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Author Topic:   Why is evolution so controversial?
GDR
Member
Posts: 6202
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 1.9


Message 526 of 969 (737715)
09-28-2014 7:46 PM
Reply to: Message 525 by PaulGL
09-28-2014 6:24 PM


Re: What if God used evolution to create man?
Hi Paul
I'd just like to add something to the discussion. The religion is called Christianity. Note that it is Christianity not Bibleianiity. What you are doing IMHO is making an idol out of the Bible. The Bible is not God, and the Bible does not image God. The Bible is a collection of books that tells the narrative of God reaching out to mankind through the ages and culminating in Jesus who actually is the "Word" of God. The Bible is a tool of God used to reach out and inform.
I suggest that the Bible should be used in the following manner. First off realize that the Bible is a book written by fallible men to record their histories and understanding of God. As Christians the place to start is with the resurrection of Jesus. As Paul says, without that we aren't just wasting our time but that we are actually to be pitied.
We can read what others have written, (try NT Wright), and as far as I am concerned the arguments in support of the resurrection being historical are far superior to those against assuming that one is a theist to start with. (If one isn't a theist then it does matter how strong the argument is it would have to be assumed to be wrong.)
On the assumption that the bodily resurrection is historical we then can look at what Jesus tells us in the Gospel to understand what His message and life means to us, and in many cases, particularly in the sermon on the mount he corrects much of what is taught in the OT. In that we can see that He came to establish a Kingdom of followers that are brought into a form of fellowship with Him and are called to reflect God's love, mercy, justice etc into the world including our fellow humans, all living creatures and the entire planet. We are called to servant-hood by the one who washed the feet of His disciples.
We then read the Epistles as a means of understanding how the first Christian theologians understood the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Let's look at the OT. Jesus was a first century Jew speaking to other first century Jews. If you get a good Bible that is well annotated you can see that a tremendous amount of what we have recorded from the words of Jesus refer directly back to the OT. To actually understand the mission of Jesus we need the OT. However, that is not to say that it was dictated by God. It isn't necessary to turn it into a science text or a newspaper. The creation stories if read properly give us all sorts of Christian insights. However, if you try and turn it into something it was never intended to be then the actual message gets all tangled up in numerous rationalizations.
Evolution as it stands is the best efforts of science to explain the mechanics of how life has arrived at this point. I have very little understanding of it but from what I do know, it is a beautiful system that has in effect created a life form that in the end creates itself and is self correcting. What a marvelous creation it depicts. It is far more creative than the idea, for which there is zero evidence that humans were created complete.
JMHO

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 525 by PaulGL, posted 09-28-2014 6:24 PM PaulGL has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 532 by Pressie, posted 10-05-2014 10:35 AM GDR has not replied
 Message 533 by zaius137, posted 10-22-2014 1:06 AM GDR has replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6202
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 1.9


Message 534 of 969 (739230)
10-22-2014 1:59 AM
Reply to: Message 533 by zaius137
10-22-2014 1:06 AM


Re: What if God used evolution to create man?
zaius137 writes:
Well not actually Evolution does not explain the origin of life
Agreed
zaius137 writes:
Well not actually Evolutions champion is death. Organisms can not advance without a price.
We live in an entropic world. Death allows for new life.
zaius137 writes:
Well not actually Survival of the fittest, reproductive dominance, selfish DNA.
Can't be entirely true. I exist.
zaius137 writes:
Well not actually Evidence in our DNA denies common descent in general and exhibits a young genome not hundreds of thousands of years old.
I'll go with the experts and there are a few of those around here. (I am definitely not one of them.)

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 533 by zaius137, posted 10-22-2014 1:06 AM zaius137 has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 535 by zaius137, posted 10-22-2014 2:12 AM GDR has not replied

  
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