Evolution? How?

Time for a brewski!

Anybody care to join?

Seriously though -- in this thread (at least the most recent portions in which I have taken active part), we haven't heard from very many theistic evolutionists. I would like to get their take on the topic at hand (the last few pages notwithstanding).

A person of faith who can also accept evolution.

Intrepid wrote:

A person of faith who can also accept evolution.

Faith in what? God in general, or a specific religion.

I suspect that there are a great many people with a spiritual faith who accept evolution, but probably not many fundamental christians.

real life wrote:

Seriously though -- in this thread (at least the most recent portions in which I have taken active part), we haven't heard from very many theistic evolutionists. I would like to get their take on the topic at hand (the last few pages notwithstanding).

What is a Theistic Evolutionist?

An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science

"Within the community of Christian believers there are areas of dispute and disagreement, including the proper way to interpret Holy Scripture. While virtually all Christians take the Bible seriously and hold it to be authoritative in matters of faith and practice, the overwhelming majority do not read the Bible literally, as they would a science textbook.

Many of the beloved stories found in the Bible - the Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark - convey timeless truths about God, human beings, and the proper relationship between Creator and creation expressed in the only form capable of transmitting these truths from generation to generation. Religious truth is of a different order from scientific truth. Its purpose is not to convey scientific information but to transform hearts.

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. 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.

We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge.

We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth."

Intrepid is now into definitions. Oh, goody!

rosborne979 wrote:

Intrepid wrote:

A person of faith who can also accept evolution.

Faith in what? God in general, or a specific religion.

I suspect that there are a great many people with a spiritual faith who accept evolution, but probably not many fundamental christians.

A theist is anyone who believes in the existence of at least one god.

Will humanity ever grow up enough to get past this silly superstitious nonsense?

I suspect most...perhaps every...theist in this forum "believes in" one god and only one god.

Add to that the fact that the Bible is not one book, but many. Written over a span of hundreds of years, by dozens of penmen. Each gives the same description of sinful Man and his dilemma before a holy God, but in completely different styles, genres and under varying circumstances with unique perspectives.

However, archeaology has not, to this day, been able to provide any strong evidence about the principle deities mentioned therein. There isnt any strong evidence that Jesus even existed.

Quote:

However, archeaology has not, to this day, been able to provide any strong evidence about the principle deities mentioned therein. There isnt any strong evidence that Jesus even existed.

Well, I'm not sure what you expect as far as evidence for God, he didn't go around writing "God was here!"

To my knowledge, most historical scholars have accepted the fact that Jesus did walk the earth.

No. The question is how best to live with it.