Thursday, October 30, 2014

SELFIES, CREATION VS. EVOLUTION, GOD, THE UNIVERSE AND LIFE IN GENERAL.


This came up to me in one of my frequent forays into Facebook (which nowadays has been more frequent than usual because I'm on vacation) there are people who get to have their activity known on Facebook because you see their faces plastered in selfies every time they post. I'm not fond of taking selfies, because I believe that there are other things more interesting than my face. What people may know of me are the posts that I do and the pictures that I may share, but never my face. You won't see much of me when I post, but you may hear or know of me: what I do, what I think, my opinions, what made me laught, what makes me feel strongly about something. Sometimes I feel that people may perceive me to be rather faceless, a faceless presence in social media networks, who is active nevertheless.
This week the media went bonkers once again with what our Holy Father Francis said about creation and evolution. Media went crazy over what Francis said about creation (an article of faith) being compatible with evolution (which is almost always placed in contrast and opposition with the fact of creation). But this isn't news in the Church anymore, at least since 1950. Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical “Humani Generis” that particular year affirming that there was no conflict between evolution and Catholic faith. Pope John Paul II reaffirmed that, stressing that evolution was more than a hypothesis, in 1996. Pope Benedict XVI hosted a conference on the nuances of creation and evolution in 2006 (got this from an article). There's no contradiction from the fact that God created, and nature continued on its way with the laws placed into it by its Creator. 
This is how one could understand it: creation is God taking a selfie; you won't immediately see God in the way creation carries itself through after it had been LOVED into being, but it doesn't mean that God isn't there as well. That's evolution, that's how the created world goes about. Evolution is God's post in FB: you don't see his face, but you know he's there.
The same is true in life. How we wish we could see the face of God clearly as we could with the sun and the trees and the stars. How we wish we could see his face clearly especially in hard times. But I'm afraid God isn't much into selfies. One selfie is enough for him. But just because he doesn't take one doesn't mean that he doesn't exist, or that he doesn't care.