Questions about the relationship between Evolution and The Bible

[Defij]

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now, and I’d like to just throw this out there for debate. What does evolution have to do with Christianity, God, or any other organized religion, but being that I am a Christian, I’d like to direct this towards Christianity.

From my point of view, it has nothing to do with Christianity. Science and religion basically are two totally different fields of study that do not work on the same wave length. Science is in the business of answering the “how” questions, where religion (and philosophies) attempts to answer the “who” question. I do not see evolution as having any affect at all on my faith and/or Christianity in general. I “know” evolution is a scientific fact. Of course we do not know everything about “how” and of course scientific theories come and go, which is the way science works, but again, that does not/should not affect religious faith.

So what do you think?

 

[michel]

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now, and I’d like to just throw this out there for debate. What does evolution have to do with Christianity, God, or any other organized religion, but being that I am a Christian, I’d like to direct this towards Christianity.

From my point of view, it has nothing to do with Christianity. Science and religion basically are two totally different fields of study that do not work on the same wave length. Science is in the business of answering the “how” questions, where religion (and philosophies) attempts to answer the “who” question. I do not see evolution as having any affect at all on my faith and/or Christianity in general. I “know” evolution is a scientific fact. Of course we do not know everything about “how” and of course scientific theories come and go, which is the way science works, but again, that does not/should not affect religious faith.

So what do you think?

I agree; I have no problem with accepting Evolution as a proven fact. I guess the problem would come into being for a 'sola Scriptura' Christian (and we do have some here) who take the creation (as described in Genesis) as literal, and not to be argued with.

I don't understand how any Christian can look scientific proof of the earth's history in the face and declare the proof as being wrong, but some do.

 

[Defij]

So then the second point of this would be that since Christianity is not a "science", science is not a religion. I've said this in another post, but again, science is not religion, religion is not a science, the Bible is not a science book and The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection is not holy scripture.

The fact that evolution is a naturally occurring process does not negate the existence of God.

 

[scitsofreaky]

The fact that evolution is a naturally occurring process does not negate the existence of God.

But it does negate the literal interpretation of creation account(s) in Genesis. This way of taking Genesis comes into direct conflict with evolution since it states how the diversity of life came about, which is what evolution explains. In this case, it steps out of the realm of religion and into the realm of science.

 

[CyclicFlow]

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now, and I’d like to just throw this out there for debate. What does evolution have to do with Christianity, God, or any other organized religion, but being that I am a Christian, I’d like to direct this towards Christianity.

From my point of view, it has nothing to do with Christianity. Science and religion basically are two totally different fields of study that do not work on the same wave length. Science is in the business of answering the “how” questions, where religion (and philosophies) attempts to answer the “who” question. I do not see evolution as having any affect at all on my faith and/or Christianity in general. I “know” evolution is a scientific fact. Of course we do not know everything about “how” and of course scientific theories come and go, which is the way science works, but again, that does not/should not affect religious faith.

So what do you think?

To me, it only has something to do with your religion if you want it to. There are an infinite amount of viewpoints on a thing like this. One might state that when the Bible says God created Adam (in so many words) it might be referring to the thousands of years of evolution that it took for that to occur. Although the Bible says it took God 7 days to create the Earth, time is incredibly relative and the time as related to an infinitely powerful being could represent thousands of years. Or perhaps "God Time" has nothing to do with the flow of time as we know it. If each of the seven days of creation represents a major geologic event (which I believe they do), then maybe a "God Day" is simply any period of time during which major change takes place!

In addition, I feel that there does not need to be such a gigantic seperation between faith and science! True, that's the way its been since the begginning of known time, nowadays we are too locked into this way of thinking to realize the many ways in which science and God can be connected. I remember a few years back reading an article about a scientist who began to believe in God based on scientific evidence (something must've set off the big bang).

I think there's definatly more to that...but that's all I can handle at 8:30AM...hope you liked my shpeil!

 

[scitsofreaky]

I remember a few years back reading an article about a scientist who began to believe in God based on scientific evidence (something must've set off the big bang).

There must've been something that caused whatever set off the big bang, or something like that is the usual response, and rightly so IMO. It is usually stated that everything has a cause, so the big bang must have had a cause, so God is inserted as this cause. But to keep the logic consistent, God must have had a something cause it to come into existence, which contradicts most concepts of God as eternal, the unmoved mover, the uncaused cause. So one has to admit that something can exist without being caused, thereby contradicting the opening statement that everything has a cause.

 

[CyclicFlow]

I believe that is why God is so contraversial, you must accept God was created by nothing! That God simply is was and ever shall be. But that has nothing to do with evolution and God. To have this argument we are assuming God exists not trying to prove God.