A Look Back…and a Look Forward…

Darrel Falk, BioLogos President

The very first BioLogos posting—by Francis Collins on April 29, 2009—began this way:

It happened again this week. I received an e-mail from a student at a major university who is in the midst of a profound personal crisis. Was this a financial problem? A failure in coursework that threatens a lifelong career dream? A romantic breakup? No doubt there are plenty of those kinds of crises happening all over college campuses. But none of those accounted for her distress. Instead, my correspondent was having a wrenching crisis of worldviews, and her deepest foundations were being shaken.

She had been home-schooled by loving parents who were dedicated Christians, and who made sure that she learned the deep and profound principles of their faith. She made a personal commitment to that faith as a teenager, and her relationship with Christ was a central part of her life. She arrived at university fully aware that this secular environment might threaten her faith, but she quickly found other believers to share experiences with, and she learned to love the undergraduate experience.

That is, until she decided to major in biology. For the first time, she had the chance to see the scientific evidence for the actual age of the earth (4.55 billion years) and the theory of evolution.

In the Questions section of our website, we have just posted an answer to the FAQ, “Why should Christians consider evolutionary creation?” The answer is that since we are the body of Christ, we are responsible for each other. We live not for ourselves; we live for the other. The “other” includes the many young people like the above biology major, or the many not-so-young people who have thought coming to Christ and his church would be synonymous with rejecting principles at the heart of geology, astronomy, and biology. We all know this is not a salvation issue, and we ought not give the appearance that we’re making it one for those around us. So to answer the question, it is for the sake of others—not ourselves—that it is important for all Christians to consider evolutionary creation.This is especially important for those who think differently—all Christians, even those who disagree ought to understand the view, to respect it, and to love those who hold it.

The reverse is also true. As a person who is convinced that God has created through the evolutionary process, it is my responsibility to understand why the alternative seems so clearly true to others. I don’t seek to understand expecting my mind will be changed, but I continually want my attitude to be renewed. If I truly love as Christ loves the church, then it is essential that I am able to place myself in the position of those who see it differently and to empathize.

That, as I see it, is the Christian way.