What strikes me as most important about the Creation story in Genesis 1 is that it occupies only a fraction of the Biblical record. It seems to indicate that there is a break, in humanity, with the processes that ruled evolution for billions of years. Indeed, this is the impact of the cerebral cortex. The … Continue reading Why Humanity?
Author: Brian Balke
Why were Adam and Eve evicted from Eden? Common theology holds that they surrendered the virtue upon partaking of the "fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." God could no longer tolerate their presence. In the mournful, "Adam? Where are you?" I hear not judgment, but parental heartbreak. An ill child … Continue reading Eviction
The parable of the ten bridesmaids [Matt. 25] seems a non-sequitor. Why did Jesus offer it? One view is that he was pulling the beards of the priesthood. But was he also speaking to women regarding their journey? Consider that the bridesmaids do not wait with the bride. Instead, they attend the groom. Was this … Continue reading Bridesmaids
When Jesus cited the Jewish book of prayer, "Love God...and your neighbor," he was excluding selfishness. When the biologist Richard Dawkins wrote a book titled "The Selfish Gene," he was testifying that Darwinian evolution is the opposite of Christianity. In satisfying the goals of selfishness, living creatures are chained to two primary drives: survival and … Continue reading Driven Toward Love – Naturally
Why does Jesus caution, "What do you benefit if you gain the world but lose your soul?" [Matt. 16:26] Incarnation - the joining of a soul to a body - begins organically in the womb. The proliferating cells slowly embrace and absorb the infant's soul. The point of incarnation, though, is to project will into … Continue reading Your Soul is not a Toy