A Word On Evolution

Evolution, simply stated, is the theory that species develop over time by adapting to their environments. There is no dispute that humans are taller today than they were 500 years ago. Life span is considerably longer than it once was, although if you believe the Biblical stories that Noah lived to be 950 years old, we have devolved as a species.

Natural selection is a mechanism of evolution. In other words, species improve and evolve over time by killing off the weaker members before they can reproduce. The logic is that when the strong produce, the species as a whole improves its chances of survival. Christian slave owners were guided by this belief when they bred slaves, as are modern day dog and horse breeders. On a more humorous note, the Darwin Awards are satirical awards given to people who do incredibly stupid things and sometimes die doing so.

For whatever reason, even though they acknowledge the principles of evolution in many aspects, the religious people of America have set their sights on evolution as a heretical belief to be eradicated from the public school curriculum. The rhetoric is broad, but their conclusions are quite uniform -- evolution is incompatible with religion.

Hearing this argument repeated time and again inspired me to return to the Bible to understand the argument. I now return from my journey and I remain perplexed.

The story goes that God created two human beings, Adam and Eve. They begat, and their progeny begat and everyone else begatted for hundreds of years (early humanity was one big orgy), until the earth had lots of people. Then God had second thoughts. The descendants of Adam and Eve were proving to be quite evil and disobedient so God decided to put the smack down. Repent or die.

Noah, one of the begatees, was a good child of the Lord. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9). Because Noah was part of the Republican party, God gave him the heads-up about Hurricane Katrina. "Psssst... Noah, over here. I'm going to break those levees and flood the whole place with everyone in it. No, FEMA, is not going in there. You want in or what?" Noah got the point. So, God told Noah to make an ark out of gopher wood and told Noah "But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee." (Genesis 6:18). "And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. (Genesis 7:7-9). Every other living creature on earth was destroyed. "And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." (Genesis 7:23).

Every human being alive today, according to Genesis, is a descendant of Noah or one of his three sons (Shem, Ham & Japheth).

Given that the earth currently is populated by almost 6.5 Billion people, that is an exceptional amount of begatting on the part of Noah and his sons. Good job guys!

But the question remains. The 6.5 Billion people on earth look really different. How is it that a tall, blond Scandinavian descends from the same ancestor that a dark-skinned Nigerian claims as a forefather? How about the Chinese? Arabs? Why is it that Asians aren't particularly hairy people and Arabs have enough excess hair to donate to all the balding men of the world? Adaptation to the environment and natural selection makes sense as an answer. Indigenous people from the southern hemisphere tend to be darker-skinned (increased melanin to deal with sun exposure) versus the pale-skinned folks of the northern hemisphere (who have significantly less time in the sun).

The Bible says that Noah, his sons and their wives are the only people who came off the ark and God gave them the covenant to re-start humankind. What other way, besides evolution, did we go from one family to a multitude of races? It certainly wasn't intelligent design.