Evolution: Part I

When I began my blog back in 2009, I had this blog post (and a few others) in mind. It's more than a bit ironic, then, that it's only now (four years later) that I get around to posting it.

So what finally got me moving? It was The Economist on the first pass, so fittingly it is The Economist on the 2nd pass too.

But let us not let bygones be bygones. Let us begin with the first pass.

So the first pass is what follows. A reflection I wrote after reading one too many articles from The Economist that danced around the topic of evolution. This will surely turn out to be my longest posting to date. I hope it reads OK in blog format.


Confusion

“Half all Americans either don’t know or don’t believe that living creatures evolved.” So begins an article on page 38 of the October 8th, 2005 issue of The Economist, a widely respected British news magazine read by movers and shakers around the world. The article continues with its trajectory of scorn in the sentences which follow. “And now a Pennsylvania school board is trying to keep its pupils ignorant. It is the kind of story about America that makes secular Europeans chortle smugly… Yet it is more complex than it appears.”

Indeed it is! For if we but flip a few pages forward, we discover on page 92 an Economist review of a book titled “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.” In this book the author relates his personal story – how he successfully transformed himself from a “wretchedly chaste” college student into a remarkably successful practitioner of one-night stands. But the victory was hollow, as the book reviewer soberly notes.

The game giveth, but it also taketh away, as the author is all too aware. As reality blurs, Mr Strauss finds it increasingly hard to view women as anything other than targets on which to hone his technique. “We may have been supermen in the club”, he muses, “but on the inside we were rotting.” Redemption comes in the form of Lisa, who cares not a fig for Mr Strauss’ patter. Lisa loves him, it turns out, for himself.

These two articles from the same edition of one magazine ought to give us pause. On page 38 not only is evolution presented to readers as true, but the acceptance of its truth is presented as a sign of great learnedness and wisdom. On the flip side, failure to accept the claims of evolution as true is cause for derisory laughter from around the globe.

Yet on page 92 the story line has somehow reversed course. One of Darwin’s finest has dropped out of the race, our Economist book reviewer warmly reports. Having finally mastered the art of passing his genes to different women every night, this man abandoned the game in order to focus his affections on only one woman. The Economist reviewer clearly approves! We are invited to celebrate the redemption, no less, of Mr. Strauss from what appears on the face of it to be a superbly perfected pattern of Darwinian behavior. Redemption? Isn’t that a religious word? What indeed is going on here?

The simple conclusion, if we take the time to review these two articles closely, is that the writers of The Economist are of two minds – and it’s not clear at all that they are aware of it. In areas of science, the editors of the Economist are careful to present evolution as a fact – a fundamental truth. Evolution, we are assured, is indisputably what is. However when forced to address matters a bit closer to the heart, as it were, the editors of this same magazine are equally careful to assert that evolution is not at all it’s cracked up to be. Whatever evolution is, it is not what ought to be. I don’t think any other conclusion makes sense.

Just to clarify my meaning here, let me suggest how the review should have gone if the book reviewer believed not only that evolution is but also that it ought to be. In this hypothetical world, I believe the book reviewer would have found fault with Mr Strauss for thinking of women as anything more than vehicles for the propagation of his genes. According to basic evolutionary theory, members of the opposite sex are targets. The reviewer would furthermore have been deeply puzzled by Mr Strauss’ bizarre decision to cease the endless bagging of anonymous women. Males are supposed to do that. Finally, the reviewer would have been in a state of utter confusion as to why Mr Strauss felt like he was rotting inside. Words like that are unscientific and, worse still, they make no sense at all in the context of a wildly successful reproductive lifestyle.

So the writers of the Economist are clearly of two minds, and it seems to me that they are not at all sure what to do about it. The example provided above, by the way, is not at all unique or unusual. Conflicting perspectives of this sort are to be found on a regular basis in the pages of the Economist. A year later, for example, The Economist closed a different article on sexual selection with these words:

Evolution has thus arranged things so that if a woman does cuckold her man, she is likely to gain the maximum advantage in terms of children with good immune systems, and sons who will have similarly rakish good looks and behavior. Just don’t tell your husband that. (Page 75, March 4th 2006 issue.)

Once again, we see in close proximity two conflicting threads of thought. On the one hand, we see a rather bold proclamation of an evolutionary fact. On the other hand, we see a tacit, if weakly humorous, acknowledgement of the moral need to keep this fact a secret. Let us put the joking aside and ask a serious question: If this is evolutionary factoid really is in some sense true, why on earth would it be best, for ethical reasons, to keep it a secret? The Economist offers no answers. Indeed, I suspect they were afraid to ask the question.

But before we move on, there is one more thing worthy of note. In this text we find Evolution personified. It is treated as a rational force or being. Leaving aside the fact that this will be defended as a literary invention, it is still worth asking one more question in this regard. If Evolution were indeed a living and active being, should we call it a good one? It’s a rather important question. Whether or not we wish to be redeemed from it, needless to say, hinges crucially on this point. Here too, however, The Economist is silent.

This series is continued in Evolution: Part II

Lessons On Theology From Driving Miss Daisy

I didn't particularly want to do it.

It wasn't a great trial I was facing. Just wasted time, in my estimation. The person with whom I'd be wasting that time wouldn't profit greatly from our shared activity.

At least, I didn't think so.

"So... why I am I going to waste my time in this way?" I asked myself from time to time. After I tired of asking myself this question, I asked God the same question, just for a change of pace.

God surprised me with an answer.

Footage from a fabulous old movie began to play in my head. I could hear the movie projector creaking into motion. (Actually, I couldn't, but it sounds cool to say it that way!)

In the movie, Driving Miss Daisy, A well-to-do businessman (named Boolie) pays an elderly gentlemen (named Hoke) to drive the businessman's mother (Daisy) around town. The challenge lies in the fact that the elderly woman, who is too old to be driving, does not want any help, thank you very much.

Miss Daisy doesn't want a chauffeur.

But hers is not the opinion that matters. Daisy is no longer safe behind the wheel, and her son Boolie is trying to keep her (and pedestrians) safe by hiring Hoke to drive her where she needs to go.

Thus begins the footage that played out in my mind...

Boolie: Hoke, I want you to understand something. Now, you'd be working for me. She can say anything she likes, but she can't fire you. You understand?
Hoke: Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I sure do. And, don't you worry about a thing, Mr. Werthan! I'm gonna hold on no matter how she run me. You see, I used to rassle hogs down yonder in Macon, and, let me tell you, ain't no hog got away from me yet!

I know why this particular movie scene came to mind, but the movie scene itself wasn't God's answer. God's answer was much shorter and to the point.

When I asked God why I should waste my time on the pointless activity, His gentle voice broke cleanly into my thoughts...

It's not your time. It's my time. And you're working for me.

As soon as the words had passed through my head, I understood my error. It's God's prerogative to decide what constitutes a waste of my time.

I chuckled as I pictured myself sitting across from God's desk, being given a task which involved serving someone who would not value my service.

I chuckled some more as I imagined my response.

Pilgrim: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Don't you worry about a thing, Lord...

I'm not sure, but I think God smiled back at me from across his desk.

The Bravest Person I Know

It was only few days ago that I tossed out a reflection centering on Psalms 37 and 73.

As is my wont, I kept regurgitating it in my thoughts even after it was written and done.

Within 24 hours I knew I had left something out.

The hardest part.

It's bad enough when there are bad guys. The problem of wicked men. I had focused on this for the most part while pondering these two Psalms.

But I knew within a day that I'd left the hardest, cruelest cut out of the picture.

The problem when there is no bad guy to blame.

Sickness. Natural disasters. When things just go wrong for no particular reason. The wrong turn that puts a vulnerable car in front of a speeding 18-wheeler.

This didn't sit well with me, and I thought perhaps it would be worth revisiting the matter. But I wasn't in a hurry. Why would I be?

That was Tuesday.

Last night, Friday night, just three days later, I got a call at around 9PM. The night's winding down. Who's calling now?

Just the bravest woman in my world.

Joan, I'll call her.

Apologizing. Apologetic. So sorry. So sad to intrude. So hesitant to ruin my evening with the uninvited bombshell news that her brain tumor had returned. Would I be interested to meet with her and a few friends on Saturday morning, seeing as she was going under the knife again on Wednesday?

We both knew the reality. This might be the best chance we'll ever have to chat again freely and easily. I told her there was no way I'd miss it.

Thus it was that I met an old friend again today. The bravest woman in my world.

You would think that we had gathered for her birthday. You would think we had gathered to celebrate.

During our long phone call the night prior, she could have been mistaken for a counselor checking in on a patient. How was my wife? How are our children? How have we been? She wanted to know that we were all well.

Now we were with our dear Joan in person. And she was more of the same. Full of smiles. Reflecting love. Caring. Facing a timeline not of her choosing.

"We all know of righteous souls whose lives were cut short, ending in heart-wrenching tragedy."

I wrote those words on Tuesday. Was it just four days ago? Four days? And here before me, in living color, is a righteous and good woman facing a personal tragedy whose dimensions I cannot begin to empathize with. I don't have a clue what she's feeling. A woman who has the right to ask God a few questions.

Psalm 37: (excerpted)
Take delight in the Lord,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
   and their inheritance will endure for ever.
In times of disaster they will not wither;
   in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
Turn from evil and do good;
   then you will dwell in the land forever.
For the Lord loves the just
   and will not forsake his faithful ones.
The righteous will inherit the land
   and dwell in it for ever.

Joan has a right to ask God what exactly He meant by those promises. I don't yet, but Joan does. Now.

And yet Joan seems to have chosen a different route. She's focusing on being thankful for what she does have. Focusing on the continuing love she has for those around her.

It's not like Joan doesn't have a care in the world. Not at all the case that she's not lost in the confusion of why she must walk through this valley. She does wonder. She is worried. She is troubled. But she's still the bravest soul I know. In the midst of it all, she trusts God to sort it out in the end.

That's pretty much what David and Asaph (authors of Psalms 37 and 73, respectively) were saying too. Does it seem like some of their assurances are not holding true for Joan? Like she's not exactly getting the package David and Asaph seemed to be promising? Who can argue otherwise.

And yet. And yet. Joan is practicing what they preached.

And she has a joy that is not to be found in the faces of those who have no hope. Not to be found in the faces of those who trust in science alone to deliver the answers to the big questions.

Scientists like to point out that at the center of every galaxy is a huge black hole. And they're probably right.

But Joan knows that at the center of the universe is Jesus Christ.

Therein lies the difference.

Does she have all the answers? No.

But Joan knows the secret. And the secret is this: Keep your eyes on God, no matter what.

She's the bravest person I know.

Hebrews 12:1b-2a
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

37 vs 73

Psalm 37 is very beautiful.

But when I'm honest, it's not entirely convincing.

What do I mean? Here's an example...

Psalm 37:10-11
A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
   though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land
   and enjoy peace and prosperity.

These are comforting words when left unexamined, but they are harder to swallow when put under the glare of a spotlight.

Everyone knows there are wicked people out there who seem to live long, and live large. Not to say we'd want their lives. I wouldn't trade. But it's not like such people are hard to find. Some of these sorry souls have serious longevity! What's worse, we all know of righteous souls whose lives were cut short, ending in heart-wrenching tragedy.

So... what am I to make of Psalm 37 and its claims? If I'm honest, I must admit that sometimes it seems that the opposite is true.

Psalm 73 to the rescue. Flip the digits around and you have the story turned around too. (I confess I'm always pleased by mathematical parallels...)

Psalm 73:3-14
For I envied the arrogant
   when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
   their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens;
   they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
   they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
   their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;
   with arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
   and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them
   and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, ‘How would God know?
   Does the Most High know anything?’
This is what the wicked are like –
   always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
   and have washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been afflicted,
   and every morning brings new punishments.

So... this just in. I'm not the first person to struggle with "the party line" that is sometimes evident in the Psalms and elsewhere in scriptures. Asaph (the author of Psalm 73) lays it out on the table: he too grapples with the struggle of doubt that sometimes besets us all.

[Sidebar comment: As Christians, we are sometimes afraid to question aloud anything that the Bible says. It's God's holy inspired word. Will our honest questions undermine the faith of those around us? Most endearingly, Asaph shares our fears. In the next verse he notes...]

Psalm 73:15
If I had spoken out like that,
   I would have betrayed your children.

So let us revel in this paradox: A Psalmist in holy scriptures who is afraid lest he contradict... holy scriptures. And another paradox. If? Asaph did speak out like that. It's all there in the Psalm! Very funny, in a quirky way.

But moving on. What happens next? The wicked are not supposed to prosper... but they do. Does Asaph escape this conundrum? He does. Let's read on.

Psalm 73:16-17
When I tried to understand all this,
   it troubled me deeply...
till I entered the sanctuary of God;
   then I understood their final destiny.

In the verses that follow, Asaph reverts to the assurances of Psalm 37. The judgment of the wicked will come suddenly. But note that he doesn't say when!

Perhaps Asaph is suggesting that we put our stopwatches and our eyeballs to better uses.

Paradoxically, the ultimate solution to the mysteries surrounding wicked men seems to center around focusing our attention instead upon our good God:

Psalm 73:23-28
Yet I am always with you;
   you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
   and afterwards you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength of my heart
   and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish;
   you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
   I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
   I will tell of all your deeds.

My heart resonates ever so strongly with these words.

The wicked perplex us... Sometimes they last a long time... Sometimes the assurances of Psalm 37 seem hollow...

But along with Asaph I find my peace in turning away from the wicked and toward God's sanctuary.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that David, author of Psalm 37, begins with this same advice.

Psalm 37:1-4
Do not fret because of those who are evil
   or be envious of those who do wrong...

What do we do instead?

Psalm 37:4
Take delight in the Lord
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

These two Psalms turn out not to be so different after all. They offer the same exact advice.

First, turn away from the wicked. Pay them no heed. (Once you do, the timing of their eventual judgement will cease to occupy your thoughts!)

Second, focus on God. Seek God. There alone will we find true peace.

And when life here is ended? We'll stand alongside Asaph. And David. In God's presence. In his sanctuary.

That's a good way live. That's a good way to die. And that's a good way to live again.

Careful What You Grasp For

"You've been grasping for the wrong person's attention, Pilgrim."

I spoke these words to myself a few days ago, but it could equally have been the voice of God speaking to me.

Over the prior week I had engaged myself in an exercise which had the potential to gain me praise and admiration from other people.

The time spent in this exercise came largely from the more solitary moments of my day... from times when I would normally have been fellowship with God. Prayer had gone out the window during that time span.

It was only in the pause after I finally had everything ready that I gave greater heed to the voices of caution in my head.

They had been speaking all along. Asking me what I was after.

The results of my labors might have raised my reputation a bit... but at the cost of dinging someone else's reputation by the same amount.

The good advice of a good friend came rumbling though my head...
A question to ask yourself before entering into a conflict...

"What is it that you hope to gain from this exchange?"

I had no good answer to the question.

That's when I began to ponder what it was I had been grasping for, and why, and at what cost.

I had been grasping for the attention of strangers. To gain recognition at someone else's expense. At the cost of my grip on God and lost prayer time.

Not a good exchange, and I knew it. So I dropped the project.

That was where I left it a few days ago, but then this morning in two different devotionals I happened to flip through I ran (twice) into a reminder of the only verse in scripture where we're told what exactly Jesus himself grasped.

Or did not grasp, to be more specific.

Philippians 2:6-8
Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be grasped
rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
   even death on a cross!

Ouch.

I, a mere man, had been seeking to become something.

Jesus, God himself, sought to become nothing.

The passage preceding these verses only added salt to the wound.

Philippians 2:5
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

But note the verses following the passage.

Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
   and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father!

God is a God of ironies and paradoxes indeed.

I had been seeking significance, and it wasn't a good thing.

But Jesus had his eye on even greater significance, and it was good.

The difference is that that Jesus was willing to become the ultimate servant and to die on a cross in order to reach his goal.

I had not been engaged in that game.

Legendary golfer Bobby Jones said of Jack Nicklaus (after watching Nicklaus win the 1965 Masters) that he "played a game with which I am not familiar."

I might say the same of Jesus.

But if I'm after significance, it's encouraging to know that Jesus was too. The question that remains is...

Am I willing to get familiar with the game Jesus played?

Wanted, But Not Needed

Needed, but not wanted
Despair marks the spot
Stripped of our value
We know we're not sought

Needed, but not wanted
Better than nothing at all
Perhaps not by much
Or perhaps not at all

Needed, but not wanted
We have something to give
But ourselves we must keep
And alone we must live

Wanted, but not needed
Not for talent nor wealth
Nor beauty of youth
Things that time steals by stealth

Wanted, but not needed
Inmost being so cherished
That when all else is gone
Our value's not perished

Wanted, but not needed
Full joy without measure
When in God we discover
One who grants us this pleasure

Wanted, but not needed
God can well do without
Yet he wants all the same
He still seeks us out

Wanted, but not needed
This God does enthrall
He tirelessly seeks us
Without needing us at all

Thought For Food

Some trade-offs are sensible.
Not the off trades we've made.
Purchasing vanishing vapor
for the real things we gave.

The terms of the barter
are ever so clear.
We receive our addictions
in exchange for things dear.

Anesthetized well,
we don't see what we've lost.
Unaware to the end
of what it will cost.

Real flesh for an image,
Marriage bed for a bust.
We trade people for porn,
Seasoned love for streamed lust.

We don't want what is real
much preferring the dream.
We want only the sugar
not the health food between.

TV and no exercise...
we prefer the glazed gaze,
leaving sweating to those
who by commercials are paid.

These habits don't leave us
when we enter the church.
We expect the same deal there,
leaving Christ in the lurch.

We seek sermons that tickle
and worship that throbs,
but avoid all hard service,
giving pastors those jobs.

The church seasons we've tossed
but we still keep the feast;
greedy to own all the pleasures,
glad to rent apostles' grief.

Their grief turned to joy
to grief has returned.
Heaven sees what we do,
what we think we have learned.

"Let's gather to celebrate!
Jesus vanquished the tomb!
And because the deed's done
we can stay in our womb.

The great Houdini Jesus
has freed us from the law.
Now we can sit back
and suck life from a straw."

Black holes cased in flesh
we miss the mystery of sin.
We keep endlessly taking,
filling nothing within.

Taking cue from the prodigal
we seek only to feast.
We're consumed by consumption,
turned to dough without yeast.

We are blind how this grade
to our tomb gives us pull.
Wonder why we're so empty
with stomachs so full.

Like cows on conveyor belts
who never quite lived
we consume to our end
unaware what we'll give.

Consumed by consumer gods
at whose shrines we were served.
Thought ourselves the consumers
right up to the last curve.