What does all of this mean and why is it important?
November 28, 2009 by Guy with a Blog

The conversation that we have been engaging in during the last week is important for several reasons. First, it comes down to honesty. We began this discussion emphasizing that we want to enlarge our vision of life and grow as people. This means that we have to have humility and be willing to question our beliefs. We have to really want to know what is true regardless of our own attachments to specific ideas. This enlarging process can be seen in two ways. We can see it as a loss – something we hold dear is found to no longer be what we thought it was. We can also, however, see it as a gain. With the death of the old is the birth of the new. When something is found to not actually be the case what we have really let go of is a conception of the world that was never true to begin with. In the end, therefore, we have gained a new and accurate perception of the world.

In this instance what would cause one to remain open to a theory like evolution is learning that the text of Genesis is not attempting to give a scientific explanation of how life arose. Our discussion has been very brief and could certainly be elaborated on. We could pose questions to the creation account proper in 1.1-2.4. We could approach the text from a historical perspective, asking where it originated, what life it has had within its history, and more. All of this is important and very eye opening. Our main purpose, however, has been to increase our awareness to the way in which we approach a literary text like the Bible. We read it with a ‘pair of glasses’ so to speak, and often read our own glasses rather than the actual text.

When we begin to question our glasses, one thing immediately become apparent: the text of Genesis is not attempting to give a scientific explanation for how life arose. Instead it serves as a sociological function for the people of Israel. It also provides a theological perspective on Israel’s God. Of course more questions arise once one says this: was Adam a historic person – did he actually live and die in history? If not, how does one explain other passages in the BIble? Could we say that the Bible does actually believe Adam lived but that now we know he didn’t? These become a question on our views of inspiration and what kind of book the Bible is attempting to be. The main thing here is simply to show that these are not simple answers. Furthermore, the BIble itself points away from using it in a scientific sense.