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From: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Origins Program on CBN TV
Message-ID: <280@cylixd.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 13-Sep-85 09:50:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: cylixd.280
Posted: Fri Sep 13 09:50:14 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Sep-85 06:12:09 EDT
References: <672@ihu1m.UUCP>
Reply-To: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Distribution: net
Organization: RCA Cylix Communications , Memphis, TN
Lines: 49
Summary: 

>The bottom line is that evolution is the antithesis to Christianity.  
>Evolution should be opposed because propagating evolution undermines
>the faith.  As I did not see this argument previouly on the net, 
>I wonder whether any of you feel that if evolution is true then
>the logical conclusion is that Christianity is false.  Even if the question is
>not phrased as: "Either Christianity or evolution" do you think
>that teaching evolution undermines the religion?
>-- 
>Yosi Hoshen, AT&T Bell Laboratories

No, no, no, a thousand times no!  I am a Christian.  I am devoutly
religious.  I am also a reasonably rational person who believes that
the weight of scientific evidence supports evolution.  The two do *not*
have to be mutually exclusive!

One of the reasons I had trouble coming to faith in Christ was a few
fundamentalist Christians I knew who said you couldn't be a Christian
if you believed in evolution.  To me, that translated into "you can't
be a Christian unless you are voluntarily ignorant (or perhaps
stupid)."  I know *many* *devout* Christians who believe in evolution.
For crying out loud, the reason I need a redeemer is that I have
sinned against God.  Whether or not the universe came to be in 144
hours has nothing to do with it!  

As a general rule, I will not even discuss evolution with fundamentalist
Christians.  Paul exhorted us in Romans not to flaunt our freedom over
our weaker brethren.  If evolution is a stumbling block for them, if
their faith would crumble without a literal 6-day creation, then I 
cannot be responsible for destroying their faith.  I can, perhaps,
encourage and try to strengthen their faith.  Then the argument won't
matter so much.

The Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed, which are accepted by *most*
Christians as authoritative summaries of Christian faith, state that
God is the maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
They do not state *how* he chose to make them!  And *most* Christians
accept the Bible as the authoritative rule for matters pertaining to
faith and conduct, not as the authoritative rule for biology, physics,
and the like. 

Please do not accept the teachings of television evangelists as 
authoritative pronouncements of Christian faith.  Even most of us
don't accept most of them.

		charli

Note:  I no longer read net.origins, and I'm not following up there.
       I was informed by mail that it exists to argue science vs.
       "creation-science", and I consider such arguments pointless.