Do Evolution and Creationism contradict? My friend said they don't have to.?

Question

What did she mean?

Answer 1

I could not say other than a Christian attempt to sell the creationism to an evolutionist.

Answer 2

Creationism is about how we were created. Evolution is about how we have evolved since being created. They can go together or be totally separate. I personally believe both. I have read genesis many times and there is nothing in genesis that says once God created us we stayed the same. Some Christians get offended when it comes to Evolution because they believe the theory is that we came from Apes, and if that were true and God created us in his image.........well you get what I am trying to say. The theory of Evolution is that we are closely related to chimpanzees, and have a lot of the same characteristics. However, there are many animals that we share characteristics with. But if God created us, and created the animals, wouldn't it make sense that we would be similar to some of the animals he created? Also, God created everything on this earth to adapt for survival. And through adaptation we have evolved.



Have a great day!! =)



Edit: Too many people are adding theories to the theory of Evolution. The theory of Evolution really has no beginning. It doesn't include a theory of how life began. That is the theory of Abiogenesis and the Big Bang theory. The theory of Evolution is how we evolved, not how we started. Now if the question was can the Big Bang theory work with Creationism? My answer would be no, but since the Big Bang theory is a separate theory than the theory of Evolution my answer remains, yes Evolution and Creationism can work together.

Answer 3

Some believe that the word "day" in Genesis is translated incorrectly and means "a period of time". Some believe that God directed evolution to create the the species.



There is indeed a little debate about the word "day" in Genesis and it could mean either.



Please allow me to share why I think they do contradict though:

The Bible talks about evening and morning, and the rising and setting of the sun in Genesis 1 though, so that is why it is translated as day.



Also, throughout Genesis it talks about "kinds". God created them according to their kinds and so creating one species from another contradicts the theory of evolution.



Creationists believe that a species will have different characteristics shown within it's available genes. There is a boundary that cannot be crossed. Dog breeding is an example. It will always be a dog, but can have all kinds of characteristics. When we are given "examples" of evolution and are shown a bacteria that has a new trait, we say, "So...it's still bacteria".



Evolutionists believe that the bacteria has a potential to go beyond the boundary of available genes and produce something that is not bacteria if allowed to be observed for a long time.

Answer 4

The eighth poster, 1887 Girl @ <3, has the best answer so far. It depends on what religion. "Creationist" encompasses literally many religions, but figuratively, I guess just Christianity.



@ Fireball:

No offence to you. But some people are either brain-dead or pretend to be. Who told you those lies about evolution? And where did that illiterate get their facts from? The box to a can opener?



Evolution doesn't state that the generation immediately before us were "animals" anywhere :-P



However, our current info on human evolution says that we, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, were selected from the species Homo Sapiens, some 160,000 years ago. Our closest known relative is proposed to be Homo Sapiens Idaltu that went extinct around that time. http://images.google.com/images?q=%22Homo+sapiens+idaltu%22



By the way, I said "animals" with quotes, because humans aren't vegetables, unicellular, fungi, or minerals. They're... wait for it... yes... animals! Just what makes a human an animal you might ask?



Firstly, we are mammals, and like most other mammals, we are animals. The Kingdom of Metazoa, or Animals, is a eukaryotic organism. That means that they have true nuclei, unlike monerons. They are usually multicellular, which we are. They are heterotrophic, which means that we eat other things, instead of food that we produce with our bodies, which we do. They lack cell walls, which we do (also the reason why we aren't vegetables). They are motile for at least one stage of life; we walk all the time. And their embryos pass through a blastula stage. That's so us!



You see what I'm getting at? *elbow nudge* ;-)



@ Hitchens Jr, a young contrarian:

Haha, how perverted :-P J/k :-)



@ Some people:

Evolution doesn't cover astrology or the big bang. It's strictly biologic. The 23rd poster, Lover of life, said it way better than I could :-)

Answer 5

Most likely. If a super intelligence created everything, why would his creations need to be constantly improved or modified to the extent of a complete transformation from the original ? It's difficult to imagine a super intelligence being so fallible, and making so many lousy prototypes.

At the very least, if your friend was a Christian, she would have to admit that her god was certainly not "infallible", and Genesis had it's account of the "beginning" a bit screwed up.



EDIT---MIKE MATNEY:---If there is really a legitemate question about the length of a day in the Bible; would you be more willing to believe that the Jews wandered in the deset for 4o years, 4years, 400 years, 40 hours,40 days, or 40 minutes ? If they were there less than 40 years, how could their population have increased as much as it is claimed in the Bible ? Scientists have already figured out that the desert could not have sustained that many people for even a few weeks.

Was the great flood caused by a rain that lasted 40 days, 4 days, 400 days, 400 years, or 40 minutes?---Any way you look at it, it's a very silly bunch of fibs told by primitive goat herders.

Answer 6

It depends how you define the terms. The US has the second highest number of people in the world who disbelieve in Evolution. So, Creationism in the US usually contradicts with Evolution. However, if you define Creationism as believing God created the Universe, then no, the theories themselves do not need to contradict.



And whoever said that, in the symbolic interpretation of Genesis, plants would come millions of years after light was mistaken. I have a Bible in front of me right now, and it says God made light before he did anything else on the earth. Plants were made on the third day.



If God is all powerful, I have no doubt he could have used evolution to make people. So there could be a theistic interpretation of Genesis, but it would still be difficult for a number of reasons. For example, it says God made Adam before he made Eve, the male before the female. Since males cannot give birth, this would be against evolution.



Good question. Hope that helps!

Answer 7

Evolution contradicts Genesis.

But the theory of evolution and the theory of a creator, are not mutually exclusive.

Evolution does not explain how the very first life form (a one celled organism) got here. So it's perfectly acceptable to believe that a creator created it.



But then you have to ask, "where did the creator come from?" an you still have a question that can't be answered.

Answer 8

Your friend believes in what is called "theistic evolution", but she is wrong. Creationism and evolution are contradictory and cannot be reconciled.



1. Creation is both personal and guided (God created in things in a specific way). Evolution is both impersonal and unguided.



Theistic evolution would be the belief in a process that is both guided and unguided, both personal and impersonal. How can something be both guided and unguided?!! How can something be both personal and impersonal?!!



2. Evolution is the survival of the fittest, and the stronger dominates and the weaker dies off. Biblical creation says that death did not exist, until sin entered the world by Adam and Eve's rebellion against God (this is taught in both the Old and New Testaments, even by Jesus Himself and His disciples).



Theistic evolution tries to harmonize the two world views that say to very different, irreconcilable things about death. Death cannot have both existed and not existed before Adam and Eve sinned. So theistic evolution must reject the Genesis account, but then you must reject the rest of the Bible, because it talks about Adam and Eve as literal people who brought sin into this world by their disobedience.



You must then also reject salvation in Jesus, because He came to save us from death, but evolution says that death was part of the plan all along, and was not a result of sin.



Again, the two beliefs are contradictory.



More could be said, but I think you get the idea.

Answer 9

There are some intelligent Christians who choose to think of evolution as the process of creation. Like baking a cake. It's a process. You don't just go POOF theres a cake. You have to add and mix ingredients and follow steps until you get your finished product.

Answer 10

Evolution believes in the Big Bang Theory to explain where everything came from. Creationism believes that God created... which if he created it, then it happened instantly. Both are the same.



If the Bible is taken literally, science tries to disprove it. If time didn't fully exist in the way we thought of in Genesis, then the 6 days in which the earth was fully created, could have taken the 4 billion years (in our understanding), but if God is all knowing and time doesn't exist to God, then 4 billion years could be nothing to him.



Evolution tells us that humans come from organisms that were sparked into life... Genesis 2:7 says that man was formed from the DUST of the earth. Again, that's another parallel.



Evolution says that we adapt to our surroundings over time.. I and other Christians can't doubt that as we have seen people doing that around us all the time.



I'm sure there is more to the argument.



Creationism just says that something had their hand in the pot, evolution says that there is no pot, just random collisions.

Answer 11

I am not an evolution believer....that we came from monkeys and all that....but scientifically the creation of the Earth and Creationism don't have to contradict eachother



Ok, so Genisis tells that the world was created in "7 days" which to God could have been millions of years....after all Humans created the terms Day and Night, we decided that when the sun goes down the day is over NOT God....for Humans were amoung the last beings created so when God dictated or "inspired" the writings of the first books of the Bible, perhaps the creation of the world was maked as 7 days to note a realatively short period of time and not a litteral meaning of 7 24 hour periods of time.





So Ive herd (non fundementalists) suggest that maybe the "big bang" did happen. That God created this phenomenom, and that there were stages in the creation of the actual Earth.

Read the following and think of scientific terms to explain the "days" of creation but also think that maybe God planned science out to work this way



The First Day

The first recorded Words of God that we have are "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3 NIV). The sun was already shining brightly, but God made the earth's thick new atmosphere allow diffuse light to penetrate to the surface. And so it was that the light was made separate from darkness. The first day of earth's creation was literally the first "day" as someone on earth's surface would experience it - a period of opaque light, and a period of darkness. (Genesis 1:3-5)





The Second Day

The separation of the waters. There was yet no liquid water, no oceans. All of the water was in the form of a vapor, a worldwide super-fog, extending a number of kilometers/miles up from the very hot (above the boiling temperature of water) bare-rock earth's surface (the earth's core remains molten right to the present day). God's "hovering over the waters" in verse 2 describes His being above that gaseous-water atmosphere, not a liquid ocean. God then caused most of the water to condense onto the cooling earth which simultaneously formed a whole-planet ocean and cleared the sky. (Genesis 1:6-8)



The Third Day

The first appearance of dry ground. The further cooling of the surface set in motion a process of natural contraction, uplifting and motion of the crust (the process continues today, called "plate tectonics"). The earth changed from a smooth one-level molten "cue ball" to a planet with an irregular surface with ocean basins and continental landmasses. With dry ground available, the first plants were made to grow in great abundance. (Genesis 1:9-13)



The Fourth Day

With the sky now clear, the sun, moon and stars were dependably visible. They were to "serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years." The sun marked the day (sunset to sunset), the moon the month (new moon to new moon), and the stars the seasons (constellations are seen in particular seasons e.g. "Orion" is visible in winter in the northern hemisphere, which is summer in the southern hemisphere). (Genesis 1:14-19)



The Fifth Day

Great numbers of birds and sea creatures. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." (Genesis 1:20-23)



The Sixth Day

Vast numbers of land animals. Man. From the man, woman (humans today are just now discovering how to genetically alter fertilized embryos, and even to create one human from the tissue of another - known as "cloning"). (Genesis 1:24-31)

Answer 12

Seems the church disagrees!!



The Pope, Catholic Church, Church of England and mainstream churches all accept evolution and the big bang!!



Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury put it rather well – “Creationism is the fruit of a fundamentalist approach to scripture, ignoring scholarship and critical learning, and confusing different understandings of truth”!!



How long before creationists are ejected to form their own non christian religion?!!

Answer 13

Only when the creationists insist life is directly created by a god instead of being self emerging.



Actually the scientists are about to anounce mankinds first single cell life form created form nothing but primordial soup, (chemicles). That's right, a real living, self replicating, independent, single cell life form from chemicles, proving once and for all that life is self emergant.



Practicing Shaman.. .quantum physics rocks.

Answer 14

If you are a true Fundamental Christian then they do contradict.



Fundamental Christian do not believe anything about Evolution. They feel it is from Satan and the people whom do believe it are demons or lost souls.



Fundamental Christian believe everything in the bible is true and put there to inform and to teach. The stories are there to get you prepared for living in heaven in the afterlife.



"The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason."



[Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard, 1758]

Answer 15

They don't contradict when you are talking about micro-evolution. that is the change of genes and adaption to the areas around a species. They do contracdict when you are talking about macro-evolution or the evolving of one species into another.

Answer 16

there is not any could desire to shield evolution by using fact the info are there. The "marvelous question" you're debating is amazingly important. attack creationism, it quite is fable supportted soley by using the Bible. A e book written 2000 years in the past written,edited, deleted,translated by using "adult males". The Bible isn't the artwork of god , however the artwork of "adult males"with out genuine or scientific help. in the debate question any sceintific references in the Bible in direction of creationism. Ask him or them to quote the authors, references,etc. case in point, in the journey that your opponet saids "Mark as author from the bible, you could say that Mark isn't the author, the writings have been edited, translated, condensed , greater advantageous. The final version of the bible grow to be the King James version. "version"could desire to be u.s. in the debate additionally. ( you're transforming into scientific references for evoluton) you could throw in stuff, like the church pronounced the international grow to be flat and the earth grow to be the centre of the universe. quite some the creationist arguement i've got seen on television centres on "why can no longer technological awareness clarify why this has handed off or hasn't handed off" it quite is impossile for creationist to beleive that the Bible is irrelivant in a argurment, that it has no status. The Bible is the only "genuine" source the creationists have, in case you could convince those that as a unscientific e book it calls for not greater appreciate then the different international religions "e book" those books have basically as lots status by using fact the Bible( different than in the creationists concepts) and characteristic opposite creationists perspectives from the Bible. bear in mind your opponet will attempt to maintain the Bible out and attempt to centre his arguments on the " what technological awareness hasnt defined yet" you could desire to centre on creationism coming from the Bible. The Bible has no scientific foundation. P.S Its greater acceptable to be Agnostic instead of Atheist. Agnostics beleive there's a God, yet, you will in no way be attentive to him. something could desire to of began each and every thing a quadtrillion years in the past. Its type of like talkin on the subject of the aspects. Its the factor you talk on the subject of the main........yet its the factor you're able to do no longer something approximately

Answer 17

She means that if you belive go created everything why is hard to believe that God created things in order that preceive as evoltion



For example he might of created simple primates the apes then chips then neanderthals(sp) then humans building from one to the other

Answer 18

They absolutely contridict. The Bible leaves no room for Macro Evolution at all.

Answer 19

There's also a thing called "intelligent design". It's neither evolution or creationism in the conceptual perspective.



Could that be what your friend is referring to?

Answer 20

Yes, they contradict. No, you can't reconcile them without significant self-delusion or outward-deception.



If you take Genesis literally, then science proves you wrong.



If you pretend each day was millions and/or billions of years, then plants existed for millions of years before sunlight. Science again proves you wrong.

Answer 21

She means, that they don't contradict if you don't take Genesis literally.



Most theists accept theistic evolution.

Answer 22

Let me try to explain this,The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Answer 23

She means she tangles biology with six day creation

Answer 24

In some reiligions they do, in some they don't. I think that some people believe that God intended evolution to happen, I think...

Answer 25

The theory that God created the universe and all life forms through the evolutionary process. Adherents to this theory profess to believe that the Bible and evolution can be reconciled so as not to contradict one another. Of course, this is impossible.



In the Bible, God is the Creator of all things (Gen. 1). In evolution, natural chance accounts for the existence of all things. In the Bible, all life forms are created in six literal days (Gen. 1). In evolution, life forms evolve over millions of years. In the Bible, creation has been completed (Gen. 2:3). In evolution, a natural creative process continues. In the Bible, oceans appear before land (Gen. 1:9). In evolution, land appears first. In the Bible, life begins on land (Gen. 1:11). In evolution, life began in water. In the Bible, the earth is made before the sun, moon, and stars (Gen. 1:14-19). In evolution, the earth comes later. In the Bible, all stars are made on the fourth day (Gen. 1:16). In evolution, the stars evolve at various times. In the Bible, birds and fishes are created on the fifth day (Gen. 1:20, 21). In evolution, fishes evolve hundreds of millions of years before birds. In the Bible, man appears before rain (Gen. 2:5). In evolution, rain appears before man. In the Bible, man is created before woman (Gen. 2:21-22). In evolution, woman genetically appears before man. In the Bible, light appears before the sun (Gen. 1:3-19; Psa. 74:16). In evolution, the sun appears before any light. In the Bible, plants appear before the sun (Gen. 1:11-19). In evolution, the sun appears first. In the Bible, the human body comes from dirt (Gen. 2:7). In evolution, the human body evolves from lower life forms over thousands of years. In the Bible, man exercises dominion over all organisms (Gen. 1:28). In evolution, most organisms become extinct before man evolves. In the Bible, man is originally a vegetarian (Gen. 1:29). In evolution, man is originally a meat eater. In the Bible, life comes in fixed and distinct "kinds" (Gen. 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25; I Cor. 15:38-39). In evolution, life forms are in a continual state of flux. In the Bible, man's sin is the cause of death (Rom. 5:12). In evolution, struggle and death exist long before man evolves. So much for reconciliation.



Many theistic evolutionists even profess to be Christians--followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ believed in the literal Genesis account of creation (Mark 10:6; 13:19), not theistic evolution.

Answer 26

They do if you believe that the earth is 6000 years old.

Answer 27

They do have to and do in actuality.





Can you move your skirt a little to the side please?

Answer 28

shes wrong....yes they do.....we never came from animals...we had human parents right?? think about it...its ridiculous...evolution is lies..