Does Darwin's theory of evolution contradict Catholicsm?

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Glark said:
he seems to think that God is not omnipotent and had no choice but to rely on a secondary cause (evolution) to “create” Adam.
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God has all the choices that there. It is you who seek to constrain His choices.
 
Techno2000 said:
So, mindless chemicals produced a mind that can question things.And even question things like mindless chemicals having the ability to produce a mind.
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If you have a material body and a material brain then you are at least in part made of mindless chemicals. I suggest that you read up on “emergent properties” – something that is not present in the ingredients but is present in the final product. Intelligence is one such emergent property. Some animals exhibit a degree of intelligence, so it is not just confined to human intelligence. A dog can learn to follow commands. Some great apes have learned sign language.

rossum
 
Evolving or developing antibiotic resistance is a matter of semantics. A bacteria has receptor cells sensitive to Penicillin. The person frequently gets sinusitis. MD uses Penicillin repeatedly. Over time the bacteria recognizes Penicillin and the receptor sites reject it now, Pt. Stays sick. Go back to MD, try another antibiotic that works. So, BACTERIA developed different receptor sites. The bacteria evolved to accept Penicillin as a friend, requiring a new drug.
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
 
Glark said:
It appears Pope Francis has swallowed it hook, line and sinker. … he seems to think that God is not omnipotent and had no choice but to rely on a secondary cause (evolution) to “create” Adam. God help us.
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God had a choice, and He chose to use secondary causes when He wished to. Sometimes He used direct causation: “Let there be light.” Sometimes He used indirect causation: “Let the waters bring forth…” “Let the earth bring forth…”

Since God is omnipotent He can use either direct or indirect causes as He wishes, and the Bible tells us that He used both methods.

Not only are you disagreeing with the Pope, you are also disagreeing with Genesis and with God. To me, that does not look like an easily defensible position for a Catholic.

rossum
 
Evolving or developing antibiotic resistance is a matter of semantics. A bacteria has receptor cells sensitive to Penicillin. The person frequently gets sinusitis. MD uses Penicillin repeatedly. Over time the bacteria recognizes Penicillin and the receptor sites reject it now, Pt. Stays sick. Go back to MD, try another antibiotic that works. So, BACTERIA developed different receptor sites. The bacteria evolved to accept Penicillin as a friend, requiring a new drug.
In Christ’s love
Tweedlealice
 
edwest211 said:
If science is limited, and that’s fine, it can and in this case, does make wrong conclusions based on the data. Evolution now extends to our mental functions, since we are told that our somehow self-upgrading brains changed on their own.
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In another sense, people’s minds may fail to evolve. In material terms, the brain fails to upgrade.
We all struggle with that, which is why prayer is so necessary.
We can’t force revelation; the Holy Spirit lifts the veil.

As you point out, science makes conclusions based on data.
Data is a reduction of some process or some event into an object, usually a quantified aspect of what it is.
The data emerges from the application of a theoretical framework on whatever it is that we are trying to study.
It is a shadow of reality rather than the light that would be the object in itself.

Let’s take me as an example of an object of study and let the reader pretend to be a neuroscientist.
Say you could run a functional MRI on my brain as I’m typing this out.
What you are going to find among all the activity going on pretty much everywhere, is some occurring in the back of the brain related to the visualization of the monitor and keyboard, in the left parietal area involved to the formation of these words; in the middle on both sides, the activity is related to the movement of hands and fingers and in the front having to do with concentration and the execution of intent.
All these areas involve neurons, which are pretty much identical to one another, yet one area involves sight, another sound, another is involved in the execution of muscular activity.
I may be reduced to an almost infinitely complex matrix of chemical reactions contained in a sack of skin.

Hi! 👋😄
 
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Techno2000 said:
Do you really believe mindless chemicals gave you the mind to ask such a question ?
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They can’t. Our spirit organizes those simpler forms, which may be thought of as surrendering their individual beingness in the formation of this relational, self-other creature that is each of us, meeting here in time and space, destined to enter into communion, in and through Jesus Christ, within the Beatific Vision.
 
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Most of the media has become the Ministry of Propaganda. Regarding the topic, it is brought up so many times here as if it was the most important theory on earth. It presents a distorted view of who human beings really are.
 
edwest211 said:
Regarding the topic, it is brought up so many times here as if it was the most important theory on earth.
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Your sensitivity to it may lead you to think that. I don’t hear much about it. Certainly not as much as about climate change theories.
 
Techno2000 said:
Watch any Nature show and you will hear about it over and over again.
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Watch any cosmology show and you’ll hear about Big Bang, the multi-billion year age of the universe, expanding universe and dark matter / energy over and over again. Conspiracy !😱
 
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Joe1 said:
So what’s the verdict?
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You are the judge. To whom or what will you surrender your mind and heart? Pray for guidance, wisdom and knowledge; stick to it and you will not be disappointed.
 
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I choose Catholicsm (God). He is the logical choice
 
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It’s embedded in the culture. It’s part of the zeitgeist. You see it in how we treat the unborn, the growth in atheism and loosening of moral, especially sexual, standards. It’s resulted in people turning from the church, not so much that the idea that animals and their environment are one in a changing nature contradicts the teachings of the church, but because of anti-philosophical and anti-theological attitudes necessary in maintaining a materialistic belief system. The mass media, movies and television with their special effects extravaganzas and scifi fantasies, contribute to the acceptance of evolutionary concepts, pushing them to the absurd. We are all spiritually inclined but the mythos of evolutionary theory has led many from the banquet that is Christianity to fast food western versions of other major religious approaches to the Divine. They have abandoned the revealed Truth that is Jesus Christ, for pantheistic understandings of the Divine, be it a pseudoShamanism or solitary cultural appropriation of eastern thought. While they may be early milestones in someone’s path to Christ, the Way itself, there is concern that many may be on a path to perdition, through cults or self-absorption that enslave the spirit.

Such social phenomena add to the narrowing of one’s vision, which makes evolutionary theory sound so plausible, as it in turn, encourages such responses. It’s sort of a downward spiral - no conspiracy, just human nature struggling unsuccessfully with its state of ignorance. We’re all in the same boat, dead and buried in life, waiting for God, who transforms all this into heaven.

TLDNR - If one does not see see it prevalent in today’s society, it’s because one has bought into its basic assumptions and it has become part of oneself, part of the way in which one relates to the world.
 
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Very good observation about our society Aloysium!! It is true that secular ideals (and the ideals you mentioned) are prevalent in our culture, social media, schools (even Catholic), and more. The reason why i asked this question is, i wanted an understanding from fellow Catholics regarding this issue that is normally shoved into our faces from atheists in trying to disprove our faith.

The zeitgeist conspiracy is also nerve racking, but that has been debunked by scholars both Catholic and non-Catholic.
 
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