1 Theistic Evolution. 2 What is Theistic Evolution? Middle of the road approach §Belief in both evolution and God - usually in that order §[They] consider.

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Theistic Evolution

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What is Theistic Evolution?

“Middle of the road” approach

Belief in both evolution and God - usually in that order

“[They] consider evolution to be a fact, but they believe that it has been divinely directed instead of coming about through natural processes.” (Bolton Davidheiser, “Evolution and the Christian Faith”, 1969)

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The Catholic Acceptance

In the October 1996 statement to the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul

II threw the authority of the Roman Catholic

Church behind the theory of evolution, saying that

“. . . fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the

theory of evolution as more than just a

hypothesis.” (See the Catholic Information Network

at http://www.cin.org/jp2evolu.html)

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Growing Acceptance

“The major churches, however,

gradually abandoned their initial

condemnations, and their view of

evolutionist biological theories is

accommodating.” (A

Dictionary of Philosophy,

concerning Darwinism)

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Growing Acceptance

“If we look carefully at the issues about which

we are talking, however, we can find that

evolution and the Bible show amazing

agreement on almost all issues and that one is

not mutually exclusive of the other.”

(John N Clayton, lecturer, “The Source” 1976)

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Various Theories

Progressive creationism, scientific creationism, threshold evolution, etc

God created the building blocks - spontaneous generation took over from there

God created matter and life - but allowed evolution to operate through natural laws

At some point, God endowed a man-like beast with a soul, and made the first human

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Fundamentalist Intolerance

“Evolution is based on the assumption that one

must explain all things naturally. It is

inconsistent to bring in God at the very beginning

of the process, or anywhere along the line. The

miraculous destroys scientific explanations.”

(James D Bales, “Theistic Evolution and

Genesis”, 1974)

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Theistic evolution requires that the process of creation (evolution) is still occurring

Contradicts what the Bible says: that God finished His creation at the end of day six

If evolution are indeed part of the laws of nature, it must still be happening.

“It is unreasonable to think that evolution would go thus far and no further.”

(Bolton Davidheiser, 1969)

Transhumanism

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

“When a theologian accepts evolution as

the process used by the Creator, he must

be willing to go all the way with it. Not

only is it an orderly process, it is a

continuing one. Nothing was finished on

the seventh day; the process of creation is

still going on.” (Dr Kirtley F Mather, Harvard

University, 1960)

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Inconsistent with the nature of God

Inconsistent with the omnipotence of God - no necessity for eons of time to effect His creation

Inconsistent with the omniscience of God - evolution postulates that there were many trials and errors and dead-ends in the evolutionary path - God does not work by trial and error

Inconsistent with the eternal purpose of God - creation of man in His image

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Cannot explain Man as the “image of God”

Man reduced to a “Naked Ape”, merely a “higher animal” and not the image of God

Man was created directly from the “dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7) - not from lower animal life-form that look like humans

Evolution cannot explain presence of a soul in man - if the theistic evolutionist is willing to concede the soul came from God, then why not the body too as Genesis tells us?

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Cannot reconcile with Eve

Evolutionists believes the sexes evolved from asexual ancestors

But Genesis excludes any possibility of natural evolution Eve was created from a rib taken out of Adam’s side

(Genesis 2:21-23)

Affirmed by Christ (Matthew 19:4)

Totally incompatible with evolution and cannot be reconciled

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Cannot explain the Fall of Man

Evolution dictates that man is ascending - evolutionary processes continue to improve man generation after generation

Contradicts God’s word which tells us man is degenerating - because sin and death entered the world after his Fall

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

Contradicts what Christ saidChrist affirmed man was made at the beginning (Matthew 19:4,

Mark 10:6). He was at the beginning and all things were made through Him (John 1:1-3).

“The theory that God created the world by means of organic evolution rejects the Bible account of creation in Genesis, and rejects Christ who endorsed these writings, and in so doing makes Christ an ignoramus and the Christian religion a false religion.” (Gus Nichols, “The Bible versus Liberalism”, 1972)

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

What the Bible says What evolution says

Light existed before the Sun wasmade (Genesis 1:3,16)

The Sun is the earth’s firstlight

Life created according to individualgroups and after its own kind(Genesis 1:11,12,21,24,25)

All life came from a commonprimitive life source

First life form were plants (Genesis1:11)

Marine organisms came first

Fruit bearing trees came before fish(Genesis 1:11,20)

Fish evolved before trees

Plants were created before the Sun(Genesis 1:11,14)

The Sun existed millions ofyears before plants

Irreconcilable?

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

What the Bible says What evolution says

Birds created on Day 5 andcreeping things (including insectsand reptiles) on Day 6 (Genesis1:21,24)

Birds developed long afterinsects and reptiles

Man made from dust of the ground(Genesis 2:7, 3:19, 1 Corinthians15:45, 2 Corinthians 5:1)

Man originated from the sea

Humans were made male andfemale from the beginning (Genesis1:27, 2:7, 22, Matthew 19:4)

Male and female evolved frombisexual organisms

Man existed from the beginning(Matthew 19:4, Mark 10:6, Romans1:20, Isaiah 40:21, Luke 11:50-51)

Man is a recent developmentcompared to the history of theuniverse and the earth

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Problems with Theistic Evolution

What the Bible says What evolution says

God’s work of creation finished onthe 6th day (Genesis 2:1-2)

Evolution still in progress –new life forms still evolving

Man has a soul that came from Godand lives forever (Genesis 2:7, 1Corinthians 15:35-58)

Evolution ignores the soul –only attempts to explain thematerial

Man created a moral being (Genesis1:26-27)

Man’s morals a result ofenvironment and not inherent

First man endowed with language(Genesis 2:19ff)

Language skills developedslowly as man matured

Early civilisations and societieswere sophisticated (Genesis4:21,22, 6:14-16, 11:3-6) withagriculture (Genesis 2:9,15-16, 4:2)

Early man was very primitive,technologically backward,culturally uncivilised,learning to cultivate over time

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Theistic Evolution

?

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Intolerance

The American Scientific Affiliation,

comprising of scientists who

believe in theistic evolution, learnt in

1987 how intolerant their evolutionist

peers were, when they tried to issue a call

for more open-mindedness, in view of the

numerous unanswered questions on origin

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Rejected by hardened naturalists

“The official scientific organisations are at war with

creationism and their policy is to demand unconditional

surrender.”

“Mixing religion with science is obnoxious to Darwinists.” (Philip E Johnson, 1991)

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Science vs God

“Whenever “science” and the Bible are in conflict, it is always the Bible that, in one manner or another, must give way. We are not told that “science” should correct its answers in the light of Scripture. Always it is the other way around.” (Edward J Young, “Studies in Genesis 1”, 1964)