From: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Subject: Re: EVOLUTION
Reply-To: danwell@IASTATE.EDU (Daniel A Ashlock)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 22:42:08 GMT

In article <28560.2B2827D0@puddle.fidonet.org>,
Jerry.Saville@f2051.n147.z1.fidonet.org (Jerry Saville) writes:

               [comments on evolution, Adam and Eve]

>                Remember,
>    You asked for it!
>    Adam and Eve came from the one, original God. He created them.
>    As for evolution, I am not completely opposed to the idea. There are
>    some interesting things that come out of the idea, but you must remember,
>    Darwin recanted his own theory! It was the athiests that picked up the
>    idea and ran with it. (Darwin, by the way was an avid Christian)

   *sigh*  There are several million Christians, including his holiness the
Pope, that believe the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible is just that, a
story, perhaphs intended by God to make some point but not literally true. 
Fictional stories with a point are good teaching tools and were in very wide
use at the time the Bible was first set to paper.

   Even the great theologian Augustine (yes, the Saint) warned against taking
the Bible as literal truth _because it made the Bible look foolish if you did_.

   Turning to science, there are bones of several thousand people (at least)
that are much older than the Bible claims Adam and Eve are.  That means that
God is a liar (or has a sick sense of humor) OR the genisis story isn't
absolutely literally true.  I prefer the second hypothisis.

   As for your sentence "..., I am not completely oppoed to the idea",
that worries me.  If you accept evolution at all, you must reject the literal
truth of genisis; in addition evolution is not something one is free to 
accept or reject.  It has been proven true beyond a shadow of a doubt.  There 
are large numbers of independent lines of evidence including:

   Comparative anatomy,
   The fossil record,
   DNA scanning and fingerprinting,
   Direct observation,
   Simulation in artificial life experiments.

Mind you many details of the theory of evolution are still being settled, 
and creationists like to point to that debate and claim the whole theory is 
in doubt, but the fact of evolution is not controversial.

   Finally, it is a lie that atheists "ran with" the theory of evolution.
When the theory was first accepted by the scientific community virtually 
all the biologists that accepted it were Christian.  There are millions of
Christians today that accept the theory.  The theory does not claim there 
is no God; in fact the theory indicates God was more subtle than the authors
of the Bible imagine.  Evolution is a remarkable device, worthy of praise
and study.  I personally use it to solve math problems that are too hard to
think through.

Disclaimer:  I'm not accusing Jerry of lying.  He is repeating a lie spread
the the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, California.  They
will stoop to any depth to discredit evolution.  They have been caught
in dozens of acts of fraud and are beneath contempt.  Sadly, many well meaning
priests who don't know much science have been taking in by the lie "Evolution
is an atheistic theory".  Evolution works with or without God; it is neutral.

Dan
Danwell@IASTATE.EDU