Why is Evolution at odds with Christianity?

I Belive in a God, used to call my self a christain at one point, but long abandoned that title. I am at best agnostic, I belive there is a devinity in the universe, but I don't profess to understand it's nature.In any case, I have allways found it interesting when confronted by fundamentalists why they feel Evolution is at odds with Christianity. It seems rather silly to base your whole religion on the verasity of easely dispovable myths put forth in a 4000 year old text, especially when the heart of christianity are it's tenats: Love one another, Love your neighbor, etc.Whouldent Jesus rather you follow his teachings about morality than bickering about the errancy or inerrancy of a bunch of old folk tales?Why do Christians concentrate so much on nitpicky subject such as "biblical facts" rather than trying to glean the moral and spiritual truths that the bible certainly has?Why do Christians feel that in order for there to be truth and validity to Christianity, every word in the Bible must be litteral fact when it clearly isnt? Likewise, why do they feel the Bible, like any other text, shouldent be criticaly, or figuratively, aproached?Evolution is a science, a fact, and a theory in the same sense as the Theory of Gravity. the Bible surely contradicts Gravity more than once, yet I see no Christians denying it's exitance.Like the passages were the sun stands still, or when in moves backward.So I ask, why do Christians feel that the bible has to be litteraly true for it's moral teachings to be true? Isn't that building a religion like a house of cards?

Because somewhere, the Bible says - or at least implies - that if you can't believe all of it, how can you believe any of it?I have to say that the Bible text itself tends to demand a literal interpretation. On the other hand, rationality demands a looser interpretation.Honestly would you base a religion on a book that said "This may or may not be accurate"?

Heh... I guess But in the way I look at it, how can anyone profess to know the truth about "why we are here"?I think it has a bit to do with Arogance. Doesn't assuming that you KNOW the bible is true, or that you KNOW that every last word in it fact, automatically mean that you are knowing the unknowable?I mean, doesn't God lambast Job in so many words for attempting to know what only God can know?I think fundamentalists have a weak religion, a weak one in even christian terms. They are not building their house on a rock as it were They are also confused about the questions science is attempting to answer. They belive it is out to answer "why things exist", but fail to realize that it can only answer "how things exist". Because of that, they really put themselves in a bad spot.The "why", what Aristotle called "for the sake of which" can never be conclusively answerd. That answer lies in faith. Perhapse, if the christians want something concreate to hold on to, they can look within themselves to find the "why", and hold on to that.Like the grass in the field, if it were to rigid, it would all break underfoot. Christianity should allow itself a bit more flexibility, throw out the bad, and accept the good.[This message has been edited by Yaro, 07-12-2003]

From what I've seen on the Internet they care much more about doctrine than about loving their neighbours - and usually they're too self-ruighteous to even notice if they did anything wrong.There also seems to be a lot of backbiting and conflict behind the scenes. Power struggles seem to be all too common.

The reason is because a critical part of the foundation of Christianity is original sin. If the events of Genesis are untrue, especially the original sin of eating of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge, then this foundation dissolves, and there is no longer any need for Jesus to have died to save us from our sins, and no need for us to seek forgiveness for our sins by accepting Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior.--Percy

Yes, but isn't the doctrine of Jesus saving us from sin and the need for him as a PERSONAL Lord and savior, mearly theology put fourth by John and the Epistles?I saw Jesuse's martyrdom to be tragic along the same lines of Socrates, or Gahndi etc. He was a great teacher who died for his belifes. Many Christians seem to interpret the passages of "only thrigh me you get to heaven" to mean you must belive in christ, but the actual greek is very broad, It can basically mean "belive in what I say," or "belive in what I teach." Much of Jesus's words are this ambigus in the coinic manuscripts.Which also makes me wonder why so many fudies like to refere to the origional texts as if they were somehow more authoritative when infact are even more vague.

Percy hit it right on the head. On another messageboard, a well-known creationist scientist from AiG posts regularly and his answer as to why evolution was evil was just as Percy stated.If evolution is true, then there was no Adam and Eve. Without Adam and Eve, there is no original sin and therefore no reason for Jesus to have died for us. And no resurrection, either, meaning no life after death. The only reason Christianity is popular with the masses is the promise of life after death, of seeing your loved ones once again - it's a major tenet of Christianity. Without it, why would anyone believe in God or that Jesus was his son?

And I dare anyone to find that little bit in the Bible....

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I Belive in a God, used to call my self a christain at one point, but long abandoned that title. I am at best agnostic, I belive there is a devinity in the universe, but I don't profess to understand it's nature.

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Hmmm, that's the first time I have ever known someone to profess belief in the supernatural and also call themselves an agnostic.To me, you are a Theist, because you believe in God. Of course, you can call yourself anything you want!

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In any case, I have allways found it interesting when confronted by fundamentalists why they feel Evolution is at odds with Christianity. It seems rather silly to base your whole religion on the verasity of easely dispovable myths put forth in a 4000 year old text, especially when the heart of christianity are it's tenats: Love one another, Love your neighbor, etc.

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Whouldent Jesus rather you follow his teachings about morality than bickering about the errancy or inerrancy of a bunch of old folk tales?

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Why do Christians concentrate so much on nitpicky subject such as "biblical facts" rather than trying to glean the moral and spiritual truths that the bible certainly has?

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Because that's scary, uncomfortable, and takes a lot of emotional and intellectual effort.It's much easier to not have to figure anything out.

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Why do Christians feel that in order for there to be truth and validity to Christianity, every word in the Bible must be litteral fact when it clearly isnt? Likewise, why do they feel the Bible, like any other text, shouldent be criticaly, or figuratively, aproached?

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I would say, actually, that most of the world's Christians do not have any or much objection to science, and do not take the Bible literally.Biblical literalists, or maybe fundamentalist Christian, are the folks you are talking about.However, anyone who says they take the Bible literally never actually seems to be consistent. They interpret just like everytone else; they just do it in different places and come to different conclusions.

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Evolution is a science, a fact, and a theory in the same sense as the Theory of Gravity. the Bible surely contradicts Gravity more than once, yet I see no Christians denying it's exitance.

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Like the passages were the sun stands still, or when in moves backward.

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Yes, that is strange, isn't it?

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So I ask, why do Christians feel that the bible has to be litteraly true for it's moral teachings to be true? Isn't that building a religion like a house of cards?

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Yup. It's missing the point of Jesus and his message entirely.{Fixed one quote box - AM}[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 07-12-2003]

heh... well, maybe not agnostic then Rather somedays I do somedays I don't. I think there is divinity in the univers, a God for lack of a better word. I just have no clue as to its/his/her nature.The only reason, I think this, is simply because the contemplation of an infinite pointless universe frankly gives me a headache

It's because human origins through evolution questions the origins of human nature. The troublesome parts of human nature - sin - supposedly came through and act of rebellion against God by the original and fully responsible human beings. Jesus death on the cross attoned for that according to accepted Christian theology. What if human nature, including it's problem areas, are products of evolution...then what did Jesus die for? That is the troubling question Christians ultimately are called to address when they consider human origins through a gradual evolutionary process. See my website http://www.evolutionaryspirituality.com and my book Stepping Through the Narrow Gate.

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Originally posted by Yaro:

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especially when the heart of christianity are it's tenats: Love one another, Love your neighbor, etc.

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I would like to know why people espouse this as Christianity's heart. Why?------------------

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All the boys think she's a spy

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In my opinion, Christianity has nothing to do with the OT, or the epistles, but rather Jesus's teachings, which for the most part, people will agree weren't all that bad.I think christians forgot that when Jesus came, he came to reform the old Jewish doctrine.

They do so because Jesus said it was the heart of it - the greatest commandments - love God, love your neighbour.Christianity is not founded on original sin. Augustine made a lot of it, but he's not Holy Writ. It doesn't matter whether our "sinful" impulses come from a historical fall or evolutionary imperatives - they still harm our relationships with other people, and with God. This is what Jesus came to heal.

Christianity and Evolution are at odds. Christianity says that God created the universe in 6 days. Not 6 million years. 6 days. Now when you look at the incredible complexity of life on our planet it is pretty o0bvious to me that a being of incredible intelligence must have created it. If you found a Swiss watch in the middle of the desert and someone asked you how it got there the answer would beSOMEONE MADE IT AND PUT IT THERE. It didnt evolve all by itself.Likewise with life on our planet. Now a God that intelligent ,infinitely intelligent could easily have created everything in 6 days. I only ask why he took so long.
And yet evolution supposes that life came into being all by itself. The 2 just dont mix.To be a christian you have to believe what the Bible says about a literal 6 day creation. You cant pick and choose which parts you believe. Either it all stands as truth or it falls. Yes there are parts of the Bible which are written in a symbolic way. Yet there is nothing in the creation account to suggest it is symbolic. 6 days means 6 days and to me this is very easy to believe, much easier than the blind faith of believing in a mathematically impossible random evolution.You seem like a person of christian morals anyway but my friend you cant believe in both.