Q. Evolution proves there is no God?
 George Bush and many intelligent Christians believe this. But they know from personal experience that God exists. So they are obliged to disbelieve evolution. This is "Creationism" - and causes endless arguments!
But this is silly. Who cares whether evolution is true or not? What matters is that Jesus died to wipe out our sins, and bring us back to our loving Father in heaven. Why does evolution matter? The Devil would MUCH rather we spend our time arguing about fossils we have never seen, or weird species on Pacific islands - or indeed ANYTHING but Jesus Christ.
So why waste time on how the universe began, or how mankind developed? Leave that to the scientists. God has much more important things for us to do.
Well OK, you're thinking, but surely - evolution proves that God didn't create us?
Does it? Consider this little parable.
One Sunday two children returned home at midday, let themselves into the empty house [latch-key kids eh? - shameful!] and were greeted by a wonderful, mouth-watering smell of roast turkey. They saw the turkey browning in the oven, potatoes roasting, carrots and peas bubbling in a pan on the hob, and plates warming in a drawer.
"Wow!" said Mary. "Look - Mommy's made a wonderful lunch for us all, by magic, while she was at church with us! Isn't she amazing?" She surveyed the kitchen. “She must have set up the stove in the first minute, the turkey in the second minute, this in the third minute, ... and on the 7th minute she took a well-earned rest. Mommy created lunch for us!”
But her brother was more curious, and looked carefully around him. "No, wait" he said. "I think - yes - I can see it all! Look here, and here, and in there. There's a revolving clockwork timer here, that turned the oven on an hour ago. And here's a revolving timer that turned the hob on 10 minutes ago, and this one turned on the warming drawer. See?" He turned triumphantly to Mary. "You're quite wrong! It wasn't Mommy who made the lunch at all. It all "just happened", due to revolving clockwork timers. I can see the evidence! I shall call it the 'Theory of Revolution'.”
Who is right? DID Mommy create the supper, or not?
They're both partly right, aren't they? Mary's concerned with who created it. John's into how it was created. So why do they argue?
Scientists think they have now discovered how God made the world. (Yes, scientists! About half of all scientists believe in a personal God.)
Our ancestors thought that God took dead, "inorganic" clay, and changed it into living, "organic" bodies ("human" means humus-man, clay-man). But according to our scientists, God built His life-force into the very atoms and molecules of His universe at the very beginning, so that they would automatically evolve into His children - us!
Surely that makes God's work even more impressive?
So no, evolution can't tell us WHO created us, only HOW. If mankind developed by evolution, you can CHOOSE to believe either
- it was total, meaningless chance, OR
- it was God's plan, to produce the wondrous world He wanted.
But wait! Isn't that the same choice you had BEFORE evolution was invented? Precisely. Evolution makes no difference - every man is free to believe in God or not, same as always.
The tragedy of history is that Samuel Wilberforce didn't see this. He was the Anglican bishop who represented Christ's church in the debate over Darwin's theory. Sam totally fell into the George Bush error. Since he knew that God exists, he was forced to conclude that Darwin must be wrong - without considering the evidence! (The bishop was not a scientist). And the whole church followed him into this silly argument.
Interestingly, Charles Darwin DIDN'T fall into this trap. He was unhappy that his theory was being used as an argument for atheism - and avoided most of the public debates and meetings, using his ill-health as an excuse.
Many devout Christians are still falling into this trap. And the Devil is ecstatic - they're all arguing about the beginning of the world, instead of whether we are honouring God today!
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Comments
Re. post #20: "Also when was the last person to see a prophet.." How would we recognise one today? I'm sure there have been many. And - "When was the last message from god recieved...". I believe there has been a huge amount of messages, but because they have been in an unexpected form or condemned as "un-biblical" they have been ignored or decried as they do not match the established creeds of the day.
What would religions do if the word from their god really was "Hey guys, you've got most of it all wrong!"? Which Christian/Bhuddist/Jew/Sufi etc. would accept that?
None so blind as those who will not see?
"The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were laid on stream or stone
When Durin woke and walked alone.
He named the nameless hills and dells;
He drank from yet untasted wells;
He stooped and looked in Mirrormere
And saw a crown of stars appear;
As gems upon a silver thread;
Above the shadow of his head.
The world is grey, the mountains old,
The forge's fire is ashen-cold’
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in Durin's halls’
The shadow lies upon his tomb
In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.
But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from his sleep."
Pretty clear... watch out for Durin's return!! (in the upcoming Lord of the Rings series!)
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." What more proof do you need other than that clear message from God? Also look up, Isaiah 40:28! "Have you not come to know, or have you not heard? Jehovah, the creator of the extremities of the earth, is a God to time indefinite..."
You could see it that way. But you could also see it that the story is told twice. One telling does not contradict the other.
So who cares if there's a God? Well, it only matters if he is all powerful and has an agenda of his own. And if that agenda involved something to do with people. If that's the case, its probably a good idea to check it out. His agenda is love. Pretty radical really.
In fact there is no context to assert evolution, because it has never been observed and cannot be reproduced. So true or false its still a matter of faith. Generally Christians are not offering the hope of salvation and relationship with God in the context of an evolutionary existence, because evolution is irrelevant. If we never knew anything about the theory we would not be worse off. We would not lose out on anything. On the other hand, if God exists, and we don't experience him, we might be missing out on a lot.
Who cares if a/many god(s) exist? Evolution does not describe or attempt to describe the origin of life. What it does describe (more accurately and robustly than any other scientific theory on the subject) is how life has progressed, diverged, converged. .. evolved.
This argument regarding evolution and the existence of any god is moot, not because the "personal experience" of god trumps all, but because there is no context in which to argue.
Theories can be expanded upon, reworked or refined, for certain, much as the Theory of Evolution and the Theory of Gravity (and most robust scientific theories) have been. These theories will never become something OTHER than theories, but that does not mean they are unsubstantiated or "because there simply is no proof". Quite the contrary. This is because in SCIENCE, nothing is known ABSOLUTELY and there is always room for improvement.
With RELIGION, you are made to believe it was always PERFECT and always will be, DESPITE glaring flaws of all kinds.
Just by the way, John, the Theory of Evolution describes why evolution occurs; evolution is a FACT.
While I'd love to believe in one of many invisible beings, (perhaps even your chosen favourite)but there is simply no evidence to support any of their existence whatsoever. And no, the Bible (or any other "holy book") is not evidence of anything except people living 1900-2600 years ago.
The 'theory' of gravity has also changed since Newton came up with his theory. Quote: "There are two fundamental areas of modern physics, each describes the universe on different scales. First we have quantum mechanics which talks about atoms, molecules and fundamental particles. Then we have general relativity which tells us that gravity is the bending and warping of space-time. There has been much work on finding a theory that combines these two pillars of physics."
So evolution remains a theory, because there is simply no proof. Its easy to repeat grand ideas that have been heard elsewhere, but in the end, the only thing that is constant is God and his love!
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