1. Am I understanding the process of evolution correctly?
From what I have gathered, evolution is the gradual process of changes within a species over time. Evolutionists generally do not make a distinction between macro and micro-evolution. These small changes (what creationists call micro-evolution) add up over time and you can eventually end up with a different species.
On one hand, I was taught about natural selection and how a species adapts to fit is environment, but also that evolution is random and a change or the addition or removal of a feature is not determined by being either advantageous or disadvantageous to a species’ survival.
Is this correct?
2. What do you make of the rest of the Old Testament? If you believe Adam and Eve were real, where do they fit into all of this? How did the Fall occur? Is Genesis (aside from the Creation Week) literal and real history?
3. Do you still believe in Moses and Abraham?
It seems the general consensus among scholars is that there is little evidence for either of their existence, and are more likely etiological myths that have some historical truth to them.
I’m asking these questions to come away with a better understanding of what theistic evolutionists believe, and I think my faith is being challenged, too.
Most of the above sounded correct. I would just add that, the addition or loss of a feature would often (if not always) be the product of selective pressures.
For example, let's say we have a species of 100 zebras. All 100 zebras have a random mutation and now they're all genetically different (but still the same species and are still all zebras).
If there were no selective pressures, every individual zebra might eventually split off into it's own unique species (short legged zebra, long legged zebra and more).
But the reality is that some mutations might be bad, and so you might have a portion of the species in which their mutation hurts them. Ie the short legged zebra probably won't be able to run as fast as the long legged. So the short legged is hunted and basically just goes extinct. The long legged has more offspring, it outlives the short legged, now long legs is a standard that all zebras have because it helps them survive.
So the point is, the mutations are seemingly random. They create countless variations in any direction you could imagine. The Cambrian explosion Burgess shale organisms are wildly variable in really bizarre ways (as an example).
It isn't until selective pressures are applied, that mutations "fixate" and a species evolves to eventually become another species.
Really though, I think this is smart design because random mutations really allow God's creation to survive a complex world. The world gets too hot and we loose fur. The world gets too cold and we gain fur. We need food so we gain teeth, we don't want to be someone else's food so we gain shells. Etc. And as the world changes, we change. And if we don't change, then we die.
2. I actually really enjoy the old testament. It sets the stage for our Lord's redeeming power. Mankind disobeyed the Lord throughout history, and God repeatedly just kept coming to us, time and time again. He rescued his people out of slavery in Exodus, he sent judges to help us in confusing times, he brought David forward to lead us and through the hoise of David, ultimately brought Jesus our savior. And throughout the old testament we also have books which help us understand how to live and to survive in a broken world (such as proverbs or even the book of Job).
God stuck with us the whole time, and kept his promise that He would lift us from our broken state.
I do not think Adam and Eve were literally real. Technically there must have been a first man and first woman at some period of time, but usually when I read Genesis, i take away other values that aren't derived from a literal interpretations.
For example: Genesis teaches us a lot about ourselves. Adam named all the animals but could find none suitable for Him and God said that man is not to be alone. Adam eventually metmet and was stunned and in awe when he said that wow! she is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, and none other were fit for Him.
This tells us something about ourselves as human beings. It tells us that we in some sense, are communal or are made for things like monogomous marriage with women (or men if you are a woman). Generally speaking.
Adam and Eve ate the apple and were in sin and ashamed of their bodies . They had lied and once caught, hid themselves and separated themselves from the Lord.
Throughout all of scripture, God is simply trying to bring us back to Him. We don't need to hide, we don't need to blame others if we sin, we don't need to lie or run away. God just wants us to be open and in His arms.
And so, without Adam and Eve being literally real figures, we till find many valuable concepts in Genesis that help us understand who God is and who we are as people. And again, it sets the stage for God's redeeming power when Christ ultimately sacrifices himself on the cross.
You asked "how did the fall occur". Well we know that violence existed in this world hundreds of millions of years before mankind ever existed. We have fossil animals with teeth marks in their bones, fossil predators with prey in their stomachs as well. We know that animals fought and destroyed other animals. And this has been occuring long long before we ever existed. We simply were born into it and struggled in our understanding of why it is so. So regarding the question, "the fall" would not have occurred in a literal sense.
In Genesis the fall occurs when Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Some suggest that this could mean that mankind simply became sentient and aware of sin. As opposed to sin coming into existance 6000 years ago.
3. I believe in Moses and Abraham. I have no reason to doubt their existance. Did Moses literally part the red Sea like we see in Hollywood movies with the sea walls blasting into the sky? I don't think so. The real world isn't a Hollywood movie. But this doesn't mean that a man named Moses never freed people from slavery.
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Hope this helps.
I'm a geologist and ultimately, as scientists, usually we accept what we perceive as reality first, then we determine what that means for our faith later. For example, in my opinion, sin and death existed long before humanity existed. This is how I perceive reality. So then I have no choice but to understand Genesis in certain non literal way. People who deny geology and biology, they typically, no offense to them, but often they're detached from reality. Reality that is God's creation of existance. Scripture is not the only form of His message. He created earth and life, and by "reading the rocks" and studying our biology, we are also studying God's work. We simply use our eyes and tests to Understand God's work, in addition to scripture. Whereas deniers usually just focus on scripture and do not spend time studying physical creation (or if they do, it is a limited time).
