Comment on Walla Walla University: The Collegian Debates Evolution vs. Creation by Mandi from WWU.
As a biology major here at WWU I would like to state that in my 3 and a half years here my faith has been ever strengthened by not only the academic but spiritual and personal support I have received from the biology department here on campus. I think what people need to realize is that the science departments on campus were wary of this issue and in fact quite upset at the presentation of the results of a poorly written survey. The survey and most of the responding articles were not written by science majors. Not to say those who are not of a scientific major cannot have an opinion (they most certainly should) but evolution has a wide range of meanings and also explanations which the survey and printed issue did not clearly outline. I myself has a difficult time taking the survey because of the lack of scientific information provided to explain definitions. Here on campus there is a class called Philosophy of Origins and Speciation that all biology majors are required to take. It talks about the theories of origins from a Seventh-Day Adventist perspective. If they had asked me to respond I would have shared my belief, which is the same as my major professors and I believe most of my fellow students, that I believe in creation and have been encouraged by all my professors to study not only my textbooks but my Bible as well. So often I get into conversations with fellow students and professors about complexities of cellular signaling or the fine balance of our universe and while we bring up scientific studies we always agree that God works in ways so vastly unimaginable. He is the Great Scientist. Science and the Bible can work together, I have seen it happen here on this (WWU) campus. Evolution is not merely a matter of origins. Micro and macro evolution are very different things. Even the term “macroevolution” has a multiplicity of definitions. I believe in creation. I also believe that our God is so intelligent and cares for us so deeply that He created within all of His creation the ability of adaptation and evolution so that we could survive in a world so ravaged by sin. We don’t know all the answers. The Bible is not a procedural write-up and science can sometimes be narrow minded. I believe that one day, when God tells us how He created the world and all the corresponding science, we will all be blown away by how narrow our views were because we know so little. I pray that everyones hearts and minds maybe open by Christ. Debate and questioning are not wrong. What matters is the conclusions we each reach. May God lead us to His conclusion and not our own.
