So, my igo*gle page says it's Darwin's 200th birthday. And just like that, I thought to myself, WOW it's only been 200 years since he was born, how long has it been since he dreamed up "a workable theory" of evolution?
So a few minutes' of research later, I found out today that Darwin was 29 when he came up with his theory of natural selection, and 50 when his Origins of Species book was published. So, in the 149 years since his book was published, the world has really done some "progressive" thinking. I say this with tongue in cheek. (just in case you don't know)
Growing up in a Christian school, I was NOT taught the history of evolution*, at least not in a way that impacted my long term memory, and I thought some of my readers might be in the same boat. I found this timeline of pre-darwinian thought, and did a little reading on Darwin elsewhere.
All I have to say is "huh." I guess if you do not have faith in the Bible's account of Creation and the power of God you have to have faith to believe something else happened. I for one choose to believe that a loving God created me for his glory.
*I do believe students in Christian schools SHOULD be taught evolutionary theories, for a variety of reasons, chiefly so that we can be educated about common thoughts in our culture and so that we can have intelligent conversations on this topic.
4 comments:
Lissa went to a christian school from 8th grade on and I think they made her aware of other theories.
Carmen went to public school all her life and she was very aware of other theories but not Christian thought at school. She did get the christian view from church and home.
A child spends most of his time at school and it has a very strong influence on there lives. Even more than home life and church.
So these days I would send my children to christian school and make them aware of other theories, so like you said they can have an intelligent conversation on the subject.
You won't get the christian view at school where your child spends most of the hours of their day.
An excellent book to read, if you haven't already, is The Case For a Creator by Lee Strobel. Very eye-opening, imo. You would get to see what lies all us public-school educated folks were taught.
Interesting. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day, Feb 12, 1809!! I never would have put those two in the same period of history.
As a student in a public school, evolution and other non-Biblical theories were often a point of discussion in our Christian home. My mom told us to always write on tests or term papers: "According to Darwin..." so that we would get credit for learning the lessons, but not actually saying something that we didn't believe.
I agree with you on your thoughts about students being taught current theories. Good post...very educational! THANKS
You need to watch "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" a documentary by Ben Stein. It's SOOOOO GOOD. Our local library had a copy
Post a Comment