The Threat of Evolution

This past weekend I went to the zoo, with some people very close to me. It was so much fun that afterwards, I got depressed about not having so much fun anymore. I saw some animals I hadn’t seen in a long time, as well as some I had never seen before. The day went well and I can’t say I have anything to complain about at all. There’s just one subject that came to my attention, for some odd reason, while I was enjoying my fun day. That subject is evolution.
During my non-educational rendezvous at the zoo, I was thrilled to be able to observe some of my favorite animals: monkeys. They’re so much like humans in certain ways, but not so much in others. Out of the many different species of monkeys, so many of them are very acrobatic, swinging with ease, using every limb and appendage. I witnessed some of the smallest monkeys I’ve ever seen, tapirs and what have you. It is these small creatures that we are said to have descended from, before we turned into the great apes that are still with us today, and then into our missing link or links.
It was in my far off observance of a lone chimp, that I began to ponder what is so much a threat to “creationists” like myself, all over the planet. I noticed the chimp’s slumbering demeanor and captivity-induced withdrawal. To me it seemed as if this apathetic creature just merely existed. I had no chance to interact with the chimpanzee, but I thought about to what depth the animal might think or feel.
Anyways, I pondered the theory of evolution. Even though the scenario had gone through my head several times since the first time, I really mulled it over for a while this time. I asked myself, “Could we really be descended from these creatures?” As I thought, I replayed in my mind all the “educational” programs I’ve watched on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic that expounded on the theory. I thought about an alternate reality, wherein about twenty-million years ago we were these chimps, and all we did was eat bananas, swing from trees and get eaten by bigger animals. How did this scenario make me feel? Depressed, even though I know better.
My faith in God is strong, and to me, science just proves His magnificence even further. Some who have less faith than myself, may take evolution to mean that there is no creation. And that there is just spontaneous reorganization to a higher degree of complexity, from an original disorganization. Some scientists have gone deeper into the theory, not content to agree that we’ve evolved from lesser life forms. Certain people advocate that it was mere chance that we were the only species to evolve to such a level, to dominate and subjugate our environment and all species in it. They believe that there is nothing special about our evolution, and that any other species could have done the same if conditions were favorable in the least. I don’t believe so. This tale is far fetched, and to say so in my opinion would be irrational, and unwise.
Have you ever thought about our earth? Is it mere coincidence that it is the only planet within our scope of discovery that is capable of supporting such endless diversity of life forms? Is it pure chance that our planet has an ecosystem with just the right temperature, which maintains a hospitable atmosphere, trading oxygen for carbon dioxide between plants and animals? No. The fact that our existence hasn’t been snuffed out by cataclysm already is a miracle in itself.
Call it intelligent design, or call it creationism or whatever you want. To me it’s just a combination of faith and plain common sense. I am no scientist and I won’t presume to argue the details, but I don’t want or feel the need to live in a world without a creator. I don’t find comfort in the thought that we’re not special, and that our planet is the beauty that it is by pure chance. Who knows? Four-hundred years from now they’ll probably be laughing that the ‘primitive’ theory that was “evolution”.

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