Guest Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Can a person be a Christian and believe in evolution? I know a lot of people in the Catholic faith believe in evolution that is guided by God? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplejeff Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 12 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 7,689 Content Per Day: 2.38 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 20 Joined: 06/30/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted February 15, 2018 First they have to be a Christian by Faith in Jesus, not in nor by works of a church nor in the ecumenical type false gospel if that was what they believe/d. Then, if they follow Jesus and listen to YHVH (God), they will learn the truth, as long as they are willing to learn the truth and keep seeking the truth in Jesus/ (not if they reject Jesus or reject His Word by holding to false and heretical traditions). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 9 Topic Count: 15 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 422 Content Per Day: 0.06 Reputation: 319 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/13/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted February 15, 2018 Yes. It depends on what they consider evolution to be and how that relates to the bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Royal Member Followers: 16 Topic Count: 107 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 3,820 Content Per Day: 1.29 Reputation: 4,806 Days Won: 2 Joined: 03/31/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted February 15, 2018 47 minutes ago, This1WillHave2Do said: Can a person be a Christian and believe in evolution? I know a lot of people in the Catholic faith believe in evolution that is guided by God? To believe that evolution is guided by God is not to believe in God nor evolution. It shows a lack of understanding of God AND Darwin. Yes, there are Christian who claim evolutionary theist status. They more or less believe that God made everything, then stepped out of the picture and let everything take its course - kind of like a child winding up a top and then letting it go. Then after God stepped back, things began to evolve under his nonchalant and occasional eye. There's problems with trying to cling to both tenets. The don't dovetail with each other - at all. To uphold the foundations of evolution, one HAS to believe in a materialistic beginning from SOMETHING that already existed. In other words - some type of abiogenesis. And from there on, species changed, died out, scales changed to fur, tails dropped off, and all existing creatures today share the common ancestor in that "warm pool of slime" that contained the abiogenetically inclined material. Life is nothing more than chains of chemical reactions which can alter at will like a flow of water taking the course of least resistance. To uphold the creation of the Bible, on HAS to also believe the rest of the Bible that shows that God has NOT stepped back or programmed the universe to exist without him and his sovereignty. Jesus says that every sparrow that falls is God's will. All families of life were created - some fine-tuning themselves through survival of the fittest - but none altering their "kind" that God created in the beginning - not flora nor fauna. Life is not a series of reactions of chemicals. It is a supernatural act of God UPON the material that he, himself, initially created and is still maintaining, creating [i.e. stars..], and taking care of. One can claim to mesh the two ideas, but it is impossible without tearing apart and discarding principles of each. I've been a Christian for decades. I taught science for decades - in both public and Christian schools. I love science. Evolution, which is not science, and Christianity cannot merge. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debp Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 52 Topic Count: 1,021 Topics Per Day: 0.15 Content Count: 12,321 Content Per Day: 1.80 Reputation: 16,370 Days Won: 92 Joined: 07/19/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted February 15, 2018 As other posters mentioned, we believe God's word, the Bible....so I believe God created everything as it says in the Bible. I don't pick and choose which parts of the Bible to believe...it is all true. Now there is adaptation but that is not evolution. Evolution teaches everything started with a single cell after a Big Bang in the universe! (Really?!). Think of how complex everything is in our bodies and the universe. Even a cell in our body is so complex and needs to work in just a certain way. Adaptation means, for instance, God created a dog...and then various types of dogs adapted from the original dog. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK1110 Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 22 Topic Count: 87 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 6,874 Content Per Day: 2.42 Reputation: 9,612 Days Won: 4 Joined: 07/18/2016 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/10/1986 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Being a true Christian means having whole-heartedly repented of sins, having asked Jesus for salvation, and being changed in the inside to desire God and His ways. There are many who have done so who don't know everything, or who are incorrect about things. Disbelieving evolution is not a requirement for salvation. Careful, honest study over time will show a Christian that people who do believe in evolution usually do out of stubbornness and not wanting there to be a God. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplejeff Posted February 15, 2018 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 12 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 7,689 Content Per Day: 2.38 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 20 Joined: 06/30/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted February 15, 2018 22 minutes ago, BK1110 said: Being a true Christian means having whole-heartedly repented of sins, having asked Jesus for salvation, and being changed in the inside to desire God and His ways. I think you missed the main thing. "Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven" and this is only by the Will of the Father in heaven - no way by the will of man (not even seeming whole-hearted repentant), nor by the will (nor choice) of the flesh, but [only] of YHVH (God). It is YHVH'S Doing alone that can 'birth' new life, new creation, in a man , and not anything that a man can struggle for to do and accomplish in any other way (as Jesus also told His Apostles and disciples) .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vlad Posted February 17, 2018 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 470 Content Per Day: 0.09 Reputation: 171 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/02/2009 Status: Offline Birthday: 04/07/1946 Share Posted February 17, 2018 On 2/15/2018 at 5:18 AM, This1WillHave2Do said: Can a person be a Christian and believe in evolution? I know a lot of people in the Catholic faith believe in evolution that is guided by God? I understand evolution as adaptation. God created life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one.opinion Posted February 17, 2018 Group: Royal Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 29 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 5,240 Content Per Day: 2.10 Reputation: 1,356 Days Won: 4 Joined: 07/03/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted February 17, 2018 On 2/14/2018 at 9:38 PM, Jayne said: Yes, there are Christian who claim evolutionary theist status. They more or less believe that God made everything, then stepped out of the picture and let everything take its course - kind of like a child winding up a top and then letting it go. Then after God stepped back, things began to evolve under his nonchalant and occasional eye. There are certainly some that take a deist-type approach -- that God set up an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine that ended with life as we know it today (or may still be continuing). However, there are a great many followers of Christ that believe as I do. I believe that evolution was God's tool of choice in His creation of life. On 2/14/2018 at 9:38 PM, Jayne said: One can claim to mesh the two ideas, but it is impossible without tearing apart and discarding principles of each. Belief in God as Creator does force one to discard the thought of evolution as a random series of events. Acceptance of evolution does require one to disagree with a literal interpretation of the Genesis account. Notice, I am not saying that acceptance of evolution forces one to discard the Genesis account. I simply believe that the purpose of the account is to establish God as Creator, the fall and sinful desperation of mankind, and the promise of the coming Jesus Christ, through Whom we can gain a relationship with God. I would suggest that meshing the ideas does not lead to "tearing apart and discarding principles". ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To answer the original OP: On 2/14/2018 at 8:18 PM, This1WillHave2Do said: Can a person be a Christian and believe in evolution? I know a lot of people in the Catholic faith believe in evolution that is guided by God? Absolutely. I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and strive to make choices day-to-day that honor Him and show His love to others. And I accept that He used evolution as a tool for His creation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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