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On a daily basis, info@biologos.org receives a plethora of questions from people all over the world. We try our best to answer as many emails as possible. Check out this example of a question we recently received. You may have had a similar question yourself.

Question:

Dear BioLogos,

I am a Christian who is currently truth seeking and looking for answers about my religion, the existence of God, intelligent design, and evolution.

I have considered myself a theistic evolutionist. But then I came across a video on YouTube in which intelligent design advocates stated that the idea that a theist can be an evolutionist is wrong because the idea that we developed over time by a nonrandom, unguided process (natural selection) contradicts the Christian belief that God is a Creator. Theistic evolutionists (or evolutionary creationists) believe natural selection was one of the processes within God’s creation. I believed this as well, but now I am confused about what to say on the subject.

Does evolutionary creation really contradict the idea that God is a Creator?

Thanks,

J. H.

Answer:

Hi, J. H.,

Thanks for your question—it’s an important one. Yes, there are lots of conflicting voices speaking about God and evolution today. Some of them argue that not only is theistic evolution wrong, but it’s completely incoherent. Part of the problem is that people mean very different things when they speak of “evolution.” The following two videos speak to that issue:

What Do You Mean When You Say Evolution? by Ard Louis
Evolution: What We Know and What We Don’t by Jeff Schloss

One of the biggest obstacles for many Christians is the idea of “randomness” in nature. They think there is no way God could (or would) employ random processes or natural selection to bring about the diversity of life on earth. Here are some BioLogos posts dealing with the concept of randomness:

Evolution: Is God Just Playing Dice? by Matt Rossano
Randomness and God’s Governance by Randall Pruim
Immunity and Evolution: The Same Story? by Kathryn Applegate

If you have time to explore the topic of creation and evolution in more depth, I strongly encourage you to read Denis Alexander’s book Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose?

I hope these resources are helpful!

Blessings,

Tom Burnett
BioLogos Associate Editor