Do You Accept Evolution?

[Christian Sojourner]

I'm a calvinistic Christian who has recently come to accept evolution. I'm curious how many here accept it or reject it.

 

[chestertonrules]

I'm a calvinistic Christian who has recently come to accept evolution. I'm curious how many here accept it or reject it.

I believe that this was God's method of creating our physical bodies.

IMO:
We didn't truly become human, however, until he breathed life, ie. a soul, into us.

 

[Assyrian]

I'm a calvinistic Christian who has recently come to accept evolution. I'm curious how many here accept it or reject it.

Yeah. Took me a while too. But hey, it's reality who are we to argue.
Check out the Origins Theology board here for more discussion on the subject.

 

[Musa80]

The poll is too limited to give a proper answer. If you mean change in organic species to adapt to their environment well then yes. If you mean that in addition to universal common descent, then that's an emphatic no.

 

[The Inquisitor]

Of course not lol How can evolution be true if the Bible clearly states that God created Adam and Eve and so forth. I really don't see how there is any debate among Christians about this. It's right there in the Bible people! Read it, learn it. Either you accept the Bible or accept evolution. You can't have it both ways!

 

[chestertonrules]

Of course not lol How can evolution be true if the Bible clearly states that God created Adam and Eve and so forth. I really don't see how there is any debate among Christians about this. It's right there in the Bible people! Read it, learn it. Either you accept the Bible or accept evolution. You can't have it both ways!

The bible can be true without always being literal.

 

[Christian Sojourner]

The bible can be true without always being literal.

I agree with you on both your posts.

Evolution only contradicts the Bible if you take Genesis 1-3 completely literal. And to do so means you must believe the Devil was a literal serpent, but we know he's not, just as he's not a literal seven headed dragon, as we find in revelation. And we know Adam and Eve didn't sin by eating off a literal tree.

Also, the rib of Adam mentioned in Genesis 2 could be metaphorical. Interestingly, our closet relative primates, like the chimp and ape have 24 chromosomes, just as we have 24 ribs. But amazingly, we only have 23 of these ribs of life, which are chromosomes. Is it possible the rib of Adam was talking about this human chromosome 2, which is a fusion? I think it very well could be that, as Genesis 1-3 is VERY metaphorical.

I believe God evolved humanoid like beings until they could house enough intelligence for God to breathe a spirit into them. And those two first beings had 23 chromosomes, or ribs of life. Jesus said, "God is Spirit." So we know our bodies are not made in the image of God, but our spirits are.

Genesis said God formed man from the dust of the earth. Evolution also teaches man came from the molecules of the earth. God fashioned man just as the Bible says, but it seems His method was not instantaneous.

 

[itisdeliciouscake]

1. What does being calvinist have to do with anything.

2. too limited, I don't think there's a person on the earth who denies evolution as it is defined. it's the idea that evolution was the method of how God brought the human species into being that is disputed. you should've had the option of
-Theistic, old earth evolutionist
-progressive creationist (believes that humans were evolved)
-progressive creationist (does not believe that humans were evolved)
-young earth creationist


3. I am a young earth creationist

 

[Evergreen48]

I'm a calvinistic Christian who has recently come to accept evolution. I'm curious how many here accept it or reject it.

Yes. God did it all by His own process and for His own purpose.

 

[Christian Sojourner]

1. What does being calvinist have to do with anything.

That was just an introduction of myself, as I am new to this part of the forum. So I stated I'm a calvinistic christian who accepts evolution.

And calvinism, in regards to Soveriegn Election has amazing parallels with Natural Selection. It seems one is the natural method and the other spiritual, and God is without fault in both.

 

[Assyrian]

The bible says God carried the Israelites out of Egypt on eagles' wings Exodus 19:4 It also tells us that they walked Exodus 14:29. It tells us that God knit us together in our mother's womb as well as forming us in the depths of the earth Psalm 139. It also says God is a potter who made us out of clay. Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.He made us the same way he made Adam then. As The Inquisitor says, we have to accept these things as true. We don't have to accept them as literal.

 

[Evergreen48]

I agree with you on both your posts.

Evolution only contradicts the Bible if you take Genesis 1-3 completely literal. And to do so means you must believe the Devil was a literal serpent, but we know he's not, just as he's not a literal seven headed dragon, as we find in revelation. And we know Adam and Eve didn't sin by eating off a literal tree.

Also, the rib of Adam mentioned in Genesis 2 could be metaphorical. Interestingly, our closet relative primates, like the chimp and ape have 24 chromosomes, just as we have 24 ribs. But amazingly, we only have 23 of these ribs of life, which are chromosomes. Is it possible the rib of Adam was talking about this human chromosome 2, which is a fusion? I think it very well could be that, as Genesis 1-3 is VERY metaphorical.



Genesis said God formed man from the dust of the earth. Evolution also teaches man came from the molecules of the earth. God fashioned man just as the Bible says, but it seems His method was not instantaneous.

 

[The Inquisitor]

The bible can be true without always being literal.

Who are we to pick what God has meant to be literal? We have to accept everything the Bible says as being literal. Why would God play head games with us? To write a book that's essentially an instruction on how to live your life God would not leave anything to be ambiguous. Even Ikea writes their manuals to be clear as possible. They wouldn't tell you to pick P1 instead of P2, that's poor instructing and God being infallible doesn't seem the type to fail at something so trivial as that hehe

 

[Christian Sojourner]

Jesus came speaking in metaphors, just as God spoke in metaphors all throughout the old testament. As God said, "I have used similitudes (metaphors)".

 

[katholikos]

I could not vote for either choice. I do not accept what many people define as "evolution", but there are certain aspects of evolution that are true.

There is a great book called "In the Beginning: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall," written by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope. I read it. Its very good. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject

The description reads:
"These five superb homilies by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, one of today's most significant Catholic theologians, provide a clear and biblically based explanation of the Genesis creation narratives.

While the stories of the creation of the world and of the fall of human-kind have often given rise to conflict, fundamentalists twist the Bible into science and history while rationalists approach this issue by "divorcing God from creation" -- Cardinal Ratzinger presents the Catholic middle
ground between extremist positions in explaining the vitality of these early Old Testament writings.

Beginning each homily with the selected text from Genesis, Ratzinger discusses, in turn, God the creator, the meaning of the biblical creation accounts, the creation of human beings, sin and salvation, and the consequences of faith in creation.

Translated from German by Boniface Ramsey, O.P., this work is a creation catechesis for adults that presents a contemporary understanding of the faith. It also serves as an excellent homiletic resource for priests."

 

[Christian Sojourner]

This seems like a nice fast paced forum with a lot of intelligent and knowledgeable people.

 

[Jpark]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) In looking at the created world, every person should see abundant evidence of God's existance and power. We must perceive the world and its history as the ancient biblical authors reveal it. The creation narrative is not to be perceived allegorically but as actual history. The word of God must always stand forever above the word of man. (Isaiah 40:8)

 

[Sphinx777]

In biology, evolution is change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. These changes are caused by a combination of three main processes: variation, reproduction, and selection. Genes that are passed on to an organism's offspring produce the inherited traits that are the basis of evolution. These traits vary within populations, with organisms showing heritable differences in their traits. When organisms reproduce, their offspring may have new or altered traits. These new traits arise in two main ways: either from mutations in genes, or from the transfer of genes between populations and between species. In species that reproduce sexually, new combinations of genes are also produced by genetic recombination, which can increase variation between organisms. Evolution occurs when these heritable differences become more common or rare in a population.

Two major mechanisms drive evolution. The first is natural selection, a process causing heritable traits that are helpful for survival and reproduction to become more common in a population, and harmful traits to become more rare. This occurs because individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to reproduce, so that more individuals in the next generation inherit these traits. Over many generations, adaptations occur through a combination of successive, small, random changes in traits, and natural selection of those variants best-suited for their environment.

The second major mechanism driving evolution is genetic drift, an independent process that produces random changes in the frequency of traits in a population. Genetic drift results from the role probability plays in whether a given trait will be passed on as individuals survive and reproduce. Though the changes produced in any one generation by drift and selection are small, differences accumulate with each subsequent generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the organisms. This process can culminate in the emergence of new species. Indeed, the similarities between organisms suggest that all known species are descended from a common ancestor (or ancestral gene pool) through this process of gradual divergence.

Evolutionary biologists document the fact that evolution occurs, and also develop and test theories that explain its causes. The study of evolutionary biology began in the mid-nineteenth century, when studies of the fossil record and the diversity of living organisms convinced most scientists that species changed over time. However, the mechanism driving these changes remained unclear until the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, detailing the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin's work soon led to overwhelming acceptance of evolution among scientists. In the 1930s, Darwinian natural selection was combined with Mendelian inheritance to form the modern evolutionary synthesis, which connected the units of evolution (genes) and the mechanism of evolution (natural selection). This powerful explanatory and predictive theory directs research by constantly raising new questions, and it has become the central organizing principle of modern biology, providing a unifying explanation for the diversity of life on Earth.

 

[Christian Sojourner]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) In looking at the created world, every person should see abundant evidence of God's existance and power. We must perceive the world and its history as the ancient biblical authors reveal it. The creation narrative is not to be perceived allegorically but as actual history. The word of God must always stand forever above the word of man. (Isaiah 40:8)

Ah, so that means the devil is a literal snake... Wonder if he's an andaconda or a pit viper...

 

[Jpark]

Ah, so that means the devil is a literal snake... Wonder if he's an andaconda or a pit viper...

It is not clear why he chose to indwell this particular beast...

And the devil spake to the serpent saying, Rise up, come to me and I will tell thee a word whereby thou mayst have profit." And he arose and came to him. And the devil saith to him: "I hear that thou art wiser than all the beasts, and I have come to counsel thee. Why dost thou eat of Adam's tares and not of paradise? Rise up and we will cause him to be cast out of paradise, even as we were cast out through him." The serpent saith to him, "I fear lest the Lord be wroth with me." The devil saith to him: "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through thy mouth words to deceive him."