Why does evolution and creationism have to be mutually exclusive?

Question

Isn't it possible that when God created heaven and the earth and all living things on it that His words then created the very scientific principles that mortal scientists are now groping to understand?

I am not looking for knee jerk reactions from true believers on either side. I want a thoughtful and respectful discussion. I also am not looking for opinions such as "There is no such thing as God, therefore Creation is false" or "Evolution is the work of the devil."

Answer 1

Have you heard of Occam's razor?
It says that to explain a framework, entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.

Furthermore, when multiple competing theories have equal predictive powers, the principle recommends selecting those that introduce the fewest assumptions and postulate the fewest hypothetical entities.

Now, let's say God created heaven and earth. We introduce another element into the framework - God, that brings with it a whole new range of questions like Who created God, when did he start existing, what before him.

This doesn't simplify the argument, but makes it more complex. So, explain it with the least set of assumptions, being everything based on scientific principles which are all explained by mathematics.

Hope this is a logical and respectful argument.

Answer 2

Actually I have asked this very same question myself. Why not if there is a god, could he not create creatures capable of adapting to their ever-changing surroundings? I think that to deny the possibilites is to put limits on god actually. Perhaps he saw fit a reason for it.
Of course, we'll both get a lot of sh*t for it. But let people believe what they want.

By the way saying that evolution is "just a theory" is lending it a lot of credibility. Apparently people don't understand what makes a theory a theory. A theory is a scientific hypothesis that has been proven true again and again, whereas the bible is a book that was written a long long time ago, and there is nothing to base it's truth on other than a dead guy said at one time that god wrote it.
That's it. I'm not saying the bible is a big fraud necessarily, nor am I trying to step on anyones toes. I'm just trying to point out how unreasonable everyone sounds when they give that argument. If you are a christian, you were probably raised as a Christian, your mother and father and grandparents are probably all christian and so on. Do you see what I mean? I'm sorry, but there is nothing holding up your argument but faith and a way of life that was handed down through the generations. I'm sure Christians will disregard everything I'm writing, and that's fine and to be expected. I'm just saying, don't show up at a gun fight carrying a knife, if you know what I mean. The "but it's the BIBLE" argument carries absolutely no clout with the kind of people that christians are trying to persuade, and it does not belong in a rational discussion.

Answer 3

Creationism is the belief that God created the Earth and everything on it in literally 6 days and rested on the 7th. This is a literal inerpretation of the Bible, which also therefore means that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. The fact that there are things on this earth that have been proven to be older than several million years first disproves Creationism and second shows that evolution theory and the Bible are completely mutually exclusive.

and if i may make a plug.....

this is not to say that everything in the Bible is false. it was simply never meant to be taken literally, but it has been perverted by man to serve the current needs of man. Christ preached some of the most powerful philosophy in all the world's history, but the idea that the world's history is only a few thousand years is utterly bogus.

Answer 4

I see no reason why certain aspects of "creationism" and evolution need be mutually exclusive. The dicotomny is political, not scientific.

Let me give you an example: The theory of Evolution depends on the existance of random mutations. Proving the actual existence of genuine "randomness" is VERY Difficult. We have faith that certain phenomena are "random", because they seem to be on the scales we are familiar with. However, in fact, may be no such thing as actual randomness,...we cannot know randomness empirically, and there is no theoretical test that always works on every scale.
Some folks have faith in the theory of evolution as generally taught, and others perfer to place their faith elsewhere
We BELIEVE that random mutation fuels evolution. But there may be a pattern in the mutations too subtle for us to see. ....I.E. not random at all, but designed by something, someone. I do not feel there is iron-clad evidence one way or the other.

However, evolution theory does generate testable hypotheses, within certain parameters. While intelligent design produces fewer, if any, testable hypotheses, so far. I am not convinced that intelligent design can never produce a testable hypothesis

Answer 5

They do not have to be exclusive but the people tend to be very closed minded and feel that by opening up to the belief that the other is a possibility that means that what they believe and have always believe most be wrong. Most believe that if you said that evolution is true than that would mean that creationism is not and the same goes for the other way around, it is simply going back to peoples strong belief that THEIR way is the RIGHT way and never should the 2 meet

Answer 6

If you stop and think about the Bible for a moment. It was written by man (many men) so it should be considered a book of history as man percieved it. It also talks about firey charriots in the sky is this perhaps what we would call aliens or UFO's? Are we alone in all the planets?
Evolution on the other hand has merit also. We know there were dinosaurs and prehistoric things. Where was all the dinosaurs in the bible. Did they forget to mention them maybe because it was befor mans time of speach and thought. Who decided what each word of any and all languages ment what. Just things I have thought about.

Answer 7

I read your question this way: "Did God cause evolution to occur?"

I personally do not believe so. Many people say that this is a gray area, that there is no evidence either way, but I disagree. While there are definite similarities between humans and our 'cousins', there are also infinite dissimilarities.

For example: emotion. What other animal in the world shows signs of emotion, conscience, or even self awareness? What purpose would this quality of conscience have in evolution? If anything, it would be a set back in surviving our rivals. (Preventing us from stealing their food, overtaking territory, etc.)

In conclusion, I don't believe evolution & creation will ever agree with each other; simply because the majority of people who believe in evolution wish to disprove the existence of a God, and the majority of people who believe in creation want to disprove the theory that we evolved from "soup".

Answer 8

Nutjobs?? oh yeahl.. VERY mature!! Very thoughtful!! I am not a nutjob. I believe in creation... because evolution is still a theory... there is no MISSING LINK to prove evolution, also, everything else in the bible is true.. so why isn't the creation theory true? the point of the matter is we have the right to believe whatever we want, because of the very nature of the two they are exclusive, either God created the world and everything in it in 6 days.. OR it took millions and millions of years for them to evolve... that is why they are exclusive... christians chose to believe what they want...

Answer 9

Absolutely - the Bible states "God Created - " it doesn't give details - there is evidence of both theories, for example look at the horse - there is a direct evolutionary line showing the horse of prehistoric times to the horse we have today - that is just one example - but evolution doesn't necessarily negate the existance of God - there is proof of the flood in the story of Noah, there is evidence supporting many of the stories told in the Bible - the two can work hand in hand and frankly it makes better sense to me than saying "we just happened" on either account - I believe in God as the creator and giver of life - how He accomplished it could have very well have involved evolution of each species and so on - To me this is a much more believable theory than "the big Bang" - There are way too many intricate workings in all aspects of this old earth and her inhabitants for me to accept that some higher intelligence isn't in control - things like the miracle of birth, our system of waterways and streams, seasons, hills, valleys and mountains, etc - don't just happen! God is in Control - and all things are answered in His time
Thank you for your question - Good Luck and God Bless!

Answer 10

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2. Now the earth was [1] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Light didn't come until verse 3. Who's to say that it didn't take billions of years to get into the light. Genesis is very poetic. Did light refer to the Big Bang? Verse 2 may well be referring to space. We can't be so presumptious to think that God made the whole universe centered on our planet. The first six days in Genesis may well be millions of years... To paraphrase Spock..."...eons may seem like days..."