Adam and Eve versus Evolution

This book argues in favor of Adam and Eve as two real historical persons, and also in favor of accepting evolution as one of the natural means that God uses to guide the unfolding of His Creation. Adam and Eve were created by God, miraculously, and they became the first parents of the entire human race. But God used evolution, under His providence, to prepare the form of the human body. Then God miraculously created Adam and Eve as the first two true human persons, and He gave them immortal souls with free will and reason.Some Christians reject evolution and other scientific theories, adhering instead to an entirely literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. Others reject the historicity of Genesis, as if it were merely a collection of fictional teaching stories. When faith and science disagree, how should faithful Christians respond? We cannot reject the truths of our faith. But neither should we reject the gift of reason and the insights of modern science. Therefore, this book proposes that both the story of Adam and Eve, and the theory of evolution are essentially true, when properly understood.The early chapters of Genesis contain some literal historical elements along with many figurative elements. Adam and Eve were two literal historical persons. They each fell from grace by committing the first sins of the human race: original sin. But other elements of their story are figurative, including a forbidden fruit and a talking serpent. And the seven days of Creation are also figurative, not literal.The theory of evolution, in its main tenets, is compatible with this approach to the Bible, which sees both literal and figurative elements woven together in a single tapestry of truth. God created the universe, and He may well have done so in the manner described by science. God chose to create life on Earth, but that life developed and progressed largely as the theory of evolution explains. In addition, God's Providence has always guided Creation as a whole, and particularly life on Earth. He who created all things also created the principles of nature. God gave the principles of nature the role of governing the development of the universe as well as the development of life on Earth. For such is His plan for His Creation. Science has the role of discovering the inherent principles of all natural things. But science must not speak or act as if it were the judge over Faith.The theory of evolution fails on a few points. Evolution ignores the role of God in creating the first life on Earth, in governing the development of living things, and in choosing to create the human race. The idea that one species can evolve into another species is well proven; but the claim that life "evolved" from non-living chemicals is not. I believe that God intervened directly to create the first single-cell organisms on Earth. Subsequently, evolution, under the providence of God, developed that life, over the course of billions of years, into a vast array of plants and animals.But evolution eventually reached a "glass ceiling," after the development of the higher forms of animal life. For no natural principle is able to evolve or create an immortal soul with free will and the ability to reason abstractly. And so God intervened miraculously to create the first two human persons, Adam and Eve. After they fell from grace, these two became the parents of the whole human race. All human persons on Earth are descended from Adam and Eve.