Im not really religious or anything but I've always been told stuff like "because God loves you" or something like that so I automatically believe in God and pray to him occationally. Lately, I've been doing a lot of studying on evolution and I kind of agree with some of the theories I've read. Is there any way around the fact that im Catholic and im supposed to believe God created the earth and that I also belive the theories of evolution?
132107
We know that evolution exists. Science can prove it. We also know that modern man was created by God, the Bible proves that! So what about all those creatures that existed on the Earth for hundreds of thousands of years? Of course they evolved. And some of them very much resemble modern man. But God said He created us in His image. Maybe not necessarily physically, God doesn't have a body! But the difference between us and those creatures is indeed that "missing link" that cannot be "found". The link is God. The difference is that we (modern man) were created with a free will. No other creatures have ever had that. \n\nIf you read Genesis 1:1 you see that God created the heaven and earth. But something very drastic happened probably over a very long period of time between verse one and two because we see in verse two that the earth was without form, and void...\nNow what does God create that is without form and void? Nothing! Everything God creates is perfect.\nSo what happened and how many years passed between verse one and verse two? Science tells us that, there's no mystery. Creatures of all kinds evolved, the popular idea is something hit the earth and tilted it on it's axis. That triggered all kinds of weather changes, ice ages countered by global warming (without benefit of fossil fuels I might add), dinosaurs lived and died off. Primitive man-like creatures became dominant. It's all there!\n\nSo yes, you can believe in God and understand that creatures indeed evolved. But modern man, with all of his uniqueness, was created by God.\n\nNow concerning your lack of passion for your faith... read Acts Chapter 2 in the New Testament a couple of times and see if that piques your interest. I'll guarantee you have never been taught that in the catholic church. You need to ask yourself why. It is clear by the scriptures that Jesus intends that everyone with a love for the truth receive the gift of the Holy Ghost just as described in Acts 2. Read it again! It still happens just that way. It's still real. I see it every week. I see the power of the Spirit being used through ordinary people like you and me. Ordinary people like Jesus and the disciples were. Jesus didn't come and die so that we would have to seek everything we needed through a priest. He came that we could boldy go directly to Him with our needs. That is scripture! You need forgiveness? You need to ask Jesus, not another man. You need compassion and love? Ask Jesus, don't ask another man. Do you want to understand exactly what He has for you in this life and the next? You need to ask Him, not some portly old fellow in a black robe. Ask God directly. Go boldly to the throne and tell Him you need to know more. You will be amazed what you will experience if you are sincere and have enough character!\n\nUpdate 5-1-06\nI read with interest one of the answers below that demonstrates exactly what is wrong with the churches today. Sure, just ask someone (other than God). And if you don't like that answer just go ask someone else. That say's two things:\n1. The "authotities" in the churches don't even agree on truth.\n2. People only are interested in what they want to hear.\n\nThat's what I meant when I said God will show you the truth if you seek it from Him with a true desire to know. Why ask another man who has no clue anyway? We are talking about something as important as the salvation of your soul. Why wouldn't you go directly to the source if the source asked, indeed pleaded with you, to do so?\nAnd Paul absolutely did not encourage people to believe whichever way was best for them. He wrote to the Ephesians in Ep. 4:5 that there is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism". You see this repeated throughout the New Testament. There are not many paths to God, there is one.  Please, read the scriptures for yourself. You do not need someone to interpret the Bible for you. Let God show you
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Evolution is just a theory. Now scientists have come up with another theory of Intelignet being because they are unable to answer many questions with the help of Evolution alone.\nWho is this inteligent being ? This is surely God.\n\nThe earth as it is today has evolved over billions of years (as claimed by the theory of evolution) itself is just like saying that\nyou can build a 747 Boeing aircraft by placing all the componets in a building and all the parts get entangled due to a storm and viola a plane is born.
80735
Well, that's pretty much the official belief of many Christians, including the Roman Catholic Church. They believe in evolution, an old-earth, etc. They just believe that God was the driving force guiding that evolution.
364069
I've read and studied to limited degree some of the standard textbooks on evolution and it has not shaken my faith, but i don't claim to be an expert, but you might want to take a look at the fact that some of the writers of standard text supporting evolution have since begun to question its ability to explain the world around us... see Dean Kenyon, he didn't read the standard graduate level text "Biochemical Evolution", he wrote it, but he has since changed his view to intelligent design.  see also Stanley Salthe he wrote the widely used text "Evolutionary Biology" (1972) as far as I know he's not a christian but he recently signed a list of over 600 scientist expressing their doubts about evolution.Even among staunch evolutionist there is widespread disagreement as to how or if current theories can adequately explain the complexity and diversity of life. Don't let an oversimplified pop culture understanding of evolution mislead you into thinking the universe is understood and God has been somehow disproved/discredited or made irrelevant. Evolutionary theory has in no way proven we are here by chance. see www.wasdarwinwrong   its a good survey of pro-darwin, neo-darwin, alternative and intelligent design literature.  see also  discovery.org and reasonstobelieve.org  don't fail to examine the claims of Christ because a theory of biological origins
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No, I don't automatically assume a person who asks about God believes in God. I assume this is a person who wants to know about God. The fact you ask at all, tells me you doubt there is no God, and are willing to explore there really is a God.\n\nI do believe in God, I always have and I always will. I look at life with all of its intricacies, diversity and complexity, and i just can not accept we came to be on Earth any other way than by the Hand of God. There are just to many "just happens to be" to say evolution, and not God's creativity put life on Earth.
631407
My belief is in the God of Abraham, the Christian God. Besides having the privilege of seeing and feeling the existence of God just in nature around me, it is nice to know that God has created all and has a hand in all. Just think. With Him it isn't necessary to have many cohorts, each with a different purpose--one for love, one for nature, etc. He has created all of us and all of nature and has created in us such a wonderful brain that he allows us to be, on a different level, creators as well. And I find that truly amazing. We don't always need all of the answers, but thank God, He's given us the means to create within ourselves.
354255
Let me preface my thoughts by stating that I am not an Evangelical Christian, so I have a broader interpretation of Christianity.  With that said, let me answer your questions.\n\n******\n"Do you not believe in EVOLUTION and SCIENCE?\n(dinosaurs, man came from the ape..etc)"\n\nEvolution and science are not necessarily contradictory to religion.  For example, evolution could be considered *how* the Divine created the "what."  This is my argument, as I do believe in both evolution and science, as well as the Divine.  There are many who denounce evolution saying that it is theory--it is not.  Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" (a term that was not coined by him) is theory, but opponents of evolution have lumped the two together.  While evolution is not simply "man came from the ape," it does lead us to observe microcosmic and macrocosmic changes in the world.  Theologically, evolution can be considered the "tool" the Divine used to create everything.\n\nIn general, religion can be considered to be similar to philosophy--both of which are humankind's attempt to, through mythology and ideology, understand the world in a way that is more meaningful than a scientific approach.  Actually, the science of today originated from philosophy and religion.\n\n******\n\n"Do you not think the bible is full of CONTRODICTIONS?\n(adam and eve were the only two people so where did everybody else come from)"\n\nOf course, but contradictions can be found in any field, including that of science.  There are three main problems that can be found with the Bible, though:\n\nFirst, the text was written over many years by a handful of people.  This could easily lead to contradictory content.  Of course, you must be sure what you are reading is correct, which leads to the next problem.\n\nSecond, the majority of the Bible has been transliterated, which means it was translated from Hebrew/Aramaic to Greek/Latin to English/French/etc.  This means that much meaning has been lost.  The only way you can honestly say the Bible is full of contradictions is to read it in the original languages.  Much insight can be found by doing so.\n\nThird, the Bible is incomplete.  There are many "books" and documents that have not been included in the text.  This is due to the watchful eye of papal administration.\n\nI personally don't take too much stock in the stories of the Bible--they are simply written in the mythological/archetypal language of the human psyche.  They are wonderful stories and can speak to a person in very meaningful ways, but they are just stories.  It must be noted, however, that an increasing number of these stories are being backed-up by archaeological evidence.\n\n******\n\n"Do you not think its something that people choose to believe in in order to feel that life has meaning?"\n\nNot necessarily.  Unfortunately, there are many who "believe" in Christianity just because that is what their parents (or parental figures) believed.  All mythology (Christian mythology not excluded) speaks to our base understanding, which relies on symbols and archetypes.  All humans use myth to create their realities (Atheists not excluded).  These myths can be a Creator God, a Sacrificial God, Science, or no God at all--the same archetypes are there.\n\nSince pre-history, human beings have strived to better understand the world in which they live.  This brought meaning to their lives.  However, they have had many "tools" to accomplish this task, tools such as science, religion, mathematics, and philosophy.  Each of these tools were created to bring meaning and understanding to a person's life.
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Please visit my blog http://360.yahoo.com/catholiccatechism and read my "Pacifico (of Evolution per Creationism ) - The Reconciling (of Evolution with Creationism)"\n\nThis blog entry will explain to you why you do not have to choose between science and theology. In fact, the very idea that this choice must be made is entirely fallacious. They both coexist just fine.
182832
No - because belief in God is different from proving His existence - Faith allows and encourages belief in the creator without physically dragging God into a room and shouting - Here He is!.\n\nAs a christian, we believe we face evil everyday. It is either natural evil (Natural catastrophes) or evil inflicted on others by man.\n\nEvil exists - we can clearly see it, however this does not necessarily make it necessary to "believe" that there is an entity called "the devil" - however it's easier to believe that he exists than it is to believe that God exists.\n\nChristians believe that God is the Creator -look what he created - this wonderful and beautiful planet, He is the Saviour(and I use this not in the evangelical sense as I am a Catholic - and don't believe that God the Father willed his son to die in an atoning sacrifice.  I don't believe that his blood "had" to be shed for people's redemption - however it was a fact that it did take place - and it allowed the Christian community to accept the validity of Christs death on the cross.\n\nJesus preached forgiveness which was unconditional - the same applies with redemption -I dont believe that God the Father "willed" this to be the way of salvation.  God, being God could have chose another way.  If the forgivness of Jesus was limited to "asking for our own forgivness on the condition that we do the same too - then the same would apply to God the Father as the son of God is equally God in our own human state. \n\nMy rant is now over - I hope that this throws a wee bit more light on what your looking for.
6566
ID by ET?  Possible.  But the best scientific evidence so far suggests life evolved here on this planet through natural selection.  Now, however having said that, it is entirely possible for some outside intelligence (God, other divine beings, or ET) to interfere and "nudge" evolution along on a certain direction.  The only drawback to that concept is it's hard to prove or disprove.  However I personally think that the universe was put on auto-pilot mode by a higher intelligence long ago, and that this Intelligence interferes only occasionally or will interfere indirectly (ie: through natural or manmade occurrences) in response to prayer. \n\nHowever, talking about that website specifically...do the Raelians have hard evidence to support their claims?  I would ask for some before I would believe their claims.
22864
Be sure you understand the meaning of the term Atheist.  Atheists generally denouonce the existance of any type of superior diety.  I myself am Agnostic, I am comfortable with the idea that I'm not sure what happened, what will happen, why things are.  I tend to follow the current scientific theories (note the term theory).  Science is continually improving upon itself, realizing that very few things can be proven as fact.  Science often corrects previous assumptions of many things, a few hundred years ago, the world was flat, and the Earth was the center of the universe...tell someone that now and youll get looked at like you didnt make it through Kindergarten.  My opinion on the beginning of time, the "first" human and what not tends to follow the theroy of evolution as it can be demonstrated in everday life, however through out my travels toplaces that i would rather not have gone, I have fouond little evidence for an all powerful and caring god as I watched my friend burn alive while his wife, daughter, and future son were waiting his return home in less than one month.  Sorry.....those are some of my thoughts, I am not a violent man, and I live a very moral life, however, I don't believe in God....but on the same hand, I would be open to believe if I had ever seen any evidence of him/her, I firmly accept the fact that I don't know.
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Sir Arthur Keith (Evolution Expert) himself said it best: "Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We [evolutionists] believe it because the only alternative is special creation [God], and that is unthinkable." \n\nWhat proof do we have of evolution? None at all.  One responder said you were "simplistic"...another cited the "proof" of amino acids.  Any honest/knowledgeable inquirer would recognise that those were VERY simplistic answers.  He wrote "Next comes single cells...".  Wow!  That was an easy transition...and where/how does he maintain the possibility of that? Those do nothing to support their theory, but I guess its all they've got.\n\nWhile we struggle to find the elusive "missing link", in reality there are missing links between every species. How does DNA suddenly decide to produce something other than it is programmed for? Where did those first single celled creatures come from? Where did the matter for the "big bang" come from? \n\nThere is no proof that you are reading this letter as a result of an explosion 14 billion years ago. The evolutionist accepts that origin by "faith", just as the believer accepts our Creator by faith.  However, the current scientific evidence does not support evolutionary theory, rather, it refutes it.  Why does is live on?  Because in the effort to find the origin of life outside of God, its all they've got.
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WHAT?\nAre you believe...What language is that?\nTry to ask a question that people can understand a little easier, then u may get more answers...\nlikeDo you believe you exist because of GOD?\nIs that what u R asking?\nIf tat is the Question, do I believe I am in EXISTENCE because of GOD, YES.\nI did not evolve from APES, Monkeys, Chimps or anything else...\nMy Ancestors are ADAM and EVE.\nGod created the Heavens and the Earth as far as I am concerned.\nSorry to harp on your Q. It just didn't exactly seem to make sense.\nBut I think I got it now.\nYES I believe I exist BECAUSE of God...the CREATOR.\nGod, not a god or some god...GOD the GREAT CREATOR, God WHO iS the ONE and ONLY GOD....\nGOD, God, Jehova Jira, The Beginning and The End...\nAlpha and Omega...\nAbba (daddy) Father...\netc...\nDJH
186597
I always find it interesting how people assume that science and religion are irreconcilable.  It is possible to believe in both and it is possible that God does exist and that the big bang theory is what created the earth.  Many creationists approach the creation theory from a fundamentalist perspective.  The Bible is full of metaphors and figurative language.  It is not necessarily meant to be taken literally.  Perhaps God provided the catalyst for the big bang making both creationism and science accurate.  Just a theory.
557084
let me ask you this, what will it change for you? what does it matter? people tend to use their creation theories - god vs. evolution, as reason to discredit the other. it's all ego. what does knowing change? just accept. we're here. something put us here. follow your heart to decide what. but don't let not knowing for sure take up any more of your time. finding out isn't possible beyond faith. both sides have evidence, not proof. it doesn't matter.
659557
Either you believe Gods Word or you dont.  There is no inbetween like believing God allowed evolution.  God said He created everything in six days, do you take it by faith or do you need proof.  Their's the 2 choices.  Its not that difficult.
599855
I believe in God by reason and revelation. Reason: this world is so perfectly balanced it could not be an accident. Can you look at a beautiful sculpture and say it happened by accident? No, someone created it! Revelation: the Bible!\nAnd yes I attend Mass at a Catholic church often. I would definitely call myself Christian.