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Comparative Theology Contemplating Roman Catholicism? |
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Are you considering converting to Roman Catholicism? If
you are, here are some things you will need to believe about the origin
of the earth
What the Roman Catholic Church believes about Origins... A literal reading of Genesis
1:1 - 2:4
conveys the understanding that God created the entire universe in six
solar days and rested on the seventh. That, however, is not what the
Roman Catholic Church teaches. Nonetheless, if you wish to submit
yourself to the teaching of the Church, you will be required
to
believe in some form of evolution. In fairness to the Church, the
Church believes in guided evolution - Theistic
Evolution, if you will. But in all honesty, the details of Genesis
1:1 - 2:4
do not permit any sort of evolution, whether guided or unguided. Nor
does the Bible permit the vast reaches of time required by the
promulgators of evolution.
The following quotations are taken directly from the document found on the Vatican website entitled, "COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP: Human Persons Created in the Image of God." The document is the product of the INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION. The history of the text of the document was appended at the very bottom of the article. It reads as follow: As
the text developed, it was discussed at numerous meetings of the
subcommission and several plenary sessions of the International
Theological Commission held at Rome during the period 2000-2002. The
present text was approved in forma specifica, by the written ballots of
the International Theological Commission. It was then submitted to
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the President of the Commission, who has
give [sic] his permission for its publication.
The following paragraph (#63) details the view of the commission regarding the "Big Bang," the genesis of life on our planet, and the vast spans of time required for each. 63.
According to the widely accepted scientific account, the universe
erupted 15 billion years ago in an explosion called the “Big Bang” and
has been expanding and cooling ever since. Later there gradually
emerged the conditions necessary for the formation of atoms, still
later the condensation of galaxies and stars, and about 10 billion
years later the formation of planets. In our own solar system and on
earth (formed about 4.5 billion years ago), the conditions have been
favorable to the emergence of life. While there is little consensus
among scientists about how the origin of this first microscopic life is
to be explained, there is general agreement among them that the first
organism dwelt on this planet about 3.5-4 billion years ago. Since it
has been demonstrated that all living organisms on earth are
genetically related, it is virtually certain that all living organisms
have descended from this first organism. Converging evidence from many
studies in the physical and biological sciences furnishes mounting
support for some theory of evolution to account for the development and
diversification of life on earth, while controversy continues over the
pace and mechanisms of evolution. While the story of human origins is
complex and subject to revision, physical anthropology and molecular
biology combine to make a convincing case for the origin of the human
species in Africa about 150,000 years ago in a humanoid population of
common genetic lineage. However it is to be explained, the decisive
factor in human origins was a continually increasing brain size,
culminating in that of homo sapiens. With the development of the human
brain, the nature and rate of evolution were permanently altered: with
the introduction of the uniquely human factors of consciousness,
intentionality, freedom and creativity, biological evolution was recast
as social and cultural evolution.
With all due respects to the Commission and to then Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, it is impossible to square what Roman Catholicism believes about origins with the Biblical account. My conclusion is this. If you are wishing to convert to Roman Catholicism, you will be forced to believe in some kind of evolution in contradiction to the Biblical account. For an explanation of origins which squares with the Biblical account and does not contradict scientific fact (as opposed to scientific theory), see "How Did Our World Get Here?" Published February 25, 2013 |
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