I am new to this forum with this being my second post. I wanted to give a little background on myself, but for the sake of brevity I will only give the highlights.
I grew up in the country in a Pentecostal / Charismatic environment where I came to a revelatory faith in Jesus, accompanied by certain, unusual (even for Pentecostal settings) experiences that have held up under intense self-scrutiny ever since (despite my application of various skeptical models to disprove my experiences).
From about 16 to 28 years of age, I took a long journey (with many ups and downs) from what I would describe as a Pentecostal works based theology to a grace based theology.
I always assumed an old earth creationism. Growing up I was told God wiped everything out in Genesis 1 and started over and this seemed to me to be a satisfactory explanation that I never gave a second thought to.
About 4 years ago I visited the Grand Canyon and was overcome by the majesty of it, specifically the obvious ancient age of not just the Canyon itself, but the whole area. Never before had the ancient age of the earth been so obvious to me. This gave me a profoundly deep sense of just how small I am in comparison with the rest of the world (not to mention the universe), but it also planted the first seeds of questioning in my mind concerning evolution.
A combination of my oldest daughter questioning me about her biology text book at school, a Christian friend telling me about his beliefs in evolution and my own questions led me on a quest to prove evolution wrong or at least a trumped up story created by people who didn’t want to believe in God. To my dismay I discovered I was not only wrong, but profoundly wrong. (My undeniable experiences mentioned earlier were the only reason I didn’t abandon the faith)
I came to the conclusion evolution was true about 2 or 3 years ago. Since that time I have become exponentially more interested in scientific explanations for the natural world with my faith at times being critically challenged.
To me the explanatory power of evolutionary psychology is extraordinary. It provides a profound sense of relief in some ways and adds disturbing perspectives in other ways. Evolution and evolutionary psychology has led me to a drastically different way of interpreting church culture, human nature, the Bible and the world around me.
I was told about this forum when I contacted Bio Logos recently to try and resolve some questions I have. I am very pleased to see there is an online forum with thoughtful discussion and debate on these topics and an avenue where I can pose these kinds of questions which is not an option in the church.
At this time, I am inclined to believe the first half of Genesis is what C.S. Lewis called true myth. I believe the redemptive narrative that culminated in Jesus was something that God wrote into existence across space and time using myth, legend and the lives of various people, groups, tribes and nations to reveal Himself and His nature as transcendent love for purposes ultimately only known to God.
I don’t believe there is anything that God does not know or know the outcome of. I believe He has a purpose and plan for all things.
So this is a brief summary of myself, where I came from and where I am at in my faith journey. I welcome any insights or recommendations, hope to grow both in knowledge and understanding here among all of you and am excited to be here on this forum with you.
Also, if you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask.
- David