Volconvo Debate Forums - View Single Post - Are evolution and the Bible mutually exclusive?

stevemckay · Apr 20, 2008, 08:09 pm

First a background on me. I was raised as a “Christian” (meaning my folks said they believed in God/Jesus but we NEVER went to church) then I embraced the faith wholeheartedly in my late teens (I became a bible thumper). However I have always believed in the scientific explanation of how the universe was formed and how evolution was the driving force behind mankind’s current form. About 11 years ago I was told by an elder that I could not believe in evolution and God and I was asked to either stop talking about evolution in our Bible studies about Genesis or leave the church. That started a faith crisis that took me down a path to becoming an atheist for about 10 years up to my current agnostic state.

Now my question: Can you really believe in evolution AND the God that is represented in the bible?

I think you can. For example:

Gen 2:7 the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground…

Gen 8:20 Then Noah made an altar to the Lord….

No one, I assume, believes Noah magically created an altar but, rather, had to gather stone, pile them up, etc... He had to build it in stages. The Bible does not specifically mention those steps but we should assume they were there.

So why do many Judeo-Christians assume the creation of man happened in one step and not in stages from basic organic molecules all the way up to a modern human? From what I understand the word used in the original Hebrew for “Day” actually means “an indeterminate period of time” so saying he had to do it in one 24 hour day does not fly.

Apr 20, 2008, 08:09 pm	#1 (permalink) (top)
stevemckay Stupid Monkey Location: Tacoma, Washington, USA Posts: 75	Are evolution and the Bible mutually exclusive? First a background on me. I was raised as a “Christian” (meaning my folks said they believed in God/Jesus but we NEVER went to church) then I embraced the faith wholeheartedly in my late teens (I became a bible thumper). However I have always believed in the scientific explanation of how the universe was formed and how evolution was the driving force behind mankind’s current form. About 11 years ago I was told by an elder that I could not believe in evolution and God and I was asked to either stop talking about evolution in our Bible studies about Genesis or leave the church. That started a faith crisis that took me down a path to becoming an atheist for about 10 years up to my current agnostic state. Now my question: Can you really believe in evolution AND the God that is represented in the bible? I think you can. For example: Gen 2:7 the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground… Gen 8:20 Then Noah made an altar to the Lord…. No one, I assume, believes Noah magically created an altar but, rather, had to gather stone, pile them up, etc... He had to build it in stages. The Bible does not specifically mention those steps but we should assume they were there. So why do many Judeo-Christians assume the creation of man happened in one step and not in stages from basic organic molecules all the way up to a modern human? From what I understand the word used in the original Hebrew for “Day” actually means “an indeterminate period of time” so saying he had to do it in one 24 hour day does not fly.