Creationists: Now That The Pope Said Evolution Is True, Does This Effect Your Stance On The Subject?

It's one of the points where I agree with (young earth) creationists. And there aren't many.

Theistic evolution, for all it is a major Christian viewpoint, seems to me to be an awkward position to defend.

Where is "The Fall"? Where (when?) are Adam and Eve?

Why exactly is childbirth painful and dangerous for females?

(Genesis curse, or evolutionary side effect of brain development?)

Mass extinctions as "God's plan?"

I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's not an obvious match, and increasingly so the more one learns about what evolution actually involves.

The *myth* of evolution is a picture of continual progress leading to *us*at the very pinnacle. But that's just an utter distortion, as many biological scientists try to point out.

We're not that special, unless with wonderful speciesism we so deem, and we've not been around long enough yet to count as a real evolutionary success.

Sharks and wasps may easily out-last us, proving *their* relative fitness. They've got lots more history already.

I can't see the middle ground: I take it that either evolution is wrong, or most conventional uunderstandings of the bible and Christianity have to be, at the very least, drastically re-worked.

The Bible is a book written in primitive times when there was no understanding of how things came into being. What is written is an attempt to make some sense of the world as they perceived it. To use the Bible as some sort of definitive record indicating whether or not evolution took place is to misunderstand the people who wrote the books of the Bible and the times in which they were written. In a similar way I am sure that Paul would be horrified if he knew about the interpretations that are made of his hurriedly written letters. I too would find it laughable if anyone did the same thing to my Emails.

The Pope has not closed the issue at all. Read the document your telling us to read. It amazes me how many people get on here say that the pope did such and such.

He reiterated Catholic Teaching that evolution may be a possiblity. We do need to listen to each other. The historical record within the dirt itself (earth) tells us about history, but it doesn't mean we know how to read it. Just like you don't how to read what the pope said.

Please don't say things the pope didn't say. Bearing false witness is against the commandments. The door is not closed on the issue, but it is absurd of those who want to keep the fire going on creationism and evolution.

It changes my stance in that I am now more likely to believe in Christianity. It was absurd to deny the evidence of evolution especially when (as the Pope said) evolution does not explain the first cause.

This is a major breakthrough allowing different belief systems to converge.

I am an agnostic.

The pope is trying to bend the christian faith to fit into mans idea of creation. Don't forget the same scientist that claim evolution is real also said pluto was a planet. Opps they now say its not a planet. Poor Pluto. I do believe scientist once thought the earth was flat. One day our scientist will eventually catch up to the truth. They will be shocked to see that it was sitting in the bible all along.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Yes.

I always thought the Papacy was unyielding. Now I know they must eventually bow to facts.

Creationists had been dwindling in numbers until the recent interest in Intelligent Design (ID). It's my belief that the ID folks were so extreme in their fundamentalism and so humiliated by their false "science" that they had the effect of forcing the Pope to come out for evolution -- lest Catholicism risk association with the fundamentalists and ID IDiots.

And why would any intelligent Christian care what the pope says or thinks??

that statement from a high church official is the opposite of Biblical teachings....so he just called God a liar...

Christ predates Catholicism by hundreds of years, and the stories in the bible predate the Catholic church by thousands, so creationists will simply argue that they are following the "true" beliefs, not the ones misunderstood by the Catholic church.

Unfortunately, it probably won't. Most creationists are Protestant fundamentalists, not Catholics. They figured the Catholics are right up there with devil-worshippers in the first place, and the Pope admitting evolution is reality only strengthened that belief.

A pragmatic and plausible solution is is of course having evolution as being the steps involved in the creation.