The perpetual debate between those who believe in evolution and those who believe in creation by intelligent design ignores one simple answer that satisfies both sides.
Evolution could simply be one of the tools that God used to perfect His creations in an ongoing process. If we examine our existence through that lens, we might recognize the signs.
Take your hand, for instance – five fingers, each a different length, each capable of maneuvering in multiple ways. You have an opposable thumb which enables you to grip things that would be difficult if not impossible otherwise. The nearly unlimited variations of finger positions and independent actions allow humans to invent and play musical instruments, perform delicate surgeries, and communicate without verbal cues.
Those same miraculous fingers allow humans to invent, build and use tools to create and construct ever more complex devices and structures.
Okay. Other creatures have five digits on their paws or hands. How does that fit in the creation/evolution debate?
No contest.
If we consider the possibility that God used evolution as a tool to build His ultimate human creation, it is a reasonable consideration that those five digits were part of the earliest stages of creating animal life. Once that foundation was established, God may have used His tool of evolution to enhance and perfect His final design. It is reasonable to assume that the evolution of what would become the human hand was part of the process toward intelligent and capable humanity.
Turn the page. Type the words. Dial the phone. Hold the tool. Pet the dog. Bait the hook. Twist the cap. Sign your name. Summon the waiter.
The infinite number of uses for those five talented digits is incomprehensible. While five digits are common in the animal kingdom, only humans have developed the range of skills that separate us from other animal life forms.
Evolution? Yes, but evolution as part of the complex process of creating the most versatile life form on planet earth.
When we truly contemplate how the human hand and those remarkable fingers have contributed to the rise of human civilization, it’s hard to see it as just an accident. The case for intelligent design wins – hands down.