I appreciate your response. I would venture to guess you were raised in a Christian environment (more than the average American).
What are you basing your social standards on?
Creationist's do not have a problem with evolution in the sense that creatures change over time. But this has nothing to do with Origins. Biblically speaking, we are a special creation of our Creator. This fundamental belief completely shapes a persons view of reality. As a special creation we have been endowed by our Creator with creativity that is not found elsewhere in the universe.
We as individuals have a God given value that is worth more than the entire inanimate universe. Upon this basis abortion, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia are wrong. A wasted life to alcohol, drugs, crime or laziness should be attempted to be redeemed.
Dennis Prager uses a question to drive the point home:
If your child was caught smoking and cheating in school, which would you be more upset about? The answer is telling.
A person grounded in moral truth will immediately be more upset by the cheating, whereas a person more secular in their orientation will be confused, debating in their mind which is more significant. A person's character is far more significant than their behavior, for, as character builds, behavior is altered for the better.
Ultimately, Christians understand that belief in Jesus Christ pushes us over the line where we are no longer slaves to self. Hence the Hospitals, Charities, Universities and homeless shelters. The gals who were caught in Afghanistan by the Taliban are a recent example of the outworking of Jesus Christ in a person's life.
P.S. I say all of these things because you will never see it discussed on the major media channels. Thank you for your civil discussion.
Yup. Not only that, I continue to be a practicing Christian.
What are you basing your social standards on?
The scholastic natural law tradition. I hold to a Thomist moral theology (though I hold Molina's view of grace).
Creationist's do not have a problem with evolution in the sense that creatures change over time. But this has nothing to do with Origins. Biblically speaking, we are a special creation of our Creator.
I agree. The only difference between us is that I accept the overwheliming evidence that God left for as in His creation that He used evolution as His tool for creating us.