doesn't theistic evolution contradict the bible?

Question

i don't think you can believe in evolution and god. definitely not the bible. the bible clearly states that the universe was made in six days and on the seventh day he rested etc....but if evolution is correct, it STILL didn't happen in six days. So..theistic evolution...is it a bunch of bull?

Answer 1

It depends whether or not you take the biblical stories of Creation literally or not.

The Catholic Church does not take the stories of creation in the Bible literally. Catholics believe the book of Genesis tells religious truth and not necessarily historical fact.

One of the religious truths is that God created everything and declared all was good.

Catholics can believe in the theory of evolution. Or not. The Church does not require belief in evolution.

On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani generis:

The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Here is the complete encyclical: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html

The Church supports science in the discovery of God's creation. At this time, the theory of evolution is the most logical scientific explanation. However tomorrow someone may come up with a better idea.

As long as we believe that God started the whole thing, both the Bible and modern science can live in harmony.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Theistic evolution is a serious error! The bible clearly states that the world was made in six days, and even tells us that those days were periods of light and darkness. If the days were a thousand years, then the plants which were created on day three had no sunlight for a thousand years until the dawn of day four; they then had a thousand years of sunlight until day five. During the time of darkness, there would have been sub zero temperatures similar to what you encounter on the dark side of the moon, and during the thousand year daylight, there would have been extremes of heat.

[EDIT]
Incidentally, we are also told that God took the 7th DAY off. If that is a pattern for us, and if the days were a thousand years long, then we have to work for 6000 years, then take a 1000 years off. Silly, isn't it?

Also, there is evidence that Earth's rotation is slowing down (making the days longer) not speeding up at the rate of about a millisecond a century, which is why we periodically must add a "leap second" to the clock.

If evolution is true, then the Bible is false; if the Bible is true, then evolution is false - they are simply incompatible, and it's time we Christians face this and stop compromising. Incidentally, it is merely because people have bought into the errors and lies of biologists, paleontologists and geologists that this line of reasoning ever developed. Why have scientists become the new priests? Do we think them above the errors, temptations and sins common to man?

Answer 3

I would recommend paying more attention to the details of those six days. Why are things created in the order they are? The first three days present God fashioning habitable areas by making separations: day and night, waters above and below, dry land and sea. The next three days has God filling those places with inhabitants in the same order: day and night filled with sun, moon and stars; sky and sea filled with birds and fish; dry land filled with land animals. The order is thus set up for the sake of parallelism. It is poetic, presenting creation in terms of a "divine work week", but even before the New Testament was written, Jewish interpreters knew it made no sense to take it literally, with God taking a rest. John's Gospel reflects this interpretation in chapter 5 when it presents Jesus as saying that God works even on the Sabbath.

See my web page on Genesis 1 for more information. It is at http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/bible/ot/genesis1.htm

We cannot judge scientific theories based on a literal reading of the Bible. They did that with Joshua and the sun standing still in Galileo's time. Didn't we learn anything from that incident? On religion and science see http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/science/

You don't take the dome with waters above it literally, I presume? Although from the perspective of the Israelites the waters all gathered into one place called seas (the Mediterranean and adjoining bodies), you presumably accept that there is water in more than one place, no? Why would you pretend you are taking everything literally when you don't?

Answer 4

>>the bible clearly states that the universe was made in six days<<

Yes, six days, but six days from whose point of view? Ever heard of relativity?
http://www.geraldschroeder.com/age.html

Answer 5

i am against Darwin's theory of evolution. there are many Christian's that believe in it, but more go by what the Bible says. the Bible is God's word and we should follow that. Evolution simply has too many holes in it. sure, you can believe in microevolution, like some species of moth changing colors, but come on. macroevolution is crazy. like how we all came from unicellular organisms. its just too unbelievable. i hope that explained it.

Answer 6

Only is seven days to us.With God there is no time so it could have taken him Billions of years to do what we are told as humans 7 days.

Answer 7

No, but it does contrdict some peoples' interpretations of the Bible.

Answer 8

Yes, it does contradict, but the Bible contradicts itself, also.

Answer 9

That's a contradiction. An oxymoron.

Answer 10

if evolution is real, then adam and eve didn't exist, didn't eat from the tree of knowledge.

no adam and eve
no original sin
no reason for jesus to have died for our sins
no christ, no christians.