the historical adam

My dad handed me a provocative article from the magazine Christianity Today discussing the growth of the theistic evolution movement led by Francis Collins, the director of the National Institute of Health and director of the human genome project. The article was not written to persuade, rather to inform. I was informed. We naturally live within the world that is at our arms-length. Often it feels like my world, the world of homeless youth and family and finishing school, orbits around a different sun. As I read the article, which rose above the typical bickering that often distracts from substance in articles concerning both science and faith, I wondered again, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8). One of the most important questions that needs to be asked is "what is lost if we deny the existence of a historical Adam and Eve?" Even more, are there certain limitations or blindspots that scientists and theologians harbor? What saves? What heals? Science will never understand a miracle. It cannot reproduce it. The God of the Bible is not limited to natural laws. "Who can hold back his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'" (Daniel 4). God will never be proved by science, because he will never be dissected. God is not informed by natural laws. Christians should not forget that the earth is not a throne, but a footstool (Psalm 2). It is a plaything in the hands of God. None of these things discredit science. Science helps us understand the physical laws, which helps with and endless list of things like growing food, delivering babies, and building bombs. This is their domain. Do not ask them to write poetry or describe the events that led to the civil war. There is always the danger in discovery to regress. To gain the whole world and lose your soul. I think we will find in the end that it is not science that has the final word in describing what makes humans unique, it will be a tender Word, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well please."