| pokoko said: Honestly, I think most Christians just kind of ignore the problem. I used to wonder about this all the time when I was a kid and I think I even asked about it in Sunday school. I don't remember who told me, or if it was an "official" answer, but I remember getting the response that fossils are "a lie told by Satan to create doubt". Even as a kid I knew that sounded fishy, especially since I thought Satan couldn't perform physical miracles in that way, but if it's true then damn if I'm not super impressed by the devil. That would be like the best hoax EVER. I've also heard that god did it to test the faith of christians, which would be kind of messed up. I don't think you'll find an answer to your problem. I never did, just as I never found an answer to many, many other problems and contradictions. That was part of the reason why I left Christianity behind; the only other option I can think of is to file things like that as Unsolved Mysteries in your head and just accept that you don't know the answer. Science will never mesh with the time-line you believe. One thing I don't understand, though, is how people can disbelieve in evolution, christian or not. That would mean that ALL fossil records are wrong, even relatively recent ones that show that people and animals from not long ago were slightly different than they are now. That species change relative to environmental differences, to me, is natural and obvious. That's one that I could never get my head around while growing up. People telling me that nothing evolves is the same as being told that logic doesn't exist and I just can't accept that without remaking myself into someone else. |
Evolution and Christianity are not incompatible. There is nothing in the bible that says how long a day is to God so the whole Genesis thing could have been billions of years. The bible says God created like, but it doesn't say how so there's no reason to believe it wasn't evolution.
Too many Christians take the old testament far too literally. God and science go together like peanut butter and jelly. The bible says God said "Let there be light" which sounds like the Big Bang to me. To me Adam and Eve are metaphors for the first of our ancestors to rise above ape. The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for the innocent state humanity was in as animals before evolving to self aware beings who could no long exist alongside beasts. The old testament is not a science book. It is a story. A story translated several times. It's a story designed for ancient minds to understand the basics of what God had done. If the bible was written today for our educated culture it would be less metaphorical and more scientific, but it would still leave a lot out. God has to dumb stuff down for us. Try explaining 2 + 2 to a dog. It's not unlike God trying to explain how he made everything from nothing.
I think evangelical Christians have made a mistake in thinking that the old testament is to be take literally. The new testament is the important stuff. Jesus basically came to update the word of God for a new era. If it were not for the prophecy of his coming we would not have any use for the old testament. Jesus' teachings about peace, love, understanding, and his sacrifice for our sins is what's important.
