How would you explain evolution and the fall of man? Or the concept of Adam being the first man? Or that Death existed before the fall of man? Or would you just dismiss the entire genesis account? But then what would that say about Jesus who makes reference to Adam? Was he just making an allegorical reference? Is Genesis entirely figurative? What are your thoughts on all this?
2007-12-23 04:54:04 · 29 answers · asked by Nautica™ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Please respond to all aspects of the question if you believe you can be a Christian Evolutionist. Thanks.
2007-12-23 05:00:02 · update #1
i can
the word evolution is used to explain things coming into existance through change,unfortunately some christians with flaps on their eyes cant comprehend these things that is why they dont believe in it
2007-12-23 04:58:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
As far as I can tell, Jesus does not make any reference to Adam. The Apostle Luke does in his genealogy and Paul does but I can't find where Jesus does.
But even if Jesus did, I'm not sure it makes any difference. Jesus makes reference to people who we know are from parables. So I suppose those references were allegorical.
I think that the death referenced in Genesis is not physical death.
I think that Adam is the first man in some real sense but Adam may not have been the first in the physical form. Perhaps that point came when Adam found that his life must have worth and his fall came when he decided to find his worth outside of the love of his Creator.
2007-12-28 22:26:36 · answer #2 · answered by Matthew T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My old religion teacher - a nun - would speak and say how some of the stories were just that, 'stories'. She said how they told the stories to get the point across (such as the talking donkey story in Numbers), but how others were true (such as the main ones like Jesus). To believe in evolution is easy - it's a way to get around the whole, "Adam and Eve's kids slept with Eve to have more kids and to continue the human race and you're actually sleeping with your great, great, great, great ... great, great cousin," isn't it? I mean, maybe I can look at it from an easier perspective since I'm not religious. I've had the religion kicked out of me by one too many rules and people (especially when I said I believe in God but not the Bible and got degraded in front of about five people) who dripped with hypocrisy.
But if the Earth was created, and then just one or two species were, it could've evolved from that. I mean, theoretically if you go by the Bible Jesus would know of Adam - you could say he's the first human to be made through evolution and then Eve was next, then Cain and Abel, or more. Again, my nun teacher told us this not just once but many times and she knew so many verses and stories. It's your call.
2007-12-23 14:47:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Technically, you can indeed be a Christian and still believe in evolution. To be a Christian, you must believe that Jesus died for your sins.
Here is where the conflict comes in. If you believe the bible to be fact, you cannot believe in evolution. They give completely different accounts of the beginning.
I once believed the lies that I learned in high school of how evolution was the scientific explaination for everything. I was extremely disappointed that the bible could not agree with science. THEN, I did some research on my own. All of the examples of evolution I have been shown were completely false. Every example was proven wrong. The bible has yet to have any part of it proven wrong.
It turns out that there is absolutely no evidence of evolution. Thats right. There is no science to support the science of evolution. The only reason that creation isn't taught in schools is because many have a problem with a supernatural explaination.
Carbon dating doesn't work.
There are no intermediate fossils.
A big bang is actually impossible. If it were true, how can there be galaxies spinning one direction and other galaxies spinning another direction.
And the biggest problem, how do you get life from lifelessness? Seriously. I was told (and once believed) that it rained on rocks for millions of years and thats where life sprung. How can any intelligent person believe this nonsense?
I don't care how many millions or billions of years it rains on rocks. All you will end up with is a wet rock.
In summary, you must believe in God (and the truth in the bible) because of the impossibility of another explaination.
2007-12-23 05:29:24 · answer #4 · answered by Brian J 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you look at the HISTORY of evolution the proponents of this theory had as their purpose to DENY THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. "If there is no God, I don't need to be accountable to Him and can live as I please, with no consequences following after this life." --is this not what is really is in the hearts of these people?
Why would God want to reveal Himself allegorically or figuratively and then leave it to EXPERTS to explain it to us?
No, He made it so plain and simple that the most uneducated person can know Him, and the most educated person still find challenges to grapple with.
I believe the Bible is to be taken LITERAL, unless common sense shows us that something is a figure of speech or a parable. I believe that God is so GREAT AND POWERFUL, that He can just speak the word and the thing comes into being.
How many were healed by Jesus just speaking a few words? Whereas today's doctors have to perform operations or long treatments to heal people.
Like someone once said, "God spoke-- and BANG the world came into being"
That's the "BIG BANG" that I believe in : )
2007-12-23 05:30:10 · answer #5 · answered by Friend of Jesus 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"But then what would that say about Jesus who makes reference to Adam?"
Nothing, since the only direct mention of Adam in the Gospels or Acts lies in the genealogy in Luke.
It is easy to explain the fall of man as the capacity to make bad choices. The moral lessons are actually deeper if they are not concrete. Biblical Literalism takes the mind hostage.
2007-12-23 08:54:54 · answer #6 · answered by novangelis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible. If you read genesis very carefully and with an open mind, you can see some spots where evolution might fit in. For example, when God is creating light, he says "Let there be light". But, when it comes to the creation of animals, he says "let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds.." and so on. as you see, God said "Let the land". What did he mean by let the land do it? that could mean evolution--let the animals evolve on their own. why didn't he just say "let there be animals", like he did with light? Its just something to think about. This was actually pointed out to me by my own pastor years ago. I'm an agnostic now, but for a very long time I believed that God and evolution co-existed, and I believe its possible that they still could, I just think the possibility of a God existing is very unlikely.
2007-12-23 05:11:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Why would evolution disprove Adam and Eve? They could've existed and still sinned against God. We don't know exactly how much time happened in the Garden of Eden. We cannot dispute the evidence we have from evolution but that does not disprove a creator. It actuallly proves how much design there is in evolution for there to be a creator.
2007-12-23 05:06:19 · answer #8 · answered by cynical 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think you can. Evolution is not a saviour in the biblical sense. It is a series of facts and hypothesis. If the main goal is to educate society on how we came about..(I am referring to science). What is so horrible and dangerous about learning the current science. I realize a few people think it's the end all to everything that is "Holy" if that should happen. I don't think that is coming about anytime soon. I just want my children and their children to learn the current information as the professionals have written it. With out a debate in which one side is citing "end times" rhetoric.
2007-12-23 05:03:57 · answer #9 · answered by Blame Amy 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yep. Somone close to me is a Christian who believes in evolution. And, yes, she is a sincere believer. However, she says that the Creation stories in the Bible are allegorical because the writers of the Bible were not capable of understanding the full story.
2007-12-23 05:03:48 · answer #10 · answered by Let Me Think 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The writers of Biblical text were not scientists so could not understand the natural concept as the modern world does. If they could have, the Bible would have enlightened the scientist and there would be no need to understand new concepts of the natural world...like radical Islam does. One has to know the understanding of the time when understanding what the writers were telling us.
2007-12-23 05:13:30 · answer #11 · answered by Amarillo Slim 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋