Before we leave the topic of creation, as expressed in The Apostles' Creed, I thought it might be helpful to share a bit of what C. S. Lewis believed about creation and evolution. The following is taken from my book, Mere Theology....
Lewis
makes it clear in The Problem of Pain
that he believes that animals existed long before men.[1] This is one of the tenets he accepts
from the evolutionists. For Lewis,
this does not conflict with the biblical teaching about the creation of the
first human beings or the creation days of Genesis 1. Remember that for Lewis, the early chapters of Genesis are
told in the form of a folk tale. Therefore, it could be argued, that
Lewis viewed the creation days of Genesis 1 as a literary framework, rather
than viewing them as six, twenty-four hour days.[2] According to Lewis, the Bible does not
limit us to belief in any definite period of time in which the creation of man
followed the creation of animals.
Lewis
indicates that he believes it possible, and in no conflict with the Bible, that
God raised one of the primates eventually to become Man. Genesis 2:7 says, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man
became a living being.” Commenting
on this verse, Lewis writes that man is clearly made out of something else.
Man is an animal, but he is an animal called to be, or raised to be
something more than an animal.
Lewis asserts that the difficulties he has with evolution are not
religious. Therefore, on the
ordinary biological level, one of the primates is changed so that he becomes
man, but man remains still a primate and an animal. Human beings are taken up into a new life without
relinquishing the old.[3] In another place, Lewis theorizes that
for long centuries God perfected the animal form which was to become man and
the image of Himself. God gave to
this animal hands whose thumb could be applied to each of the fingers, jaws,
teeth and throat capable of articulation, and a brain sufficiently complex to
execute all the material motions of rational thought. Lewis muses that this creature may have existed for ages in
this state before it became man.[4]
A
third tenet that Lewis accepts from the evolutionists is the possibility that
the human race started from multiple numbers of human beings rather than a
single pair. At times Lewis
indicates his belief in an historical Adam and Eve.[5] However, he is open to the possibility
that God may have created many human beings in this original, paradisal state.[6]
A
fourth tenet of evolution that Lewis accepts is the idea that pre-human forms of
life are recapitulated in the human womb.
This point, which evolutionists use to try and prove that Man evolved
from lower life forms, Lewis accepts as a matter of course.[7]
[1]The Problem of Pain, p. 133.
[2]One
problem, of course, with viewing the creation days of Genesis 1 as six,
twenty-four hour days is that the sun is not even created until the fourth
day. How can you have 24-hour days
without the earth revolving around the sun?
[3]Reflections on the Psalms, p.115. It is humorous to note how some
Christians object to the idea that man came from apes as being
undignified. After all, what could
be more undignified than the idea that man came from dirt (Genesis 2:7)?
[4]The Problem of Pain, p. 77. See also Lewis’ letter to Sister
Penelope of 10 January 1952 in Letters,
p. 417.
[5]See
again: Wilson, p. 210.
[6]The Problem of Pain, p. 79.
[7]Miracles, p. 138.
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