Christians who beleive in Evolution

[Chris Green]

To the Christians who beleive in Evolution, please could you tell me how you got to this theory?

Thanks in advance

 

[dawiyd]

It seems to me that there are simple facts of the world such as evolution. Objective reality exists. To deny these facts of the world in support of a religious ideal might strike some as noble, but to me it robs the world of nothing, but would rob myself of the richness of this life.

To deny the simple fact of evolution is not thereby save Judaism and my belief, but to impoverish it, by setting it in opposition to the truth.


 

[AV1611VET]

To the Christians who beleive in Evolution, please could you tell me how you got to this theory?

Thanks in advance

Hi, Chris, nice to meet you

 

[notto]

Same way I got to relativity.

Observed data, internal consistency in the theory, and lots of study.

Evolution is just science, like any other.

 

[quantumspirit]

google it, and you will find links to evolution and its relationship to radioisotopes naturally found in organisms, carbon-14 and potassium-40.

 

[Silent Bob]

Was taught in school, in fact first mention of evolution was when we did Genesis. Since then I learned more, biology in the last year of high school was very good and interesting. I re-started reading up on evolution when I found out there were creationists in the world.

Evolution is fascinating because the basics are not "sciency" at all they are just common sense. You don't need a PhD to figure out that since mutations occur some will be selected for and some will not, no masters to realize that changes accumulate and small changes over a matter of time will eventually give you something different.

 

[shernren]

The following threads might be useful:

http://www.christianforums.com/t3751747-has-your-ot-view-changed.html
http://www.christianforums.com/t3786010-question-for-non-literalists.html

(The last few pages of the second thread get a bit ugly, so be warned.)

 

[gluadys]

To the Christians who beleive in Evolution, please could you tell me how you got to this theory?

Thanks in advance

Hi, Chris

I first learned about evolution as a teen-ager. Since it was not being taught in high school at the time, nor discussed at the church I was attending, my only source of information about evolution was some biblical tracts an uncle of mine regularly sent me.

In this vacuum of information, what they said seemed to make sense, and I passed off evolution as a very silly idea.

Until... I asked myself, "If evolution is so silly, what do scientists see in it? I mean, they are not stupid people, so what do they see that I don't?"

So...when it turned out that a requirement for first year college students in the arts was to take a science course (so we would have a "well-rounded" education), I opted for biology and turned right away to the chapter on evolution.

I discovered then and there that practically everything in those biblical tracts was a load of hooey. It was either a misrepresentation or distortion of the science or outright falsehood.

Furthermore, the aesthetics of evolution overwhelmed me (remember I was an arts student, not a science major). But science has its own form of elegance and beauty and evolution is a most elegant theory.

Finally, as Dawiyd says, to deny the simple facts of objective reality does not glorify God. It diminishes faith, rather than enhances it. God is a God of truth, and it never entered my mind that evolution could be true and not glorify the God of truth. To me, evolution is a beautiful testimony to the wisdom with which God created the world.

 

[Dannager]

To the Christians who beleive in Evolution, please could you tell me how you got to this theory?

Probably the same way that everyone else did. It's not like Christians have a different set of practices when dealing with scientific theories.

 

[Late_Cretaceous]

I never knew there was any conflict until I was in my teens. But it seems that there are only a few branches of Christianity who oppose evolutionary thoery simply because it goes against a literal translation of Genesis.

 

[tocis]

To the Christians who beleive in Evolution, please could you tell me how you got to this theory?

(I'll remember my christian past for a moment and reply based on that bygone POV here...)

Well, how do you get to the clear sky being blue? It's obvious.
Likewise, the mountain of evidence supporting evolutionary theory is so impressive that... you get the idea.

 

[tocis]

I never knew there was any conflict until I was in my teens. But it seems that there are only a few branches of Christianity who oppose evolutionary thoery simply because it goes against a literal translation of Genesis.

It also seems to be very much a question of geography/nationality. As far as I can tell, about 95 % of all evolution-deniers come from the US (the most fanatically christian nation out there), with the UK and Australia being the next ones on that list. After that, I don't have much of an idea.
Over here in Germany, you'll have to search for a while to find an evolution-denier, unless you specifically look for the more "radical" groups (JW, Mormons, you get the idea). Mainstream christians over here commonly can't even imagine there can be much of a controversy about evolution until the facts slap them square in the face.

 

[rambot]

once you open up to the idea that genesis is not best understood as literally, the world and it's beginnings COMPLETELY opens up to you.
That's not to say you gotta kick God out the door though.

 

[Dale]

My parents were Christians who believed in evolution. Netiher was that well educated and I doubt that they understood natural selection. What they did understand was species change, that species have not been constant through natural history.

We went to church with people who took evolution very seriously. I have met only a few people who really believe in a literal creation a few thousand years ago. I have found these people to be most unreasonable, unwilling to listen to any opinion except their own.

Even as children we were aware that there were far more unanswered questions in a literal reading of Genesis than from scientific natural history. Where did the sons of Adam and Eve get their wives?

Could Adam and Eve could even begin to account for the racial diversity in the world today? Obviously Adam would have to be black and Eve would have to be white, or vice versa. This may surprise those who did not know that Genesis is a tract for inter-racial marriage.