Why Do Some Christians Find Evolution and God Noncompatable?

[alice in chains]

OMFG, lol. Can you not see your own spin here? OK...let's start with one simple verse:

"If a man lies with a man as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

So...whats your interpretation?

This could be symbolic for no life after death. The promise of God. i'm not christian once again...but im not arrogant enough to believe im necessarily right, either.

 

[alice in chains]

If you have to interpret the Bible to get it's true meaning it's pointless. How do you detirmine whose interpretation is correct? Because of that you have all sorts of different religions who claim to follow the bible.

my guess would be, since it is a religion, it requires some self-thought and contemplation..which requires much symbolism and interpreting...

 

[Johnfromokc]

This could be symbolic for no life after death. The promise of God. i'm not christian once again...but im not arrogant enough to believe im necessarily right, either.

Yeah...who would actually want to read what a sentence actually says and leave it at that?

 

[Peter Parka]

my guess would be, since it is a religion, it requires some self-thought and contemplation..which requires much symbolism and interpreting...

So which religion has interpreted it correctly then? They can't all be right, and how would you know who's got it right?

 

[alice in chains]

So which religion has interpreted it correctly then? They can't all be right, and how would you know who's got it right?

who the hell knows lol...my guess is as good as yours...let the religionists figure it out, i wouldn't probably be religious even if it were proven as a fact.

 

[MsPoppy]

I don't have time to read all the posts right now, but I suppose a lot of the "why" has to do with not understanding, or not being allowed to undersatnd what evolution does and does not propose. Also there are a lot of angles to view evolution from. For instance how many people that are pro-evolution even understand concepts like genetic drift?

 

[alice in chains]

Yeah...who would actually want to read what a sentence actually says and leave it at that?

Probably a non-religious person would...

 

[Zorak]

So you mean "The Lord of the Rings" is not actually a fantasy story about good v. evil and we should consult experts to interpret what JRR Tolkien really intended to say? :eek

You'd have to consult Tolkien to know what he really intended to say. And even if we could, authors are notoriously good at feeding people red herrings.

But it's interesting you choose Lord of the Rings, fantasy and sci-fi literature are often the most socially insightful in relation to contemporary circumstance.

 

[doombug]

Christanity and other closely related religions like Islam is a primary cause of the situation in Africa. The Pope and the Vatican seek to deny Christian Africans the right to use condoms thereby encouraging over population and disease. That policy is political, and all about increasing the Christian world population.

Talk about irrational justification. That is probably the most ridiculous statement I have read on this forum so far. It is nothing but a conspiracy theory at best. There are several sources that describe several causes of starvation in these regions and I haven't seen that one listed anywhere. One such credible source is here:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2005/nf20050816_1137_db016.htm

But even without seeing such a list just follow the logic:

The idea that faithful Roman Catholics would follow rules regarding the use of condoms, but ignore the more important doctrines of marital fidelity is ludicrous, at best. So, Roman Catholicism isn't the cause of the crisis in Africa. It sounds more like someone is writing their very own fiction to make the world fit their point of view.

 

[Codrus]

Talk about irrational justification. That is probably the most ridiculous statement I have read on this forum so far.

wait till you get to some of mine...

 

[doombug]

wait till you get to some of mine...

I have been expecting it. I know you have potential!

 

[doombug]

All you have done is whisked over the Bible, comes up with an irrational reason without thought I think you are just going along with silly reasons of atheists who really don't understand the Bible at all.

Tuffdisc, actually there have been many statements made by John in this thread that are irrational when it comes to reasoning as well. This is something many should be able to relate to.

But you justify and worship a god who allows it. How much sense does that make?

For someone who will only accept something based on facts John really contradicts himself here. It has not been proven that I worship the god John mentions. How can he believe such a thing without proof? He must be accustomed to operating in this way. Only applying his reasoning based on facts when it is convenient for him.

The god you choose to believe in and worship created evil and allows it to flourish when he, in his almightyness could easily stop it.

Here John makes the statement that God created evil. His logic is since God is the creator of all things then He must have created evil. I don't think that is a very logical statement even when compared to some basic things we know about the world around us. Look at these examples:

Is there such thing as heat? Yes. Heat exists. Why? Because things get hotter by adding more heat. There is virtually no limit to how hot something can get.
Is there such thing as cold? No. You can only create cold by removing heat and there is a limit to cold: Absolute zero or -273 degrees C. You can't add more cold and get colder than absolute zero, therefore, cold doesn't exist. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. If cold doesn't exist then it can't be created.

Is there such thing as darkness? No. There is darkness when there is no light. You can't make dark any darker you can only remove light.
Is there such thing as light? Yes. Light exists therefore light can be created.

My point is John's method of reasoning is flawed to start with and so his conclusion must be wrong. He is only using the idea of duality to back himself up like life and death or a good God and a bad God. But as you can see it doesn't work when applied to the world around us.

Take life and death for example. Can death exist on its own? No. Without life there is no death. So death isn't the opposite of life. Death is only to absence of life.

Take a look around you. Is there immorality in the world? Yes. Is there such thing as immorality? No,only the absence of morality. Is there injustice? No,only the absence of justice

Tell me doom - why exactly is evil necessary to an omnipotent deity?

So, if there is evil in the world, and it seems we agree there is, and God exists he must be accomplishing something through the agency of evil. From what the bible says it is to see if each of us will by our own free will, choose good over evil.

Here is a brief run through in case you missed anything. John's argument is that since God created everything then He(God) is responsible for creating evil. But "evil" is a word we use to describe certain things that happen to us,most of which are caused by other people. In reality,evil is not a physically created thing at all and does not fall within the realm of something created by God. John's argument has fundamental flaws. Evil is allowed by God so free will beings can choose between good(God) or evil(absence of God). Without evil it isn't possible to make the choice and the universe would have no purpose.

 

[BornReady]

In reality, most of the people I talk to who call themselves Christians, do not take the Bible literally.

I don't have actual numbers but my guess is the majority of Christians do not take it literally. The ones who do are called fundamentalists. The religious right are fundamentalists. See what taking the bible literally does to you?

 

[Panacea]

I've seen a lot of flip flopping on the subject...like "of course the bible is the word of god!" and "of course i don't take every word seriously!". I guess it would be hard to be pulled in both the direction of faith and reason. Whichever tugs harder wins, I guess.