Can you be a true Christian and believe in evolution?
Yes
Side Score: 45
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No
Side Score: 36
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2
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So why intervene at the creation of the process, but not in the process itself? Too much an effort? Or did God just want to see how things would turn out if he didn't interact, and just randomly humans were evolved after 4,5 billion years, the only ones he saw capable of believing in him, although never actually revealing himself as God to most of them, just a few hand-picked ones, the only ones allowed to see him or hear him directly? The rest just have to listen to these few and base their lives on this. But these "unfortunate ones", that being most of us, can never experience God though their own senses themselves, because... They weren't chosen to do so? They couldn't handle it? Too much pressure? Seems like something I could never accept. And if God really did do this, if he really did choose to present himself this way, instead of just guiding the only species he thought of as being capable of believing in him through actually showing himself as the wonderful being that he is, I want nothing to do with this creator even if he exists. If we evolved with 5 senses to understand the world around us, and God chose us to be the supreme beings, then he just made a big mistake by not trying to use one or more of these senses to show us ALL that he exists, and that we have free choice and all that, but just in case we were wondering: he's there. And if he's got the time, he can answer our prayers and wishes, so it's worth trying. Side: No
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So why intervene at the creation of the process, but not in the process itself? Too much an effort? Or did God just want to see how things would turn out if he didn't interact, and just randomly humans were evolved after 4,5 billion years. I don't know, ask God. I didn't do it. But these "unfortunate ones", that being most of us, can never experience God though their own senses themselves, because... They weren't chosen to do so? I don't know what you mean. I don't think there is anybody who's chosen. Those who can't see it, they are looking in the wrong direction. If we evolved with 5 senses to understand the world around us, and God chose us to be the supreme beings, then he just made a big mistake by not trying to use one or more of these senses to show us ALL that he exists, and that we have free choice and all that, but just in case we were wondering: he's there. And if he's got the time, he can answer our prayers and wishes, so it's worth trying. Well, like I said. He is. I mean.. just look at the world. Look at the beautiful mountains, lakes .. yeah just look at our earth. I mean, horrible things are here like war, pain and death, but come on, there are good things too. I see God everywhere, but I don't know about the rest of the world. Side: Yes
If you think a god made evolution happen, then you don't understand evolution. Evolution relies on the fact that survival, or the development of a new species is based on helpful, random mutations, caused by radiation, chemicals or even viruses. A god is not required, so to say that god did it is false by definition. Side: No
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I believe you may not understand evolution. When you look up evolution in the dictionary (quoting thefreedictionary.com) It has the defitinition separated into different meanings. ev·o·lu·tion (v-lshn, v-) n. 1. A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. See Synonyms at development. This is the first definition. This definition of evolution is fact. We see these things happen everyday. If you read anything about animals you will find that all of them have changed to adapt to their changing surroundings. Those that don't are likely to die off. Now after this definition they have the Biology definition and the Mathematical definition. The Biology definition says this: b. The historical development of a related group of organisms; phylogeny. This is where the belief that the world began as a result of organisms changing and developing into better versions which led to the beginning of the world. I personally do not believe this his how the world began and I do believe that God created us. I think there is a lot of confusion on this topic because of these different definitions of evolution Side: Yes
So why intervene at the creation of the process, but not in the process itself? Too much an effort? Or did God just want to see how things would turn out if he didn't interact, and just randomly humans were evolved after 4,5 billion years, the only ones he saw capable of believing in him, although never actually revealing himself as God though most of them, just a few hand-picked ones, the only ones allowed to see him or hear him directly? The rest just have to listen to these few and base their lives on this, but these "unfortunate ones" can never experience God though their own senses themselves, because... They weren't chosen to do so? They couldn't handle it? Too much pressure? Seems like something I could never accept. And if God really did do this, if he really did choose to present himself this way, instead of just guiding the only species he thought of as being capable of believing in him through actually showing himself as the wonderful being that he is, I want nothing to do with this creator even if he exists. If we evolved with 5 senses to understand the world around us, and God chose us to be the supreme beings, then he just made a big mistake by not trying to use one or more of these senses to show us ALL that he exists, and that we have free choice and all that, but just in case we were wondering: he's there. And if he's got the time, and cares enough, some of our prayers actually come true because of his choosing. Side: No
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I often put science and Christianity together without that many problems. For example, And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness... (Genesis 1:3-4 NIV). Many scientists support the Big Bang Theory, the idea that all the matter in the universe exploded out from a single point. There are other connections that I have made the show how the Bible agrees with a lot of scientific principles, so evolution could be just another connection that needs to be made, though it doesn't have to be the exactly the same as what scientists are theorizing. I also support evolution because all life on earth is adapting or changing. I see evolution as different forms of life adapting to survive different environments and conditions. Side: Yes
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Being a true Christian doesn't mean you treat everything in the Bible as fact. I know, because my mother is a true Christian, and also believes in evolution. Also, I believe the current Pope has stated that the theory of evolution does not conflict with Christianity. Side: Yes
I hope you're aware that the pope is a man like any other man, god does not talk to him nor does he perform miracles. He is simply the pope. His opinion does not equal fact. What is fact, is fact no matter what you believe. You can believe that god invented evolution, sparked the big bang or did anything, but if that is not how it actually happened, if you say "God caused this to happen", but god did not cause that to happen, rather if life developed randomly in the warm oceans of early earth, and a god was not needed, then your belief is wrong. I have no idea if it's wrong or not, but think about this. Before you claim god directed evolution or started, first prove god. First prove any god, then prove Yahweh. After that, prove Yahweh DID influence the big bang and evolution. The most popular theist vs atheist debate on here had a clear winner. Atheism is a better system, because it is less biased, less influenced by doctrine and authority, and does not make assumptions based on faith. If you can start a debate, AND prove that god exists, then you may also claim he did evolution, however that works. Once you make a claim, back it up with evidence. Clever words sound nice, but if it a hypothesis or theory doesn't match reality, then it's scrapped and thrown out. Side: Yes
It might sound strange because so many people try and use Evolution to debunk Religion but Charles Darwin himself was a Christian and the Bible say's that Man was created by God in his own image and as no one knows what God looks like so who knows God might have created man as the primordial ooze that eventually evolved into man. For all we know Evolution might all be part of Gods big plan Side: Yes
If evolution was the only point against god, faith, religion, then yes, I could understand, but you still must first prove a god. It's easy to say "Maybe this was God's plan", but first prove that God exists, and that your god has a plan that involves evolution, rather than a 7 day creation, which it states in the bible. If you do not wish to believe the bible, then why believe in god? If your bible is wrong and filled with contradictions, why believe? What good does it do you? Do you sort through it and claim anything in the bible that has an alternate, non supernatural, scientific was just god's planning? Stay consistent. If you want to believe in things because they are nice to believe in, then do so, but if you want to know and understand reality, then learn from debates and correct yourself if you're wrong. Your side of the argument has only two choices, either god did it in 7 days, or god guided evolution, which is an unguided process by definition. In other words, either you're wrong, or you're wrong. You can't be right, because evolution does not need a god, and creationism is not true, no matter how many people believe it, or how much you want to believe it. Unless you have another argument based on the definition of evolution or the god of your bible, then I do not think your argument can be right. Side: No
This debate is about whether you can be a Christian and believe in Evolution, I think that you can there is no need to be able to prove the existance of God to believe this. If Charles Darwin could discover a theory that explained Evolution and still be a practicing Christian it kind of proves the point that yes you can be a Christian and believe in Evolution. If we were bebating the existance of God then you would have a point Side: Yes
How so? If God of the Christian Bible claims in the Holy Bible to have created life, the universe and everything, then evolution as evolution could not have happened. Not only that, but it also says to have created it all in 7 days, making the universe younger than 10,000 years old. That did not happen, so either you ignore the contradictions and are no longer a true Christian, or you accept that evolution, because it is evolution and not creation, does not require a god. Side: No
Of course. A huge part of Christianity is bring humble. Being humble requires an open mind and willingness to listen to other people. I personally don't have enough knowledge on the subject to have an opinion. But I would say that god could go about creating however he wants. (I realize that evolution gets a lot deeper than just creation) So those of you who don't believe in god could we be hypothetical for a minute? Just a minute? Say god does exist. Wouldn't you think that he would know much much more about science than we do? Furthermore why use methods of observation to prove/disprove the existence thereof? We realize how far behind we are compared to his knowledge. Don't you think that if there was a god he would provide a way for us to know? A better more concrete way opposed to subjective observational studies? Tell me what you think. Side: Yes
Well, first, Christians aren't very humble. Jesus might have been humble, but I don't think it's humble to say "I believe in God." If that was a well known fact, atheists wouldn't exist. Why do you think I am atheist? Yes, if there was a god, there should be a way to observe it, or at least it's effects. Instead, there is still pain in the world, there are babies born into starvation, only to die as children after a short, painful life. Why? Why would that happen? Is God really that purely evil? If there is no god, although sad, I can understand why that sort of awful thing happens, but when you say a god exists, this god who is described in the Bible as drowning the earth because he was angry, this god who cast plagues against people, a god who kills children, then it makes no sense to me. How can you believe in that god? Not only that argument, but please think about all the other religions that exist, and WHY you don't believe in them. It was because you were taught from birth. You think it's a surprise the Bible wants to be right? "The fool says in his heart there is no god" I mean, looking at the dark age Christian church oppression, at the inquisition, at Christians today who hate gays and evolution and all these things that we've logically observed to exist - with gays, most non-religious people think it's ok, not an abomination. You can easily see that Christians are not humble, and in fact, that are putting forth facts that override the most humble people, scientists. Yes, science is VERY humble. Supporting a theory is VERY difficult. You can't make things up and it's not open to interpretation. There is only one reality, and because we have noticed it is consistent and persistent, no miracles or crazy supernatural anomalies, science ALWAYS works. Why does science ALWAYS work? Because if it DOESN'T WORK, it's SCRAPPED. Utterly thrown out, stomped on, considered fiction and considered false. Is that gap in knowledge a sign of God? Or just something we thought we understood but didn't? If the evidence presents itself for aliens having come to earth, aliens that looked human, had all the animals we had, and they came here in a giant space ark thing long ago, leaving only the texts of their history books, distorted by time into what we have now, several religions, then I would have to believe that and scrap evolution happening on earth. However, I need proof to do that. There is no proof that that happened, so evolution holds, because evolution works. It works a lot better than creationism too, because creationism relies on the Bible, God, talking snakes, cursed apples, humans living 500 years or more, great floods and other supernatural events, while evolution only requires this earth, the sun and life. Yes, evolution only requires things that are real, found in nature. Do you know why I am atheist yet? Side: No
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3
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No, evolution is an unguided process. You could believe in a god, but what purpose would it have? If evolution requires no gods, if the big bang requires no gods, if the start of life requires no gods, then what job is there for a god? For now we can say "How did life start?" or "How did the universe begin?", but to claim to have an answer means you've either made up an answer with no evidence or you copied an answer from someone with no evidence. The only answer is "I don't know" or "Here is a hypothesis which has not yet been proven." The Big Bang is accepted, generally, and abiogenesis would have started with a complex, self replicating chemical, both of which could function to bring the current universe into existence, along with life. To say "A God must exist, and that God is Jesus, and he will cure my inherently sinful nature caused by ancestors eating a cursed apple, and that same god also created the universe and life, as described in the only source for this belief, the Bible, and he knows all, sees all and can do anything" would be untrue. Even if you believed it was a moral tale, what moral does it teach? Side: No
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I believe the bible uses metaphors. I'm a christian and I believe evolution. I mean, do you really think God just hang all the planets one by one like when we decorate a christmas tree? I seriously doubt he did that. I think he would make an evolution, that was created so man could discover and be wise and .. I mean. We have some seriously advanced technologies today, which makes us able to know what happened a billion years ago. Don't you think God wanted us to have that excitement about discovering his masterpiece of a planet? Side: Yes
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Christians should not believe in evolution because God created man on the 6th day (Genesis 1:27) and Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5). God rested on the 7th Day (Genesis 2:2) and afterwards banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden which would mean at most a day would be 930 years. So if you do not believe that this is true then you do not believe in the Bible. If you do not believe in the Bible, you do not believe in Christ, because the Word of God is the essence of Christ (John 1:1,14; Matthew 24:35, John 17:17, John 14:6). However, I can not judge the heart of a man nor myself (Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 7:1). As God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33), we must assume that the devil causes misunderstandings. We must discern what is from God and what is from the devil (1 John 4:1) but not all people are able to fully withstand the deceptions (Matthew 26:41). Therefore, I do not recommend a Christian to believe in evolution nor disbelieve in the Bible but to instead embrace the truth of Christ. We cannot judge for only God can judge. Side: No
Prove Adam existed, prove he lived over 500 years old, prove the earth is less than 10,000 years old, prove that your god is a god of peace despite all the war in his name that he does not put an end to, prove that he exists to even put an end to war, and finally prove that you're sane. Until then, you are wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Please update your brain. You have bad information. Fix it and move on. Choose to be better than that, human. Side: Yes
Prove you are here right now. Prove that what you see is actually there. Prove that Africa is there. Prove that the dark side of the moon is there. Prove that.................. You can do it all day! All we can go on is the trust of another person saying that it happened and that it is reality. Side: Yes
There is just no way to fuse a belief based on a God planning humans as being "in his own image", and the fact that evolution is not something with an actual design, although it appears as such to us. Evolution is a random series of mutations leading (possibly) to an outcome which benefits the survival and reproduction of a species. This can never have anything to do with a guiding force, a conscious force, which is all-powerful. The "force" can only be the environment around the species, and therefore the adaptations made to that particular environment over millions of years. You could put forward the argument: God may have just initiated evolution and let it do its job, but then again, that has no substance, since humans then are NOT created in Gods own image, but is a random result of Gods initiation of a pretty cool process. So the question then is: where does his intervention begin, and stop, and more importantly, why? All the "faults" in evolution, that lead to the deaths of most of the species ever evolved, points very much to the fact that there can be no guidance of the evolution process. Remember, there are thousands of "faults" in the human body, as well as all other species, so this notion that it must have been designed since it's so unbelievably perfect just holds no water. Give a cook 4,5 billion years to develop the finest piece of meal through trial and error, and I think you would end up with such a great meal that you would be persuaded that it is the work of some deity. This all leads me to conclude: The christian faith, as I've learned, cannot fully accept evolution, while preserving itself as a main source of explanation of how we ended up like this on this planet. Christianity preaches: God created man in his own vision. I would say: Through evolution, man created God in his own vision. Would just like too add: There is nothing against believing in the VALUES that christianity preaches. But I assume this question is directed towards the way the Bible explains the diversity of life. Side: No
If you are a true Christian, that means you would base your life on your beliefs, and that you believe the Bible is God's word that will benefit all mankind. This means that you cannot believe in evolution. The Bible states unequivocally that the universe was "created." Side: No
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Christians should not believe in evolution because God created man on the 6th day and Adam lived 930 years. God rested on the 7th Day and afterwards banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden which would mean at most a day would be 930 years. So if you do not believe that this is true then you do not believe in the Bible. If you do not believe in the Bible, you do not believe in Christ, because the Word of God is the essence of Christ. Therefore, I do not recommend a Christian to believe in evolution nor disbelieve in the Bible but to instead embrace the truth of Christ. We cannot judge for only God can judge. Side: No
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