Monday, October 6, 2014

What Does It Matter?

Like most college students, my friends and I joined the great debate about evolution.  Coming from a Southern Baptist background, I was imbued with the creation story.  You know, the one where God decided man needed a mate to keep him from being lonely and man responded, oh, wow, here's someone I can dominate!  Bring her on, God. 


Then there was the great Scope's trial that pitted the Bible against science, the scientific version being that we have evolved from creatures of the past.  Well, even if God did create first man, first woman, we did, are and forever will be evolving.  But, I get ahead of myself.


Kansas City, Missouri, used to have a big gorilla named Big Man.  I once saw a huge, black, black African American male stand for forever staring down that gorilla.  The primate was somewhat larger and a whole lot hairier, but otherwise they could have been twins -- something the man did not miss, himself.


When I look at a certain country musician under his huge cowboy hat, I see a turtle backing under it's shell.  A man I once knew looked like a monkey.


Some dog show people we used to hang around with looked at a picture of me sitting next to our two show afghan hounds and said "there are Ron's three dogs."  I guess I could have gotten insulted, but they didn't say I looked like a pug.  Besides, better friends than they came to my immediate defense.
Truth be told, we've known for years that a lot of people look so much like the pets they choose that it is almost comical.


The problem with accepting evolution is that the human race has set themselves on a pedestal.  We think we are superior to the others of the animal species.  We believe we are the only ones who can think and speak and create . . .


But perhaps we hold ourselves in too high esteem.  You see, we have colonies of ants and hives of bees, the latter having a queen or leader bee.  We have schools of fish and flocks of geese.  We can even see some intelligence in plant as well as animal and insect life.  Have you ever noticed how many weeds somehow settle themselves next to flowers of similar appearance?


During those college days of flexing my brain and learning new ideas, I asked my boss his opinion.  He was the President of the Southern Illinois College of the Bible, a Baptist school housed at Southern Illinois University.  His answer has stuck with me always -- and kept me humble.


"What does it matter if God chose evolution as the way to create us?"


Really, what does it?  God is in control either way.







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