When I was a Christian, I was a theistic evolutionist; meaning that I believed in God, and that the processes of the natural world had been set in place to accomplish his ends. In other words, there was no conflict between my faith and any of the currently accepted scientific theories. As a result, it very much perplexed me when Christians who found out I was not a believer would start talking about evolution and the Big Bang Theory - or more accurately, what their church had falsely taught them about evolution and the Big Bang Theory. For them it was an important theological point. For me, evolution was no more meaningful to my belief in a god than heliocentrism.
How much would the theory of evolution being true impact your beliefs. And why?
Clara Tea's opinions:
1. The Catholic church was wrong to torture scientists who said that meteors came from God's perfect sky.
2. The Christians are wrong to ban condoms (that prevent pregnancies and STDs like AIDS), because they don't condone sexual intercourse. Scientists say that we should prevent the spread of diseases.
3. Though it is a large leap from bonobo chimps to mankind, and there doesn't seem to be much of a link connecting them, DNA clearly shows that the missing chromosome is caused by two merged chromosomes. Furthermore, all life is related by DNA, and science has proven that.
To deny science is to lie. God/Christ doesn't like liars. What would heaven be if liars were there?
Not all atheists are scientists. Nor are all scientists atheists. Many scientists are devout theists (many are Christian). One of my best friends is a physics professor, son of an ordained evangelical preacher, and personally highly religious. The last time that we spoke, it was almost totally about religion.
I think that both science and religion can be right. But, I think that both sides have to bend a little. Theists have to bend to accept that DNA and evolution are right (the pope agrees, but the pope says that God guided evolution). Many disbelieve science out of ignorance. Science is difficult to learn, and very few have the necessary educational background to learn it. Charleton theists often dabble in what looks like science (to non-scientists), and they come up with pseudo-logical arguments and pseudo-facts to assert that science proves the existence of God. To real scientists, their arguments are laughable....though I refrain from laughing because I know that they have limited resources at their disposal, and they feel passionately about God. Many theists are very very good people who try to help the poor and the sick, and they volunteer at churches and hospitals. Our family friend was one such good person. His sterling virtues were an inspiration to us all. But the world is badly messed up right now. The war in Iraq was a travesty, in which the United States was going to police the world (and it is too expensive to do, and loss of life is staggering, and in the end, the Middle East got riled up because of the United States presence, which caused more volunteers to join ISIS (a pseudonym for the al Qaeda). We have to be careful not to mix religion with politics, because invariably bad people get into office who don't really understand God's wishes (thou shalt not kill, for example). They rape God's environment, ignore the homeless, and tell lies to cover up their devious plots (like the torture camp in Guantanamo, and the Iran Contra scandle that supported a Contra dictatorship, starved and kept ignorant the Sandinista people, and armed the dictatorship of Iran behind the backs of Congress (not out in the open so the voters could approve or disapprove).
There are many points of disagreement between science and theology. One is that theists claim that the universe is 6,000 years old and scientists have proven that the universe is 13.8 trillion years old (and dinosaur fossils are ancient). It could be that God merely wants to fool us with false evidence. But more likely, God's time is not the same as human time (entirely possible according to science because time is relative. In strong gravitational fields, general relativity says that time slows, and at fast speeds, special relativity says that time slows (dilates). So, science actually agrees that the earth could be 6,000 years old from someone's perspective.
Similarly, many parts of the bible seem plausible when science is used to analyze them. For example, it was just determined that the walls of Jericho were "likely" knocked down by an icy meteorite (charred dirt and debris is 5 feet deep for 14 miles from Jericho to the point of impact), and the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah were also nearby and possibly destroyed by the fiery blast of the same meteor. Diamonds (microscopic) were found in the soil, indicating tremendous heat and pressure, that could not be formed in regular fires or other natural disasters. So, it appears that it is no myth that the walls of Jericho really did come tumbling down (as the song says).
My suggestion, then, is to not question science unless you intend to spend a great deal of time studying it. Try to understand the concepts, and if there is an obvious disagreement between science and theology, try to resolve it, and try to seek out real scientists to help you figure out what could be done to make both science and theology agree.
