Topics: Theology and Evolution, and Faith

Thursday, February 7, 2008



Faith: What is it?

I am not sure why people have such difficulty with faith. By faith I mean trust without certainty, loosely speaking. To believe in something people it seems nowadays more than ever need evidence to justify that belief (or should I say our palates have become more refined/advanced in what we accept as evidence). I think this is the result of the advancement made in science and more particular the application of technology within science. People would like to think that because of the aforementioned advancement(s) that we are at a stage were if something exists then we should be able to prove it; as such, people are less likely to believe that something exists even through they have no evidence for it and refuse to settle until they have a scientific explanation for an event that at first glance seems to be unexplainable. This is no truer than the existence of God.

People seem to be determined that they need evidence to show God’s existence, rather than simply believe that God exists. This possibly is because as we have become more scientific the world has seemed to become less mystical and as such less is contributed to the Devine realm (as some other explanation is gained). This leads to either people questioning God’s existence or feeling the need for evidence for God’s existence: if those things that once were contributed to the Devine are now contributed to the scientific then what says there is a God at all. To say, before science (in particular its advancement) the evidence of God’s existence was in those things that where contributed to the Devine realm (i.e., there must be God as God was how we explained things). However, as science has not really been able to prove (or really disprove—even after considering the discredit of religious artifacts: just because an artifact is discredited does not necessary mean that God does not exist) God existence people have turned to other means to try to prove God’s existence.

People then turned to theology for evidence (or proof) of God existence, but quickly realized that theology is based on faith. Many have tried to combine theology and philosophy. By doing this partnership I believe they hope to replace those aspects of theology that are faith based with philosophy (usually of which basic root is that before believing something we should be certain/justified of it and if the belief is true we can/must be justified/certain of it). However, as I have said in pervious posts how can we prove God’s existence and as such how can we be absolutely be certain/justified in believing God’s exists. The problem is it is highly doubtful that we will every be able to absolutely prove God’s existence; thus, ultimately it boils down to not whether people are certain/justified in believing that God’s exists, but instead if people have trust without certainty that God exists (i.e., faith).
Posted by issues-issues at 11:36 PM 2 comments
Labels: religion



Wrestling Theology together with Evolution

"...Believing in both evolution and the soul requires you to accept one of the following views. Either the single-cell organisms in the evolutionary primordial soup had souls (this looks unattractive for obvious reasons), or there was some point in evolutionary history where the beings that are now humans started having souls. But what point was this, and more to the point, how can we make sense of this idea without it just being an arbitrary line to draw?..." http://www.carlonline.blogspot.com/

My Position:

-----The Main Argument-----

First, Quaking (to tell when ‘humans’ gain a souls), Second, it is up to God to decide when a species is, will, or can be evolved enough to have a soul (or should I say pre-determines). Whom says God did not pre-determine (or decided) when we where evolved enough to have souls. I think the question(s) are then (1) at what stage of evolution did God gave (or pre-determined) us to have a soul, and (2) in what sense do we mean evolution? It is in God’s right to have decided when we got souls, but was there a specific reason that we gained souls at a specific time in our biological development? Was it when our the physiology of our brains were well developed enough to understand consequences of sin, etc.?

-----More Arguing of My Position-----

After this the question of evolution becomes is evolution itself pre-determined by God (it must be if we wish to accept that we are the only creatures (biological) that have souls and will have souls)? Otherwise, how can the principle of theology that states we are the only creatures (biological) with souls be justified? I think this brings up another issue: does God take a passive (pre-determinism) or an active role in our existence of evolution (i.e., stopping other creatures from evolving to gain souls)? If evolution is pre-determined by God then does this mean God does not take an active role is our lives (or does pre-determinism only applies to evolution)? If evolution was pre-determine by God (and our science is correct) then what prevents other creatures from evolving to the same point we gained souls?

If this occurs why would God not give them souls as well? If God gave them souls then the principle of us being the only ones having souls is incorrect. Did God pre-determine evolution? If our scientific understanding of evolution is correct an other creatures could evolve to have souls (or replace us as the dominating species, especially if we as a species die-off) does this mean God is repressing evolution of other creatures or does the principle of us only having souls only in affect until our species dies off (i.e., Judgment Day, etc.)? If is God repressing evolution of other creatures so he does not give them souls or did he pre-determine that their evolution will not developed that far? Will God simply not give them souls if they evolve to the point where we gained them?

I suppose what I getting at is if pre-determinism evolution is stretched farther enough it could imply that either God does not have an active role in our lives or other creatures might evolve to the point they too can be given souls. We can defend this off only so far off by means of presumptions (as I have done): God will simply not give them souls or God pre-determined that they will not developed so far. However, we really have no proof and we must base these presumptions on faith; that is, other creatures either will not evolve to the same point when we God souls, God will not give them souls if they do evolve to that point, or Judgment Day for our species will have already arrived (before the time they gain souls).