Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsstat.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!utcsstat!laura From: laura@utcsstat.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Not about abortion Message-ID: <789@utcsstat.UUCP> Date: Mon, 18-Jul-83 14:56:13 EDT Article-I.D.: utcsstat.789 Posted: Mon Jul 18 14:56:13 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 18-Jul-83 18:57:15 EDT References: <383@qubix.UUCP> Organization: U. of Toronto, Canada Lines: 39 Larry Bickford writes: "Theistic evolution" is an insult both to creation and evolution. The main purpose of evolution is to show God isn't necessary for the variety that exists. And if God is so weak that He needs evolution, and then tells me in His Book He created things, what kind of God is that? I wouldn't want Him! This is a very bad thing. It enforces the idea that you must either believe in God, or believe in evolution, but not both. This simply is not true. There are plenty of Christians who believe in evolution, and there are also non-Christians who believe in both God and evolution. Evolution is an aesthetically pleasing theory which fits the facts of observed nature. God, by definition, can create the world any way he wants. If he decided to set everything up and let evolution take over, that would not diminish from his greatness. Evolution exists as a theory, like all other scientific theories, to explain the observable universe. Darwin and Wallace independently came up with the theory of Evolution based on their own observations in "Natural History" (which is what science was called at that time). Nobody comes up with a theory to challenge the existence of God. That the theory of evolution can be used to disprove the literal interpretation of the Bible is not the very same thing as saying that the main purpose of evolution is to disprove the existence of God. You could as easily say that the main purpose of atomic theory is to blow people to bits with bombs, or to provide efficient generators of cheap energy. The great harm is in enforcing a belief that you can believe in God or evolution. By isolating both camps from each other it is no wonder that the rocks start flying when the camps finally meet up with each other. I have heard a lot of bad biology from the Creationists, and a lot of bad theology from their detractors. Please dont continue the trend by forcing people to decide before they have a chance to read all the evidence. Laura Creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura