Christianity... and the fact of evolution

[bbbbbbb]

Gods helpers created life as we know it by the technique of evolution.

The creators of Genesis didn't know any better AND they didn't claim to be writing by divine inspiration. That theory came much, much latter. The authors were writing a book for spiritual instruction to the child like minds of Bronze age sheep herders. It was the biased and exaggerated story of the Israelite people for public consumption.

I always love the hubris we attach to ourselves when we arrogate to ourselves vastly greater intelligence than previous generations. Sadly, the average intelligence levels of school children in the United States, as measured by standard tests, has been declining steadily for the past fifty years.

 

[hedrick]

I always love the hubris we attach to ourselves when we arrogate to ourselves vastly greater intelligence than previous generations.

There's a difference between intelligence and knowledge. We certainly do know more things than previous generations. If we didn't, something would be wrong.

 

[bbbbbbb]

There's a difference between intelligence and knowledge. We certainly do know more things than previous generations. If we didn't, something would be wrong.

I agree. However, most people today learn little, if anything, from the past, so that we continue to repeat history, especially in atrocities, ad nauseum.

 

[Archivist]

I agree. However, most people today learn little, if anything, from the past, so that we continue to repeat history, especially in atrocities, ad nauseum.

People throughout history have failed to learn from the past. Wasn’t World War I supposed to have been the war to end all wars? How many wars have we had since then? Don’t say that the current generation has failed to learn from the past—that is an ongoing issue.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

People throughout history have failed to learn from the past. Wasn’t World War I supposed to have been the war to end all wars? How many wars have we had since then? Don’t say that the current generation has failed to learn from the past—that is an ongoing issue.

Anyone remember the cult of Jim Jones in Guyana?
I was 28 yrs old at the time and it was the top news story that year. Horrifying!

2Pe 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them,
and bring on themselves swift destruction.

Jonestown - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

The death toll at Jonestown on November 18, 1978 was 909 people, a third of them children.
A few people managed to escape into the jungle that day, while at least several dozen more Peoples Temple members, including several of Jones' sons, were in another part of Guyana at the time.

................The words posted at Jonestown over the stage, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” resound with me.

.............

 

[bbbbbbb]

Anyone remember the cult of Jim Jones in Guyana?
I was 28 yrs old at the time and it was the top news story that year. Horrifying!

2Pe 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them,
and bring on themselves swift destruction.

Jonestown - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

The death toll at Jonestown on November 18, 1978 was 909 people, a third of them children.
A few people managed to escape into the jungle that day, while at least several dozen more Peoples Temple members, including several of Jones' sons, were in another part of Guyana at the time.

................The words posted at Jonestown over the stage, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” resound with me.

.............View attachment 229131

Yes, I remember that. I was 27 at the time. Terrible.

 

[Tayla]

If evolution is one of the strongest explanatory theories in any academic field, I mean, the evidence is simply overwhelming, how do Christians reconcile this?

Evolution isn't strongly proved as evolutionists claim. They merely make up stories to explain the observations. But they can't prove any of it because they can't do experiments to validate their ideas.

 

[Biblewriter]

Jesus quoted spiritual truths from the scripture but knew they were man made and faulty.

There is not even the slightest basis for this ridiculous claim.

 

[sparow]

Evolution isn't strongly proved as evolutionists claim. They merely make up stories to explain the observations. But they can't prove any of it because they can't do experiments to validate their ideas.

What the evolutionist have done is create confusion or destruction. Before Darwin evolution was a word taken from Latin and was used to represent any observable, predictable, change over time; it's application was infinite, but always to do with known practice. Darwin should not have used the word evolution, he should have called his theory THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY seeing it dealt with the unknown and unprovable.

 

[sparow]

I always love the hubris we attach to ourselves when we arrogate to ourselves vastly greater intelligence than previous generations. Sadly, the average intelligence levels of school children in the United States, as measured by standard tests, has been declining steadily for the past fifty years.

Are the tests the same as in the old days; is natural intelligence diminishing or is it education that is different; what some call dumbed down education but what I prefer to call dumbed up education; NWO education.

 

[Colter]

There is not even the slightest basis for this ridiculous claim.

Sure there is, the Father revealed in the life of Christ was much greater than the erratic, angry Jealous God who was concerned only about the people who wrote the OT books. Jesus was very different than the concept of a Jewish Messiah. In referencing the spiritual truths that the Israelites appropriated in the creation of their wildly exaggerated history, Jesus chose from among the truths and left the rest to the claims of the false prophets of Judaism to die on the vine.

In converting an ordinary secular history into a miraculous fiction, the Israelites did gather together and preserve many truths but sadly, Abrahams selection became the source of nationalistic pride and a sense of racial superiority that lead to the "chosen people" delusion.

With all that in mind Jesus was confronted with the difficult task of preaching his original gospel of The Kingdom of Heaven, salvation by faith in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of ALL mankind.

 

[Colter]

What the evolutionist have done is create confusion or destruction. Before Darwin evolution was a word taken from Latin and was used to represent any observable, predictable, change over time; it's application was infinite, but always to do with known practice. Darwin should not have used the word evolution, he should have called his theory THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY seeing it dealt with the unknown and unprovable.

God used the technique of evolution, with its inherent (purposive potential), to create life as we know it. If 6 day, YEC'ists could just get over their superstitions then we could move on telling the world about faith in the God within.

Religion is sooooo buzzy confessing the sins of others and accusing mankind of being blinded by pride that it fails to confess its own sins and it's own pride blindness.

Digging through the layers of the earth and analyzing what we find, the earth doesn't look anything like the story of creation created by the elite priest class of the Israelites.

 

[Colter]

I always love the hubris we attach to ourselves when we arrogate to ourselves vastly greater intelligence than previous generations. Sadly, the average intelligence levels of school children in the United States, as measured by standard tests, has been declining steadily for the past fifty years.

"The prophets have usually led the people in religious development; the theologians have usually held them back."

 

[justbyfaith]

There are a lot of posts in this thread so I haven't read them all, but I thought I would throw in my two cents.

1) 1 Timothy 6:20 (kjv) speaks of "what is falsely called science."

2) The theory of evolution was predicted in the Bible by Paul the apostle, in Romans 1:22-23 and context. My understanding of this passage (Romans 1:18-32) is that rejecting the Creation story in favour of the theory of evolution is a primary reason for reprobate thinking that produces homosexual behaviour.

 

[bcbsr]

If evolution is one of the strongest explanatory theories in any academic field, I mean, the evidence is simply overwhelming, how do Christians reconcile this?

What about the Biblical scholars that generally dismiss Genesis as a "historical" representation... but rather "myth" (however you want to define that)?

I understand I'm courting "controversy" here, but I'd genuinely like to hear this, supposedly, untouchable theological answer.

First of all while one could make the scientific observation that evolution happened, what is still in the realm of speculation is how it occurred. Evolution is the change in the DNA of populations of species over time.

If it happened, even though stochastic means, God was involved. For the Bible says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." Prov 16:33

However what hinders some Christians from entertaining such notions are certain interpretations of the early chapters of Genesis.

I'm not hung up on those as I view, for example the seven days of creation as a vision given to Moses on Sinai, each day being a day in his time frame as one would view a movie, not in real time. The point of the vision is not how God did it, but rather in contrast to polytheism, God is the creator of all things in particular.

For more see my article on Genesis

 

[bbbbbbb]

Are the tests the same as in the old days; is natural intelligence diminishing or is it education that is different; what some call dumbed down education but what I prefer to call dumbed up education; NWO education.

Personally, I think natural intelligence probably is constant. What has changed, without a doubt, is the curriculum used in most schools. Rote learning and recitation was eliminated long ago (which may not have been such a terrible thing), but modern educators have been subjected to political pressures to reshape society and culture rather than to convey basic knowledge and life skills to children.

 

[sparow]

God used the technique of evolution, with its inherent (purposive potential), to create life as we know it. If 6 day, YEC'ists could just get over their superstitions then we could move on telling the world about faith in the God within.

Religion is sooooo buzzy confessing the sins of others and accusing mankind of being blinded by pride that it fails to confess its own sins and it's own pride blindness.

Digging through the layers of the earth and analyzing what we find, the earth doesn't look anything like the story of creation created by the elite priest class of the Israelites.

I am not able to concur; God has not used His creation to create His creation. Pre-Darwin evolution observed and described the living motion of that created; what is dug up is historical and motionless; the difference is like the living God on one hand and a stone idol on the other hand. As creation moves forward it leaves a trail of entropy behind.

The creation story is an abstraction; the expansion of it would be infinite and outside human faculties. Creation is the foundation of our reality; without it there would be a black hole, hardly a foundation for a reality. Darwinian evolution if it were rational, only addresses part of the spectrum.

 

[sparow]

Personally, I think natural intelligence probably is constant. What has changed, without a doubt, is the curriculum used in most schools. Rote learning and recitation was eliminated long ago (which may not have been such a terrible thing), but modern educators have been subjected to political pressures to reshape society and culture rather than to convey basic knowledge and life skills to children.

Is Satan the god of this world at this time; if he is then all education is tailored to meet his ends, including evolution.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Is Satan the god of this world at this time; if he is then all education is tailored to meet his ends, including evolution.

When has Satan not been the god of this world? If he has always been the god of this world and post-Darwinian education is under his control, then who controlled pre-Darwinian education and, if there was a change, how and why did it come about then?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

There's a difference between intelligence and knowledge. We certainly do know more things than previous generations. If we didn't, something would be wrong.

There is much truth in that........

Daniel 12:4
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the scroll, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and the knowledge shall be increased.
Revelation 5:5
But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose[fn] its seven seals.”
And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;..............