Drowning Daily in the Unstoppable, Merciless Grace of Christ

It’s Sunday, after church, after lunch, slush all over the ground and roads, beautiful L (now my age for two months) napping on the couch. So my mind naturally turns toward the Evolutionist vs. Creationist debate. But I will desist and pause, for the debate — which rages even more because Michael Spencer at Internet Monk is thoughful and provocative in describing his own life — has got me thinking again about who I am and why I am. It has gotten me to think about my beliefs, my position with Christ.

My beliefs on the issue are complex and therefore not interesting to almost anyone. I have seen arrogance and emnity on various sides of this issue, including coming from me. Most of the time, I don’t think about it.

In a recent comment to a recent post by Spencer on the creationism vs. evolution issue at Boar’s Head Tavern, Steve said that he feared that if he accepted evolution, he would give up all his Christian beliefs:

That Scientific American article shook me up. Keep in mind that I have been an old earther for many years. I agree with you that the language of the pentateuch is pre-scientific. But I fear evolution. I fear that it might be true. Because if I conclude that it is true, than I have no reason to believe. Too much of the intellectual basis of my faith hangs on a belief in a literal Adam and Eve. I believe that it is possible to believe in Theistic Evolution and still be a Christian. However, I do not believe it is possible for me. I fear that evolution, if true, would quickly or eventually undermine everything….

I have normally kept my mouth shut about this controversy, because I am a Reformed Christian who subscribes to the Belgic Confession (confession of the Christian Reformed Churches of North America, my denomination) and I also like the current batch of work that is being done in the evolutionary sciences. I don’t have a problem with evolution, per se. I keep my mouth shut because I have learned over years of doing so that it is a good idea. I’m not going to win any arguments because I really don’t want to argue about it. But when a believer says that he could lose all faith over it, as so many evolutionists have, I felt that I had a responsibility to weigh in with an opinion.

So this is what I wrote. I include it here for two reasons. First, I’d like to keep it. Second, upon reflection, I like the phrase “I drown daily in the relentless, unstoppable grace of the Almighty Increate God of Abraham” because it artfully captures my experience with Christ.

Steve,

I’m a evolutionist Christian, Reformed to boot (Belgic Confession). But I come at both by way of disbelief. I was taught twenty years ago that if I gave up 7-Day Literal Creationism that I would give up God. So I gave up God intead and then found Christ. Or, I should say that Jesus came and gave me new life, that my salvation would be his alone.

I read in ancient middle eastern studies, and I know that there is little evidence for the Exodus. I have studied enough biology to know that men do not rise from the grave. I have studied psychology and sociology and know that disciples do not die for a messiah who has been humiliated totally and killed. I doubt more than I ever have.

And then I read the Gospels and I am undone. He confounds all my intelligences. He withstands my doubt, my intellectual scrutiny, my emotional inquiry. This amazing man confronts me and turns my beliefs on their ear. Constantly. As a Christian now, I am in constant destruction; it seems like every day he makes my faith anew.

I believe in Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin; that he was crucified, dead and buried; that he descended to the dead; that he rose again from the dead and was seen by hundreds; that he ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. I can say the Symbolum Apostolorum and Nicene Creeds on Sunday with a straight face, and not have to resort to metaphorical resurrections (“he rose again in their minds”). I am not a Bible-Believing Christian, but a Jesus-Confessing Christian, whose confession leads him to see the scriptures as Jesus said. I subscribe to the Belgic Confession. And yet I find evolutionary sciences interesting, and even use some recent findings in evolutionary psychology and biology to get my work done.

I don’t know how to balance this. Somehow, God saved me and restored me to fellowship with him. I am terrified of this, because it confounds all my intelligence. I drown daily in the relentless, unstoppable grace of the Almighty Increate God of Abraham.

Evolution is not the enemy of belief. Evolutionists may be, for many are bitter and hateful and enemies of faith in anything but themselves, just as many Creationists also are. I don’t have any answers for this. I can only point to the One who conquered me in shock and awe.

Peace,

I know: I’m entirely wrong in my Christology and in my understanding of current evolutionary theories. But this is simply a true statement about me right now.