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Why is Christianity opposed to the theory of Evolution?

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“Empirical evidence is essential for scientific endeavors. Science would be impossible without it. Empirical observation, however, is not the all-determining factor as to what is real and what is not real.” Indeed! Empirical observation only makes up a portion of proving a theory or making a hypothesis fact. Any college kid knows this and even every college professor would tell you this. What you don’t always hear about is how science came into existence! Without getting into much of a history lesson, almost every single form of science came from….wait for it….philosophy! Philosophy is the root origin of many sciences we have today. So why is that important to know? It’s important because philosophy, to this day, still argues and debates that which is unreal or theoretic. Philosophy also points out things that are rational to accept but are not finite. For example, love, anger, beauty, and infidelity are all intangible yet universally accepted. So why is it universally accepted to believe in what we understand as anger, passion, and love and yet illogical to believe that a God is also intangible yet exists just as these emotions do? As a consequence, atheists ought to consider the possibility that they have a very limited worldview. This worldview forcefully removes the very existence of God, which is omniscient and omnipotent, in order to satisfy the criteria that there is simply no God! In other words, they have to believe that God does not exist in order to fit into their limited worldview. It’s simply an insufficient methodology of belief that also requires empirical evidence for belief….which they don’t have. So it begs the question, where is their proof? Where is their empirical evidence? The conclusion is this: Wrong methodology will ALWAYS yield wrong conclusions. This is science. This is the very thing that atheists must invest faith in yet drives them in circles with unanswered questions. But as Christians, we have the answer. His name is Jesus Christ and God is the Father and LORD of all the heavens and the earth.

Empirical evidence is the crux of this whole thread. Evolution is still very much a theory and the more science advances, the more questions are raised about the origins of the universe and the complexities of the finite things within this physical world we live in.

"ask any animal who is not vegetarian whether death can sustain life."

A dismal rebuttal because we go back to the case in point....where did that animal come from?

I also noticed that the argument for the Lego set being miraculous put together after a near infinite attempts of throwing it up in the air and landing in perfect order went unanswered. This is fine considering atheists will almost always throw the argument back on the Christian to prove the existence of God. We give unbelievers an answer and it just doesn't suffice. When asked to have faith, they only believe in empirical evidence which then causes me state the aforementioned, in the beginning of this response. As Christians, we already have faith and trust in the infallibility of the Word of God. As an atheist, you must prove there is NO God. Ready. Set. Go!

You simply cannot prove the lack of existence of God. You'd essentially have to be God to say there is no God. Because unless you can be at all places at all times and possess an infinite knowledge of every finite, and for that matter, infinite thing in the universe, you cannot empirically say there is no God. As we say, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. It simply takes more faith to believe that our universe comes from something like a subatomic particle (like quantum particles) that literally have nothing to do with the complete development of even a single-cell organism than it takes to believe in a Creator. Yes, perhaps single-cell organisms are comprised of subatomic particles but I know for a fact that science simply cannot prove how these particles intelligently created life into a living, breathing, and thinking being.
 
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eclipsenow

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Why is Christianity opposed to the theory of Evolution?

There is a simple, yet entirely complicated answer to this question. Evolution is simply not compatible with Christianity because of the following reasons:

1) Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created..." This is an undeniable fact and the entire backbone of our FAITH as Christians

Dude, God made the universe, that's for sure! That's a fact. But how? That depends on your hermeneutics, and you've done nothing but rant and not actually prove your hermeneutics.


4) To accept evolution as fact, the Christian must concede that death happening over and over again repeatedly in order to create something better (mutation)
I know you're not up to it, but Baddedley deals with this.
http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/day-music-died.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-i.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-ii-on_21.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-iii-tale.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-iv-when.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-iv.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-v-god.html

http://reflectionsinexile.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/problems-with-creation-science-v-god_30.html
 
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Without getting into much of a history lesson, almost every single form of science came from….wait for it….philosophy!

You act as if this must be a revelation. Yet what do you think "PhD" is short for?

So why is it universally accepted to believe in what we understand as anger, passion, and love and yet illogical to believe that a God is also intangible yet exists just as these emotions do?

Because we know what the medium is that these emotions are generated in, and are on our way to mapping them out? We don't have a full understanding, but we have a basic understanding of the principles by which they are generated.

On the other hand, not only do we have no understanding of how God would be possible, no medium in which he could be generated (except as a being of pure imagination), he presents some contradictions with what we know of the universe, he has no explanatory power as a hypothesis, and he is not required as an explanation for anything.

This worldview forcefully removes the very existence of God, which is omniscient and omnipotent, in order to satisfy the criteria that there is simply no God!

That's backwards. I can't speak for any other atheist, but I do not adjust the evidence in order to fit my preferred conclusion. My conclusion about God is born of the lack of evidence for his existence, and the evidence against his existence.

Empirical evidence is the crux of this whole thread. Evolution is still very much a theory and the more science advances, the more questions are raised about the origins of the universe and the complexities of the finite things within this physical world we live in.

There is more empirical evidence for evolution than for any other theory. Yet it's rare for a Christian to dispute gravitation, for example.

And, once more, the theory of evolution has nothing whatsoever to do with the origins of the universe. They're not even the same branch of science, let alone connected fields.

A dismal rebuttal because we go back to the case in point....where did that animal come from?

You posited that it was impossible for God to create a system whereby life was sustained by death. Yet huge swathes of the animal kingdom eat other members of the animal kingdom to survive. There are wasps that lay their eggs inside caterpillars, which are eaten alive from the inside out when the eggs hatch. There are fungi which propagate themselves by taking over the minds of ants, controlling their behaviour, causing them to die, and then growing out of their heads and consuming their bodies.

Either you have to concede that you are wrong about God not creating a system that relies on death to sustain life, or you must contend that God did not create a large portion of the animal kingdom.

I also noticed that the argument for the Lego set being miraculous put together after a near infinite attempts of throwing it up in the air and landing in perfect order went unanswered.

It did. That's because it's such a facile argument, which I've seen rebutted several times on this board in the past week alone.

The short answer is that DNA is not made of lego bricks, or of anything remotely like lego bricks, and nor is are the processes that the theory of evolution describes even vaguely like assembling lego. The comparison is entirely unwarranted.

This is fine considering atheists will almost always throw the argument back on the Christian to prove the existence of God.

Yes, it's called "burden of proof". The person making the positive claim has the onus on them to prove it.

This is because it would be entirely impractical to believe everything that everybody claims unless there is compelling evidence that it is not so. If I were to tell you that I had a pet leprechaun, would you just believe that it was true? Or would you want some proof that it was true? Why or why not?

Same thing with the existence of God.

You simply cannot prove the lack of existence of God.

True. And you cannot prove the lack of existence of my leprechaun.

Because unless you can be at all places at all times and possess an infinite knowledge of every finite, and for that matter, infinite thing in the universe, you cannot empirically say there is no God.

Well done. You have eloquently outlined exactly why it is impossible to prove a negative, and therefore why the burden of proof must be exactly what it is - the onus being on the person making the positive claim to provide evidence that their claim is correct.

It simply takes more faith to believe that our universe comes from something like a subatomic particle (like quantum particles) that literally have nothing to do with the complete development of even a single-cell organism than it takes to believe in a Creator.

I'm glad that you seem to have realised that the theory of evolution and the origin of the universe are two entirely unconnected things.

Yes, perhaps single-cell organisms are comprised of subatomic particles but I know for a fact that science simply cannot prove how these particles intelligently created life into a living, breathing, and thinking being.

...although, now I've read that sentence, I am left questioning if you truly understand what a subatomic particle is.
 
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cifi

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This is fairly pointless. Christians have no reason to believe in evolution - it doesn't affect their daily life (well, at least the concept of it) and believing in it would contradict their interpretation of the Bible. They operate from the position "I already know the truth, I just have to find the evidence to back it up" and will read and quote all sorts of pseudo science from the web, written by other religious people with the same agenda, to support their belief, regardless whether it's true or not. In doing so, they will not realise the fact that evolution is accepted worldwide by 99% of people who are QUALIFIED to have a valid opinion on the topic.

This is why they are also quite fine with saying "No, I already believe in God, you have to prove to me why he's not real!" and never see a problem with this position.

Non-religious people have no preconceived idea of what the truth is and are able to read about a topic from a multitude of unbiased sources and so are more likely to believe in something closer to the truth.
 
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ToBeLoved

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Is it because it refutes the idea of Adam and Eve, original sin, and coming of Jesus?
Or are there any other reasons?
Is that crazier than the idea that life came and started on earth from nowhere? Poof, there it is? That if there was life like a plant how the heck it evolved into a human and a fly and an elephant. Stuff doesn't go from a mosquito to an elephant. Come on now.

It just makes no sense. Stuff doesn't happen to create life on a planet when everything around that planet would kill the life on that planet if it was in space.

Why do you believe that something came from nothing. Everything starts somewhere.

Evolution believers are the ones lying to self. Like who created the Big Bang so it would be big and so it would bang?

God did.
 
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Is that crazier than the idea that life came and started on earth from nowhere? Poof, there it is? That if there was life like a plant how the heck it evolved into a human and a fly and an elephant. Stuff doesn't go from a mosquito to an elephant. Come on now.

It just makes no sense.

You're right, none of that makes any sense. But since that nothing that you've posted bears the slightest resemblance to any theories of abiogenesis or evolution, that it doesn't make sense is down to your own erroneous understanding.

Stuff doesn't happen to create life on a planet when everything around that planet would kill the life on that planet if it was in space.

I don't even understand what this sentence is attempting to say. Are you saying that life could not arise on a planet unless that life could also survive in the vacuum of space?

Like who created the Big Bang so it would be big and so it would bang?

God did.

Who created God so he could make it bang?
 
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davedajobauk

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To put it simply, the old testament proposes that the earth and life was made within 6 days, however evolution could NEVER happen in such a small space, it takes millions of years for it to occur

Does that mean that some Christians disagree with Creation because evolution challenges the idea?
And what do you believe?

No, it means that some Christians don't believe creation was anything like a naive reading of Genesis would suggest. As Dobzhansky put it, "Creation is not an event that happened in 4004 BC; it is a process that began some 10 billion years ago and is still under way."

See above.

Evolution is opposed by fundamentalism, not Christianity proper. Nobody interpreted the first few chapters of Genesis literally until fundamentalism, and original sin can be understood in a nonliteral way with this. The coming of Jesus has nothing to do with evolution given that it's a future event.

Christianity doesn't oppose the theory of evolution. Also evolution doesn't refute any of the above.

-CryptoLutheran


As mentioned; Creationism, denies Evolution
I have always believed Man's 'timing' of these events (man's understanding and recording, thereof)
are and have been chronologically in-error
That we are "MADE IN HIS IMAGE" does not confirm that God 'looks' as we do today
 
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davedajobauk

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Is that crazier than the idea that life came and started on earth from nowhere? Poof, there it is? That if there was life like a plant how the heck it evolved into a human and a fly and an elephant. Stuff doesn't go from a mosquito to an elephant. Come on now.

It just makes no sense. Stuff doesn't happen to create life on a planet when everything around that planet would kill the life on that planet if it was in space.

Why do you believe that something came from nothing. Everything starts somewhere.

Evolution believers are the ones lying to self. Like who created the Big Bang so it would be big and so it would bang?

God did.


God made everything, knowing "from beginning to end" what He was doing
The "Tree of Life" has so MANY BRANCHES and also ROOTS
 
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DogmaHunter

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If that were true then evolution would be false.

No, because all the data supports evolution.
There is no data that falsifies it.

If evolution were true then religion would evolve and change just like everything else.

Evolution is a theory of biology and it explains the development of biological, physical life forms, not ideas or concepts.

If anything anywhere in the universe remained consistent and did not change then evolution could not be true.

Evolution only explains the development of life, the diversification thereof.

It seems you have no clue about the theory you try to argue against.
 
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DogmaHunter

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By the way, when I was referring to evolution, I was referring to the evolutionary theory that all life as we know it evolved from one small simple organism. The fact that organisms change to suit their environment is irrefutable, it's simple cause and effect; but all organisms, including fascinatingly complex organisms (including us sentient humans) evolving from extremely simple organisms, that is debatable

It's really not.
That all life is related and has common ancestors, is pretty much a genetic fact.

- it is arguably against the entropic nature of the universe.

Is this a hint of the PRATT "2nd law of thermodynamics is not compatible with evolution"?

If it is: go out and look up. See that giant ball of nuclear fire in the sky? We call it the sun and it feeds the earth with workable energy 24/7.
 
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DogmaHunter

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Is that crazier than the idea that life came and started on earth from nowhere? Poof, there it is?

No, that's what creationists believe. God said some words and then "poof, there it is". The pope's response to that was "god is not a magician".

Stuff doesn't go from a mosquito to an elephant. Come on now.

Indeed, it doesn't. But a mosquito and an elephant do share an ancestor.

It just makes no sense.

Unlike what you seem to believe, you do not know what is sensible in advance.
The cosmos doesn't owe you any human sensibility. Your "sense" evolved to survive in the jungle and on the african plains. Your mind thinks in hours or years and considers speeds from 0 to 60-ish km/h.

Your brain didn't develop to comprehend lightspeeds, quantum mechanics, cosmological distances or very large timespans (in the millions of years).

So it shouldn't surprise you that being confronted with data concerning those things, it will feel counter-intuitive. Who would have thought, for example, that "time" is relative?

Stuff doesn't happen to create life on a planet when everything around that planet would kill the life on that planet if it was in space.

That makes no sense.

Why do you believe that something came from nothing.

Who believes that?

Everything starts somewhere.

Except the god you believe in, I bet...

Anyhow, why must that "somewhere" be "nothing"?

Evolution believers are the ones lying to self. Like who created the Big Bang so it would be big and so it would bang?

"Who"?

The correct word is "what"?

"who" makes it a loaded question.


Faith-based assertion.
 
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eclipsenow

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This is fairly pointless. Christians have no reason to believe in evolution - it doesn't affect their daily life (well, at least the concept of it) and believing in it would contradict their interpretation of the Bible. They operate from the position "I already know the truth, I just have to find the evidence to back it up" and will read and quote all sorts of pseudo science from the web, written by other religious people with the same agenda, to support their belief, regardless whether it's true or not. In doing so, they will not realise the fact that evolution is accepted worldwide by 99% of people who are QUALIFIED to have a valid opinion on the topic.
I agree: and it's all because a few influential people started reading Genesis 1 & 2 literally, when the Hebrew genre of that part of Genesis is anything but! The bible literally contradicts itself between 1 & 2, so that should be a clue that the original authors were actually writing 2 different creative narratives.

And I personally feel sorry for modern day Creationists, not just because they have to live in such terrible fear of everything 'sciencey' that indicates an old earth, but because they're missing out on the theological GOLD that is in Gensis 1. Their literalistic reading blinds them to the key poetic structure, the repetition of multiples of 7 right throughout the passage, etc!!
EG: How many words in the first sentence? The second sentence? (In the Hebrew that is). First is 7, second is 14, and these numbers are multiples of 7 throughout the passage. It would be recognised as a stylistic device by all the ancient world. But today? American Christians just miss it in the rush to opening a copy of Origin of Species to rant at! Fortunately, most Sydney Anglicans are Theistic Evolutionists and accept the sort of approach detailed here by Dr John Dickson.
http://www.iscast.org/journal/articlespage/Dickson_J_2008-03_Genesis_Of_Everything
 
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God's word is believed by faith. Science is based on man's reason and knowledge and seeks only empirical proofs that something is true. Jesus told Thomas "Blessed are they who don't see and yet believe." We reject evolution because it takes God, the creator of all things, out of the equation and rests creation on random chance.
 
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AV1611VET

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Is this a hint of the PRATT "2nd law of thermodynamics is not compatible with evolution"?

If it is: go out and look up. See that giant ball of nuclear fire in the sky? We call it the sun and it feeds the earth with workable energy 24/7.
How is it the earth was populated with angiosperms before that giant ball of nuclear fire was ever in the sky?
 
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AV1611VET

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The bible literally contradicts itself between 1 & 2, so that should be a clue that the original authors were actually writing 2 different creative narratives.
Nope.

Even Jesus quoted from both Genesis 1 & 2 as real events.
 
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DogmaHunter

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How is it the earth was populated with angiosperms before that giant ball of nuclear fire was ever in the sky?

There was no earth yet when that ball of fire formed.
Regardless of what you think your scripture tells you.
 
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It's bold statements like this that should be submitted as an answer to this thread's title.

Well, here is a brief, simple explanation of what evidence there is that supports the current model of solar system formation. Perhaps you'd be so kind as to link to the empirical evidence that supports the Earth having formed before the sun?
 
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mikedsjr

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Is it because it refutes the idea of Adam and Eve, original sin, and coming of Jesus?
Or are there any other reasons?
Its more than that. Its God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground. He then formed Eve using first a rib of Adam. Then there is the Original sin issue. There is the garden of Eden issue where they were placed.

This is difficult for Christians believing in evolution to take into account without turning the book into a fairy tale.
 
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