Does Darwin's theory of evolution contradict Catholicsm?

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Thank you, buffalo. The summaries were clear and well written. Knowing such a book exists should give pause to ‘theistic evolutionists’ and further insight regarding where they and science err.
 
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Now here, the Cardinal makes it very clear that if any development occurred, it was 100% guided…Creation and its obvious design is 100% rejected by science
As to the development that has occurred, it remains the case that man (ie science) observes mutations to be unguided. If/How God chooses those mutations (and the outcomes we attribute to natural selection), I have no idea but I doubt that that can ever be determined nor do I see how such could ever legitimately be incorporated into a scientific theory.
Science observes events happening.
The word mutation comes from the latin word meaning change.
There is a change in the DNA, and that we can observe.

We cannot see “unguided”, and it cannot be measured.

We can guide genetic change introducing genetic material into a cell through viruses.
See: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41914101 for a pretty amazing story.
We can bombard cells with radiation or with chemicals, as we do in treating cancer.

Where we do not have a cause, we assume a material one.
What I’m trying to get at is that we do not observe “mutations to be unguided”, we assume it.

From my perspective that sees God as God, He does not “choose those mutations” any more than we choose random firings of neurons in our brain. If we take an analogy from Hinduism, this is God’s dream. While He may permit random occurrences to happen, in awe of what they bring, as He permits our exercising our free will, all this remains an expression of His will. He makes it all happen. Going back to the the brain, we as a body-mind unity think, and as we do there occur various changing patterns of neuronal activity. One may call it random and each variation a mutation, but in doing so one moves away from reality, rather than closer to it.

The trouble is that we’ve all been inculcated to believe that science cannot progress beyond these self-imposed restrictions. Our knowledge leapt forward significantly to the point that we eventually were able to get to the moon, once we understood that the earth revolves around the sun. So too will it grow, when we come to understand that rather than material processes, God is the true Ground of the universe. He provides the existence and structure of everything from the smallest quantum particle to the largest galaxies, and from the simplest boson to the complexity of being that is a human being. For sure it will happen in the resurrection, but we can get hints of it here and now.
 
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If I find a single bear’s tooth, then I can make some statements about the animal that had that tooth in its jaw, even without finding the rest of the animal. That is what has happened here
That’s because you know it’s a bear’s tooth. Finding a mysterious tooth that may have belonged to some unknown, long-extinct animal is a different matter.

But having said that, Nebraska Man was built on the evidence of a single pig’s tooth - that affair went well and left no doubt that the standards of evolution science are second to none.
For me, I’d prefer to be descended from something like a chimpanzee than from dust or slime. The available evidence supports our physical descent from earlier primate eutherian mammals.
Bad luck, according to “science”, chimps and all other life forms descended from dirt or slime, so dirt or slime is integral to your ancestry.

Humans didn’t descend from chimps or dirt or slime. They were created in the image of God, so they descended from their Creator, as is pointed out in the genealogy described in Luke 3 - “Adam, the son of God” (v. 38).
 
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What strikes me about evolutionary explanations is the vast number of baseless assumptions these so-called scientists make. For example, the necessary anatomical features are assumed to have evolved just as surely as night follows day - even when there is not the slightest bit of evidence for such evolutions.

If a scientist tried these junk-science stunts in the fields physics or chemistry, he’d be laughed out the room.
 
They were created in the image of God, so they descended from their Creator, as is pointed out in the genealogy described in Luke 3 - “Adam, the son of God” (v. 38).
Certainly - everything is descended after a fashion from the creator. Every creature has that in common, though man’s connection is unique. Precisely the events that stand between each creature and his creator…no one is certain of that!
 
The “billions of years” scenario is an essential part of the yarn. It’s like a magic wand of delusion that makes the impossible seem possible. For example, if a couple of thousand of years of dog breeding can turn a wolf into a sausage dog, imagine what could happen over a billion years - a dog could evolve into something that is not a dog!
 
Earth formed about 10 billion years after the Big Bang. Life on Earth appeared about 500 million years after that and has been going for 3.5 billion years since then.
“Science” offers these figures as if they are facts, but they are basically guesswork. Some folks are so gullible.
 
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They were created in the image of God, so they descended from their Creator, as is pointed out in the genealogy described in Luke 3 - “Adam, the son of God” (v. 38).
Certainly - everything is descended after a fashion from the creator. Every creature has that in common, though man’s connection is unique. Precisely the events that stand between each creature and his creator…no one is certain of that!
 
Science” offers these figures as if they are facts, but they are basically guesswork. Some folks are so gullible.
As you progress in your own physics studies young Glark, you may one day discover where all those dumbo scientists went so seriously wrong. Hey, maybe no life existed 6000 years ago? Surely if that’s the reality, one good Glark scientist dedicated to the truth can outwit those dumbos?
 
Smallpox has been eliminated. Deaths in childbirth have greatly reduced. Average life expectancy has greatly increased. Shall I continue? The bicycle has increased fitness and genetic diversity (your could travel further in a day to find a partner).
… and men are marrying men. Isn’t that just great. It must make the Lord soooo happy.
 
That’s because you know it’s a bear’s tooth. Finding a mysterious tooth that may have belonged to some unknown, long-extinct animal is a different matter.
And in the case we are discussing the palaeontologists knew it was a Eutherian tooth. Eutherians are neither extinct nor unknown. That bear in my example is a Eutherian. The particular species is extinct, but the wider group that species belonged to is not, it is still alive today.
But having said that, Nebraska Man was built on the evidence of a single pig’s tooth - that affair went well and left no doubt that the standards of evolution science are second to none.
Nebraska Man was a misidentified tooth and the mistake was corrected within a few years. Does the temporary misidentification of one relic of Jesus invalidate Christianity? Have you ever counted up how many Holy Prepuce relics there were? About a dozen IIRC.
They were created in the image of God
God has an appendix and body hair? I thought God was an immaterial entity. Obviously I was wrong. Does God have trouble with His back after a hard day’s work? And does He mind that Chimps are almost in His image: there is no part of humans/God’s image that is not also present in chimps.

rossum
 
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Certainly - everything is descended after a fashion from the creator. Every creature has that in common, though man’s connection is unique. Precisely the events that stand between each creature and his creator…no one is certain of that!
Genesis 2:7 clearly states that Adam was created from inanimate matter, not living matter. The very meaning of “Adam” is ground or earth. But like I’ve said, theistic evolutionists don’t care what Scripture says. They either ignore it or twist its obvious meaning to suit themselves.
 
My interest in science extends to only what is useful. Untestable tales about what supposedly happened billions of years ago puts me to sleep.
 
You might find the physics underpinning how objects are dated interesting. You might be the one who discovers the error made by all those dumbo scientists. Isn’t it important enough to deserve a truth-seeker’s attention? We’ve heard all these assertions about how the theory of evolution and “billions of years” leads people to believe there is no God. So if you could show that all life was created less than 6000 years ago - can you imagine the impact? How hard could it be?
 
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Why did God wait billions of years for Adam to “evolve”, but then create Eve in an instant?
wut

like, what?

And besides, God didn’t “wait” because God is outside of time, so the concept of “waiting” doesn’t apply to Him.
 
And besides, God didn’t “wait” because God is outside of time, so the concept of “waiting” doesn’t apply to Him.
Very true. This “why did he wait” argument is flawed in that it relies on attributing human concepts, motivations and limitations to God.
 
And besides, God didn’t “wait” because God is outside of time, so the concept of “waiting” doesn’t apply to Him.
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation,

2 Peter 3:15

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,

Exodus 34:6
 
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