How can we reconcile the theory of evolution with the creation story in the Bible?

Answer 1

It is not possible to reconcile evolution with a literal reading of the creation story in The Bible. It is not even possible to reconcile a literal reading of the first creation story (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) with a literal reading of the second creation story (2:4b-2:20), although pious readers, believing that the text cannot contain contradictions, ignore the major disjunctions between the two creation stories and tend to treat the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man that the first story simply reported.

Therein lies the clue. If millions of Christians can read the two creation stories without an awareness that they say completely different things, we ought to be able to use the same technique to read the Bible without a conscious awareness that this is not what really happened. All it takes is faith.

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

Answer 2

If you choose to do so, you can believe that Evolution was guided by God. However, should you decide to actually examine Evolution, you may find that no reconciliation is called for, since Evolution is fraught with difficulties and it remains in fact a theory, open to dispute by people

who choose to avoid ignoring its problems. It can neither be proven nor demonstrated in the lab (in its broader sense of giving rise to new organs or species).

What_are_some_proofs_offered_by_Creationists

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-philosophy/can-you-prove-that-god-exists

http://www.allaboutscience.org/intelligent-design.htm

http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/sci-ev/sci_vs_ev_26.htm

Note:

According to tradition, there is only one Genesis creation-narrative, with ch.2 serving as an expansion of the brevity of ch.1, not a separate set of events (Rashi commentary, Gen.2:8).The same literary devices which the Torah employs to enrich its text, have been seized upon by "Bible-critics" in their ongoing attempts to undermine it. The Jewish sages, based on ancient tradition, identified many of these devices, which include:

recapping earlier brief passages to elucidate,

employing different names of God to signify His various attributes,

using apparent changes or redundancies to allude to additional unstated details,

speaking in the vernacular that was current during each era,

and many more. While Judaism has always seen the Torah as an intricate tapestry that nonetheless had one Divine source, some modern authors such as Wellhausen (the father of modern Biblical-criticism, 1844-1918) have suggested artificially chopping up the narrative and attributing it to various authors, despite the Torah's explicit statement as to its provenance (Exodus 24:12, Deuteronomy 31:24). This need not concern believers, since his claims have been debunked one by one, as Archaeology and other disciplines have demonstrated the integrity of the Torah. No fragments have ever been found that would support his Documentary Hypothesis, which remains nothing more than an arbitrary claim, whose falsehood has been pointed out:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=6&article=1131(a Christian author)

http://www.whoreallywrotethebible.com/excerpts/chapter4-1.php

http://www.pearlmancta.com/BiblicalcriticswrongRShlomoCohen.htm

And see also the wider picture:

http://judaism.answers.com/hebrew/does-archaeology-support-the-hebrew-bible

Answer 3

Many individuals reconcile the theory of evolution with the creation story in the Bible through the perspective of theistic evolution, which posits that God used evolution as a mechanism to develop life on Earth. They view the creation story in the Bible as symbolic rather than literal. This allows for spiritual meaning alongside scientific understanding.