How can i answer this question to an atheist??

[YinandYang]

If possible, I would like to throw my two cents into the discussion at hand in this thread. Let me start out by saying that I am a Catholic and that the Magesterium of the Catholic Church allows for It's followers to believe in either theistic evolution (belief in God and evolution) or creationism (belief in a literal translation of the book of Genesis). In other words there is no official, infallable, teaching on which way is correct. However, what cannot be believed by Catholics is atheistic evolution, for obvious reasons.

If God inspired the Church to infallably teach the truth on this matter in further detail, it would not change my faith in the least, as I would fully accept either explanation as the truth about the origins of life, since it would be coming from God through His Church.

This leads me into the main point that I wish to make. Would it not be better, in this situation, to focus on how theistic evolution is actually not in contradiction with Christianity, and how this person who is an atheist can still believe in evolution and also still become a follower of Jesus Christ? It seems that it would be more beneficial for this person if he heard that, then if he was attacked for his beliefs on the origins of life.

We as Christians are supposed to be bringing people to the Lord, that is what we are called to do. We are not to push people further from God just because they don't believe exactly the way that we do. Perhaps it is easier to have this viewpoint as a Catholic, since the option is more open to us as far as belief goes on this matter, thus we tend to accept opposing views to our own beliefs much more easily then our Protestant brothers and sisters do. I do think that the point still needs to be made though. Would God want us to turn someone even further away from Him, by arguing against evolution, just because we are personally against it? From my understanding, according to Protestant theology, no one's own interpretation is infallable, thus it could be wrong. So doesn't that mean that theistic evolution could be correct, and also that creationism could be correct? (just as the Catholic Church says both are possible truths).

I would think that God would look down upon us with great praise and happiness if we put aside our own feelings on the matter for the sake of saving a soul from the fires of hell. So what if this person sticks with evolution and becomes a believer in theistic evolution? If, in fact, creationism is correct, then God will explain things to him when he gets to heaven, but the most important point is that he actually did make it to heaven.

Let us not be like the Pharisees during the time of Christ:

Matthew 23:24 Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

Let me end with this. Pretend that this is an explanation of an actual living breathing person here on earth with regards to their beliefs on God and the origns of life. He/she is described as an:

Atheistic Evolutionist

If you had the power to change only one of those beliefs, would it be the evolutionist belief or the atheistic belief? For me it would be the atheistic belief and I'm pretty sure that God feels the same way.

I hope that helps.

May God bless you and Mary keep you in her prayers always.

YinandYang

 

[juvenissun]

If possible, I would like to throw my two cents into the discussion at hand in this thread. Let me start out by saying that I am a Catholic and that the Magesterium of the Catholic Church allows for It's followers to believe in either theistic evolution (belief in God and evolution) or creationism (belief in a literal translation of the book of Genesis). In other words there is no official, infallable, teaching on which way is correct. However, what cannot be believed by Catholics is atheistic evolution, for obvious reasons.

I, for one, have no problem with either creationism or theistic evolution. If God inspired the Church to infallably teach the truth on this matter in further detail, it would not change my faith in the least, as I would fully accept either explanation as the truth about the origins of life, since it would be coming from God through His Church.

This leads me into the main point that I wish to make. Would it not be better, in this situation, to focus on how theistic evolution is actually not in contradiction with Christianity, and how this person who is an atheist can still believe in evolution and also still become a follower of Jesus Christ? It seems that it would be more beneficial for this person if he heard that, then if he was attacked for his beliefs on the origins of life.

We as Christians are supposed to be bringing people to the Lord, that is what we are called to do. We are not to push people further from God just because they don't believe exactly the way that we do. Perhaps it is easier to have this viewpoint as a Catholic, since the option is more open to us as far as belief goes on this matter, thus we tend to accept opposing views to our own beliefs much more easily then our Protestant brothers and sisters do. I do think that the point still needs to be made though. Would God want us to turn someone even further away from Him, by arguing against evolution, just because we are personally against it? From my understanding, according to Protestant theology, no one's own interpretation is infallable, thus it could be wrong. So doesn't that mean that theistic evolution could be correct, and also that creationism could be correct? (just as the Catholic Church says both are possible truths).

I would think that God would look down upon us with great praise and happiness if we put aside our own feelings on the matter for the sake of saving a soul from the fires of hell. So what if this person sticks with evolution and becomes a believer in theistic evolution? If, in fact, creationism is correct, then God will explain things to him when he gets to heaven, but the most important point is that he actually did make it to heaven.

Let us not be like the Pharisees during the time of Christ:

Matthew 23:24 Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

Let me end with this. Pretend that this is an explanation of an actual living breathing person here on earth with regards to their beliefs on God and the origns of life. He/she is described as an:

Atheistic Evolutionist

If you had the power to change only one of those beliefs, would it be the evolutionist belief or the atheistic belief? For me it would be the atheistic belief and I'm pretty sure that God feels the same way.

I hope that helps.

May God bless you and Mary keep you in her prayers always.

YinandYang

When I debate with TE, I hold Christianity to be the first, and creation/evolution debate to be the second. I never want to reverse it.

The reason I want to debate on C vs E, because I do think evolution will hurt the faith of a Christian. You don't have to think so. But I do think so. This is my burden.

So the debate will continue. But it is one within the family.

By the way, it is never clear to me how is theistic evolution different from atheistic evolution. I would argue strongly that the part of evolution is exactly the same.

 

[trinitarian11]

I'm currently debating with an atheist in another forum and he has hit me with stuff on evolution that I just can't answer. I was hoping that somebody in here can please explain on how I can refute him.

Here is what he first said:
Those are silly arguments. So you believe in a god because you don't have all of the answers? Not knowing how something works doesn't mean a mystical man created it. Missing link? You don't understand evolution. What, you want to see a human that walked slightly hunched over? It doesn't work that way. It's punctuated by smaller changes that group together for larger changes. That's basic science at this point. We've taken chicken embryos and made single gene changes in them that have had a HUGE impact on the physical features of the creature. They grow a tail, a beak is replaced by a mouth, lose feathers, etc, all with a single gene mutation. Just because YOU don't understand genetics, dna, biology, it doesn't mean there is a creator.

Here is what I said:
Present to us a single transitional fossil and I will believe in this thing that you call evolution.

-From the mouth of Charles Darwin himself regarding transitional fossils. "The most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory..."

And here is his final reply to me:
Did you not read what I wrote, or are you just ignoring it? There is no need for transitional fossils as explained in detail in my above posts. You aren't going to have fish with half a leg and half a flipper. It wouldn't have what it needs to survive or become sexually successful at reproducing. beyond that, if you understand the process of fossilization, you would understand the EXTREME rarity of such a fossil being preserved. It's a one in a million shot that something dies and ends up in the exact circumstances required for fossilization. Beyond that, read my post above about the impact we have WITNESSED from SINGLE gene mutations.


Thanks!

No matter how many changes they make it will always produce a chicken. Then say, Mr. Atheist, call me when you get a human from your chicken.