Evolution of The Green Monkey....

Going from a Christian school to a public school can be very challenging. One of the challenges my oldest is facing is biology... Her teacher is a strong believer in evolution.. He has very strong opinions about his belief system.. What he is teaching as fact goes against everything my kid has grown up to believe.. My daughter asked me what she should do about this... My answer was to absorb everything he is teaching... I think it is very important to learn all sides of different belief systems... How can we participate in a conversation about what we believe and why without having some kind of knowledge about other beliefs? To say we believe by faith.. does not go very far with a scientist who looks to Darwin as the Father of Science.

I do believe that there are many things that evolve over time... Take viruses and bacterias for example.. How often have you heard the term antibiotic resistant... This happens when the virus/bacteria evolves into a stronger force and stronger medications are needed... Our body's resistance to germs has evolved over time as well.. I remember watching the War of The Worlds when the aliens started to die - Morgan Freeman's voice over tells us why the aliens could not live on Planet Earth.. Because their bodies did not have the ability to fight the single cell bacteria that humans had evolved over time to fight and continue living...

Today on the way home Nicole (my daughter) told us about an answer her biology teacher gave to a student who asked where the AIDS virus came from... This is how she described her teacher's answer..

"Well you see there was this one cell bacteria that evolved over time into the African Green Monkey... Some human decided to eat this African Green Monkey and the human caught AIDS either my eating the monkey or cutting the monkey open and getting it's blood in a wound.." Yes, this is a true story... I had heard the theory about the African Green Monkey - I know that it has been said that many primates carry the virus that is similar to AIDS.. What I found very odd was that the teacher started the answer by adding "there was a one cell bacteria..." It's crazy to me how a person's belief system can be added to topics that have nothing whatsoever to do with the belief...

For the record - I do not believe humans and/or animals evolved from one cell.. I find the theory incredibly silly.... But I believe it is important to learn the Theory of Evolution - for the fact that many people believe this theory and to wear a Christian chip on our shoulder and refuse to listen and/or understand their beliefs would make us arrogant.. and arrogance is not going to get you a good grade.. nor is it going to give us an opportunity to share our beliefs...

I love C.S. Lewis on Evolution

An egg which came from no bird is no more "natural" than a bird which had existed from all eternity. And since the egg-bird-egg sequence leads us to no plausible beginning, is it not reasonable to look for the real origin somewhere outside sequence altogether? You have to go outside the sequence of engines, into the world of men, to find the real originator of the rocket. Is it not equally reasonable to look outside Nature for the real Originator of the natural order?

They May Stray..

I was talking with a friend the other day.. We were talking about the challenges we face raising our children... The values and beliefs we try to teach them... The rights and wrongs of life... We try to give enough freedom so that they can learn and grow - but also set boundaries so that they will not stray too far from home..

As children and teenagers - our kids learn from our example... When our children go off to college - then they learn from their teacher's example... My hope and prayer is that my children will be strong in their beliefs and in their convictions and not change what they stand for because it is the popular thing to do... I hope and I pray that my girls will continue to weigh right and wrong and always choose right...

My friend was saddened because her son's belief system is completely different from when he was home... The Christian values they held as a family were tossed away.... because one professor told her son that there was no God.... and because there was no God - then everything that they had known to be true was also false...

Challenging ideas and beliefs is part of growing up.. I think.... In making their own decisions, they find themselves or at times lose themselves in the decisions they make... But this is something they must do to become strong in their adult life - it's part of breaking away from the apron strings.... and during this time we need to continue to love.... continue to support... continue to show our beliefs by example... Shoving our belief system down our child's throats will not help ... They grew up in our homes.. they already know what we believe even though they may act like they forgot... We need to continue to be their parents... continue to just be ourselves...

The Bible says that if we raise our children in the right direction... they may stray from the path... but they will find their way back.. So my job today, is to continue raising my children in the ways of the Lord... Give them their freedom inch by inch and pray for them everyday...