evolution the collapse of religion?

Question

i recently asked a question about evolution to members of religions bassed on the BIBLE...i was quite supprised when i discovered that most responses did not deny evolution... heres that catch...if evolution is real, then what about adam and eve? correct me if im wrong, but were'nt they perfect beings that required no more genitic mutations?...even if they werent the evidence is building up that we evolved from other species, which would mean that god did not create these two beings/humans...what im attempting to get at here is the failure of the OT, if we did evolve from other species than it is evident that god did not create humans as the superior race or even that god did not create humans at all. THIS IS ONLY A THEORY AND IT IS NOT TO BE TAKEN AS REALITY....YET... comments?

obviously this is not the entire argument...but i am still working on it..with time the completed argument will be posted...stay tuned...

Answer 1

Most Christians take the Creation story as an allegory...meaning Adam and Eve are the metaphorical first humans, eating the apple is a metaphor for gaining awareness and free will, etc...

There is still the major problem that the Bible says that earthquakes, storms, and death are a result of sin, but with new discoveries we know that these things occurred before humans.

Answer 2

Since it is only a theory let me suggest some possibilities.
1. God used evolution to create man.
2. Adam and Eve are symbolic like man and woman and used the same way.
3. God took a evolving monkey and genetically engineered it into man as we know him today. God then named the first two Adam and Eve,
4. If Adam and Eve were perfect beings then how did that apple get eaten? Guess even the OT suggests imperfections.
5. And on and on it goes. Now if you choose to study the OT some more I can promise you far more confusion than you have now. Why? Because the god (little "g") that created man was not God.

Answer 3

Many Christians (well, I know Catholics do) already know and accept the creation stories to be fictional. That's right, they aren't true. They were written by exiles during the Babylonian Exile of the Israelites. They were written in the form of inspirational letters to fellow exiles in their time of dying faith, since all they had was oral tradition back then. Although the creation stories are made up myths, they do provide some God inspired possible explanations.

***Please don't think that I'm denying the Bible of its truth; I do believe the rest of the Bible to be absolutely true.***

So, this means that the story of Adam and Eve doesn't contradict evolution at all. You said that this could mean that God didn't create humans to be superior or possibly may not have created them at all. OK, well, if you want to get that deep... Many Christians can easily argue that God set all the circumstances of the Big Bang so that everything would evolve to the point in which humans were ultimately developed. From then on, we've used our free will to determine the future of this world. In the end, we could easily argue that God is responsible for all of creation, or as you've made clear, we could argue that God isn't responsible for any creation at all.

Answer 4

Lets not forget that evolution is a SCIENTIFIC theory. It is well supported by inferences, evidence, and observation. It is not a hunch, scientists did not decide to accept it because it is their favourite - science does not work like that. If there is enough creditable evidence that evolution isn't a well supported theory, then it would have been thrown out - things change - science is dynamic.

Speaking of change - quit using the fossil record incompletion arguement. People must realise fossilisation is a rare occurance - it needs very specific conditions - absence of air, absence of bacteria, absence of decay, the right pressures and temperatures. This limits the amount of fossils that can be found and there is no surprise that many animal and plant lineages remain incomplete.

There is far more evidence to support evolution besides this anyway - multiple drug resistant bacteria, the pentadactyl limb, DNA/RNA in genomes, vestigial organs, morphological similarities, etc. You just have to look it up.

Answer 5

If the seriously flawed theory is the best God haters can come up with then Faith in God is on a solid rock foundation...

There are two major evidences that show evolution weaknesses
1. There isn't enough time for the small rodent like mammals left after the last extinguishing event to bring them to the size and variety of the mammals the roamed the earth during the last major ice age.
2. Viruses have been known to man for approximately the last 200 years. During that time there have been billions of generations, yet never has a virus jumped species. Yes the have varied but they remain viruses..

Good luck trying to make it work with real science though..

Jim

Answer 6

Religion and the Bible are stories to guide. Promote morality and values. It teaches lessons and provides comfort. It brings people together and promotes community and unity when everyone has a common set of beliefs.

Evolution is how everything came to be. It makes sense and any person even mildly educated can see that. Have you ever seen anyone create another human from a rib? Have you ever seen someone die and come back to life after thirty days???

Evolution and the belief there of is not the end of religion by far. People need religion. People need guidance and community. People need something to believe in. The Church reports less follower, but there will always be followers. People need the Bible. People need their God(s).

Just my thoughts.

Answer 7

Do you even need to ask. I don't want to come off snottily (although I know I will, and I'm sorry), but I truly believe Christianity opposed the belief of evolution until proof was released that evolution was real. Then the belief changed.

At the same time, that action is not as hypocritical as you may think. Scientists do the same thing. They rule out one theory and formulate a new one.

That being said, what will happen to the religion if it is determined Jesus did not resurrect from the dead.....?

Answer 8

To "create" means to put and keep something in existence. God is Creator because He puts and sustains everything in existence. He is the maker and final goal of everything that exists, all things visible and invisible.

The truth of creation means that God's loving creativity builds into each of us a meaning, purpose and destiny which nothing can take away from us.

Does the Genesis account of creation contradict the scientific theory of evolution? No. In affirming that God is the ultimate cause of all that exists, Genesis gives its ultimate meaning and purpose - "Why" the world exists. It does not explain "how" the physical world came to be in its present condition, which the theory of evolution tries to explain.

The Catholic Church does not have an official position on whether various life forms developed over the course of time. However, it says that, if they did develop, then they did so under the impetus and guidance of God, and their ultimate creation must be ascribed to him.

Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man's body developed from previous biological forms, under God's guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul.

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 9

lol your not the first one to ask that question and you won't be the last, however to answer Most religious people believe since God is well GOD he can do what ever he wants and maybe he used evolution to bring about human beings!!! We can never be sure because Religious people would always have faith and would always find a way to argue. Scientist look at the facts and try to think of a hypothesis that explains it. Creationists start with a hypothesis and try to make the facts fit.

Answer 10

I am Chrisian, but my beliefs concerning Genesis are not the ususal. I think that what we call a creation account is really a restoration account of the earth after the last mass extinction (during the Pleistocene age).

The Bible says that modern animals were created "after their kind." From the first time I read that I wondered what does that mean. If I take it literally means that modern animals were created using the structure of previous animals as a blueprint. That is the DNA structure of prehistoric animals was modified, and used to create similar modern animals. The prehistoric animals/plants could all be subject to evolution, but God stepped in after the mass extinction and used some sort of genetic engineering to restore the animal life were necessary.

I take it that the same thing happened with man, but with some serious modifications. As well as man being created using the DNA structure of previous man-like creatures, man was given more - the image of God. That is man was given a spirit whereby he could communicate with God. Sure Neanderthals, etc existed but they did not have the spirit of God like Adam and Eve. In that sense Adam and Eve are the first true man and woman, possessing the image of God.