Are your spiritual beliefs troubled by Darwinism? Are you bothered by the theory of evolution, a theory many believe to be fact? I just finished a wonderful book entitled "Darwin's God" by Cornelius G. Hunter that could help set your mind at ease.

Hunter is a biophysicist with an interesting way of looking at Darwin's theory. In his thoroughly researched and scholarly written book, he argues that all evolutionists, from Darwin himself down to his modern apologists, are heavily influenced by their metaphysical concept of God. In this instance, a very Victorian, Protestant concept of God. In many cases, their "proofs" of the theory of evolution are nothing more than the concept that "God wouldn't do it this way." While Hunter doesn't present his idea of how life developed on this planet, he does show that there are other belief options out there. To get all the details, I recommend you read the book yourself.

Here's my take on the subject of Creation. (Note: My "take" is influenced by my Mormon upbringing as well as the ideas of the author Michael Newton.) Did God create the world in seven days? No. Is God (or Allah, Vishnu, the Great Spirit, the Goddess, whatever you call him/her) the moving force behind life and the universe? Yes. Did/does God have help? Yes. Who are the helpers? Souls just like you and me. Probably souls that are further along in their advancement than we are, but maybe not.

In between our incarnations in the physical world, on this and other planets, we continue our training in the spiritual realms. Part of this training includes creating things. All things are created spiritually before they are created physically. The most complex things we create are living things. We experiment in the spiritual world with our spiritual creations, and at some point, when our skills are great enough, our creations are transferred into physical reality.

This universe is full of planets in various stages of development. Souls assist God in the on-going creation of the universe, from organizing planets to creating life-forms to populate them. We may start with something "easy", perhaps inanimate, like a rock or something. Then progress to creating a flower, or even a cockroach. These skills take ages to develop, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Earth years, but luckily, we have all eternity. Again, you or I may not posess these skill sets yet, but we're working on them. Once we perfect our spiritual creation skills, we assist in the creation of physical worlds.

Obviously we have to work within certain parameters. Life forms are developed for each planet based on the characteristics of that planet. For example: gravity, atmosphere, resources available, temperature, etc., all play a role in what can be created and survive on a particular planet. Think for a moment of all the types and varieties of life on this planet alone, from exotic fish surviving in the depths of the oceans to majestic birds soaring skyward. Then multiply that by the thousands of life supporting planets throughout the universe, and imagine all the possibilities.

Worlds and ecosystems are created to operate as autonomously as possible, but they may require a "nudge" from God. For thousands or even millions of years, life would seem to evolve and progress naturally. At certain periods however, corrections may need to be made. Wouldn't this explain the catastrophic elements in the fossil record, where many life forms appear and disappear almost overnight (in geologic terms)?

The goal of creation is to produce a world capable of supporting life-forms well developed enough to house our souls. On this planet, such life-forms are humans. (Not cows, cats, dogs, or mosquitoes, just humans.) On another planet, the higher life forms may be different. By entering a physical body, our souls can experience and learn from the physical world. These physical "lessons", be they pleasurable or painful, are a necessary part of our overall soul growth.

Eventually, after many lifetimes, we reach the point where physical incarnations are no longer required for growth, but even then, we continue our spiritual progression, until ultimately, we become one with God. I believe the creation and growth will never cease however, as new souls are organized and begin their growth process.

Whew! We covered a lot of metaphysical ground there! At least I admit to my metaphysical underpinnings, unlike the Darwinists.

Darwin was a negative person, he focused on explaining the "evils" of creation. Why are there parasites that eat the flesh of living animals? Much like St. Augustine was a negative person, who believed the idea of reincarnation was a "revolting opinion" that souls be required to "return again to that burden of corrupt flesh to pay the penalty of torment." My beliefs spring from a more positive outlook on life and creation.

I hope my rambling opinion makes some sense to you, dear reader. I'm not asking that you agree with it wholeheartedly. I'm simply asking that you consider the ideas. Think about other possibilities. Study, meditate, pray and use inspiration to develop your own beliefs, instead of blindly accepting those the evolutionists, or the fundamentalist creationists promulgate. God bless you.

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