Pro-Evolution Clergy Sign Letter Affirming Faith in Darwin's Theory
In second Timothy 4:1-5 we read:
1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
I've read the Bible through several times and you know, I've never once run across "evolution". Hummm...could that be because it's not in there?
I've said it many times. Either you believe the Bible or you don't. Stop fence sitting and make up your mind.
(AgapePress) - Thousands of mainline church leaders and pastors have signed a letter rejecting a literal interpretation of the creation story in the Bible's Book of Genesis. The "Clergy Letter Project" signatories are urging school board members to "preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge."
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh administrator Michael Zimmerman, who founded the project, says the letter has been signed by more than 10,000 clergy members in every state and territory of the United States. The signatures from leaders of Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian and other mainline churches represent a "groundswell of support for the compatibility of science and religion," he contends.
Zimmerman notes that about 450 churches across the U.S. took part in "Evolution Sunday" observances last week by holding Bible studies or offering sermons on the purported compatibility of evolution and Christianity. But those church leaders who took part in the Clergy Letter Project are asserting a very different proposition, he explains.
"These 10,000 members are saying that intelligent design, creation science, is not only bad science as defined by the world scientific community," Zimmerman says, "but that it is also bad religion. It is not consistent with their view of their faith."
Evolution, on the other hand, is compatible with these Christian leaders' faith and interpretation of scripture, the University of Wisconsin official says. However, when asked to what particular faith he himself subscribes, Zimmerman declined to answer. "I've stayed away from that question because the issue is more who the 10,200 clergy [who have signed the letter] are and what their message is," he says.
"I'm just a college administrator and a biologist," the Clergy Letter Project's founder explains, "so one person's faith who is not a member of the clergy really is irrelevant for this particular project. The Project isn't about my belief, but it's about the belief of Christian leaders around the country."
Zimmerman says the Clergy Letter Project was initiated in response to efforts to get intelligent design or biblical creation taught in schools. Specifically, he notes, he and the clergy with whom he worked to draft the letter were "called to action" by a series of anti-evolution policies passed by the school board in Grantsburg, Wisconsin.
posted by Steve | 2/20/2006 10:10:00 AM
8 Comments:
This is all rubbish.
The phrase "pro-evolution clergy" is an oxymoron - and speaking of morons...uh well, you get my drift.
I always wondered if maybe God could have made the evolution thing.
Since we don't know if one day in God's eye is a million years or a day, maybe the whole 7-day deal was really millions of years and it included evolution (at least the animal part).
I'm no scholar (yet) but I wonder if Science and Christianity can have a peaceful coexistance.
Now, I'm saying this as a black man too!! Because, if you think about it, up until recently, black folks were not that interested in Science and Science fiction etc. In fact, have you ever noticed how in any science fiction movie, it's always the Black guy who gets killed first.
What's up with dat?
Anyways, off to school again and Praise the Lord and I hope to see more people posting now since I was the only one for awhile.
Anonymous,
Elaborate.
Beth,
I have to agree, either one belives the Bible or they don't. Which is it? So many people falling away from God's Word. What they don't understand is that if they can pick and choose what to accept and what to reject from the Bible, where does that type of thinking end end?
Hey T.S. Glad you are posting. Keep the questions coming.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about “evolution”.
Evolution is defined by Merriam-Webster as:
“2 a : a process of change in a certain direction. c (1) : a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state.
4 a : the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species). b : a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations.”
In a nutshell, evolution is change.
The Bible indicates that God is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). In speaking to the Israelites after one of their many times of falling away, God says in Malachi 3:6: "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed”.
God says we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27). Many say that God is referring to the “spiritual” image, but even this falls on it’s face, since there is even less relationship between a man’s “spirit” and the “spirit” of the creatures (apes if you will) that we were supposed to have evolved from.
Now for your question concerning time…
There are two places in the Bible where days are compared to years. They are Psalm 90:4, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night”, and 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”
All other instances refer to the literal “day”.
The Hebrew word “yom”, which is used, can indeed mean an indefinite period of time. In Genesis 1, it is preceded by an ordinal (i.e. first, second, third, etc). In these cases, ‘yom’ means a 24-hour period. Before “the first day” it says, “there was evening and morning”. These are designations of time. This terminology was used even before the 4th day, when the Sun and Moon and stars were made. These were made to mark off time periods that already existed. Once the Sun was made, it becomes clear that “evening and morning” means “24 hours”.
Exodus 20:8-11 goes further towards clarifying the definition of a day.
“8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Second Peter may just be a re-quote of the Old Testament Psalm, but in any case, keep in mind that God has been around forever. His frame of reference is so outside anything we can imagine. It can be said that a day in His sight would seem like a thousand years to us. But nowhere in the Bible does it imply that creation was accomplished in six thousand years versus a literal six days.
If one wanted to use the logic of “a day is equal to a thousand years”, then one would also have to use the same logic on the second part of the verse in 2 Peter, “a thousand years is equal to a day”. That would make a day equal to 0.237 seconds. We can’t just choose the part of the verse that helps the argument; we have to take the verse as a whole.
In a second nutshell, time does not have the same meaning to God that it does to us. We are constrained by time. God is not.
Hope that helps.
By the way, I disagree with your assertion that the black guy was always the first to die in sci-fi films and series. It was always the guy (or gal) with only one name, regardless of color. Just watch the original Star Trek series, which is the authority of which all following sci-fis are to be compared, and you will see that it was always the single name extras that expired each episode.
This was so true that the writers of “Galaxy Quest” even poked fun at it in their movie. “Everyone knows the guy with no last name is the first to die. I don’t have a last name…I’m gonna die”.
Correct me if I'm wrong but Galaxy quest was with Tim the Tool man taylor right?
Then was not the guy with one last name black? I can't remember.
But, you make a good point. Maybe I'm just sensitive about it. But, who knows.
Ok, now for some dinner of Greek pizza. They even have Pizza Hut here and they put Goat cheese on it . (kinda weird but taste good)
Hey T.S.
That's right, Tim Allen played the commander in the movie.
Actually it was Sam Rockwell, playing the part of Guy Fleegman who played the part of Security Chief 'Roc' Ingersol, who is the "extra" that usually got "killed" in the series. I got the line wrong. What he said was "I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here."
He got to be the Security Chief with a name at the end of the movie.
In Star Trek, the poor victim was usually an unnamed security or science guy. To my knowledge, the only black person to be killed was William Marshall playing Doctor Richard Daystrom in episode 53 "The Ultimate Computer". The series also addressed discrimination based on color in epsiode 70 “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”.
In fear of making you angry with me, yes, you’re being sensitive. God doesn’t see color. He loves us all, even movie extras who get killed in the first 15 minutes of the show. :-)
Your pizza sounds great. My wife makes a homemade pizza for us often. She makes the crust from scratch. It is so very good. Hope you enjoy yours. Have you had any real Italian pizza? It's wonderful as well.
It's always great to see your comments. I appreciate them very much.
God Bless You!!
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