by Labate 17 Replies latest jw friends
Perhaps this has been discussed in the past, but I can't help noticing that on many posts creation vs evolution seems to equal theist vs atheist. Granted, a creationist by defination would have to believe in a creator. On the other hand, believing in evolution doesn't automatically make one an atheist, A small point perhaps, but I think it would be more accurate to say believer vs nonbeliever.
Just sayin'.
If you believe in evolution then, while a deist type god is not out of the question, it pretty much negates the adam and eve story, original sin, the reason jesus came to the earth etc. It negates everything a christian believes in really.
Many christians accept the fact of evolution. It is only fundies, cults and muslims that reject it.
Science is based on the principle of methodological naturalism. That means beginning with an assumption that there is an answer to all questions that doesn't involve the supernatural. The moment you admit an intelligent designer you have stopped doing science and made further investigation impossible.
"Theistic evolution" takes the position that unguided evolution explains all of life but that there is also a deity who at most set the initial conditions.
It pays respect to the science but it raises difficult theological questions. Why would a god use a method that requires millions of years of death and extinction. 99% of all species in life's history no longer exist. Homo sapiens with minds like ours have been around for maybe 200,000 years. They mostly died young from starvation, predation, and illness. In all those centuries god did nothing. Why?
Many christians accept the fact of evolution.
They accept it as they know if they don't they will be increasingly marginalised as nutters.
The problem is then they struggle to square the circle as to why Jesus came to earth and had to die.
So I'm not sure you can be a (proper) Christian and believe in evolution.
I think it's possible a diety could have created the universe, the material that was needed for matter and the power to create the big bang. He could have also went around to planets planting seeds of DNA and the things needed to start life. Now he's kicking back and watching it all. He is indifferent to what happens to life on each planet he seeded just studying the whole thing. Its possible.
I believe in evolution and am not an atheist because it is possible.
Landy:
So I'm not sure you can be a (proper) Christian and believe in evolution.
I was born into and grew up in a strict Catholic family, taught by priests and nuns, etc. There was never any objection to the concept of evolution. In fact, we were taught that it was an error to try to read the bible as a book of science, or as a book of history, or that there was an actual garden of Eden. All those stories had messages in them to tease out. Put another way, I was taught that to read Genesis literally, was to miss the point of the message of being a Christian.
So I have to disagree.
That means beginning with an assumption that there is an answer to all questions that doesn't involve the supernatural.
Not quite right. Science doesn't assume there are no supernatural answers. Rather, it recognizes that there is no current method of detecting or investigating the supernatural and thus seeks naturalistic explanations.
Though I do think it's worth pointing out that every time we've been able to study a phenomenon that was supposedly "supernatural" in origin - it has turned out to have a natural cause. Most likely the reason we can't detect the supernatural is because it doesn't exist.
I was born into and grew up in a strict Catholic family, taught by priests and nuns, etc. There was never any objection to the concept of evolution. In fact, we were taught that it was an error to try to read the bible as a book of science, or as a book of history, or that there was an actual garden of Eden. All those stories had messages in them to tease out. Put another way, I was taught that to read Genesis literally, was to miss the point of the message of being a Christian.
So I have to disagree.
So what did they teach you was the reason Jesus came to the earth and had to die then?
Or was Jesus' existance allegorical as well?
