Can you believe in both evolution and Christianity?

Most Christians do.

Do not let the small groups of Atheists and Creationists make you believe that you have to choose between God and humanity's ongoing discovery of God's Creation through Science. This is not true.

Truth cannot contradict Truth. -- Pope Leo XIII

Most Jews and Christians do not take the stories of creation in the Bible literally. We believe the stories included in first 11 chapters of Genesis tell religious truth but not necessarily historical fact.

One of the religious truths is that God created everything and declared all was good.

Catholics can believe in the theories of the big bang or evolution or both or neither.

On August 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII said in his encyclical Humani generis:

The Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God.

Here is the complete encyclical: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encycli...

And here is the Address of Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on October 22, 1996 speaking of the Theory of Evolution: http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_jp02tc.htm

Here is an interesting article about Pope John Paul II's opinion in the matter: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm...

The Church supports science in the discovery of God's creation. At this time, the big bang and evolution are the most logical scientific explanations.

As long as we believe that God started the whole thing, both the Bible and responsible modern science can live in harmony.

Here is a nice list of Christian thinkers in science: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thi...

The Clergy Letter Project an open letter endorsing the Theory of Evolution signed by over 12,000 clergy from many different Christian denominations: http://www.butler.edu/clergyproject/rel_evol_sun.h...

I suggest you read "New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy" by Robert J. Spitzer http://www.amazon.com/New-Proofs-Existence-God-Con...

http://www.magisreasonfaith.org/

With love in Christ.

Belief or disbelief in something does not make it true or false correct?

So whether you believe in evolution or not does not matter. Evolution is a fact because it has been proven through scientific observation. It's time to face the truth. You believe everything in the Bible to be true because of what you've been taught. If 1 thing was found not to be true in the Bible or if a contradiction was found, would the Bible be considered still 100% true? Here are some examples of contradictions...

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2 Kings 2:11 – As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

John 3:13 – No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.

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Proverbs 26:4: Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

Don’t answer.

Proverbs 26:5: Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

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Genesis 1:11-12 and 1:26-27 Trees came before Adam.

Genesis 2:4-9 Trees came after Adam.

Genesis 1:20-21 and 26-27 Birds were created before Adam.

Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Birds were created after Adam.

Genesis 1:24-27 Animals were created before Adam.

Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 Animals were created after Adam.

Genesis 1:26-27 Adam and Eve were created at the same time.

Genesis 2:7 and 2:21-22 Adam was created first, woman sometime later.

There is a huge list of them. It does not mean that all of the Bible is wrong but it means that it is not 100% accurate.

The answer is yes you can be a Christian and believe in evolution. The Pope even believes in evolution.

It is impossible. Take a look at what happens as the perfect example~

I have been doing some research of late with the Catholic teaching of Adam and Eve being a Myth. Basically the teaching comes from evolutionary theology that Adam and Eve were not our first parents, that we share common ancestors with animals and animals are said to demonstrate not only aggression, but deceit, theft, exploitation, infanticide, cannibalism, and even pride. Therefore, they say, no human behaviour that we call "sin" that is not found in animals ( basically that we inherited our tendency to behave badly came from animals). It teaches that the Adam and Eve myth is just a story with a moral. Even though the original paradise was not real but "mythical", they are assured by Sr. Acker that if they will just do the right thing and display active love for others, particularly the abandoned and destitute, we will make it to a paradise which is real.

http://catholicinsight.com/online/bioethics/articl... (I have cut and paste some of this above from the Catholic website on the teaching)

Well, how does the belief of evolution by Christian denominations such as this, affect belief in the bible?

Simply, without a firm belief that God has inspired the entire bible (1 Tim 3:16), that he created mankind starting with Adam and Eve who then chose their sinful course bringing imperfection and death to all mankind then the credibility of the entire bible falls apart.

For example:

If Adam and Eve were not created and a product of evolution as taught by the Catholic church, Moses, who wrote the first 5 books of the bible has no credibility. If he wrote a myth right at the start of the bible, the validity of the rest of his works comes into question. Not to mention that of Jesus Christ who also referred to and believed the account of Genesis. Further to this, Jesus sacrifice would be for nothing because, as the bible says, it was required as a ransom to buy back what Adam lost (Heb 9:15; Mt 20:28; Rom 5:12-14)

Really what the evolution theory does in contradict what the bible teaches by way of the origins of mankind then turns the bible, God's word, into a big fairy tale. There is no way that a Christian let alone a religion who claims to represent the God of the bible (YHWH/Jehovah) can believe in both. Either you serve God and accept his teachings or you believe the teachings of imperfect men who continue to change their thoughts with the wind. There is no grey area here.

No.

Charles Darwin failed miserably in his quest to validate his argument on Evolution.

God created the Heaven and Earth as the Holy Bible declares (Genesis 1:1). Don't put faith in theories. Have faith in God.

Charles Darwin did not use good logic in his famous book, "The Origin of Species."

W.R. Thompson, a Canadian entomologist(entomology-study of insects) of international repute, wrote in his introduction to the centennial edition of Darwin's Origen, "Darwin did not show in the Origin that species had originated by natural selection; he merely showed, on the basis of certain facts and assumptions, how this might have happened, and as he had convinced himself he was able to convince others.

Chapter 4 of the Origin, entitled "Natural Selection; or the Survival of the Fittest," occupies 44 pages in the 1958 mentor edition. In this chapter Darwin used the language of speculation, imagination, and assumption at least 187 times. For example, pages 118 and 119 contain the following phrases; "may have been," "is supposed to," perhaps," "If we suppose," "may still be," 'it is probable," "will generally tend," "may" "will generally tend," 'If," 'if...assumed," "supposed," "supposed," "probably," "It seems, therefore, extremely probable," and "We may suppose." Is this really the language of science? No, it is not.

Of Darwin's speculative arguments Thompson wrote, "....Personal convictions, simple possibilities, are presented as if they were proofs, or at least valid arguments in favor of the theory....The demonstration can be modified without difficulty to fit any conceivable case. It is without scientific value, since it cannot be verified; but since the imagination has free rein, it is easy to convey the impression that a concrete example of real transmutation (change of one species to another) has been given."

Source: Thompson, W.R., Introduction to The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, E.P. Dutton and Co., New York.

Have faith dear friends in God, not theories.

Genesis 1:1

Isaiah 45:18

Colossians 1:16

Hebrews 11:1-6

Genesis 2:1-3

Exodus 20:8-11

Psalm 14:1

Yes, of course you can.

Please check out the BioLogos Foundation ... which was founded by born-again evangelical Christian, and biologist, Francis Collins, and many colleagues:

"BioLogos is a community of evangelical Christians committed to exploring and celebrating the compatibility of evolutionary creation and biblical faith, guided by the truth that “all things hold together in Christ.” [Col 1:17]"

http://biologos.org/questions

At least *consider* reading what these evangelical Christians have to say about the matter ... before you conclude that they are "not true Christians."

I believe in creation, not evolution.

I know in my heart that Jehovah God made ALL things, including his Son, Christ Jesus who died for the salvation of all believing and faithful mankind.

No you can not believe that Jehovah created all things then believe that things just happen which all has not been proven by scientist to date. Creation can be explained in the Bible with Jehovah being the creator of all things therefore He has the right to guide our lives.

Of course you can. Truth cannot conflict with truth. But here's the problem - since Protestantism began there have been more and more unauthorized conflicting manmade denominations every year, whose beliefs and teachings conflict from one denomination to the next. Since truth cannot conflict with truth, many of these beliefs and teachings are therefore obviously false. Therefore it is very possible that some of these objectively false beliefs may conflict with natural truths clearly revealed by science. However, true Christian beliefs will never conflict with any natural truth revealed by science, and biological evolution is a well understood natural process supported by vast scientific evidence. Christ never intended that such confusion should exist among His followers, which is why He founded ONE Church teaching ONE body of belief, and clearly said it was to remain ONE. Those who feel the need to deny objective reality in order to hang onto their religious beliefs are always among those who belong to unauthorized manmade churches that have separated from the ONE Church founded by Jesus Christ.

I think you have to do some weird mental acrobatics to make the theology work, but plenty of Catholics and mainline protestants have no problem with it.

you could say that some sort of first proto-human/neanderthal received original sin OR that God simply forces mankind to accept his son(after all, he could just forgive if he felt like it without a "sacrifice")

One can not be a creationist and an evolutionist, it is impossible to be both. The evolutionist and the creationist have two distinctly different world views. Whether God created everything in a literal 24 hour day or in a 1000 year day is a minuscule dispute. the Bible clearly does not teach a 1,000,000,or a 1,000,000,000 year day. Also Jesus referred to the book of Genesis as an accurate account of creation. In the Gospels 25 times, He referred to Adam as being in the beginning. Evolution teaches death before man, the Bible teaches man before death. Therefore these are clearly two contradictory beliefs.

If God created the sun on the 4th day and plants on the 3rd day... how can plants survive without the sun? {that is assuming there was millions of years in the gap} clearly it did not happen millions of years apart as evolution teaches.

If God created insects on the 5th day and plants on the 3rd day and insects depend on plants for their survival and plants depend on insects for survival...how in any scientific and logical thinking could either plant or insect survive unto the present, if there were millions of years in between?

Furthermore, The Bible teaches that God created Man and animals on the 6th day of creation, this includes Dinosaurs, implying that man and dinosaur lived together and there is proof of this in the geological record. One such place is in Glenrose Texas. Evolution teaches man and Dinosaur millions of years apart. Clearly, both the evolutionist and the creationist have totally different viewpoints. Jesus believed in the beginning God created everything and I believe Jesus.

In conclusion, the Bible teaches that one day God Almighty will restore all things back to a perfect condition as they were in the beginning. In other words, the Bible teaches that all things are waxing old and wearing out. The evolutionist believes that things are getting better and better. The evolutionist's view is definitely in contradiction with the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, because if things are supposedly getting better and better, than what is God going to restore all things back to?

Have a nice day