Do you understand that difference between Evolution (big E) and evolution (little e)?

Question

Christians and the like disbelieve in Evolution (Big E), but they do not disbelieve evolution (little e).

What the "Evolutionist" must understand is that Christians who do not believe in Evolution (Big E) do so on faith, just as the Evolutionist believes in Evolution by faith. How so? You must understand.

What is the difference between Evolution and evolution? Simple.

The term, evolution, simply means change over time.

The term, Evolution, is a belief that evolution has been happening forever and is in fact the root of our existence.

When I, as a Christian, say I do not believe in Evolution, I am in fact referring to the belief that says evolution has been happening for millions of years.

However, as a Christian, I do not deny nor am I ignorant of the fact that things have been changing, over time, ever since God created us fully formed... just as He intended them (and us) to do.

So, you understand... the difference is not in fact, but in faith. It is clear.

Answer 1

I assume Big E is macro-evolution and little e is micro-evolution.  Scientists do not make a distinction between micro- and macro-evolution except that the former operates within  a species, while the latter occurs between species.  Speciation is the dividing line between the two, and speciation has been observed in nature as a matter of fact, not faith.  Evolution does not happen for ever.  If a species becomes extinct, it no longer evolves.

Answer 2

First, I applaud you for making a distinction that I make often.   I call them "the process of evolution" vs. "the theory of evolution" ... but the key point is that the process itself is undeniable ... and where creationists and evolution supporters disagree is over the implications of that process (is it capable of explaining all species on the planet in terms of common ancestry).

>"The term, evolution, simply means change over time."

Yes!   *PLEASE* remind your fellow Creationists of this whenever you can.   It is such a discussion-killer when Creationists insist on redefining "evolution" in order to avoid using it ... saying things like "that's not evolution, that's adaptation" ... or "that's microevolution, not evolution."  The word "evolution" simply means "change over time" (albeit change at the *population* level, as opposed to change at the individual level ... a distinction that seems to go without saying ... but I still encounter Creationists who don't even understand that concept ... and think that 'evolutionists' are talking about some "morphing" of indivudal apes into individual humans ... like some sort of werewolf transformation).

>"The term, Evolution, is a belief that evolution has been happening forever and is in fact the root of our existence."

Well, not "forever", but for a specific *finite* amount of time ... no less than 3.5 billion years (which is as far as the fossil and DNA evidence takes us), and no more that 4.5 billion years (which is the upper limit passed to biologists from the geologists as the age of the earth).

>"However, when it comes to what it is that Christians believe ..."

Be careful starting a sentence like that.  You do not speak for all Christians.   Over half of the world's Christians are Catholics ... and the Catholic church has no problem with (big-E) Evolution.

And I refer you to the Clergy Letter Project (see source), a letter signed by over 11,000 Christian *clergy* members supporting evolution, and rejecting a completely *literal* interpretation of the Bible.

>"And, we, and everything else around us has been adapting and evolving ever since God created us fully formed some 6,000 - 7,000 years ago."

I understand that this is your belief.  But this is NOT the belief of ALL Christians.  It is purely faith, deep, unquestionable faith ... because the evidence as uncovered by science just does not support it, and yet many people still continue to hold it.

Your opinion stems from the *steadfast* belief that the Bible can only be understood if read *LITERALLY*.  It is not enough to recognize that the Bible was written in a time, and for an audience, and in a language, that didn't have a way to *express* "millions of years", "or gamete", or "genes", or "DNA" or all the other things that we now know of that *explain* how a concept of common ancestry could hold.   It is not enough to recognize that instead of "millions of years", people of pre-2nd-century Judea didn't even have a calendar system that allowed them to express "a thousand years ago" ... and instead expressed concepts of "deep time" in terms of the number of *generations*.  If the Bible lists 26 generations from Moses back to Adam, and that God created the universe/earth 5 days before creating Adam, then that must be *LITERALLY* true and this becomes the basis for calculating the age of the universe/earth at 6,000 years ... regardless of *ANYTHING* science will say to the contrary.

That *is* faith ... blind faith in its purest form.   A belief in a specific interpretation of a particular text ... regardless of *ANY* evidence to the contrary.

Science does not have a similar kind of faith.   The long history of science is one of abandoning ideas when new evidence surfaces.  This is the *ESSENCE* of science.   There is no adherence to a particular text.   No scientist accepts "Origin of Species" word-for-word without question.  In fact, there are many instances where scientists have shown that Darwin was very wrong on a number of issues (while still be *right* on the main argument).

Answer 3

Yes, it is quite clear that the difference is in faith -  "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" as the King James Bible puts it.

The rest of us repose our confidence in the substance of things as they are and the evidence that can be tested.

Answer 4

Believe what you want. I am not proselytizing. However, your "as a Christian" implies that all Christians believe as you do. I hate to break it to you but you are in the minority, even among Christians. The last two popes have found no incompatibility between Evolution (macroevolution) and Catholicism. Even before that, Jaroslav Pelikan, S.J., presented a fine paper at the Darwin Centennial (1958), saying much the same thing.  A large number of clergy, of many religions and denominations, published a document stating that they felt that there was no conflict. Many biologists consider themselves good Christians and have no problem with Evolution or with the Earth being more than 6000 years old.

Faith is involved on your part. Evidence is involved on the part of most biologists. There are many postings on Y!A that will summarize the evidence for you.

Answer 5

Seems to me you are trying to have it both ways.

You can't believe in one without the other.  If you say God had a hand in planning the circumstances which led to Evolution I agree with you totally - but I don't believe God sat there and planned every flagella - he is too smart to have to do that - only we are so dumb to think that way.

God has many better things to do.  He knew what would happen from the moment of creation so he doesn't have to stress about it like we do! lol!

Answer 6

6000 to 7000 years ago?

Do you realize how many separate, independent fields of science and how many laws you must completely completely disregard to believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old?!?!?

Live in denial if you wish, but the earth is over 4 billion years old.  Life has been evolving for more than just millions of years.  Life has been evolving for thousands of millions of years.

Edit:

So essentially you're accusing millions of physicists, chemists, biologists, geologists, astronomers, and archaeologists -both living and dead, and many devout christians- of actively lying and misrepresenting information with the sole interest of denying the word of god.  That's a good one.  Thank you for the laugh.

Answer 7

Yeah, except there is no such thing as evolution as a religion.  You're just making up terms.  

Evolution is not a proper noun and does not need capitalisation except at the beginning of a sentence.