We take that as a metaphor for the truth that we are part of the created order, and as such, we are born and we die. It is natural for evolutionary creationists to read these passages as assertions of solidarity with the life on earth. All go to one place all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.
They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals for all is vanity. The fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same as one dies, so dies the other. The “teacher” of Ecclesiastes asserts the same thing, comparing us to animals: As for mortals, their days are like grass they flourish like a flower of the field For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. For he knows how we were made he remembers that we are dust. The Psalmist says,Īs a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. It seems this message was understood to apply to all of us. Then he’ll return to the ground, for that’s where he was taken from to begin with-you are dust, and to dust you will return. The words are taken from Genesis 3:19, where God told “the man” that he is going to toil, struggle, and sweat trying to get food from the ground. It is difficult to maintain that this is some sort of chemical analysis of the composition of humans. I wonder, though, whether we who embrace the perspective of evolutionary creation might see other layers of meaning in this reminder of who we are. As part of the ritual, a priest or minister looks each congregant in the eyes and says these depressing words: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.”Īsh Wednesday is not a feel-good day on the church calendar for most people. One of those expressions occurs today-Ash Wednesday-as millions of Christians all over the world are marked on their foreheads in the shape of a cross with the ashes of last year’s Palm Sunday branches. It wasn’t until well into my adult life that I came to understand and appreciate such practices and the “high church” expression of faith. I had a couple of Catholic friends as a kid, and I felt sorry for them when they had to spend the 40 days (plus Sundays) leading up to Easter abstaining from ice cream, comic books, and other childhood necessities-and from meat on Fridays. We certainly didn’t participate in rituals we thought were attempts to earn the favor of God-though, to be fair, others thought we attempted to earn God’s favor by the things we didn’t do. I grew up in what is sometimes called a “low church” tradition that didn’t observe much of the church calendar.
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