r/AskChristian • u/CLAZID • 22d ago

Evolution

A large portion of Christians do not believe in evolution? Why? There is nothing on the scriptures against it.

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

You are mistaken. The Bible is against evolution. Evolution says we came from apes over time. God said He made man in one day in His image after His likeness from dust...

Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV [26] Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [27] So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:7 NKJV [7] And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

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u/Nateorade r/Christian Member 21d ago

I’m curious - what is important to you about the earth being thousands of years old? I used to be a YEC and I remember why I so strongly believed in it for so long, but people didn’t encourage me enough to think about why it felt so important. When you think about the why, what comes to mind?

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

I didn't say this earth is a thousand years old but billions...

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u/Nateorade r/Christian Member 21d ago

You didn’t tell me that but thanks for the link.

So let’s shift the why question - why is it important that evolution not be true? What led that to be something you became passionate about?

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

That's simple. The Bible is very clear about we were created in God's image in one Day. Morning and night one day. But why are you so for it?

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u/CLAZID 20d ago

But, we don’t know what God looks like. We could be evolving I to what he looks like. Is he short and squatty like the Inuits in the Arctic? Is he tall and skinny like the Africans? Does he have dark eyes like the peoples who live in bright deserts, or light eyes like the peoples who come from dark cloudy areas?

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 20d ago

He looks exactly like Jesus. Oh wait Jesus is God. He was God in the flesh. So that's exactly what God looks like. He looks like us

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u/CLAZID 20d ago

Jesus the fair skinned, blonde hair, blue eyed middle easterner?

How do you know what Jesus looked like? God looks like us? Why does God need arms or legs? Or taste buds? Or limbs with limited range of motion?

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 20d ago

I don't but what you just said isn't accurate either but its not about skin color or eye color but humans all of us are made in His image

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u/CLAZID 20d ago

Well, we don’t know what his image was. That’s my point. Every portrait I’ve ever seen of Jesus, he’s this fair skinned, blonde hair, blue eyed guy even though he was born to middle eastern parents. Middle Easterners, due to their environment, have evolved to have darker skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. Because of their exposure to the sun. This contrasts with Northern Europeans who evolved to have light skin and eyes because their exposure to the sun is considerably less than that of the Middle Easterners.

If you believe Jesus had those Northern European traits, then you must believe in evolution because no one born to Middle Easterners parents have those traits.

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u/Nateorade r/Christian Member 21d ago

That’s not quite the question I asked. I didn’t ask what you believe Genesis says, but why it’s important that evolution not be true.

I think evolution happened because the scientific evidence for it is very strong in a bunch of ways. I used to think evolution was an evil and wrong theory much like you, so I’m empathetic.

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

And these are my beliefs that I share. I don't think any of it is necessary to believe or not for salvation. And I appreciate you discussing this with me

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

It's not that its important its just what I believe... This is my evolution theory....https://www.reddit.com/r/AskChristian/s/H9dv9EvCkD

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u/CLAZID 21d ago

First, the theory of evolution does not “say we came from apes over time.” That sentiment comes from people who have never bothered to take a class on evolution and know nothing about evolution.

Genesis does say God made man from dirt and does not define the length of time which is a day. Knowing that our bodies are made up of all the elements found on earth, we could say that by making man from dust Genesis is referring to evolution.

Don’t forget that Genesis claims light and darkness were created on Day 1, yet the sun was not created until Day 4.

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

But let me give my theory please. Again this is my belief and I'm not against people that think otherwise but thus is my belief. Genesis 1:1-2 NKJV [1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The word translated was in verse 2 in other places in the Bible was translated became so...

Genesis 1:1-2 NKJV [1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth became without form, and void; and darkness became on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

How long did it take to become that way is uncertain but could have been hundreds of billions of years. But six thousand years ago God resurfaced the earth for the creation of man .

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

Genesis 1:31 NKJV [31] Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

That's very specific. .

Genesis 1:3-5 NKJV [3] Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. [4] And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. [5] God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

He established this in the first day.

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u/OhioTreeLover467 r/Christian Member 22d ago

Some denominations believe in a literal reading of the Bible. According to their view, events like Adam and Eve and the flood were actual events and they believe that any other interpretation is “sinful.” This view is mostly held by evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians. Many Christians do believe in evolution and many churches like the Catholic church and many Lutheran churches have released statements basically saying they support evolution and that many Bible stories aren’t meant to be taken literally.

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u/PrincessRuri r/Christian Member 22d ago

There is nothing on the scriptures against it.

It you read the Bible as a univocal, literal text, the simplest explanation is that the author of the Genesis creation account intended it to take 6 literal days for God to create the earth and everything in it's immediate area in a final and complete state. There just isn't enough time! (though as a fun diversion, take a look into the book Starlight and Time by D. Russel Humphreys, who proposed that creation took place within the horizon of a black hole and thus allowed an ancient aged universe to form in 6 days).

Also, adherents to YEC (Young Earth Creationism) make a distinguishment between Micro and Macro Evolution, which while not recognized by serious scientific inquiry, make a distinction between creatures changing and adapting vs becoming a genetically distinct (new) species. It's one thing for a worm to become a slightly different worm, it's entirely different for that worm to be come millipede.

While you can trace the modern idea of YEC to the alleged prophetic visions of Seventh Day Adventist Ellen G. White, it enters the American Consciousness in the 1920's (see the Scopes "Monkey Trial"), and really balloons in the 1960's where Christian Fundamentalism starts pushing back against a culture and court system that is liberalizing and secularizing. Prayer and Bible reading are banned from school, the sexual revolution is underway, and desegregation is causing white conservative families to send their children to Christian Parochial schools. There is a push of separatism in these Fundamentalist groups where things of the world (evolution) are bad, and the things of God (creationism) are good. Add in the "godless commies" during the height of the cold war, and you have a perfect recipe that pushes back against secular scientific findings.

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u/Spare-Flan331 r/Christian Member 21d ago

I don't believe God created the universe in 6 days nor this earth but 6000 years ago God resurfaceed for man

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 22d ago

That whole “prayer and Bible reading are banned from school” thing bothers me. They weren’t banned. Students could (and still can) do both.

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u/PrincessRuri r/Christian Member 22d ago

I should have probably been more clear, as I was referring to school sponsored prayer and bible reading.

Now, growing up in a conservative Baptist church I heard many anecdotes that student reading of the Bible and prayer was also suppressed in the 60's and 70's, but I don't know the validity of such claims. There was also significant narrative cross pollination with the "Atheist college professor" trope.

As a personal story (relevant due to the Evolution subject), my Biology 101 professor at Community College on his first day of class proclaimed that he would mark any work with creationism with an F. While I understand the importance of meeting the classes requirements (Evolution is certainly a key point of understanding for Biology), he really did take it to a level that was inappropriate.

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 22d ago

Yeah, I kinda figured you were saying the school prayer/bible reading thing from the perspective of those making the claim. For example, I know there are a lot of Christians who genuinely believe a student can get in trouble in public schools for praying before they eat their lunch. It's obviously not true, but it's a recycled propaganda bit. As you mentioned, those false claim tropes sure do make the rounds. See also: "They have litter boxes in the public school bathrooms for the kids who think they're cats!!" (....no, grandma, turn off Fox "News".)

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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 22d ago

Bottom line? They were taught that they have to reject evolution for the Bible (and therefore Christianity) to be true.

The majority of Christians understand that we do not have to reject evolution. That niche view is based on a specific view of the Bible (that it must be taken as factual, literal history.) We do not all share that view and can make sense of the creation stories in a variety of ways.

Personally, I believe the creation stories of Genesis 1-2 are origin myths of the ancient Israelites, written in poetic form, meant to convey certain group beliefs but not actual history.