EPISODE 1: What Darwin Never Knew
1. What is your reaction to the proposal that variation (the fact that there are many species) is a product of a natural selection? Do you feel that this is contradictory to what the Bible teaches that all creatures are created by God? Explain your answer.
2. What specific findings of evolution have an impact on you (surprised you, elated you, troubled you, etc.)? Explain why they do.
When I first heard about the theory of Charles Darwin regarding evolution, I was fascinated. Saying that various species are mere variations of each other brought me unexplainable joy. I feel that this new knowledge made me somehow understand the bond that different creatures shared with each other. I believe that with this discovery, the connections between different life forms are becoming very close to being explained. Although, don't get me wrong. This newfound elation does not influence my judgement, whatsoever. It's just that, I don't really see Charles Darwin's concept of variation being a product of natural means as contradictory to the Bible's teachings. Ever since I was a kid, I was taught that God created everything around me. So, I would like to think that He is also the cause of these variations. I mean, He created nature as well, did he not? I like to imagine that He is always watching over us, and He put a part of Himself in nature to ensure our survival in this ever-changing world.
Truly, it is a whole new atmosphere of deliberation whenever Religion and Science is discussed. I typically swerve from the questions in order to stay neutral of the idea. However, no one can stay neutral for long. I’m not saying that I have finally chosen sides. Instead, because of several new concepts introduced in the documentary, my eyes got even wider than they already are. The documentary provided several evidences that prove their take on natural selection. Just like anyone, my reaction was limited to the scope of being amazed and indulgent. Turns out, there are more things to the world than what we are unintentionally being told. Although despite all of this, my Christianity overcame these thoughts. I believe that scientists have only found answers about creation in their scientific language, something that the Bible does not provide. What I’m saying is, the Bible is no encyclopedia. It focuses on the teachings of God, going beyond the idea of creation. Including every single process of how the world was made isn’t idealistic. Don’t get me wrong, I am no disbeliever of science. It is just the contradictions that will make you think about what is behind the glass exterior of the Earth.
Evolution is not a new concept to be introduced to me. But, with the help of the video I received multiple key knowledge to understand it further. What probably astounds me the most is the island of Galapagos. Since last year, the country of Ecuador intrigues me to learn about their unique tertiary. I found it cool that their water goes straight down in the drain and without spirals or that you can’t walk in a straight line on the equator itself. With the help of the video, I found yet again another element that contributes to Ecuador’s uniqueness. Galapagos is an island filled with creatures you can’t see anywhere else. Personally, distinction attracts me the most and the island’s characteristic is exactly that.
Clearly learning about Natural Selection and how it works truly astounded me, finding out why animals vary from each other and how they got their differences is really pleasing to learn. As Catholics it’s always taught that God created all the things evolving around us and it’s been known that Science and the Bible always contradicts but I don’t think it does. Science wouldn’t be around if God didn’t created it. If you’re going to look up how things are made up in the bible it was explain religiously and focusing more with God but in science it’s just the same as what the bible says but it focuses to the topic scientifically. That’s why God is so creative and intelligent because he created species in a scientific way for scientific people to find out and to explain it scientifically.
Personally there are a lot that surprised and confused me but most of them are the process of Natural Selection and Mutation. Those process really did astonished me because knowing that animals cope up depending on its environment is really interesting, how they change their physical appearance and skills left a very big impression on me. And how organisms evolve through mutation is just as interesting. It left me a really large stun because knowing about this process just now and how it made me curious left me more interested with the topic. I always loved learning things that involves the earth and how it works. Knowing more about these topics are always an amazing thing to do.
I think that that statement does not have much of an astounding impact to me for it's such a natural occurance that I have grown accustomed to, except that it is only know that I was able to gain more knowledge about it. Hence, I was quite stunned because now that I have a wider perspective regarding variation and natural selection, I am now able to further understand how animals differ and how well they can adapt and survive in a specific environment depending as well on their environment and phenotype. On the other hand, I don't believe that this finding is in fact contradicting to what the bible states. Personally, I think that there will always be a huge gap between Science and religion due to some circumstances. However, technically speaking, God indeed first created an abundance of creatures. It just so happened that because of time and adaptation, each of those creatures' genes and DNA structures slowly progressed and transformed into different beings, some of which weren't even alive in the first place.
There is one specific finding that have left me dumbfounded, which I will discuss into two distinct ways. The first of which is our similarity with chickens and corn, including the fact that animals have gone a long way with the way they evolve. Given that situation, I just want to emphasize that we are less than 20 letters different from chickens, and that we share the same genes with corns! Could you believe that? What amazed me equally was how similar us humans were from apes or chimpanzees. Could you imagine that we are only a percent different from these two species? Well, what made us distinct from them was the fact that that one percent corresponds to muscle mass, I believe, which are the very reasons as to why we have thumbs, as well as us having a smaller jaw, giving way to a larger space for our brains. Furthermore, being more capable of doing many, greater things such as playing the instruments, being able to cook and the like.
