My own story is interesting, I live in a lapsed catholic (effectively atheistic) family, and was sent to a Catholic Primary (Elementary) school. At the same time I started primary school I became fascinated with wildlife documentaries that mentioned evolution. So right from the start I was taught at school to believe in God, and learnt at home to believe in evolution, and I never saw any real contradiction, I was a Theistic Evolutionist since day one, even though I did not know this till much later. I eventually lapsed into atheism once starting Secondary (middle) school, as I thought I was basing my faith on nothing. At the age of 16 I began to rethink my reasons for atheism, and now a year later, I’m here on the forum.
God used this site to show me the logic of it. I have always valued logic, but even more the truth of God’s purpose for us and to tell people of Him.
I was attempting to come here to share a (seemed to me at the time) logical explanation to consolidate the literal Genesis translation and science through some crazy time warping theory. But after reading from some very knowledgeable people on here slightly started leaning towards EC.
Then after hearing N.T Wright’s explanation of the second creation is a mirror/repeat of the first creation, that really sold me.
Now the more I learn on evolution, the more I see God’s hand.
I was raised YEC, and at times was quite enthusiastic about it – I was very into Kent Hovind’s seminars as a teen and heard him speak in person. Oddly enough I think it was the anti-vax movement that indirectly brought me in the EC direction.
I knew there were conflicts between YEC and general science, but since I didn’t major in a scientific field, I just didn’t give it much thought and avoided the issue, until I had my first child. I was reading the comments section of a parenting/message board site (Oh the humanity! Stay away – they are terrifying places! ) and on an article about vaccines I kept seeing comment after comment raving about the “toxic” ingredients in vaccines and how dangerous they were, and I didn’t see a single contradicting comment anywhere. I began to wonder what I was missing and started “researching” it, which led me down the “natural parenting” rabbit hole. Long story short, I eventually began to detect some very different threads to the debate – one side tended toward hyperbole and anecdotes, and the other seemed more reasoned, logical, and evidence-based. Finding good sources to read up on evidence made me appreciate science a whole lot more than I had before, and I suppose that helped me to realize that there is a big difference between science and pseudoscience (not that I’m an expert on telling the difference, but I at least acknowledged the conflict was there).
I guess it was only a matter of time before I started wondering about YEC too. I noticed that my instinct was to help support my son’s interests, but when he became interested in dinosaurs my instinct was actually to suppress his interest, or at least redirect it and teach him to self-censor most of the information he found. I didn’t actually end up doing that – instead I started reading around and eventually came to BioLogos, which has really helped me to understand more about why this conflict exists and doesn’t need to!
The short version is that I grew up in a conservative Evangelical family and community where I knew literally nobody that accepted evolution and was also a Christian. We weren’t committed firmly to a position on the age of the earth, but it was just sort of assumed that evolution was an enemy of Christian faith (and nearly unthinkable that a “real Christian” could believe in it). In high school I remember debating my agnostic friend about evolutionary science, even though I had nearly no idea what I was talking about, beyond reciting talking points from the ID movement. Eventually I came to a place near the end of high school where the combined pressures of doubt about the Bible and doubt about Intelligent Design arguments nearly cost me my faith.
Thankfully, in college, a couple of key people helped me put the pieces back together in various ways: Francis Collins, Tim Keller, and a great OT professor. I began to see both science and faith in a different way. And, I think in a larger sense, I began to see the problems with the way in which my faith community had engaged culture, and how often it tended to backfire. I remain really embarrassed about how badly I overestimated my understanding of the science, and how easy it was for me to mistake arrogance for piety. So by the middle of college, I was solidly in the EC camp, although I was still working out the details.
After college I went to seminary, and I specifically picked a school that would allow me to openly pursue research about how to understand Genesis in light of modern science (a lifelong passion). I wrote my senior thesis on the “great deep” of Genesis 1:2-3, in ancient and biblical context. After seminary, I tried to start a Sunday School class on Genesis and science at my church, only to be met with bewildered reactions and even questions about my salvation. I then served at another church and got similar reactions.
I see my work at BioLogos as a pastoral calling, to try to help people understand how anti-evolution creationism actually works against faithful Christian witness in a scientific age. I still have a lot of questions and doubts that I’m working through, but I’m immensely grateful for the BioLogos community where questions are seen as good and healthy things.
) and on an article about vaccines I kept seeing comment after comment raving about the “toxic” ingredients in vaccines and how dangerous they were, and I didn’t see a single contradicting comment anywhere. I began to wonder what I was missing and started “researching” it, which led me down the “natural parenting” rabbit hole. Long story short, I eventually began to detect some very different threads to the debate – one side tended toward hyperbole and anecdotes, and the other seemed more reasoned, logical, and evidence-based. Finding good sources to read up on evidence made me appreciate science a whole lot more than I had before, and I suppose that helped me to realize that there is a big difference between science and pseudoscience (not that I’m an expert on telling the difference, but I at least acknowledged the conflict was there).