RE: Are Evolution and Christianity Completely Incompatible?
July 13, 2015 at 6:23 am
(This post was last modified: July 13, 2015 at 6:43 am by Aaran.)
If you take 'god' to mean a vague creative entity or force, then not necessarily. If however you're referring to the Biblical representation of Jehovah (the omnipotent and omnibenevolent) then I think evolution by natural selection pretty much disproves the existence of such a character.
I can't see why a God who is supposedly omnipotent would subject himself to the gratuitous trouble of instigating the process of evolution on Earth and presiding over it for millions of years with the intention that its ultimate product would be homo sapiens, when, if the fictional accounts of his potency are to be believed, he could have simply willed humankind into being instantaneously.
And considering just how violent and sanguinary the process of evolution by natural selection is, I find it difficult to believe that God could be particularly magnanimous either. Most wild animals live in a constant state of fear and apprehension, and usually die frightened and in pain. Well over 99% of all species that have ever existed have gone extinct. This protracted mass murder couldn't possibly be the handiwork of a benevolent God who loves all his creatures, only a very capricious and very wasteful one.
I can't see why a God who is supposedly omnipotent would subject himself to the gratuitous trouble of instigating the process of evolution on Earth and presiding over it for millions of years with the intention that its ultimate product would be homo sapiens, when, if the fictional accounts of his potency are to be believed, he could have simply willed humankind into being instantaneously.
And considering just how violent and sanguinary the process of evolution by natural selection is, I find it difficult to believe that God could be particularly magnanimous either. Most wild animals live in a constant state of fear and apprehension, and usually die frightened and in pain. Well over 99% of all species that have ever existed have gone extinct. This protracted mass murder couldn't possibly be the handiwork of a benevolent God who loves all his creatures, only a very capricious and very wasteful one.
