The Essentials: Knots (Part 1)

Knots are interestingly used to describe human conditions in several different ways.  If you have a knot in your stomach it describes a feeling of nervousness perhaps due to an uncomfortable situation.  If you have knots in your shoulders you have muscular pain in your trapezius or scapula area which is often caused by tension, stress or overuse.  If you are a knot head urbandictionary.com says you are a person who has trouble thinking in a logical progression, this is usually caused by a profound amount of circular reasoning tying your brain into a knot.

These knotty conditions can be caused by many things but I have found all three are commonly brought on or associated with discussions around creation and evolution.  I know that I have experienced all three but today I’ll just concentrate on the first. The topic of creation and evolution can give you knots in your stomach.

I can’t count the number of times I have had a knot in my stomach over this topics.  One of the most significant  times was when, early in my days as a Christian, my biology professor said that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.  I’ve already described this event so I won’t go into its impact here (you can follow this link if you want to read about it).  I’ll just say that it made me really uncomfortable and even caused me to question if I could continue pursuing biology.

There have been other times that have been extremely uncomfortable.  There was a time I was invited to a small group meeting with a speaker who specialized in young earth creation apologetics. It became clear to me early in that evening that I was alone in the crowd in my disagreement with the speaker. That night, after I asked the speaker to consider the possibility that Genesis’s genre might not necessitate a literal six day creation, I was forcefully reprimanded by the speaker for not taking God’s word seriously and told that I was being worked on by the devil by another person in attendance.  Needless to say that was not a very comfortable evening. 

While they didn’t feel good at the time these moments have helped shape my perspective on the topic of creation and evolution. Maybe you have been uncomfortable at times reading this blog. Maybe this is a good thing.  Distress can be a good motivator.  We can be motivated to never encounter the offending condition again or we can be moved to examine the situation further.  In seeking the source of our discomfort we can learn about ourselves, including the strengths and weaknesses of our position.