Can evolution and creationism be reconciled?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:What is to be reconciled, evolution is a theory of man; creation is from God. They can not be reconciled nor ever will be because man does not think like God, nor can God lower himself to his own creation. To say that creation and evolution is reconcilable is erroneous because there is no proof that evolution takes place, because if one were to believe in the "big bang theory" where did the matter from the "big bang" come from? Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Another answer:

Evolution is a theoretical construct based on collected evidence, like the Theory of Gravity or Copernican Theory.

Creation is a myth based on a literal reading of sacred books like Enuma Elish, Rg Veda, Hesiod's Cosmogony or The Bible. In all four of these, the creation story is told in a series of poems and therefore must of necessity include symbolic language, mataphore and poetic imagery.

Answer

The average person, and especially people who believe in a god or gods, do not understand the word theory as it is used by scientists. Most people think that the word theory means a guess or a hunch, which is how the word is usually meant in everyday non-scientific usage. In science, however, the word theory is used of phenomena that has been tested over and over with experimentation and observation that produces the same results every time the experiments and tests are repeated. In science a theory is not just a hunch or hypothesis under these conditions, but is recognized as established fact, unless and until some other facts are brought to light that force scientists to revise or update the theories in question. Gravity is a fact even though it is called the theory of gravitation. The theoretical part of the theory of gravitation is that no one knows exactly what gravity is or just exactly how it works, but gravity itself is an established fact. In the same way evolution is an established fact. The theoretical part of evolution is by what mechanism it occurs, but evolution itself is an established fact, and it is incompatible and irreconcilable with either creationism or intelligent design.

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In creationism it is generally accepted that all life as it exists now was specially created that way by a god or gods, and that since the creation no change in lifeforms has occurred. In intelligent design it is widely accepted that evolution does occur but that it is God-directed. Both stands are incompatible with the theory of evolution. There is overwhelming evidence that life evolved, and there are also a vast number of examples in nature of unintelligent design. Scientists are always revising or updating all of their findings when enough new evidence comes to light that indicates their theories are in error. That's how science works, it is self-correcting, and that's what makes science the best way we have of getting to the truth. Very few people who believe in a god or gods are willing to change their minds when new evidence comes to light. They would rather hold on to illogical beliefs, or beliefs that contradict their holy books than to find the real truth of life and the universe.

Another Answer:

For me this question is similar to one I heard many times in Political Science classes, "Will the Soviet Union ever tear down the Berlin Wall and allow its satellites and itself to enter the democratic world." Most all at that time would answer with an emphatic no. Just like today and this question of reconciliation between two dynamically diverse views on how we came to be here: creation or evolution.

But I have much hope as the fields of science are discovering more and more each day. DNA probably holds the final answer for all of us but the other sciences are proving Genesis and other biblical books more and more accurate with each new discovery. But that being said, in our modern society we see numerous religious people signing onto movements ascribing beliefs in both evolution and creation (see Clergy Letter Project in USA of 10,000 ordained priests and ministers). Or in Australia, a well known molecular biologist and medical doctor, Michael Denton, an avowed Agnostic, in his book "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, 1986, p. 77), evolutionary theory "is still, as it was in Darwin's time, a highly speculative hypothesis entirely without direct factual support and very far from that self-evident axiom some of its more aggressive advocates would have us believe"

So the short answer is, only time will tell.

Answer 2

No, they can not be reconciled. Creationism is based on what some believe to be a literal reading of the Book of Genesis. On this, the early Church Father, Origen had this to say (On First Principles, 3.1.1):
"Now what man of intelligence will believe that the first and the second and the third day, and the evening and the morning existed without the sun and moon and stars? And that the first day if we may so call it, was even without a heaven? And who is so silly as to believe that God, after the manner of a farmer, "planted a paradise eastward in Eden", and set in it a visible and palpable "tree of life", of such a sort that anyone who tasted its fruit with his bodily teeth would gain life: and again that one could partake of "good and evil" by masticating the fruit taken from the tree of that name? And when God is said to "walk in the paradise in the cool of the day" and Adam to hide himself behind a tree, I do not think anyone will doubt that these are figurative expressions which indicate certain mysteries through a semblance of history and not through actual events."

Clearly Origen had little time for those who believed that words in the Bible, no matter how interpreted, should take precedence over the endeavours of those who really seek to understand the universe.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 3

Though one can claim to believe in Divinely-guided evolution, this is often not the case. The general paradigm in which Evolution is taught, is one of mere natural causes. This may then be taken as an implicit excuse for hedonism, as few people want "bothersome" rules, or limitations to their personal pleasure. Lack of self-discipline has led to epidemic obesity, drunkenness, divorce rates, violence etc.
Many think that science, and specifically Evolution, have proved that there is no God. They don't comprehend that even if Evolution was an unquestionable fact, it would not automatically follow that God isn't there. They also seem unaware that there are some highly-qualified scientists who do not believe in Evolution.

Those wishing to look for further evidence may find these links useful:See also:

Is there evidence against Evolution?

God's wisdom seen in His creations

Can you show that God exists?

Archaeology and the Hebrew Bible