Evolution, otherwise sometimes called the “Devil’s hoax,” is a controversial topic that ignites a rather substantial reaction, particularly in Christian religious communities. Through the years, the heated debate over whether God or evolution is right has become a major breaking point for people of faith. Evolution suggests that God didn’t miraculously place humans in their present form on Earth and that the Bible isn’t the ultimate scientific truth. In this world, science is pitted against religious faith, suggesting neither can exist mutually with the other. The Lutheran church has taken it’s own stance in the controversy, making a muddy splash in a worldly puddle between the real dirt of science and the sanctified Holy waters of faith. …show more content…
This sets the ELCA apart from its counterparts, WELS and LCMS, who take a literal view on the subject. In the Bible, there are two accounts of creation. The first eleven chapters are prehistoric literature, therefore interpreted figuratively, not literally. It does not necessarily mean six literal, twenty-four hour days or that God created each specific thing on a specific day. Instead, when looked at, it means that God created the Earth in an orderly fashion; that there was orderliness to the way it came about. In the second account however, is a different story. The second Genesis story begins in chapter 12 when God creates a man out of dust and a woman out of the man’s rib. Lutheran’s interpret this figuratively as they do for the first account. It is seen as something special done to create humans as opposed to other animals, but is nonetheless powerful and best told through poetry, not taken literally. Through a well-documented method of studying called biblical criticism, Lutherans feel they are able to understand how these things should be taken. Biblical criticism is a “discipline that studies textual, compositional, and historical questions surrounding the Old and New Testaments” and “… lays the groundwork for meaningful interpretation of the Bible (www.britannica.com).” When Adam is observed in Genesis, these biblical …show more content…
As science attempts to answer the “how’s” in life from observations, religion is about standing firm in a faith that answers “who.” Genesis only reveals who the creator is. “How,” is simply the work of science. Rev. B. Knutson (interview, November 23, 2013) remarks, “As finite people, we are declaring a statement of faith in the infinite.” Lutherans take this into account and accept that there is no way to understand such infinite things because they are beyond human minds- just as one cannot figure out the beginning or end of a circle. Another important aspect to note is that this book of faith is not worshipped. The authors of the Bible are seen as fallible human beings and acknowledge that God himself did not write the text. A famous quote by the founder of Lutheranism, Martin Luther, states, “The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.” In this statement, he was stating that the Bible holds the information that is important to understand, but is not the absolute truth itself. There does exist a religion that worships the Bible called Bibliolatry, but it has no role in Lutheranism (www.wscal.edu). One example of the human fault that can be seen within Scripture is the account of Jesus’ resurrection. Between the four gospels of the New Testament, there are two different stories. In
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This section of a verse from the NRSV started the grand story of the bible. In the beginning the Bible brings two things to focus. The two things that are focused on is the setting and the main characters of the Bible (Professor Smallbones). The Bible opens in Genesis 1 with God creating. God creates light, the earth, the sun, living creatures, and many other things, but most importantly God creates humans. As God is the main character in the grand story he immediately forms a personal relationship with man and woman. God created Adam the first man and Eve the first woman. In the book, The Unfolding Drama of The Bible, Anderson says, “The
In conclusion, it is possible for science and religion to overlap. Although Gould’s non-overlapping magisterial claims that creationism doesn’t conflict with evolution, it doesn’t hold with a religion that takes the biblical stories literally. Moreover, I defended my thesis, there is some overlap between science and religion and these overlaps cause conflict that make it necessary to reject either science or religion, by using Dawkins’ and Plantinga’s arguments. I said earlier that I agree with Dawkins that both science and religion provide explanation, consolation, and uplift to society. However, there is only conflict when science and religion attempt to explain human existence. Lastly, I use Plantinga’s argument for exclusivists to show that such conflict means that science and religion are not compatible. It demands a rejection t either science or religion.
Science and faith are generally viewed as two topics that do not intermingle. However, Andy Crouch’s work, Delight in Creation, suggests that there is an approach to both faith and science that allows support of scientists in the church community. There is an approach that can regard science as a career that can reflect the nature of God.
For the long time, human are curious about the relationship between science and religious. They are only represent personal thinking and do not exist contradictions. When Bellhop asks Goodall about her new ideas, she talks her new thinking about evolution God creates human beings. She tells the story that “ the biblical description of God creating the world in seven days might well have been an attempt to explain evolution in a parable”(Goodall 150). Goodall is a zoologist and a scientist. All she depends is according the data and the formal information which shows up on books of Internet. She supposed to think and observe logically and sanely. However, she believes in God and finds her own “outsight” through the forest which the data can not provide her. In addition, not only Goodall, but also many scientists are Christian and they all believe God creates people. God is their spiritual sustenance to express their emotion. However, they still do the the most rigorous job and contribute to the society. Goodall uses her own experience to prove that science and religious are “mutually exclusive”. Indeed, the coexistence of science and religion could help the society developed. In Goodall’s opinion, she also thinks that “ it honestly didn’t matter how we humans got to be the way we are, whether evolution or special creation was responsible. What mattered and
... The “Doubting Darwin”. Newsweek.com - "The New York Times" 07 Feb 2005. 44. eLibrary.
In the Lutheran Hymnal, are principles of Lutheran Theology according to the Missouri Synod. There are ceremonies for Baptism, Confirmation as well as Divine services. The Divine Service is from Lutheran tradition and is the same service that Lutherans practice today. There are also prayers, chants, psalms with music, and Luther's Small Catechism. There are hymns which span the entire year including: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Passion Week, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. There are also hymns for other times of service and year: Trinity, Morning, Evening, Beginning of Service, Close of Service, Holy Baptism, and The Lord's Supper. This was all based on the practices that Martin Luther created during the Reformation.
Luther, Martin. The Large Catechism, in The Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and
Originally, the Baptist had the same beliefs as the Protestant church had, with the exception of baptism. For Baptists, only true believers could be baptized. Furthermore, when baptized, Baptists are completely immersed in water, rather than following the Protestant method of having a few drops of water sprinkled on the forehead. Baptists do not acknowledge man-made authority within the church and therefore do not select humans as leaders of the church. The Presbyterian Church was developed with the influence of John Calvin. He believed that the church was led only by Jesus, and all of its members we equal under the authority of Christ. Anglicans have a devout admiration for Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus Christ. The communities of the Anglican include a spiritual life of prayer and worship. They also emphasize a life of giving of oneself. For example, Anglicans traveled with Florence Nightengale on her trip to Crimea and worked as nurses (www.encyclopedia.com). The Methodist church developed with the help of John Wesley was was an evangelist. The message of the church is to create the life of God within men. The Lutheran church originated from the philosophical views of Martin Luther. The Lutherans are considered one of the three major branches ...
Scientific Naturalism and Christianity are possibly the two most contradictory worldviews that are in our culture today. They are also the two most difficult to understand by one another. There is very little about these two worldviews that they have in common. They are a vast amount of ideas and beliefs held by adherents of each that are different. In order for these two worldviews to successfully co-exist in society, it is important to understand, accept, and learn from each one.
The account of creation is found in the book of Genesis. Chapters one through eleven tell of how and when God created the Earth, the Heavens, all forms of life and everything else in the Universe. Genesis also tells stories Adam and Eve as well as all of their descendants. Genesis is part of the living Word of God, providing details of the character of God, the principles of man, and man’s relation to God. Most importantly, Genesis offers teachings on the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization.
In 1859, Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking Origin of Species, which would introduce the seminal theory of evolution to the scientific community. Over 150 years later, the majority of scientists have come to a consensus in agreement with this theory, citing evidence in newer scientific research. In an average high school biology classroom, one may imagine an instructor that has devoted much of his life to science and a predominantly Christian class of about twenty-five students. On the topic of evolution, one of the students might ask, “Why would God have taken the long route by creating us through billion years of evolution?” while another student may claim “The Book of Genesis clearly says that the earth along with all living creatures was created in just six days, and Biblical dating has proven that the earth is only 6000 years old.” Finally a third student interjects with the remark “maybe the Bible really is just a book, and besides, science has basically already proven that evolution happened, and is continuing to happen as we speak.”
However, I did not choose this college because it identifies as Lutheran. In fact, I was not entirely sure what made a Lutheran College different from any other college. I have found myself reading in the IS reader about the purpose of a Lutheran college. As Hanson put it, the purpose of Lutheran Colleges is “to plant deep within students a lifelong unquenchable curiosity about God, the meaning of life and being human, and the centrality of faith.” This did not fit with my original thoughts of a Lutheran College. Personally, I believe that the purpose of Lutheran universities is for people to discover their vocation. Previously, vocation was used exclusively to describe religion, but society today views it as the calling to serve one’s neighbors. This seems more fitting because it is not exclusive to only Lutheran Christians but to all students who study at the college. My goal is to discover my vocation here at Wartburg College. Along with that, I want to extend my knowledge about the Christian faith and deepen my understanding of the ideas within the Bible. Because I have doubted the Bible before, I want to look deeper into stories from if that have no logical scientific explanation such as Adam and Eve or Noah’s Ark. I personally believe that many of these stories have a deeper meaning and cannot necessarily be translated literally. This exploration can be accomplished both
In the scripture, God formed the universe in six days. This is evident by the words that are used. For example, in the scripture, Moses uses the word “Yom” to mean day. This word is also used at other occasions in the Bible and it literally means the twenty-four-hour day. This thus gives an assurance that
The Bible points out that God is the origin of life, is the creator of all life forms. The first story of the Bible is called “Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath”. The Bible story of creation made man actually have two completely different versions. First, from the opening to Genesis 2:3 is the first version, talking about the "six days" of creation, the authors used the Jews known to God (called Elohim) said to God, and mention that God made the plants first, then animals, and finally made the man and ...
The information presented in evolution studies must be viewed with an open mind since there is no definite proof or law of evolution. The dilemma boils down to science vs. religion. God has been our creator since beginning of time, but the discoveries of recent science are sudde...