Just be a liberal JW who believes in evolution and cherry picks the bits of JW you find believable, there are plenty of liberal religious people who don’t 100% follow any given religion and it wouldn’t hurt to have 1 more in the world imo
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I've Sacrificed my belief in Evolution for Religion
- Thread starter NathantheProfit
- Start date
You don't? One shouldn't compromise an overall understanding of reality just so one can shoehorn in some special pleading case - which is why I don't accept most religious beliefs - they all tend to clash with my understanding of reality. It's just so dishonest.
Perhaps the best you will ever be able to do is compartmentalize your beliefs, much like those Utah professors of the evolutionary sciences who are good Mormons. Monday through Friday, while doing their jobs, they believe in evolution. Sunday, they go to church and don't believe in evolution. Never do they examine their beliefs in evolution in light of their religious beliefs, nor examine their religious beliefs in light of their scientific beliefs. Those belong to separate compartments in their minds.
exchemist
Veteran Member
EXACTLY!
exchemist
Veteran Member
You won't be able to. Once you have understood the scienc,e you will not be able to put that genie back in the bottle.
You would be well advised to adhere to a more mainstream account of creation, in which God is able to uphold the order in creation without needing to continually tinker with the unfolding of nature as it goes along.
Whatever you do, DO NOT get involved in so-called "Intelligent Design", as I see someone is advising. This is a deceitful pseudoscience, invented by right-wing lawyers as a scam to get religion taught in US schools. It is a total dead end from a science point of view.
If nothing else be true to yourself.
I don't really see why evolution conflicts with religion, it's just a theory about how organisms have developed over the millennia. I think it's okay to have theistic beliefs that might relate to modern science (hence the concept of guided evolution, etc), but those lines of thinking are personal in nature - the burden of proof is very high.
Edit: What do JW's expect people to believe exactly in this regard?
Edit: What do JW's expect people to believe exactly in this regard?
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I was able to put that genie back in the bottle without any trouble at all once I realized that science was making wild claims without any real evidence to back up what they said. If you read through their articles you will see that they have no concrete evidence for macro-evolution at all. They make lots of assertions but they cannot substantiate them. Its a belief...just like ours.
You do realize that the Bible teaches that God does "uphold the order of creation without needing to continually tinker with the unfolding of nature as it goes along"? He designed nature to take care of itself with little or no direct help from him. It is self sufficient and self perpetuating.....beautifully designed not to need him.
What science can prove beyond doubt is adaptation, sometimes called "micro-evolution" but when it comes to "macro-evolution", that is a whole other story which takes us into the realms of science fiction. All they can do with what happens outside of what can be observed, is pure guesswork. Supposition and suggestion as to what "might have" happened is a poor substitute for real substantiated evidence. I came to see that the genie is a manufactured fake. It is a very impressive structure precariously standing on toothpicks.
I am a believer in Intelligent Design, but not the sort touted by those who see it as science. I see that the Bible and science agree on many points, but one does not have to give up either to gain the truth. We have an old earth and long, slow and deliberate periods of creation. The Genesis account allows for this. The "days" were not 24 hours long....they were more like epochs of thousands or even millions of years in length. The earth itself could be billions of years old. The order of creation is also scientifically correct...Sentient life began in the oceans and ended with the creation of man. Obviously bacteria and vegetation were much older than the visible animate creatures. There was plenty of time for the Creator to fine tune his creations, or even to eliminate some as he saw fit. Most people have some kind of vision of a Big Wizard in the sky "poofing" things into existence with a wave of his wand.....nothing could be further from the truth.
Religion has no place in schools because it should be taught at home and in places specifically designed for religious education. But science does not have the high ground when it comes to how life began on this earth and how creatures were found in habitats that were specifically designed for them. Evolution is a theory not a fact and should be taught as such IMO. The scientists here keep telling me that there are no facts in science....so why is it taught as if it were fact and not pure speculation? I don't know any students who are taught that evolution cannot be proven. Its about interpretation of evidence...and scientists are always going to interpret their evidence in favor of evolution....they force the evidence to fit the theory, rather than the other way around.
sandy whitelinger
Veteran Member
Our beliefs are quite reasonable actually. We believe that the earth and the universe were originally brought into existence with one almighty act of creation...what science euphemistically calls "the big bang" and in selecting just one planet, the Creator carefully prepared it for habitation, taking all the time necessary to accomplish it.
The "days" were not 24 hour days because science knows that the earth and other living creatures are much older than we are. I don't honestly believe that it takes a great deal to dismiss evolution in favor of creation for the simple reason that design is all around us and the Grand Designer was a genius. The complex codes in the DNA of all living creatures confirms to us that each one is capable of reproducing replicas of itself, and is fully programmed to do what it does, with no intervention from its Maker.
Please be sensitive when saying things like that. You have no idea how some people might take it.
Well, who would have thought - me agreeing with you - as long as the latter (places specifically designed for religious education) means retirement homes.
Well that was helpful - have you tried this?
Isn't evolution creation? Problem solved.
Rational Agnostic
Well-Known Member
Is this a joke? I sure hope so.
Life interconnected is a fact..... the narrative obviously about that can be challenged always and no intelligent design creationism is not a viable reality at all. St francis called it 800 years ago "family of God".
" St Hildegard von debingen said" we cannot live in an interpreted world for an interpreted world is not home"
Nature is home, it is not a house, it is not random it is not built.
Religion has some truth and a lot of crazy. That's who we are.
Quiddity
UndertheInfluenceofGiants
I never get the:
...be true to yourself...
or
...lean on the liberal side...
Mostly because people are complex and just don't live out their lives being "true themselves".....and they shouldn't.
Sometimes......I want to cuz the **** out of someone. But I shouldn't. Nor is it helpful or charitable to do so.
Should I of been true to myself there? Depends?.....but the point is that sometimes......the true you is a *********.
The whole be on the liberal side of things is a pet peeve of mine only because I see such efforts as fruitless.
Most of history shows people creating offshoots or an entirely new religion, rather than reforming the existing one.
There is a level of variance in all religions, but when it is an obvious polar opposite of what they believe. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
...be true to yourself...
or
...lean on the liberal side...
Mostly because people are complex and just don't live out their lives being "true themselves".....and they shouldn't.
Sometimes......I want to cuz the **** out of someone. But I shouldn't. Nor is it helpful or charitable to do so.
Should I of been true to myself there? Depends?.....but the point is that sometimes......the true you is a *********.
The whole be on the liberal side of things is a pet peeve of mine only because I see such efforts as fruitless.
Most of history shows people creating offshoots or an entirely new religion, rather than reforming the existing one.
There is a level of variance in all religions, but when it is an obvious polar opposite of what they believe. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?
dianaiad
Well-Known Member
Pray about it.
Hard.
Then join the Mormons and you get to have the religion AND evolution. Problem solved.
Audie
Veteran Member
Sounds intellectually dishonest and, really, kind of
cowardly, dont you think? Those are like big red flags,
danger ahead!
I personally find it impossible to decide, or choose
what I believe, cannot do it any more than I can
decide how tall I am.
I cannot look at the blue sky and decide it is midnight.
Maybe you can talk them out of their foolish beliefs.
That would be the courageous thing to do.