Can you be a Christian and an evolutionist? There are some professing Christians who believe one can believe in Jesus Christ and still hold to the theory of evolution. Those who hold to such views are often called “Theistic Evolutionists.” There are many reasons for them holding to such views. Some have been persuaded that evolution is true, but do not want to completely abandon Christianity. They may like the moral teachings of Christianity, they may also have accepted the idea that one can separate faith from science. The problem is that one cannot reconcile evolution with Christianity.
Christianity teaches God created the universe in six literal days. In order to be an evolutionist and believe the Bible you have to take the account in Genesis 1 figuratively, but that leads to taking other passages in the Bible figuratively, because the Bible repeatedly refers to the creation event in a similar manner.
When does the figurative reading stop? If humans were merely animals that arose through naturalistic processes, when did the human soul evolve? How do you account for a human soul? Did God suddenly imbue the first two Neanderthals with a soul?
The concept of fall and redemption are core teachings in Christianity. Does one take three figuratively about the fall figuratively? Do you ignore or stylize the store of Adam and Eve and the snake in the Garden of Eden figuratively, but how do you account for the existence of evil? Where do you stop?
It is fine to be a Christian and be an evolutionist, but the two systems are inconsistent with each other. You can be one or the other, but you cannot honestly be both.
Photo Credit: Klearchos Kapoutsis via Flickr (CC-By-2.0)
