Theists: What is your stance on evolution?

[Paleophyte]

When scientists speak of evolution, they are speaking of how man evolved over time from a primate to modern man.  I remember being taught this in school. The question that always comes up is “If we slowly changed from apes to man, why do we still have apes?”

Your school was horrible. All living apes, including humans, have evolved from a common ancestor. The apes that you see today are evolutionary "cousins" and you aren't descended from them.

There are other theories around the origin of humanity such as Creation Theory, comprised of old-earth creationists and young earth creationists, and Intelligent Design Theory. More recently, there is another theory called Dual Revelation Theory. You heard of it?

Those aren't theories, they're mythology. I can explain why if you're interested.

Like you, I learned nothing of evolution from Christians. I only heard of it in grade school. My mother taught me how to be a critical thinker, so I questioned it even then. Most of the scriptures I know of that mention what could be dinosaurs are in the Book of Job. Chapters 40 and 41 reference a Behemoth and a Leviathan (Job 40:15, 41:1). There are also a few others sprinkled in Psalm 104 and Revelation 13.

Could you tell us what you think a "critical thinker" is? This statement of yours leaves a lot of doubt.

There's an interesting book on each of these theories called Four Views on Creation, Evolution and Intelligent Design. Each theorist offers his or her perspective, followed by responses from each of the opposing theorists, followed by a rejoinder. The format of the book makes it a provoking read. It explains the nuances of each theory and allows the reader to understand how they each became popular enough to become "a thing." Unreservedly, science and scripture can work in tandem.

Just so I don't start sounding like a broken record, I'll explain why these aren't theories. All proper theories must be testable, falsifiable, and predictive, amongst other traits. By definition, any statement containing and all-powerful, unknowable, undetectable deity immediately removes the possibility of testability, falsifiability, or predictability. As such, these are properly viewed as statements of faith and are the opposite of theories in many of the basic ways that matter. If you would be so kind as to make the distinction I will return the favour and not quote the Book of Phylogenies as scripture.