ASA Student Writing Competition Poetry Winner: Kendall Vanderslice

From Where Do We Come?
A Children’s Poem about Human Origins

In Genesis 1, your Bible will say,
            Adam was formed with God’s breath and some clay.
So what do we do when scientists find
            Bones that suggest it took lots more time?
If God is so good then why would He make
            Hundreds of fossils that really are fake?
If science is right, then what do we do?
            Is our Bible really just hullaballoo?

Some Christians believe in Young Earth Creation
            The Bible, they say, is our only foundation.
Each verse should be read in a literal way
            God formed the whole earth, day by day
The age of the earth is just 10,000 years
            Don’t worry how old any fossil appears.
Adam and Eve: the first woman and man
            They ate the wrong fruit and then sin began.

But scientists think that this cannot be true
            All humans were born through creation of two?
Then how come so many fossils are found
            That show many other people around?
Not only that, there are all different kinds
            Of hominids beyond the Bible’s confines.
Some even date back millions of years
            “Young Earth Creation?” the scientist sneers.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis, it’s quite hard to say.
            The age of his bones will make you shout “No way!”
7 million years old, dating methods reveal.
            And, yes, we believe that this creature was real!
Orrorin tugensis, the next in line.
            At 6 million years, having two legs was prime.
These creatures are called the pre-australopiths.
            There’s no reason to think that they were myths.

“Australopithicus afarensis is my name,
            The skeleton Lucy gained all of my fame.
I walked on two feet, and my brain was quite small.
             I stood erect at about 4 feet tall.
My buddy Paranthropus came soon after me.
            With really big teeth, his flat face is key.
He had a thick bone running down his head,
            The 'sagittal crest' is how it is said.”

At 2.4 million years, we find the genus Homo.
            Habilis is the oldest of which we know.
As time goes on, some stone tools appear,
            And the brain grows bigger, could culture be near?
Erectus and later the heidelbergensis
            Then finally our friend, Mr. neandertalensis.
Each species gets closer to what we see today,
            But not one of them stayed around to play.

It’s not until the Upper Paleolithic
            That we see any hominins we might deem terrific.
This means it was 40,000 years ago
            That people like us wandered to and fro.
But still, this is older than YEC thinks true,
            A problem appears, oh what do we do?
How do we believe that the Bible is right,
            And also avoid the scientific fight?

Divine evolution is good middle ground,
            But some implications just aren’t very sound.
Were Adam and Eve real people or fake?
            And what about all of the fruit that they ate?
What is sin? When did it begin?
            What about soul? Are we separate or whole?
The answer just isn’t as simple as this,
            Too many questions deny such bliss.      
  
Let’s get back to what we know is true:
            God is good, and He loves me and you.
He revealed Himself in the Bible and nature,
            Of these two things we always can stay sure.
But these things tend not to stay quite so clean
            When we try and determine what all they mean.
Beware not to pick one over another,
            God uses the two like sister and brother.

They might not make sense to our limited mind,
            But do not doubt that our God is still kind.
He says it’s okay to throw our hands in the air,
            And determine that we can’t understand the pair.
The best way for us to glorify Him
            Is to admit that the answer isn’t proper or prim.
One day, He says, it will all make sense.
            Till then, just remember, the confusion is tense.

In Genesis 1 your Bible will say,
            Adam was formed with God’s breath and some clay.
We also know that scientists find,
            Bones that suggest it took a lot more time.
We know God is good and He would not make
            Hundreds of fossils that really are fake.
Please do not doubt that your Bible is true,
            But never forget there is more to it too.


-- Kendall Vanderslice