Can a Christian Believe in Evolution?

I was reared to learn all the answers, stand on them and never waiver. I was reared that "if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." And I believe that. With all my heart I believe that. But the caveat is that I don't believe I get the answers right 100% of the time. I believe that I can learn new things and apply them to my foundation without it negating any principle I stand on. I believe that as technology changes, science progresses, and the world moves on, new theories, discoveries, even belief systems can and will influence who we are and how we think. And that's okay as long as we know where we stand.

I liken this to Galileo. As a physicist in Italy during the 1500s, Galileo was a man of reason and practicality before mysticism and ideology. When he concluded that the sun was indeed the center of our galaxy (as opposed to the earth), he was tried and found to be a heretic by the Catholic church and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. You see, in the church's eyes during that time, if man was made in the image of God and God placed man on earth, then the earth, by logical deduction, had to be the center of the universe. But scientific study proved otherwise. So which is right? The church for believing something based on their interpretation of the Bible, or science for deducting something based on mathematics, physics, and the laws of the universe?

Even though this was 500 years ago, we face the same types of dilemmas in faith today. Being reared a Christian all my life, I was taught that evolution is a lie. We did not evolve. We could not possibly have evolved. It doesn't talk about it in the Bible, so it couldn't have happened.

But what if it did? Can't things change? Don't they evolve over time? I mean, I just look at pictures of my family from the 1800s and it's clear we're different. The people then were smaller. Not a lot. Just subtly smaller. Isn't that evolution? I don't currently think that we evolved from monkeys or that any species, for that matter, evolved from one into the other. But why do we have species specific to their regions of the globe? If God invented an evolution-free environment, why do some species live in Africa that don't live here? And why are they specially adapted to their environments (so much so that they would die anywhere else)? I was watching Planet Earth on Animal Planet the other day and I found out that there is a species of salamander that only exists in ONE cave in Mexico and NOWHERE ELSE in the world. That's crazy!! Why? Why would that happen?

And is it going against all my Biblical foundational principles to consider the fact that evolution could, in fact, explain our world? Is it out of the realm of possibility, for example, that God designed the universe with a big bang? I believe that as knowledge increases and man builds upon what we know, we will deduce more and more fundamental truths about the universe with which we operate. And as we do so, I believe that it will (and does) all point to an intelligent designer. But why is it wrong to believe that the intelligent designer designed the world with evolution? Why is it wrong to believe that the intelligent designer used any of the scientific theories to make our universe work? I mean, if He is the intelligent designer, then didn't he design those functions as well? Gravity? Inertia? Relativity? Evolution? And even if we do conclude that we all evolved from primordial soup, it still doesn't explain where that soup came from. It didn't appear out of nowhere, even by scientific standards. So who put it there? Why couldn't God have made the earth in 7 days from primordial soup?

If we pigeon-hole our beliefs into what we currently understand about the world (both physical and spiritual) and never allow ourselves to think outside of that box, won't we be missing out on just how glorious this intelligent designer is, after all? Think about Galileo. The guy just wanted to use the laws of science to explain his world. And when he did, he found out that some of those laws contradicted popular religious conclusions. So is he wrong or are the conclusions wrong? Ask yourself this: is your faith any less because you know that the sun is the center of the galaxy and the galaxy is only a pin drop in the greater universe? Or does it increase your faith all the more to know that the universe is so big we can't comprehend it with our limited human minds? And that science, as it stands now, is not sufficient to explain everything that makes it work out there?

Does the earth have to be the center of the universe for you to believe the Bible? And if not, then does the world have to work without evolution in order for you to believe the Bible?

iPhones, Video Games, and Taking Risks

I readily admit that I'm a late bloomer when it comes to the world of gaming. I never really got into it as a child. My mom wouldn't let us have one (except for playing Frogger and Pac Man on my sister's old Atari) so I never really got into it. I had friends throughout college and even after that were all into games like Halo and whatever else (I have no idea), but I was just never drawn to it.

But recently I got an iPhone, and being the technology geek that I am, I just love exploring the app store. I've noticed that the top categories are always games and it seems from reading many articles that games are definitely the most downloaded apps on the phone... interesting. We're not a very productive society. And alas, I have fallen as prey to Apple's plot to keep us from getting anything accomplished.

Yes, I bought a game.

Not just any game... Bounce On. It reminds me of Mario (although I only have a few memories of Mario as it were, because I only played it a few times at friends' houses growing up). Nonetheless, it's pretty much the jam and I find myself playing it all the time.

But I was philosophizing the other day (as I often do), and I realized something: playing video games has helped me to take more risks... Yes. This is weird. I admit. But it's true. I find myself thinking about things the way I would think while playing Bounce On. "Don't wait for the opportune moment. There's not one. Just go for it!"

Wow! So aside from carpal tunnel, obesity, and social awkwardness, video games can have a benefit! I never knew!

And it's a pretty interesting phenomenon, if you ask me. I was taught all my life that video games are for lazy, non-creative types, not me. (Was this my mom's excuse for not buying them? The world may never know...) Nonetheless, I had always associated games as such (unfortunately, this statistic can often be true, although, admittedly, it is not universal).

So what can we learn from this? Are games for the slovenly? Do they contribute to thoughtless, mindless youth? Or can they have the opposite effect? Is there a way we can teach children to productively channel the lessons they learn from the games into their everyday lives (although perhaps not their driving habits)?

An interesting subject to ponder as I grab my phone for another round...

Right now I am hungry

Right now I am hungry. I'm talking stomach growling, aching pains hungry. This calls for lunch. Too bad I don't like eating lunch at noon. It's this weird quirk I have... I'd rather eat at 1. So now I face a dilemma... eat at noon and break the code or starve until 1....

Honestly, I need to wake up. I'm tired. But tomorrow night (Wed. the 13th) we are at the Majestic in Dallas for the PABI benefit. I'm pretty stoked about this one. It's going to be the jam. But the awesome part is, I'm going to shop for Marky during lunch today. I'm buying him a scarf...

Okay, I'll make you a deal. If you come to the show tomorrow night, find me, and point out the scarf Marky is wearing and say something about how I bought it for him, I'll give you any one item from our merch for free. That's right. Anything you want for free.

In the meantime, I'm going to eat... See you tomorrow night!

The (hungry) Captain

Not all of us, Mr. President

I saw this magazine and I got to thinking....

Are we really? Because last time I checked, only 52% of us voted as such. The rest of us still use cognitive thinking.

And I have a distinct feeling that that 52% figure is dwindling as these socialist ideals are being forced down our throats.

I am scared for our future if America sees the cover of this magazine and thinks it's a positive direction. I am scared for my children if America thinks socialism is the answer. My husband says it's all Biblical and that there's nothing we can do to avoid it. I agree that it's Biblical and there's probably not much we can do to avoid it, but that doesn't mean I won't go down without kicking and screaming.

Wake up, people. You are being lied to. And if you don't realize it now, you will very soon. Believe me.