The purpose of dinosaurs: Extinction and the goodness of God | The Christian Century:
Christians who accept evolution as a mode of divine creation and say that it is not a problem for them have yet to absorb the narrative shock of it. It remains acknowledged but unassimilated. In the above article you have some stumbling attempts at it.
What indeed was the point --and Christianity always assumes a point-- of all those extinct creatures and world?
What does the evolutionary history of the universe over the last 14+ billion years suggest about the character of the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent Creator?
'via Blog this'
2 comments:
Christianity is defined by Man's relationship with God, which is close and personal. Justifying the sheer amount of death and destruction in the universe before our coming is a doozy for a religion that prides itself on a loving God.
The Thirteen make it a bit easier. The presence of death is explainable by the Stranger- if one of God's aspects is Lord of Death and the Unknown, life will automatically entail the ending of other lives and its own life. The Warrior would obviously be interested in a violent world where life needs to grow and adapt. The Father would insist on sticking to the rules that the Godhead wrote together: if it takes 14 billion years for their perfect creation to come along, then so be it. And who's to say that humans are really that important in the grand scheme of things? Just how hard is it for sapience to arise? Who's to say we are not just another variation on the Godhead's theme?
In the end, we just need to say "Beats me" and trust that, if the Godhead is a writer, then Man's role as a character in the narrative can only be understood from outside it. If it is our destiny after death to learn how we and Man as a whole fits into the narrative of Existence.
Why dinosaurs, you ask? "Because dinosaurs are cool to study and think about," says the Shaman. "And they make for an awesome story!" says the Singer.
Dei dixerunt.
-Sean
Tut tut for citing the bible and not the church, but - Ecclesiastes has much to say on pointlessness.
The Bishop of Portland
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