Creation or Evolution - Do we have to choose?

'Let us make man in our own image'

God said, ‘Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven.’ And so it was. God created great sea-serpents and every kind of living creature with which the waters teem, and every kind of winged creature. God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth.’ Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.

  God said, ‘Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast.’ And so it was. God made every kind of wild beast, every kind of cattle, and every kind of land reptile. God saw that it was good.

  God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.’

God created man in the image of himself,

in the image of God he created him,

male and female he created them.

God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of heaven and all living reptiles on the earth I give all the foliage of plants for food.’ And so it was. God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came: the sixth day.

  Thus heaven and earth were completed with all their array. On the seventh day, God completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.

  Such were the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.

Certainly, it is very clear in the Bible that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day.  There is no room for discussion at all, or is there? 

The author of Genesis goes out of his way to divide creation in six easy bites of the apple. But why does he do that?  God is God and He has no limits, so why did He, according to the Bible construct the world piecemeal?  Couldn't have he done it in one fell swoop, you know, snap, everything appears.  No, according to Genesis, it took God six days and then, He rested.  God does not get tired no matter how many universes and worlds He creates but Genesis says that He rested. 

Evangelicals have nothing to hold on to except the Bible. For them, it is written down, that's how it happened, discussion closed. When it comes to creation, the Evangelicals have declared war on science. In the face of overwhelming evidence, they reject the notion of evolution because it is not in the Bible.  Am I going to scold them for this?  Not at all.  There is no reason for them to change their beliefs.  It is perfectly fine to take the creation story as written and use it as the basis of faith.  

On the other hand, what about those of us that believe that a loving God is not hampered by our thoughts on how things should be.  Can we reject out of hand the creation stories in the Bible and travel the road of evolution?  Yes, we can.  I personally find no problem with either scenario.  In each case, the cause of creation is the action of a loving God, a Father to us all.  How he chose to create this world and fill it with wonders and the means of support for all of the creatures is His business and I do not question the methods He chose to apply in reaching the goal He set for Himself. 

This reflection is not the forum to discuss this in detail.  There are many books related to this subject.  I think what I would like you to take away from this reflection is simply that we are here.  It does not matter how we got here because it was God who chose the way and means to get the job done.  We often ask if creation or evolution was the way He chose.  Maybe it was creation AND evolution that fit his plans best.