Creation and Evolution, Part 1: Role of Consciousness

WHATS IN THIS BLOG:
• Wonders of the natural world
• The hummingbird
• Spectacular hikes
• Role of consciousness in creation and evolution

This is the first of three parts of a series on creation and evolution. It’s a mix of science and spiritual. I’m motivated by a need for clarity, as I’ve heard statements on the subject that seem way off the mark. As always, I use as much data and facts as possible, but there are times when my own experience and bias comes in. Your feedback and comments will be appreciated.

LET’S BEGIN WITH SOME WONDERS OF THE NATURAL WORLD. The whirlpool galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy, and one of the brightest in the sky. However, 75% of matter in this galaxy is missing. It’s called dark matter because we can’t see it or measure it, and we don’t know what it is. Don’t let anyone tell you that scientists know everything about the universe!

Click on image to enlarge or to source, then back-arrow to return to blog.

 

 

 

 

NEXT IS THE ANIMAL AND BIRD KINGDOM. The hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world. It can fly forward or backward, or hover. In daytime, its heart rate is 1200 bpm. It needs to feed full time to provide the necessary energy. But at night, the heart rate drops to 35 bpm so it can sleep and save energy and survive the night.

 

Click on image to enlarge or to source, then back-arrow to return to blog.

 

 

 

 

I’VE BEEN ON MANY HIKES, PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHWEST USA. One of my favorites is Hanging Lake — a steep hike in the Rocky Mountains outside of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. If you go there in summer, take a raft ride in the wild rapids of the Colorado River.

Another trail is one we took on a jeep – to Yankee Boy basin outside Ouray in southwest Colorado. The waterfalls and flowers and mountains were spectacular. The town of Ouray is called Little Switzerland because its surrounded by mountains.

Hanging Lake. Click on image to enlarge or to source, then back-arrow to return to blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yankee Boy basin. Click on image to enlarge or to source, then back-arrow to return to blog.

 

 

HOW DO WONDERS OF THE NATURAL WORLD RELATE TO CREATION -EVOLUTION? As you viewed the above pictures, you may have felt AWE, POWER, WONDER, BEAUTY, etc. These are subjective levels of human consciousness. Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience things subjectively (as distinct from reason). For example, red is a color that has to be experienced (you can’t explain it).

Animals have a lower level of consciousness. Dogs, such as Mary Ann’s morkie, can experience fear and love. But they don’t have the higher levels of consciousness and cannot perceive awe or wonder or beauty.

Mary Ann’s dog Chanel, a morkie. Click to enlarge then back-arrow to return to blog.

Where does human consciousness come from? The biblical answer is God. We are made in the image of God:
So God created man in His own image…. male and female he created them.
And God blessed them, and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.
[Genesis chapter 1]

CONSCIOUSNESS IS AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM FOR SCIENCE – EVOLUTION. You can read more about this if you click HERE (warning: it’s written by a new-atheist who discards any spiritual interpretation, and the writing is not easy to understand). The authors’ position is that consciousness is a spandrel. This word, coined by the famous paleontologist, Stephen Jay Gould, means that it’s a byproduct and not a direct result of natural (adaptive) selection in evolution.

For me, it’s easier to believe that God made the byproduct, and that homo sapiens is unique – made in the image of God. You can read more about spandrels, and how they upset the previous thinking of evolution by chance mutation and fitness for survival, by clicking HERE.

SO WHAT DOES “MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD” REALLY MEAN? I suggest there are two kinds of truth which are complementary, as shown in the image.

Click on image to enlarge, then back-arrow to return to blog.

The new-atheists’ dilemma is to deny subjective truth in the spiritual arena – the right lens of the glasses. They deny God, and spiritual experience, because they claim that science cannot prove that God exists (I don’t know how they prove that beauty exists). Even if this were true, it would also be true that science cannot prove that God DOES NOT exist.

Another way to say this is that God is outside of science. If God created science, such as the law of gravity F = GxM1xM2 / D^2, then He is clearly outside of science. We wouldn’t be asking an ant to prove that a human landscaped the yard that the ant lives in.

My view is that the two lenses of the glasses are complementary ways of viewing the world. And BOTH ways are important for perceiving God and the natural universe.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you would like to receive by email each blog I write, enter your email address where it says SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG at top right (your email is totally protected). If you decide later not to receive these blogs, you can unsubscribe with one easy click.
Feel free to share this article with someone who might be interested. Just click on one of the “share boxes” at the bottom of the page (you will need to input your email and/or password). Or you can share on Facebook if that’s where you receive this blog. Or just ask folks to google on IanDexterPalmer

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Gray Nomad ….. think well and stay informed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For that which is known about God is evident in their inner consciousness, because God has shown it to them.
For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, that is His eternal power and divinity have been clearly discernible in the things that have been made – His handiworks.
So men are without excuse.
Because when they recognized Him as the God, they did not honor Him as God, or give Him thanks.
Instead they became futile and godless in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
[Book of Romans, chapter 1].

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

11 Comments
Newest
Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kennedy F.
6 years ago

Really great read! Love the details and thoughts of how our consciousness is created in God’s image. Glad I was able to be in awe when visiting the Hanging lake trail with you Kara, Kim, and Jaden awhile back! Enjoy your points of science and faith. Many people struggle with these concepts and I think this information is something they need to hear, glad you’re choosing to write about this challenging topic and talk with others about it. Really really enjoyed the quote about how an ant isn’t ask to prove to a human that the human landscaped the yard he lives in.

Neil
Neil
6 years ago

I enjoyed reading this blog. It is a rich subject and not well covered by good writers. It has been made difficult in my opinion by intemperate writings of young earth creationists who are economical with truth.

Greg Sheridan, an Australian, argues there are severe problems of logic with atheistic evolution:
(1) It is a system of belief just like religion.
(2) There are unanswerable questions like what was there before the “Big Bang”. When asked this on an Australian QandA program a few years ago, Richard Dawkins replied (astonishingly) “…there are some questions which must not be asked.”
(3) Evolution does not explain the origin of, for example, the laws of physics.
(4) A common argument from atheists is that belief in God is inversely proportional to a person’s education – but confounded by people like Francis Collins (Leader of Human Genome Project) and John Lennox (Prof of Pure mathematics at Oxford and author of “The Dawkins Delusion”
(5) Then there is the problem of sick people – in an atheistic evolutionary world there should be no need for hospitals.

Jack
Jack
6 years ago

So if we evolved and evolution is about getting “better” then childbirth shouldn’t be a problem. “Nature” would have had an answer to the problem, and women could just slide those kids out with no pain. However, I think I’ll stick to the spiritual reason that it’s because we sinned, and God allowed it. Those evolutionists sure have a lot more faith than most of us Christian’s do.

Joshua Ellison
Joshua Ellison
6 years ago

I’m continually baffled at the thought of consciousness. Somehow we were gifted with this tool to recognize our own presence and allow us to ponder. However, it’s hard for me to believe any human can be equipped with such consciousness and still claim that there is no God.

What happens in a person’s life that the truth printed on their hearts is still not enough for them to believe in a Creator?

Karen Larre
Karen Larre
6 years ago

Love this, Ian. Thanks for writing it and including opposing views!

Don
Don
6 years ago

Thanks Ian, for another excellent blog post. I appreciate your insight, examples and very reasonable arguments. It is inconceivable to me that atheist-scientist can be so arrogant. The very study of nature is the acknowledgment of something to be discovered. If one would approach all scientific studies with this in mind, there would be no flat assertions of their unproven beliefs. To read the Scriptures, which are “living” words, assures us of the existence of a “living” God, and His hands-on involvement in all creation. I believe an investigation of any kind, including scientific studies, must keep all doors open, if conclusions are to be valid. Also one must include the possibility that God does not exist, if one is to be truly objective. That includes all rational and scientific data available, including the Holy Scriptures, both canonized and those not canonized. By my life-experiences and studies, I have a firm confirmation and testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and the Holy Spirit lives and influences all who are humble, and all who desire and seek “Truth” with an open heart and mind.

11
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x