First of all, glad that we can have a discussion about this. I don't see that very often these days, even in these .win communities.
I just don't think that evolution is keeping people from God. I like my sin is keeping them from God, and evolution is just an excuse. There will always be something that "keeps people" from God. I think when God draws us in, many times there's things not right in us or that we don't understand.
Sure, if you're looking at it with that hard definition in mind, the only thing that keeps us from God is our rejection of Christ. Someone who believes in evolution but also puts his faith in Christ (and all the details of which this entails) will receive salvation.
But there's a different meaning that people are discussing here, I'll get back to it below. It's a semantics difference I guess.
For example, if "evolution" is keeping people from God, then why is the virgin birth not? Creation and a virgin birth are both "impossible" to those who believe in evolution.
I think evolution is more of the enemy's tactic of perverting what is true. But that's the case with everything the deep state does and the enemy has done since the beginning of time. I absolutely don't agree with any facet of evolution, but I think there's more important hills to "die on" than that one.
So just as I said above, I think it's fully possible to believe that Mary wasn't a virgin and yet have faith in Christ, however I doubt in a practical sense that this faith would often be genuine. There's two important distinctions to be made here:
Evolution can be shoved into The Bible if you extrapolate out of your mind in what each, "day" is in Genesis - aka one could believe that each day represents time periods of Earth as God used evolution to create Earth as we know it. It's not inherently rejecting The Bible's teaching (though I would say that a more in depth study would show that it is rejecting God's Word on the issue - getting into a tangent at this point but you see the nuance I'm adding hopefully). Mary's virgin birth however is explicitly stated in God's Word, and refusing to believe that is explicitly and inherently rejecting God's Word. So, it's a bit of a different context there. Ultimately you could argue salvation still comes from Christ's sacrifice and our acceptance of Him, but the difference is at least notable.
Mary's virgin birth is a doctrine requirement for Christ's perfect life and therefore his payment for our sin. Christ was born without the seed of man, and therefore lacked the sin nature that was inherent in man. There's more to this point but it's again it's own topic.
So, for these reasons, I don't think evolution is quite an accurate comparison to the virgin birth, but I also think salvation is through faith in Christ alone. It's not our works or our detailed understanding of His Word that save us, ultimately. It's just the belief in Christ, acceptance of His gift through faith, that provides salvation.
Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying – I completely agree and stand with what people and organizations like AIG are doing.
Of course, there's great value in true discussion! We'd never learn anything if we were unable to discuss and defend viewpoints, and this applies to most every aspect of life.
So going back to what I referenced earlier, I believe it's a semantics problem. Believing in evolution doesn't prevent someone from believing in Christ if they have a desire to do so. It does however often make people doubt The Bible as truth.
I've met many people in person who reject The Bible and Christ because they were taught evolution. They just accept the theory of evolution as hard fact, and as a result, they think The Bible must be fiction. They refuse to believe, "those old fantasy stories" because they believe that, "muh modern science" contradicts it and proves it to be false. This is what I interpreted the above statements to mean, and I would imagine that this is how others view, "evolution keeps people from God." It keeps them from being willing to come to God.
Truthfully, I need to strengthen my knowledge of evolution and Genesis, as it's an important first step for many in approaching God.
First of all, glad that we can have a discussion about this. I don't see that very often these days, even in these .win communities.
Sure, if you're looking at it with that hard definition in mind, the only thing that keeps us from God is our rejection of Christ. Someone who believes in evolution but also puts his faith in Christ (and all the details of which this entails) will receive salvation.
But there's a different meaning that people are discussing here, I'll get back to it below. It's a semantics difference I guess.
So just as I said above, I think it's fully possible to believe that Mary wasn't a virgin and yet have faith in Christ, however I doubt in a practical sense that this faith would often be genuine. There's two important distinctions to be made here:
So, for these reasons, I don't think evolution is quite an accurate comparison to the virgin birth, but I also think salvation is through faith in Christ alone. It's not our works or our detailed understanding of His Word that save us, ultimately. It's just the belief in Christ, acceptance of His gift through faith, that provides salvation.
Of course, there's great value in true discussion! We'd never learn anything if we were unable to discuss and defend viewpoints, and this applies to most every aspect of life.
So going back to what I referenced earlier, I believe it's a semantics problem. Believing in evolution doesn't prevent someone from believing in Christ if they have a desire to do so. It does however often make people doubt The Bible as truth.
I've met many people in person who reject The Bible and Christ because they were taught evolution. They just accept the theory of evolution as hard fact, and as a result, they think The Bible must be fiction. They refuse to believe, "those old fantasy stories" because they believe that, "muh modern science" contradicts it and proves it to be false. This is what I interpreted the above statements to mean, and I would imagine that this is how others view, "evolution keeps people from God." It keeps them from being willing to come to God.
Truthfully, I need to strengthen my knowledge of evolution and Genesis, as it's an important first step for many in approaching God.