How can you be a christian and still accept evolution? [Spirituality & Religion]

There's is only one kind of evolution. The only difference between "macro" and "micro" is time.

@UnparalleledMonster: but thats the thing, thats your view on it, and the view of everyone that agrees with your beliefs, i choose to agree that evolution exists, but i also choose to believe in everything the bible says

@deonboy89:

You can't choose to accept evolution only to the extent that it conforms with the bible.
That's intellectually dishonest and theologically unsound.

The bible says that god created animals in their present form. Birds, fish, cattle.
Evolution observed through the fossil record and genetic phylogeny shows us that fish evolved into reptiles which then evolved into birds and mammals.

im fine believing that evolution happened in a much smaller scale, and that you dont agree, thats fine. but its sad that you cant accept that not everyone agrees with you. i believe in crationist science first and foremost, but i have theories on evolution and how they might connect to a christians perspecitve of life.

@deonboy89:

I can accept that people don't agree with me.
What i want is an explanation as to why you disagree.
So far you've only told me that you've made an apparently arbitrary determination as to where evolution stops.

i dont have a deep or complex reason as to why i disagree with your view of evolution, i have seen that even in my beliefs, humans and animals have clearly adapted to different surroundings over time, id be suprised if most christians didnt know this, but for many the term evolution is a word theyve come to sadly hate. which is wrong

@deonboy89:

So you accept that animals change both physically and behaviorally.
What happens when many of those changes pile up over time? Over millions of years?

well remember i believe the world is only like 10,000 ish years old (dont ask how i feel recorded history fits into that time frame, im still working that out myself), i dont know, im not sure i know enough to say what would happen in my beliefs

@deonboy89:

lol you can't say the earth is 10 000 years old in direct contradiction to all known geology and expect that i won't want at least some explanation.

I know you're all for respecting the disagreement in beliefs but to be blunt i'm not so far finding a great deal to respect in your reasoning.

The earth is 10000 years old and you don't have a good reason to believe that and evolution only goes so far and you don;t have a good reason to believe that.

I'm genuinely not trying to be a dick here, but what is there to respect about that position? I mean i can respect that you have it i guess, but how can there be any respect for the beliefs themselves?

thats because yours and my beliefs are extremely different, and I dont really care if you dont agree with me.

@deonboy89:

No it's because you don't appear to have any rational basis for you beliefs.
Some people i respect and admire very much have issues with evolution. But they also have reasons.
I accept the theory of evolution in its entirety because of the evidence.
Theists believe the bible is true because of faith or because god has spoken to them in some way.
Do you have a rational explanation as to why you think the earth is only 10000 years old or why evolution only goes so far?

I don't care if you believe something different from me. I care if you have a good reason to believe it.

So do you?

thats a hard question, because for most of my life, i believed cause it just felt right. for me its the complexity of the soul, and how our intelligence stumps anything any animal has ever had in our recorded history or the pin-point-ness of life itself, the fact that no matter what form of life you look at , it always seems to be inches away from death and disaster at every moment.

@deonboy89:

[quote] i believed cause it just felt right.[/quote]

ok.

[quote]the complexity of the soul[/quote]

Well that's just another belief because there's no concrete reason to believe a soul even exists.

[quote] our intelligence stumps anything any animal has [/quote]

In some ways. Not in others. For example chimps and seals have better short term memory recall than humans.
Or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZerUbHmuY04
Pretty complex intelligence.
Sure humans are smarter but there's very little we can do that isn't found elsewhere in the animal kingdom

[quote]the pin-point-ness of life itself[/quote]

Is that the fine-tuning argument?

But i don't get the connection. What do these beliefs have to do with a young earth or that evolution only goes so far?
It seems like your making the argument from incredulity that there is such complexity that god must have been involved

you know its not fun debating with people like you? you act more desperate to call me our than to have a decent debate, whats more is you refuse to even for once see it from my view. no i dont have a specific reason for believing, and im fine with that, i have faith im right. is it that hard to accept you dont understand how my beliefs work, and leave it there? because its just annoying debating with someone thats going "no, thats wrong, nope that cant work, nope your not correct".

if you havent noticed, arguments and debates arent my forte, infact im shit at them. Look, i cant say what got me into christianity, i have no clue, but what i do know is that my faith has gotten me through very hard times, I chose to continue to believe in god because i want to believe theres a plan for me, and that the near perfection of nature isnt just a result of an 'accident' . I can completely understand that you dont get it, in your eyes, yes it must seem insanely ridiculous, and i can respect that

@deonboy89:

If it's not fun debating with people like me then it's not fun debating at all.
I'm sorry you take it so personally when your points are contradicted.


[quote]i have faith im right[/quote]


And that's really the beginning and the end of it. You don't have rational reasons to believe the things you've mentioned. You have faith.

That means there can be no debate of any kind.

I can accept that you just have faith.
I do wish you had made it clear that, that was the basis for your beliefs earlier. Could have saved some time here lol

you just clearly cant see anything beyond your own nose , and refuse to accept anything you cant understand, which makes you very closed minded

@deonboy89:

That's a very judgmental thing to say.

What would you consider open-minded? What should i be keeping my mind open to?
Because you didn't have any reason for me to believe what you were saying. As it turned out all you have is faith.

Being open-minded doesn't mean accepting whatever someone tells you. It means that you're willing to be convinced.
I don't find "i have faith i'm right"to be convincing.

That doesn't make me close minded.

this is my point, i can tell you have a superiority complex, either that or your just an asshole. my guess is the latter

@deonboy89:

[quote]this is my point,[/quote]

What is your point?
What point do you feel you've just made?

i know i cant debate or explain my views for shit, but thats why im trying to learn. i love trying to express my view, and hearing about others, and talking about it, but it felt like you were more determined to get me to admit im wrong

@deonboy89: [c=#BF0080]He likes to mind f*ck people lol.[/c]

@PinkRainbowBliss: that explains alot. yeah unfortunately im a bit slow to stuff like that , joys of being slightly autistic LOL

@deonboy89:

You don't have to admit you're wrong. Almost nobody ever does lol.
Like i said, i was looking for you to back up your ideas.
But if you're trying to learn how to debate better then you can't get so discouraged when someone challenges you.