Vatican Defends Evolution

I came across an interesting article today. It seems the Vatican has issued a statement defending Darwinism. I know there are a lot of Christians who believe this, but I was really surprised to hear this coming from the Vatican.

“Theistic Evolution,” the idea that evolution is the tool God used to create the universe, presents a lot of problems. For me, the biggest issue is the origin of suffering and death. The Bible teaches that suffering and death are the consequence of mans sins. However, for evolution to be true, suffering and death were around millions of years before man ever came in the scene. This calls into question the very nature of God. If Darwinism is true, then suffering and death don’t exist as the result of mans sin, but because God chose to design suffering and death into creation from the beginning. This is just one of many theological problems that arise from Theistic Evolution.

In the Vatican’s statement, Cardinal Paul Poupard is quoted as saying, “The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim.” I certainly agree that the Bible was never intended to be a book on science. However, if the Bible is true, then whatever statements the Bible makes that reflect on science must also be true.

So, what about all the scientific evidence for evolution? If you believe what you see on TV or read in the popular press, you’d come to the conclusion that evolution is an established, proven fact.

The truth is, there are multiple ways the evidence can be interpreted, depending on your presuppositions. Darwinism is a popular interpretation, because it is the best answer if you begin with the presupposition that the world came into being through entirely natural means. In other words, if you choose to be an atheist, Darwinism is all you’ve got.

However, there is some evidence that is very problematic for Darwinists. For example, the ocean gets saltier over time. However, it is nowhere near salty enough to be as old as it would need to be for Darwinism to be true. Another problem is Carbon-14 being found if fossils, coal and diamonds. The amount of Carbon-14 decreases over time. If these items are anywhere near as old as Darwinists claim, the Carbon-14 should be long gone.

The same evidence used to support Darwinism can also be interpreted in light of a Biblical framework. You don’t have to turn your back on science to believe the Bible. A good source of information on this is Answers in Genesis. I encourage you to check it out.