Posted on 10/28/2014 9:44:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Evolution is not inconsistent with God, said Pope Francis during an unveiling of a bust of his predecessor, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Monday.
"Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation," Francis said. "The scientist," he continued, "must [nevertheless] be moved by a trust in the idea that nature hides, within her evolutionary mechanisms, potentialities that it is the task of intellect and freedom to discover and actuate, in order to achieve the [kind of] development that is in the design of the Creator."
The pope, who backed the Roman Catholic Church's openness to evolution, added that scientific advancements can be used for the benefit of people.
The bust of Benedict XVI was unveiled during the course of the Academicians' Oct. 24-28 plenary meeting dedicated to evolving concepts of nature, Vatican Radio reported.
Francis praised his predecessor, and said the he "[was] a great Pope: great for the power and penetration of his intellect, great for his significant contribution to theology, great for his love for the Church and of human beings, great for his virtue and piety."
The Vatican leader encouraged science and scientists to continue working on "happy" theoretical and practical initiatives for the benefit of human beings.
Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory, said earlier in October that he finds Young Earth Creation theories that run contrary to science "almost blasphemous" in nature.
"It's almost blasphemous theology," Consolmagno said. "It's certainly not the tradition of Catholicism and never has been and it misunderstands what the Bible is and it misunderstands what science is."
The Vatican astronomer added that although literal interpretations of the Bible could suggest that the Earth is of a young age, scientific evidence to the contrary has shown that such a belief is "bad theology."
The Catholic Church's acceptance of evolution stands contrary to other Christian views of the origins of the earth, such as creationism, which supports a literal interpretation of Genesis.
The question of human origins remains a divisive one in the U.S. especially, where a Gallup poll from June found that more than four in 10 Americans, or 42 percent, believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago.
Another 31 percent of those who responded to the survey said that they believe in evolution, but with God guiding the process, while 19 percent said that God had no part in the process. Gallup noted that these figures have changed little over the past three decades.
Well then, el Pope would be el wrongo:
http://www.icr.org/article/53/
( 1) It contradicts the Bible record of creation. Ten times in the first chapter of Genesis, it is said that God created plants and animals to reproduce “after their kinds”. The Biblical “kind” may be broader than our modern “species” concept, but at least it implies definite limits to variation. The New Testament writers accepted the full historicity of the Genesis account of creation. Even Christ Himself quoted from it as historically accurate and authoritative (Matthew 19:4-6).
(2) It is inconsistent with God’s methods. The standard concept of evolution involves the development of innumerable misfits and extinctions, useless and even harmful organisms. If this is God’s “method of creation”, it is strange that He would use such cruel, haphazard, inefficient, wasteful processes. Furthermore, the idea of the “survival of the fittest”, whereby the stronger animals eliminate the weaker in the “struggle for existence” is the essence of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, and this whole scheme is flatly contradicted by the Biblical doctrine of love, of unselfish sacrifice, and of Christian charity. The God of the Bible is a God of order and of grace, not a God of confusion and cruelty.
(3) The evolutionary philosophy is the intellectual basis of all anti-theistic systems. It served Hitler as the rationale for Nazism and Marx as the supposed, scientific basis for communism. It is the basis of the various modern methods of psychology and sociology that treat man merely as a higher animal and which have led to the misnamed “new morality” and ethical relativism. It has provided the pseudo-scientific rationale for racism and military aggression. Its whole effect on the world and mankind has been harmful and degrading. Jesus said: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:18). The evil fruit of the evolutionary philosophy is evidence enough of its evil roots.
Believing that dogs descended from wolves is not much of a stretch.
Believing that people descended from paramecia, however, is a huge stretch which eliminates the need for God.
When a church built on traditions and not the infallible word of God, anything goes....
Macro...NOPE
Micro...such as dogs..”coming from wolves” very likely
darwinian evolution is simply trash talk
God created viruses too. They evolve by mutation, and can be mighty prickly.
Of course evolution is not inconsistent with God’s creation.
It’s embarrasing that we should still find such an idea controversial in the 21st century.
But they've never been able to produce a new species.
Correct on all points. Welcome to the remnant! The Pope is, to be polite, an imbecile, a fruit parading around in his silken embroidered robes overseeing a vast network of pederasts and heretics masquerading as pastors, bishops and cardinals. I love the whole cardinal deal—princes of the church, and the pope-vicar of Christ, a heresy and an abomination.
But, God is sovereign. God will sort this all out. The Pope will not like it very much.
Exactly. When one examines the evolution of bacteria and viruses, for example, evolution cannot be denied. Our high school athletes have been getting a particularly nasty strain of staph from our turf field. The staph has evolved to the point where antibiotics are nearly useless. I’m pretty sure the pope is not talking about humans evolving from single cell orgs that made it out of the ooz.
Time will tell who’s right.
They do evolve. Mutation is just one part of evolution. Viruses also undergo natural selection, which is another component.
> Of course evolution is not inconsistent with God’s creation.
If humans descended from apes, and the Creation account is false, then why would we need Christ to save us from the sin introduced into the world by the first created humans?
Jesus Himself taught the Creation as fact. Evolution makes Him a liar.
Rigged poll without enough choices. No way 42% of Americans believe man was created 10,000 years ago. However they had limited choices and likely went with that choice because it started with “created by God”
He is, actually. The fact that your own mind has trouble conceptualizing the scale of evolution is a problem for you, not for science, for God, or the Pope for that matter.
Yep. I accept micro evolution and variations in species but I have no basis in which to believe in macro evolution or evolution from ... say an amoeba to a man.
Correct.
Believing that people descended from paramecia, however, is a huge stretch which eliminates the need for God.
It isn't a stretch either. It just operates on a scale larger than your brain can visualize. Which is your problem, not anybody else's.
I believe people in New York can walk. And I believe that people in California can walk. But I don't believe that anybody could ever walk from New York to California. Gosh that seems far. So clearly God created men and women in New York and California separately.
=Your argument
Got an example of a virus becoming something besides a virus through this process?
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