Posted on 11/07/2005 12:05:04 PM PST by Mikey_1962
THE Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.
"The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator".
This idea was part of theology, Cardinal Poupard emphasised, while the precise details of how creation and the development of the species came about belonged to a different realm - science. Cardinal Poupard said that it was important for Catholic believers to know how science saw things so as to "understand things better".
His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being must have designed every detail.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Prolactin, a hormone that can regulate salinity. It's related to milk in mammals. How it got in fish, only God knows.
He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator". .....
(snip)
His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being must have designed every detail.
Seems to me his statement is precisely the intelligent design view which has been the Church's view since the days of St. Thomas Aquinas. I see no rejection of ID here.
"Evolution is quite compatible with a belief in God. God is the intelligent designer. The laws of physics, chemistry, and biology are His handiwork and His tools for Creation. The flaw with ID is not that it posits an Intelligent Designer, but that it purports to be able to use science to prove His existence."
Well put!
Answer, meet nutshell.
Have you ever seen the Sun rise or held a baby?
And of course there is no conflict whatsoever between this and Charles Darwin.
Oh wait a minute . . . you say death came to all human souls through Adam, but this doesn't mean that his simian ancestors hadn't already been dying for ages. I get it now. Like I said, that makes a better parallel with J*sus' non-literal "abolition of death" and the claim that the Third Temple is the chr*stian church.
You must be Eastern Orthodox.
I don't think either of these would qualify as miracles in that they are the result of purely natural forces.
We giggle at the Islamowackos for their mistranslation of "72 figs" as "72 virgins", but a lot of Christians (and Jews) are also very attached to their mistranslations of their own scriptures.
Well, let's just say that, unlike you, I can actually read it.
At least you know who God used to write Corinthins. Therefore, you must know that ALL MEN will be held accountable at the Judgement Seat for not believing in the Saviour. You will never be able to say, "I never heard of you before."
Please take the time and opportunity "NOW IS THE TIME" for salvation. It is that important. More important than evolution, alignment of the stars, etc.
So I'm going to be damned for rejecting evolution? Wow, the Catholic Church is really getting nasty about this.
Do you translate them?
I don't think that Jack Chick is a reliable source for, well, anything.
He's a loon.
That's right, the (according to the Catholic Church) "mythical" covenant made with the "mythical" Noach after the "mythical" Flood.
Life is a result of a purely natural force?
http://www.chick.com/information/religions/catholicism/
So by posting a link to chick.com you are suggesting, in answer to my question in Post #42, that Catholicism is a false religion?
I don't understand what you are saying; at least I hope I don't.
The intelligent design being advocated today hints that God is always tinkering with organisms, introducing "irreducibly complex" features and so on. The Cardinal is saying God set it all in motion, and everything unfolded according to the original programming He'd set up. So, no, the two statements do not contradict one-another.
Interesting...sounds to me like there is a lot of creating going on.
It's not an either/or equation. You are LIMITING God in saying that it's either/or. How about--I dunno how God did it, but I know He did it, and perhaps evolution is the mechanism through which He did it.
It's a dangerous path to tread to say it was EITHER this way OR that way... I can see the beauty in evolution as much as I can see the beauty in creation, but I won't go so far as to say it is either/or. I see it as God having a hand in it no matter the mechanism, which is all the Vatican is saying.
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