My Plant Bio professor asked us to reflect on own understandings of the Theory of Evolution. This was my answer.
I attended pubic school back home in Minnesota, so I have always been taught that the theory of Evolution is an undeniable fact. One thing my Bio professor used to say to us was “Yeah, Evolution’s a theory, but so is gravity.” I struggled with this issue for a while because I thought, if the earth could be explained through natural causes, then was God real? I eventually came to an answer. I don’t and can’t know exactly how God created the earth, but I have put my faith in the fact that He created it. I believe in what Jesus said and did, so by default I believe in the God He both was and represented. I recognize that both the Judeo-Christian seven-day creation theory and evolutionary theory are just theories, and each has significant holes. Therefore, I lean toward a belief of God’s creation through evolution, but I am open to new evidence from both sides. Science is, by definition, using collected data to form a theory that offers a better understanding of the world around us. Faith, contrary to popular belief, is neither the opposite of nor equal to the former. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, so, while science can only exist with observable phenomena, faith can exist without any observation whatsoever (though it is through observation that many of us come to faith). My faith is strengthened through many different means, one of which is through scientific observation of creation.
