Evolution

I've been chatting a lot recently with friends and family about creation vs. evolution. It's quite the interesting topic, and each side has some convincing arguments, but also several gaping holes in their arguments. Here's a couple of things I've recently learned or come to realize.

Did you know that humans' DNA is 99.4% similar to monkeys? That's pretty freakin' close. But, on the other hand, there is no species of animal as uniform and similar in DNA as humans. We, even with all of our deviations and differences, ar 99.99something% identical in DNA. We're realtive clones! The only way we could all be so similar without more deviation is if we all started from the same point realtively recently, whether by some catastrophic event that eliminated all but very few of the human race (this is one scientific theory, but how this catastrophe would only affect the human race is not something I can try to answer), or, more likey in my opinion, by creation.

Another pitch for creationism: The human mind is incredibly powerful and complex. We use remarkably little of it, and yet we are still incredibly intelligent relative to other life. If we were to evolve by natural selection and evolution, our minds would have become as powerful as necessary for survival. As omnivores, there isn't really a predator/prey realtionship that humans face that would drive such an extreme adaptation. If our minds were in fact the product of evolution, we would necessarily have been, at some point, a race of geniuses that would have made Einstein seem mentally challenged, and for some reason must have digressed and become stupid. This just doesn't sit right.

But, on the other hand, who are to say exactly how life was created? Plant life and animal life were what... days 4 and 5 of the creation? Would evolution seem a possible explanation of how that life was created? It wasn't until a later period, from our scritural account, that man was placed on the earth. How much later? Perhaps long enough for life to evolve to what it is today? I think that's possible, even probable. I know it's been said that there was no death until the fall, but that is officially not church doctrine.

Turns out evolution and creation might just be the same thing.