Posted on 08/28/2004 9:10:46 PM PDT by AskStPhilomena
In what appears to be its latest capitulation to worldly wisdom, the Vatican apparatus now assumes (contrary to the teaching of Pius XII in Humanae Generis) that the evolution of men from animals is a proven fact.
On June 24, 2004 Zenit.org reported that "Vatican Observatory has convoked a range of experts to reflect on a question that at times seems to be forgotten in scientific research: Is there purpose in evolution?" That is, evolution is now assumed to have occurred, and the only debate is over whether it has a purpose. The Vatican called a symposium of experts to meet on June 24-26 to discuss whether evolution has a "purpose."
The Vatican Observatory’s announcement of the symposium states that "in scientific circles, there is a very deep-seated distrust of teleological language, even though researchers may occasionally use the word ‘design’ in an attempt to grapple with the often astonishing adaptive complexes they study … Put crudely, the widely accepted scientific worldview is that human beings or any other product of evolutionary diversification is accidental and, by implication, incidental."
Well, that’s right, of course. And what is the Vatican’s response to this worldview? Read it for yourself, if you can believe it: "The purpose of this symposium is not to dispute this worldview, but to inquire whether it is sufficient and, if it is not, to consider what we need to know and ultimately how we might discover the requisite information with one or more research programs." So, the Vatican does not dispute the view that the emergence of human life is merely incidental to the process of "evolution," whose truth is now apparently assumed.
The symposium (whose results have not yet been published) was asked to address five questions:
-- Can we speak of a universal biochemistry?
-- How do levels of complexity emerge, and are they inevitable?
-- Can we properly define evolutionary constraints?
-- What does convergence [different species displaying the same traits] tell us about evolution?
-- What do we mean by intelligence? Is intelligence an inevitable product of evolution?
Notice that every question presumes that evolution has, in fact, occurred, even though there is abundant evidence showing no gradual transition from one form of life to another (as evolution supposes), but rather the sudden appearance of every basic form in the fossil record, which is precisely what one would expect to see if God directly and specially created each kind, as the Book of Genesis recounts.
In Humani Generis Pope Pius XII warned that "the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own."
Moreover, Pope Leo XIII taught in his encyclical letter Arcane Divinae Sapientiae (Christian Marriage) that Adam and Eve, and they only, are our first parents and that Eve was created from Adam's body:
We record what is to all known, and cannot be doubted by any, that God, on the sixth day of creation, having made man from the slime of the earth, and having breathed into his face the breath of life, gave him a companion, whom He miraculously took from the side of Adam when he was locked in sleep. God thus, in His most far-reaching foresight, decreed that this husband and wife should be the natural beginning of the human race, from whom it might be propagated, and preserved by an unfailing fruitfulness throughout all futurity of time.
The Church says that no one may doubt these things. Yet how can these things be reconciled with the view that Adam and Eve (and who knows how many other humans) "evolved" from apes and that Eve was not formed from the body of Adam, as the Vatican now seems to suppose, in calling for a symposium to discuss the "purpose" of evolution.
So the question must be asked: Do those who are in charge of the Vatican’s approach to "modern science" still believe in what the Church teaches concerning the origin of the human race? Or are we witnessing yet another sign of the great apostasy in the Catholic Church beginning at the top, which was predicted by the Third Secret of Fatima?
I'm assuming you can't answer where those Marian apparitions occurred. I'm going to assume, therefore, that they're bogus.
"ensoulment? Thats a fresh one to me."
Well, with every human conception, a new soul is created and God locates it in that preborn person, right?
In Genesis, God made man from dirt. Surely he didn't have a soul at that point. After God had him ready, He breathed a soul into him.
"If man evolved, it necessarily follows that somewhere in there, man did not have an immortal soul"
No, some halfway creature that God was molding into a receptacle for a soul didn't have one. So what?
"- which would mean that "our immortal souls evolved" - which is an obvious oxymoron."
No, it wouldn't mean that at all. It would just mean that until God got His receptacles ready, He didn't endow them with souls.
Our Lady's Messages for 1986
April - June
Medjugorje.com
If this is what your asking of me...
Medjugorje is phony. It is not accepted by the Church, and has been condemned by the local bishop.
And the world is only 8000 years old. Yeh right.
"I say this evening, as your God, that on that date, as promised at Fatima, satan entered My Church upon earth. He brought with him his agents—and satan himself, the deceiver of all mankind, sat in on Vatican II and maneuvered all the outsiders to come in and distort My doctrines and distort the truth." - Jesus, June 18, 1986
"Sister Lucy is no longer a point of reference today since we have such a good one in the Second Vatican Council". —Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon José de Cruz Policarpo, October 12, 2003
Do you dis-agree with this?
The reason it's important is because the evolution theory was invented by atheists to prove that God had no hand in creation, and that humans are just a meaningless, accidental by-product of a soulless, purposeless universe. The very basis and foundation of evolution is that there is no God in control, and that humans are just a machine, with no soul or eternal identity separate from the physical body.
I just read this book, and it is a very interesting compilation of evidence attmepting to show that humans have not evolved, they'ved devolved. Meaning, humans are eternal souls, currently imprisoned in physical bodies due to previous transgression. It is a non-sectarian book, that people of any philosophical bent might gain insight from reading.
Human Devolution by Michael Cremo
http://www.mcremo.com/
Also on his website is his book "Forbidden Archeology" which exposes the lies and falsity of the pro-evolution evidence and artifacts, which those at the Vatican would benefit from learning about.
Those who "believe" in evolution are not to be trusted, as they hide, lie, and obfuscate to push their unproven theory on everyone as though it is absolute truth.
***So what if God used a method that looks like evolution to create man***
Because by accepting it you are denying the literal truth of the Scriptures - and by implication, salvation through Jesus Christ.
"Death came by one man..."
***I'm looking up the quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas, now...
***
Then he was wrong.
I don't think any purpose is being served by speaking about "visions" that contradict the Teaching of the Church Jesus established to Teach in His name.
Adam and Eve had no ancestors; God created them.
***That's the problem with the fundamentalist interpretation of Scripture: it falls like a house of cards in the face of science***
If you remove special creation (ie literal 6 day creation) then Christian (and Catholic) theology falls apart like a house of cards.
I'll be glad to show you how it happens.
***One more example: Coral reefs have annual growth rings, just like trees. Coral reefs commonly have hundreds of thousands of these.***
Assuming the earth never existed in a super-growth, hot house like state such as one might find described in the Bible (pre-deluge)...
***Six days.
What is a "day"?***
A day is an evening and a morning, as in...
"And the evening and the morning were the first day."
-Gen 1 :5
(I would imagine that was put there so we wouldn't miss the literal nature of the "day" refered to!)
I agree with both. Jesus never appeared at Medjuorgje either.
Don't you understand? Medjugorje is not an approved apparition! It is an occasion to sucker gullible souls to make pilgrimages and spend money on trinkets that have no meaning.
You just as well believe that the Easter bunny is real.
You simply don't know how to read the Scriptures. Salvation through Jesus does not come through believing every single word of Scripture as historical fact.
But, I'm not going to try to change your mind. Just putting a stake in the ground here.
If you believe in literal creation, your fundamentalism falls apart.
I have no intention of going around this tree again.
The Bible clearly says otherwise. I'll take God and common sense over "St." Thomas Aquina.
I wouldn't call God's clear Word nonsense...
***You simply don't know how to read the Scriptures.***
In Romans Paul states...
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come."
If there was no literal Adam who committed the first literal sin and brought literal death on all mankind then Paul is DEAD WRONG in his theology. And, mind you, this is no small point of Paul's soteriology.
If Paul is dead wrong on this critical fact about the death of Jesus then how can you be sure he is right about anything else?
Jesus coninually spoke of Adam as a real historical person. Jesus continually refered to the account of creation as literally, historically true.
If Jesus was wrong about creation - wrong about such a central event in the Bible, then how do you know he's not also wrong when he says,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
I submit to you that if what you believe is true, you CANNOT know that he was not wrong and that your faith, therefore, is just mere personal opinion and preference.
I emplore you to take the time to look up the verses in the Gospels where Jesus refers to creation and seek to discern his opinion of the event - whether he views it as allegory or literal truth.
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