Which came first?

I was at the grocery store in Blacksville, WV yesterday.  A gentleman walks in and gets a carton of eggs.  I am looking at the meat counter, trying to decide between turkey or ham for Hubby's lunch.  The lady who works the meat counter must have seen the man before.  He is probably from the town and is in there often.  As he picks up the carton of eggs he says "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" to the lady behind the counter.  She says to him "I'm not sure.  The jury is still out on that one".  The man gets his eggs, and leaves.  There was another lady behind the counter and she asks Lady A, "so, which came first?".  Thinking this was odd since she just answered the question, I kept listening.  Lady A says, "I think the chicken came first.". Lady B says "where did it come from? Thin air?".  Then Lady A says "Yes".  And the subject was dropped.  I tell you this little story to get to my point.  I never realized what a loaded question that was.  When I was a kid that was the funniest thing.  You ask someone and they say "the egg", then you say "then where did it come from", then they say "the chicken", then you say "then where did it come from", then you both go on like this for a while and then laugh uncontrollably at the ridiculous question.  It was like a joke.  I don't think that anyone really claims to have it figured out.  It's complex, yet very simple.  Recently I figured out what makes it such a difficult question to answer.  I would say with in the last 5 years.  The question itself is not what it appears to be.  Aristotle (384-320 BC) himself was perplexed by this question.  The reason this question is so difficult is because of the religious or faith base of the answer.  It is the ultimate Science vs. Evolution question.  Did the chicken evolve into a chicken before it hatched, thus the egg comes before the chicken.  Or did God simply create the chicken, which then did what God commanded in Genesis 1:22 "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."  Thus, the chicken came before the egg.  As a child, I never understood the complexity of answering this question.  I believe that Lady A in the story may have believed that the chicken came first because God says so.  I also believe that there were one of two reasons that she didn't answer the man, 1. by answering him she would have then been into a lengthy conversation with a man who would continue to draw it out into a debate, or 2. she did not wish to share her religious beliefs with a customer while at work.  I am convinced that she knew the man and based her reply on what she knew of him.  I also think that in many a work places it is frowned on to speak about your faith in such a manner while you are working.  As for which came first.....I am a chicken came first girl myself.  You decide for yourself.  The fact is this.....God could have done either way.  However He wanted it.  Maybe He did it this way, because He knew what would happen.  Which came first, the fish or the egg, the human or the egg (yes we do), the duck or the egg.....The fact is it wouldn't matter how God did it, the fact is He did.  If we somehow figured out which was first in the chicken/egg question, it wouldn't change the course of the universe.  If you are ever asked the which came first question, and don't know what to say, you can always use the alphabet.  Chicken starts with C and Egg starts with E, so C comes before E, Chicken comes first.  

That is enough deep thought for one day.  Enjoy your day.  Spring will be here soon (I hope).