BIO 100

I heard the, “clomp, bump, clomp,” of my boots while I walked down the cement cattle manger. One of my boots must have been my older brothers, but I did not care because the bigger it was the louder, "clomp," it made when I walked. Some were behind the rows of locked in cattle I heard my dad yell for me to come and tell him the number of a particular cow. I stuck my hands out while I turned around on the manger and picked my way back. After telling him the number he slapped the cow and told me to put her number on the list she needed to be breed. Despite my gloves my fingers still fumbled like ice-cubes in my coat pockets for the 3 inch piece of paper. I guess that natural selection never really bothered me because that is what fathers are supposed to do… breed animals together. The Origin of Species seems to be a heated debate centered on God and nature, but if humans have been practicing artificial selection for thousands of years I believe it is possible that God could use the same methods.
Historical Context
Charles Darwin did not even want to publish The Origin of Species until after his death because he anticipated the volumes of attacks against him, but even his death did not stop him from being scrutinized. There are so many emotions that seem to explode when someone simply says evolution. The two teams line up with evolutionist on one side and the divine interventionist on the other. Pathetically it seems that the God is the ball kicked between the two sides. I can almost hear the commentators now, “evolutionist has the ball, but here comes a divine interventionist with another publication from Texas.” It is a truly degrading game, and almost seems impossible for mankind not to play especially in the case of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species.
Context
Charles Darwin starts his book as if he were starting a dinner conversation. The first chapter of The Origin of Species is all about artificial selection. Darwin takes particular detail to explain domestic dogs and how different these breeds are than the wild breeds. He then talks about how particular breeders are when selecting dogs for breeding. Then he decides the great diversity of domestic breeds as a result of the breeders. Artificial selection is a subject that people are familiar with.
The first chapter of The Origin of Species hit home for me. While I was growing up I can remember dinner conversations about cattle, breeding, and bulls. My dad and brothers would sit around the table while we ate stake and talk: who the bull was, how old the cow was, and what kind of calves she had while we were eating. Although I would never recommend this topic of conversation on a date it was a relatively natural conversation in our home. There were magazines full of statistics and percentages in the mailbox every month advertising bull’s semen. Artificial selection was just another everyday topic of conversation.
I only bring up this memory to illustrate how mild Darwin begins his book. When critiques mention Darwin the first chapter is hardly even summarized, because there does not seem to be an argument about mankind’s ability to take a husky dog and breed it with a husky dog. No one seems eager to debate if a breeder wanted to have grey pigeons the breeder would breed grey pigeons with grey pigeons. There does not even seem to be a debate there. Humans accept their able to do artificial selection.
Humans are capable of artificial selection and God (mankind’s father and creator) must also be able to use artificial selection. Charles Darwin wrote, “How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! How short his time! And consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods. Can we wonder, then, that nature’s productions should be far “truer” in character than man’s productions; that they should be infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher workmanship?” This quote taken from The Origin of Species does not seem to dismiss God from the creation process, but to glorify His involvement in the creation through the process of natural selection, a process similar and far more complex than artificial selection.
Personal
I really enjoy the subjects of natural selection, evolutions, and genetic drift. The more that I learn about each of these subjects the more I find great comfort in my God. In my opinion there is not anything more impressive than a God who can not only understand evolution, but can utilize it. Humans have been using artificial selection for thousands of years, and what do we have to say for it: dogs on our front porch that cannot catch a Frisbee let alone their own dinner and giant tomatoes in our gardens that have no taste. I do not want to put the reader under the impression that I am against artificial selection. There are good examples of artificial selection such as whole wheat bread, corn on the cob, and brightly colored flowers. What I do want the reader to understand is that I think humans have a lot to learn about creation, before we can get it right. If humans have been using artificial selection to make different species I believe that God is very capable of breeding animals together to make different species.
This paper’s purpose is not to proclaim that God used natural selection to create mankind, but I believe that if humans are capable of taking a wild animal and breeding that animal with another to the point that there are two species my Heavenly Father must also be capable of taking a species and over time create another species. I would not lower my God’s intelligence below that of mankind’s intelligence of the creation. There never really was a struggle for me to understand natural selection, because I know that my father, Paul Albert Prior, is able to breed a cow with a bull to create what his ideal image of a cow should be. It seems blasphemies to claim that an all knowing God could not use a similar process to create any species He wished into His ideal image. Like I mentioned before I do not profess to know that God used natural selection in the creation process, but I do believe that He is capable of using natural selection if He wished.