Evolution

edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church
From what I know, the church does not accept the theory that humans descended from apes, though there is some convincing evidence on the matter..

In Genesis 2:7 it states, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

Couldn't the 'dust' mentioned above refer to an ape that God made into a human ? This might be a bit far-fetched.. but is something wrong with this train of thought?

Comments

  • [quote author=Hizz_chiilld link=topic=9098.msg113109#msg113109 date=1270997645]
    From what I know, the church does not accept the theory that humans descended from apes, though there is some convincing evidence on the matter..

    In Genesis 2:7 it states, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

    Couldn't the 'dust' mentioned above refer to an ape that God made into a human ? This might be a bit far-fetched.. but is something wrong with this train of thought?


    The more I see the stupid things some human beings do, the more I begin to believe that some of them may have been associated with an Ape or a Chimpanzee.

    However, I doubt that Christ created Adam from Ape. I would say that perhaps Apes evolved; but that doesn't mean that humans came from them.
  • Hizz_chiilld,
    I cannot find any convincing evidence on the 'theory' that humans descended from apes - a proven real scientific one I mean - if you have this proof please say here what it is.. may be it could be thought of as a belief or a 'philosophical' thinking (or as behavioral issues like Zoxsasi replied).

    Evolution says either that humans descended from apes, or that apes and humans share a common ancestor.

    I just made a Bible search on the word dust and it is always used as literal dust so the analogy of dust to ape is inapplicable,
    http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=dust&qs_version=NKJV

    e.g. some actual verses,

    Genesis 3:19
    In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
    ....
    Leviticus 14:41
    And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city.
    ....
    2 Samuel 22:43
    Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, And I spread them out.
    ....
    Job 2:12
    And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven.
    ....
    Psalm 30:9
    “What profit is there in my blood,When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?
    ....
    Matthew 10:14
    And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.
    ....
    1 Corinthians 15:47-48
    The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
    As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
    ....
    Revelation 18:19
    “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’

    Our Lord Jesus Christ made the wonderful miracle of restoring the eyes and sight to the born blind man this way:

    John 9
    1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
    3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
    6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

    Wasn't this convincing?
    It was indeed to the born blind and to all who opened their hearts and minds.

    About the so-called theory in fact it is still and will remain a hypothesis (I explain why below) but the situation is twisted because it has become a strong belief tool in the hands of atheism and a forced teaching applied to school. Unfortunately many scientists say it is a fact while it is not - while many of these know this for sure but they do not have the courage to declare it publicly.

    Why still a hypothesis?
    The idea was brought to minds by Darwin after a practical detailed study made on a kind of birds who happened to be equipped by adaptation capacities to have their beaks take a more useful shape but nothing here proves that they change from birds to some other creature or from another species to birds - it was just about these birds and their beaks. Scientifically you cannot apply an idea related to a special case to be generalized in this manner unless you can solidly prove it - otherwise it is no more Science. So what you do if you cannot consistently prove it? just trust and follow your intuition? or believe it to the extent that you like to apply every discovery to be obligatorily within this frame of knowledge and otherwise categorically refuse all scientific research and real discoveries against it.

    Indeed it can be studied and exams answered but it is not a fact.

    Evolution is becoming the spiritual plague of the modern humans.

    GBU
  • no, there are only 2 original humans that we are all descended from and there were loads of animals, and there is no indication in the Bible that there were 2 specially 'blessed' apes that got to be human.
    personally i don't believe in evolution, i read about it in great depth when i was a teenager and did not find the theories had enough evidence.
    but i met Christians who do, and i don't think belief in creation is absolutely necessary for salvation. it does make a lot of sense, though. God took great care to create us, great care to explain to us how to live and great care to rescue us at very great cost when we messed it up.
    after all if we believe in the Virgin birth, resurrection of the dead, miracles, a God who longs to have a relationship with us, creation doesn't seem to be so strange in comparison.
  • mabsoota,

    I believe that God does not deceive us and I think that creation is very important because Genesis explains that we are very special to God, that He loves us and His Will is that we were intended to be His children from the beginning. In Genesis He also explains the sequence of events that are the only logical reason why we need Salvation by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

    I think that if one does not believe in creation by God as God explains it in Genesis then one does not really believe in the absolute power of His Word, hence we may easily slip into doubts at the 1st attack on faith.

    GBU
  • hi john S2000, i agree there is a danger of lack of faith, and i really liked your post (sorry i typed as you were typing!), but i think if we make belief in creation 100% necessary, it may cause people to become worried. also i am not sure of the church's official position on this, so i don't want to make anyone panic about their salvation.
    as i said, it seems weird to me to believe in the other things and not in creation, but that's just me, others may differ.
  • trusting the Bible is of paramount importance.... it's true that evolution teaches that we humans evolved from apes, and many try to reconcile evolution with the Biblical narrative.

    Christ came to fix something, and repair a broken relationship. the relationship was broken not over billions of years or even millions, but because the first man chose to disobey God. Christ came to repair and restore that relationship, by offering up Himself. Christ Himself quotes the Genesis account of Creation when answering questions about marriage (Matthew 19:1-6).

    there's a book you might really enjoy called "Refuting Evolution" by Jonathan Sarfati. it's worth reading, and well-researched. 
Sign In or Register to comment.