Evolution
The word evolve and its derivatives
Different Views on Evolution
Christadelphians and Evolution
Our Christadelphian beliefs are firmly based on the Bible. We believe in the One God who is the Creator of all things — but how? Do the Creator's methods include evolution? Some say yes, some say no:
rejecting evolution
Many, probably most, Christadelphians believe that evolution is opposed to the Bible
- A proportion of these also believe Young Earth Creation ("YEC"); many, probably most, believe Old Earth Creation ("OEC")
- A proportion also accept widespread rapid evolution of species in the form of unscientific "Micro-evolution"
- Some do not accept the validity of mainstream science and believe that modern Biology itself is unscientific. This became a challenge for us at Sutherland — see this discussion.
- Some pretend that they can speak for all of us and say that Christadelphians "do not believe in evolution". They're wrong, at best exaggerating.
Brother Ron Abel argued against evolution in the final section of his book "Wrested Scriptures" — see here for links and discussion in this wiki.
accepting evolution
An increasing number of Christadelphians believe that scientific evolution (as understood by mainstream biologists) is true. Of these,
- Some have difficulty reconciling it with their Biblical beliefs; while
- Some believe that the Bible is fully compatible with scientific knowledge and praise the Creator for evolution.
This wiki
This wiki exists to serve everyone who has an interest in science as it relates to the Bible, both the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament — beginning with the Christadelphian ecclesia at Sutherland, New South Wales.[1]
Its purpose is to explore, discuss and document these things — in wiki format, so click away! and please get an account and join in the conversation by editing the wiki!
You will be especially welcome if you are a Christadelphian who believes that you can argue against evolution from the Bible! Surprisingly, there is a dearth of precise Bible-based arguments against it, even from Christadelphians. (If that is hard to believe, follow our links to the best we have found, from Objections to Evolution.) Seriously, if you can help build the case against evolution in this wiki, we will be grateful.
Evolution in the Bible
This is what our whole discussion here is about! But for a sample, though:
- The Redundant Final Word — citing Rabbi Jonathan Sacks re Structure of Genesis 1:1-2:3
- Browse from the Topics page. Many of the chain references track through evolution-friendly Scripture; many pros and cons are found in the Themes and Discussions listed. In addition longer works are listed: these have been contributed by their authors.
- If you are surprised by the lack of contributions in defence of traditional Christadelphian opposition to Evolution, you are not alone! Please contribute if you are a Christadelphian and definitely opposed to evolution: we will do everything we can to help you do so.
- If you follow the Christadelphian Daily Bible Readings program, you might like to go here and click on the link for today. Relevant discussion and questions are listed on many days of the year.
Introduction to Evolution
- Biological Evolution
- See the very good Wikipedia page Introduction to Evolution.
- "after their kind" — evolution in Genesis 1? — See Common Descent.
"Just a Theory"
- See the chapter Theory of Evolution in "The Fourth Conversation".
- A scientific view of Theories and Facts
- No. 1 in the "creationist nonsense" target list published in Scientific American is Evolution is only a theory. It is not a fact or a scientific law.
- Evidence for Evolution
- Objections to Evolution
- First prize for minimising the importance of evolutionary science surely goes to the defunct Christadelphian Answers website, where it was called a "current trend in popular thinking"! [2]
Baraminology
"Baraminology" refers to the belief that biological evolution is real, but only occurs within the "kinds" originally created as stated (or "recorded") in Genesis.
The evolution of Evolution
Evolution has come a long way since Darwin's time, so much so that time spent attacking Darwin by enthusiastic anti-evolutionists is often wasted.
Please use this page as a pointer to other pages on evolution. DJP
