Science & Religion Lessons from History
It is possible to be a Christian who accepts evolution
Evolution advances the theory that life is the product of natural selection and mutations that give nonliving material life over an extended period. It suggests that elements such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and others come together to form nonliving materials such as metals, water, air, and living things such as people, grass, elephants, birds, and insects. According to evolutionists, changes occur accidentally to the DNA of a person. These changes give them the ability to survive harsh environments that destroy less adaptive individuals.
For most of its history, the church claims that God is the creature of all things, both living and nonliving things. The Bible teaches that the creation began out of nothing. It affirms the concept from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that avers that God is the creator of the earth and the heavens. It asserts that the trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit purpose to create a universe. Other scriptures in the Bible supports the narrative. For example, Psalms 33:6, 9 argues that God made the heavens by the breadth of his mouth. Moreover, Hebrew 11:3 confirms that creation was not made from preexisting materials. Therefore, the creator did not merge two preexisting elements such as oxygen and hydrogen, to fuse them into the water, but out of nothing.
According to the accounts of Genesis 1, God created all things by proclaiming them into existence. As a result, light, soil, air, vegetation, the stars, the moon, and people came into existence. The early church denounced the atomic theory suggests that everything existing in the world is the result of collision of atoms that develops by chance into something tangible.
Some scholars believe that God is the creator of all things and evolution is a way of explaining God’s creation through science. Christians can reconcile their faith and understanding of the Bible on creation and evolution.. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
There are many odds in nature. There are some blind spots in the human eye. Parasites threaten the survival of all living animals. Predators are cruel and destroy farmlands and may cause famine in some regions of the world, causing food shortage and death. According to Ayala, the process of natural selection (evolution) can continually improve some species to ensure that they add value to the environment. Most science-savvy Christians argue that God continues to create changes in the real world through the process of natural selection.
Christians who accept the scientific position of evolution are known as “theistic evolution. These evolutionists believe in the existence of God and that God is responsible for the creation of the universe and the life therein. They understand that biological evolution is a natural process that follows the patterns established by creation. According to this school of thought, evolution is one of the methods that God uses to develop human, animal, and plant life. In most cases, the theistic evolution refers to all forms of all evolutions, including in astronomy, chemical, biological, and geological evolutions. Therefore, theistic evolution is not a scientific theory, but it is a specific world view that explaining how science relates to religion. Theistic evolutionists argue that scientific methods and religion can coexist and explain the existence of life in the universe.