Can you believe in God and Evolution?

Question

I am a Christian and have believed in God my whole life and I still do. However, in Biology we are starting to talk about evolution and it is confusing me. I do believe that we have evolved to adapt to our world, but I don't think that we came from monkies. Can somebody please help explain things to me. I am really confused about what to believe.

Answer 1

Please read my words carefully:
If you see footmark in the sand, you'll say that someone passed from here...
If you see a piece of dog sh*t on the ground, you'll say that a dog passed from here...
So what about the enormous universe, the sky, stars, planets, earth and all the beauty in it, doesn't it lead to that someone made it?!!!

Some people say that everything is created by itself after the big-bang... I won't ask you about what caused the big-bang, but I'll ask you a simple question:
If you take all the letters of the alphabet, multiples of them, and you threw them randomly on the floor. Do you expect (by a chance of one in infinity) to get a poem like shakespear's??!!

Can't you see how organized our universe is, the planets, the eco-system on earth, look even in your own body... Can you control your heart-beat? Can you control your breath while you're sleeping? Who stopped your eye-lashes from growing after reaching a certain length? Who told the baby turtles to move towards the sea and not to the earth after they come out of their eggs? Who taught the bird how to make nests?

My friend, think with your heart and brain. If you're still lost, think about the following:

Do you know how to play safe?
Non-believer's case:
If there's no God and you do all what you want in life, then nothing will happen to you after life. But if there was God and you were mistaken, then you'll blame yourself FOREVER...

Believer's case:
If there's God and I followed His commands in life, then I'll be in Heaven after life FOREVER. But if there was no God and we're mistaken, then nothing bad will happen to us after life...

Now you know how to play-safe, in case you're not convinced?

Answer 2

FIRST off, in evolution it DOES NOT say that humans came from monkies. Darwin, a guy from the 1900s, thought that we might have a common ancestor. He was WAY BEFORE we found out about DNA, so he was on the 'right track'. He was simply trying to explain something from the definitions and terms in his vocabulary at his time period.

From a DNA standpoint, primates and humans only vary by less then 2% of our genetic coding.

Creationism is the strict belief in the Genesis telling of the world. That it took god 6 days to create everything. Some people have added up all the bible time frames and figured out that the world according to the bible is alittle over 6,000 yrs old literally.

Though I usually point out 2 Peter 3:8 "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Another possible translation of 'thousand' here is 'a thousand times a thousand years"---big numbers were kinda confusing in the old languages.

Secondly, in Genesis it say that god didn't create the earth til the 3rd day and the sun of the 4th day, so logically it probably isn't talking about an 'earth day', since the verses are said to be given to moses from god, so it would be from god's perspective. The question becomes 'how long is a day to an INFINITE being?"

Personally, I go with the explaination of 'no human was there, so no one can say for sure." Does it really matter to my life IF it was 7days or billions of years? Either way its still be BIG DEAL.

Back in the day, Everything a person didn't know was said to be that way cuz God made it that way. People didn't have the benefit of 'sciences' to explain things in terms that people could understand.

When a plague would come into a town kill half of the people, people would ask why did some people live and some die. People couldn't see virus or bacteria, so it was 'easier' to say those that died upset god or those that lived were 'with god'.

Why do earthquakes happen or floods or why does it not rain for months? People back in the day didn't have OTHER explainations, so EVERYTHING was the province of god.

In many ways, the "sciences" EXPLAIN god. Hehehee I've always liked the OT verse, Ecc 8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

Answer 3

I believe in both, and magic and everything - as GOD can in an instant remake everything - right?
Actually GOD made all the laws you are learning about - that humans just now are learning about.
Gravity, natual selection, genes, atoms, large and small - name a law and it was GOD that made it - found it good and kept it.
In regards to your faith - just have blind faith - not questioning faith. Keep your faith the same as you had when you were young (say 5-8) - the older you get - the more the world will push and twist and make you question - what does not need questioning.
You have free will - and with that will come tests, and doubts. Why doubt GOD? There is not a human alive that knows GOD, so do not doubt GOD. Doubt a human before GOD, because a human is flawed - just check most peoples regrets. GOD has no regrets. GOD has made no mistakes. Give GOD the unanswerable unknowing - ness that GOD will always have. If you live 1000 years you'd just be old and no closer to understanding GOD than any baby you know today.
Why couldn't GOD make all the evidence for people to be comfortable if they - freely choose - to believe a path different than others that believe GOD made humanity from clay and spit? Both are correct. GOD is all powerful, not limited to human understanding.
Lastly talk to your parents and mix in what they explain as family thinking into your thoughts. And do not just change your mind to fit into the hip people as you grow. Stick to who you are. You are correct remember in what you believe right now.

Answer 4

No. God said he created the world in seven literal days (evenings and mornings). If he actually didn't do that, then he is a liar, so how can you believe anything he says.

Animals have adapted to certain environmental changes out of the need to survive, but that is a far cry from the evolution theory as it's taught, the big bang theory, or that humans are merely more highly evolved, etc.

The truth is in Genesis.....read that and don't waver. Study your biology with that knowledge firmly in your mind, and never forget that evolution is a theory.....a man-made theory.

Answer 5

Evolution completely contradicts the most basic foundation of scripture. (Created after their own kind) There is nothing wrong with learning about evolution. But listen very carefully to how it is presented. Contrary to posts that are here on this board, it is in no way, a fact. There are huge holes in the fossil record, carbon dating methods and layer dating. Selective evidence is used to prove evolution while contradicting evidence is dismissed. It comes down to your worldview. Do you believe in a creator or that we evolved from something. I suggest you also do a little looking into what creation scientists say as a way of balancing your learning. It will take time to do that but if I were you, I would want all the facts before I believed in any thing. I can tell you now, both are based in faith. Common ancestor? Please. Was it more human or monkey? And what on earth would cause a gene mutation that large to cause such differences. Environment? No way. Only in science fiction movies.

Answer 6

You can't believe both the Bible and evolution.

For example, in Genesis 1, the Bible says that everything was made in 6 days. Some say these days were millions of years, but consider the following:

Plants were made on day 3. The sun and moon were placed in position on day 4. How did plants survive millions of years from day 3 to day 4 without the sun?

Also, many plants need insects, birds, or other animals to assist in pollination. How did these plants survive from day 3 to days 5 and 6 when the animals were created if it were millions of years?

In this chapter, a day is described as an evening and morning. In addition, Genesis 1:14 talks about days, seasons and years. If a day is millions of years, then what is a "season" or "year"?

The bible teaches that man was made from the dust of the ground. Evolution says man came from lower animals.

Evolution says that men and dinosaurs never lived together.

There, however, is evidence that they did live together. For example, there are hundreds of clay figures found in Mexico, petroglyphs in the United States, carvings in Cambodia, and ancient burial stones in Peru that all show dinosaurs, some in great detail! If these ancient men have never seen dinosaurs, how did they know what they looked like? (These dinosaurs were "discovered" by scientists hundreds of years after this art was made.)

There is plenty of evidence that you should believe God and the Bible, His Word!

Please see the articles at the links below.

Answer 7

Unfortunately this is a debate that has gone on for years and years. Some attempt to reconcile it and others think it's blasphemy to consider the idea that man could have evolved from apes. The whole "theistic evolution" idea goes along with the liberal interpretation of the six day creation equaling six "ages". And then there is the "intelligent design theory" which is an attempt at reconciling the two, that the complexity of life has to be the result of a "designer".

The issue you run into with the attempted literal interpretation of six ages and theistic evolution is that if man evolved from ape then it means that suffering and death existed prior to the 'sin' of Adam and Eve and therefore death is just a natural process since the beginning of life instead of man's sin. With intelligent design theory, it sounds attractive to the Christian who wants to believe in 'Creationism' and literal interpretation of the 'six days', but I'm not really sure if there's enough science to back its claims.

I'm sorry I don't have a definite answer for you... I just pray that some day it will all be clear! God bless

Answer 8

Most believers, such as myself, believes in micro-evolution but not macro-evolution. Micro evolution is adaptation, survival of the fittest, etc. Macro evolution happens over a very long period of time, like 600 Million years. As a believer I believe that the earth is around 6,000 years old and that all the species that have been on this earth have the ability to evolve on a micro level but not a macro level.

ie I don't believe that a reptile can evolve into a bird. But I do believe that an elephant can grow a thick coat of hair because of climate change and then be known as a wholly mammoth.

Answer 9

We have two sources of knowledge. Revealed knowledge given to us by God and observed knowledge given to us by man.

I don't think I need to spend anytime about revelation as spoken through the prophets.

Evolution is a scientific theory that explains scientific facts using the scientific method. A scientific fact is an observation by two or more people independent of location. The theory of Evolution explains the scientific facts that we have. If the facts change, the theory might. A scientific law is a scientific theory that has bee accept for a long time. Science laws change when the underlying facts change.

For example, the scientific theory that the earth is flat changed when we sailed around the world. The scientific theory of time changed with the theory of relativity.

You can believe both as information God gave us and information we got from observation.

When we applied the scientific method to revelation (bible) we get into trouble because the bible is not a science or history book, but a tool for believers.

We get into trouble when we try to prove reveal knowledge using observation. We can not observe our way to God.

Answer: Relax. What you believe is yours. Knowing scientific facts and the scientific theories that explains them gives you another way to view the world.

Answer 10

Why be confused? God made the world and all scientific processes, including Evolution. God creates His Creation through Evolution, its simple.

And yes, we did evolve not from monkeys (sheesh, why do people keep saying that!) but from a common ancestor about 7 million years ago. You are NOT a monkey, but you ARE a primate, and a great ape. Yes, chimps and bonobos are closest to us we're gonna get today.

How can anyone NOT believe in Creation through Evolution? If it was just KERPLUNK, there's a modern human being, then what reason would God have for Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens Idaltu and all other human species? He wouldn't since they'd be redundant! Everything in this Universe is evolving towards more complex, towards Light, towards God. Human beings are the crowning glory of His creation. Although our physical evolution has stopped, our consciousness and spirit is also evolving towards Homo Noeticus, and soon, Homo Universalis. Evolution is still here with us, it will just take time yet.

There are as yet some Homo Noeticus among us, but alas, most are still Homo Sapiens Sapiens, but that's all good too!

Yes I'm a Christian too, evolving towards Homo Noeticus, which is the next step once one becomes spiritually awakened.

Answer 11

Yes you can. Science is not apart from God. If you believe God is all then God has, himself, created the science that we study. we try to separate science from God and say that everything occurs naturally and in accordance with science. However is you believe that God is all and in all things then science which is indeed Nature is also a part of God. It is only human beings' limited mind that makes a distinction. We did evolve...not from monkeys of course...but the soul has always been evolving...whatever we evolved from was part of God's work to elevate us to the level when we are now with such highly developed brains. This would be diffucult to believe however if you were to take the story of adam and eve. Keep in mind that much of the Bible is in metaphor and was simplified for the perhaps more simple minded pple of the time.