant in the bigger picture. What is relevant, however, is the philosophy behind the theories. When discussing evolution and creation, we simply have to get past the mechanism, and get to the philosophy. We also need to recall, however, that if the mechanism of evolution is demonstrated to be false, or if the age of everything is demonstrated to be young, then the philsophy of naturalism is necessarily demonstrated to be false. At that point, it won't matter which mechanism or age one picks, all the alternatives rest on the same philsophical foundations.

For convenience sake, and partly out of tradition, I'll tend to refer to evolution (evolutionism) and creation (creationism). As you read, please recall that when I use the term 'evolution' I am refering to naturalistic evolution (God wasn't involved), whereas when I use the term 'creation' I am not specifying the mechanism God used, or the age of everything. I know that many people won't like this, but it's my website, and I can do what I want! ;-)