There's a huge misconception that if you believe in God you also cannot believe in evolution. Or that if you believe that a higher being created the world that you can't also believe that the world started with the Big Bang.
Uh huh.
Sure.
I'm one of the people we call "Christian Evolutionists."
(Or, as my mom adds: "Catholic. Or Lutheran. Or sane.)
That is?
I believe in God. I think He created the world and made us in His image.
But I also believe that humans evolved from microorganisms from which all life descended.
Wait, what?
Angela, you've gone crazy.
Nuts.
You're bonkers.
Actually.
Not really.
If you really think about both theories, they go more hand in hand than a lot of people would believe. The idea that God created the universe does not block out the theory of evolution and the Big Bang. The creation story? Most of us do not interpret it literally anyway.
The main point of the story is this:
God created us. We screwed up. We have sin.
Poof.
This does not have to happen with women being magically born from a guy's rib. I mean, I could be totally wrong, but I somehow don't see it as being likely that we were formed from one single rib. First of all, science already states that men actually originate as women: Without a certain chromosome, they would be formed as females.
(This is why men have nipples. JSYK.)
So I don't see that as literal, no.
Which leaves it totally open as to how God created the universe. He made it out of nothing, yeah, but there's nothing to say that he didn't do that by starting the Big Bang.
Actually, if you think about it, his "days" could be huge sections of time for us, in which case the thing where we were created near the end would totally make sense seeing how we had to evolve to be humans anyway.
But back to what I originally wanted to say.
The more that I learn about science? The more "heathen evolution" I consume and the more I read about the Big Bang?
The more I truly do believe that God did create us. Because there is no way that everything came from nothing, otherwise.
The moral of this post:
Religion does not cross out science, or vice versa.
Friday, May 10, 2013
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3 comments:
Brilliant post (as always :P).
I'm not religious but I understand where you're coming from. I feel like this post has made me more open minded because before, I only believed in the sciency-side of it but now I feel like both sides make sense and that creation kinda needs both...I'm really not making any sense. :L I guess I'm just more open-minded about religion now...>_< xx
First off, not all Lutherans believe this. I am Lutheran, and I disagree.
The problem with this is that if you reject part of the Bible as untrue (e.g. the creation story), you can't really pick and choose. It's either all true, or none of it is.
I suppose you could argue that parts of it are allegoretical (such as Revelation). However, I don't think God would say He made woman from one of Adam's ribs if He did not do so. What is that supposed to be a metaphor for? And if it is literal, more than likely its context is literal as well.
We'll start out with those ideas. If anyone can refute them, I will happily try present more. These are simply my opinions, and I'm sure that it will be impossible for me to dissuade you of yours. I'm not sure I'd want to, honestly. Even I do think you're wrong =P
According to the Clergy Letter Project, a letter signed by the church leaders of Lutherans, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopals, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Anglicans, United Church of Christ, First Congregational Church, as well as Jewish and Islamic congregations as well, idea that Christian faith, and acceptance of evolution, are NOT in conflict.
Here is an excerpt:
"We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris."
For a full text of the letter: http://www.theclergyletterproject.org/Christian_Clergy/ChrClergyLtr.htm
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