Is evolution a theory, or scientific fact? and if it is a fact.....

Question

and if it is a fact.....how do chrisitans still believe we came from adam and eve, it doesnt make sense?

Answer 1

Evolution is BOTH a fact and a theory.

Here's why.

The problem is that when people (including scientists) use the word "evolution", they may be referring to either the *PROCESS* of evolution, or the *THEORY* of evolution.   The *PROCESS* of evolution is a FACT; and the THEORY of evolution is obviously a theory, but a theory in the scientific meaning of the word 'theory', which means 'explanation with evidence.'

The *process* of evolution is the technical definition of the word "evolution."   This is the *change* in a species over time.   It is an undeniable FACT that species *change* in their heritable traits from generation to generation ... and this *change* is what we call "evolution."  We can reproduce it in the laboratory, observe it in nature, and in fact we have been *relying* on the FACT that organisms change (evolve) over time every time we breed dairy cows, goats, horses, german shepherds, or championship roses.

The *theory* of evolution (or ToE) is the *EXPLANATION* for (a) how does the *process* of evolution occur in nature (natural selection); (b) how does this *process* of evolution explain the diversity of life forms on the planet (common ancestry).

So evolution is the name we give both to a FACT, and to the THEORY that *EXPLAINS* that fact.

For another example of a word in science that refers both to a fact and a theory ... consider the word "gravity."    Gravity is both a FACT, and a THEORY.   The FACT of gravity (sometimes called the LAW of gravity because we have evidence that it occurs even in distant parts of the universe) is the fact that objects are attracted to each other by an amount determined by the mass of the objects and the distance between them.    The THEORY of gravity (ToG) is the theory that there is a "force" of gravity that affects all mass, and that this force is the result of a curvature in space-time, or the presence of particles called 'gravitons.'

(Aside:  The theory of evolution is actually much better understood than gravity!   We know what *causes* evolution ... we don't know yet what *causes* gravity.)

>"how do chrisitans still believe we came from adam and eve, it doesnt make sense?"

It's not clear from your question whether you think it's the story of Adam and Eve that doesn't make sense, or the fact that some Christians dispute an undisputable FACT.

So I'll answer both.

The story of Adam and Eve DOES make sense as long as you don't take it *LITERALLY*.   The Bible was written in a time and for an audience that had no words to express "billions of years"; who had no concept of the vastness of the universe, or the true diversity of life; who had no way to know that each "star" in the sky is actually as big  as or hundreds of times bigger than our sun and in fact some of these stars were actually entire galaxies of trillions of suns; or that there are more life forms in a cup of water than you would ever seen in your lifetime.  These were people who expressed "deep time" in terms of *generations* (usually on your father's side, or the king's side) not millions of years.  The story of Adam and Eve is a story about the *spiritual* birth of human beings, and our relationship to our Creator.  It was never, ever intended to be read *literally*.

But as for why some Christians (actually a minority) reject the FACT of evolution (and the theory that explains it) ... this is because they do indeed take the story of Adam and Eve *LITERALLY*.  That if the Bible describes all of Creation in terms of six "days" that this means six *literal* risings and settings of the sun (even though the sun itself was not created until the third day).   That if the Bible lists the generations from Adam to Noah name after name, that we are to take this *literally* as the actual lineage from the first human being who was hand-created by God on the sixth day of creation.  That if the Bible describes a worldwide catastrophic flood that wipes out all humans except for one man and his family, who also rescued representatives of all species on the planet on a big boat ... then this story is *literally* true, right down to the number of cubits of gopherwood Noah used on this boat.

In other words, if you cling to a *literal* reading of all of these passages as a description of the *biological* origins of humans and all plants and animals, and in fact the entire universe ... then science becomes your enemy.   It's not just evolution (the slow appearance and change of organisms over billions of years, and the idea that humans themselves are a result of the very same process) that contradicts the literal word of the Bible, but the paleontologists must be 100% wrong about meaning of fossils; and the geneticists are completely wrong about the relationships in DNA; and the geologists must be idiotically wrong about the age of the earth; and the astronomers must be utterly wrong about the age of the stars and the universe; and the physicists must be idiotically wrong about the constancy of radioactivity (as this is the way we measure old objects like fossils and rocks), and Einstein must have been totally wrong about the speed of light being constant (since we are seeing light that appears to be millions of years old, so that must be wrong, and the speed of light has change *dramatically*).  In short ... all scientists ... ALL OF THEM ... must be utter morons.

But if you understand evolution correctly, and if you take the Bible as a source of *spiritual* Truth, (not a biology textbook), then there is no conflict AT ALL.

Answer 2

There is the Theory of Evolution, which is a theory and states that over great amount of time humans evolved from single-celled organisms, and then there's the fact evolution, which states that over time things change to meet with their environment.

Answer 3

Evolution is a scientific theory which means based on immense amounts of data and many many experiments, there has been no falsification of the general theory ( meaning it has endured the falsifiability criterion  for scientific validation ). Creationism does not fit the criteria for science in that it uses supernatural explanations for observed phenomena..not unlike astrology, tarot card reading, crystal power, shamanism, etc . Evolution has no scientifc alternatives that have endured examination of data and the criterion of falsifiability. Religion endures because no data is accepted that may refute their position based on feelings, and a "Holy Book "...In fact , read the manifesto of the creation science Institute on their web page . belief in the LITERAL interpretation of the Bible is the basic tenet. A book written by scientifically illiterate persons at a time when they believed the Earth was flat, and the center of the Universe, demons caused disease, and base metals could be transmuted to gold.  

Answer 4

Evolution is a scientific theory.  In science, facts are the data, the observations.  A theory coherently explains the facts by means of a proposed mechanism which is tested by the predicted observations that the mechanism implies.

Outside scientific terminology, evolution is a fact in the same way gravity is a fact.  Objects fall when you drop them; populations evolve over generations.  The theories of gravitation and evolution explain them.

Answer 5

evolutionism, just like christianity, is a theory

just as you can't prove christianity,

u can't really prove evolutionism

science  vs  religion is a controversial topic