Re: Fall of evolved man

Moorad Alexanian (alexanian@UNCWIL.EDU)
Sun, 09 Nov 1997 10:34:22 -0500 (EST)

At 07:54 PM 11/7/97 -0600, Glenn Morton wrote:

>>Of course, if you believe in God and
>>know that there is such a thing as revealed truths, then you are ahead of
>>the game and know enough to perhaps not be an evolutionist. With pout
>>revealed truths and the entry of God into our world, we would be at the
>>mercy of nature.

>Well I do believe in God, and know that there is such a thing as revealed
>truth. But that does not rule out evolution. In order to rule out
>evolution via revealed truth, you must believe that you have understood the
>revelation correctly and that there is no other way to understand it. Doing
>that equates your interpretation with infallability. This is the problem I
>have with those who take a hard-line stand that their interpretation is
>correct. We cannot equate our interpretation with divine infallability.
>While we may believe that our interpretation is best and can defend it
>vociferously, we cannot take the position that our interpretation is
>absolutely correct without making ourselves out to be equal to God.

I do not believe there are any specific verses that can settle the issue of
evolution of man. But there are all sorts of questions: creation of man in
the image of God, Christ being Perfect Man (clearly not fallen), and many
others that I cannot reconcile with the basic tenets of a purely scientific
evolutionary theory. If the latter is then not satisfying, then the
alternative is a continuum of ideas from creation of man by fiat to all
sorts of half-baked theories to reconcile the Christian faith with an
evolutionary dynamics. I wonder what is the reaction of your children to
your views on origins. Of course, I am sure your views are not looked at
favorably but most who believe in a purely scientific approach to the
question of origins.

>>I thought the question was that the wiring needed something more than the
>>physical, the genes. I am confused.
>
>The brain requires input from the environment. But that is physical also.

That is the problem I see with evolutionary explanations. We will never know
the answer but in the meantime we may be misleading people away from God. If
ever an answer is found to the question of origins, which I don't think it
will ever happen, most of us will be dead and many in their sins. What good
is then the theory? If a surgeon general warning should be on any textbook,
it should be on those that advocate that evolutionary theory explains the
origin of man. Such ideas are more deadly than smoking, drinking, etc. Why
then not a warning?

>>An evolutionist that has no regard for God would!! To them the words sin,
>>evil have no meaning and is used by stupid people who believe in spiritual
>>matters. Evolution is necessary but not sufficient for people to believe
>>that they may be superior to others. However, being a Christian removes any
>>room for racism since Christ died for "us" as well as for "them."
>
>My former boss is an atheist. He has no regard for God, thinks I am a bit
>daft for being a Christian, but he tolerated that. He is not a racist in
>spite of being an evolutionist. One could turn around your argument. Some
>Christians believe that the curse on Ham applied to the Africans. They then
>beleived that they were to be servants. Thus one could say Christianity is
>necessary but not sufficient for people to believe that they are superior to
>others. But this is as untrue applied to Christianity as it is to evolution.
>
>
>glenn

I ask you who is more susceptible to condone euthanasia, abortion, assisted
suicide, sterilization of the mentally weak, eugenics, doing away with the
weak and old, etc., you or your boss? Atheism is very comfortable with an
evolutionary theory. A Christian ought not to believe such a theory [note
the word 'believe'], or else handle it with extreme care. We have agreed
that a sinful person will find any source to justify his/her views of
others. You are pointing to the obvious danger of just looking to parts of
the Bible and not the whole. And let us not forget that the word "Christian"
is very misused. My dilemma is, what does the whole Bible, not parts of it,
have to say about our origin?

Moorad