Darwinism has planted the seed of the idea that humans are merely a by-product of chance. They are accidental and contingent parts of creation -- not the lords of the universe as the Bible would lead us to believe because we were created by greatness. Darwin's theory was not what religious people wanted to hear -- to hear that humans may not be the creation of God, but rather, something created out of happenstance or cause and effect, has led people to wonder if God really exists or if everything just comes down to science and thus makes God obsolete. If mankind is only on earth because of accident, then the idea of a higher purpose seems to be ridiculous. If humans have evolved from apes, then what is the purpose of our lives on this planet but to be a part of a long chain? The idea of evolution changed everything. If there is not divine creation, then there is no purpose and there is no distinction between goodness and evil; nothing makes sense or has purpose anymore. Not only is this a depressing idea, but it also takes faith and hope of something greater than us in this universe away. It really makes us question what the whole purpose of life is. For religious people who believe in God and believe that humans were made in the image of God, the idea of evolution doesn't make sense and inspired anger, frustration and confusion in many.
In Aristotelian view of the exalted man, the idea of evolution destroys more positive ideas about humans and our purpose on this planet. Aristotelian ideals of the exalted man depict a man who will act out of nobility as opposed to usefulness. That is to say that if a man has the idea that he is exalted because he was created by something magnificent, then he has something to strive for and thus he can have an exalted view of himself. However, if a man no longer believes that he is something worthy of exaltation then he will not strive to act nobly.
Aristotle said:
They [young people] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things / and that means have exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling...
Book Review:Bush, L.B. The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in the Evolutionary Age. B&H PublishingGroup Nashville, Tennessee, 2003.IntroductionL.B. Bush�s book The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in the Evolutionary Age suggests that the modern, secular worldview that has developed since the Enlightenment is a stark contrast with the Christian worldview. Bush adamantly insists that faith must come before an emphasis on scientific understanding. Bush is not completely anti-science in the sense that
Evolution- Your Inner FishSummaryThe origin of life is an issue that has attracted debates for decades and has been the subject of arguments in different fields. Evolutionism and creationism have made an effort to answer this question by providing different perspectives about it. While creationism is largely influenced by religious beliefs and views, evolution is largely influenced by historical scientific evidence. Jerry Coyne seeks to demonstrate that evolution is true
World Religions For many people, the diversity of world religions is a reminder of the vast differences between the different people of the world and their various cultural experiences. However, while many people focus on the differences between the world's religious traditions, what is more fascinating is the incredible overlap between the various world religions and the moral and ethical traditions that have developed under the auspices of those religions. Despite
Morris seemed to not mind the fact that science would disprove (or at least seem to disprove) much of what he had written. Readers of the book would probably feel that though the statements were very controversial the evidence was incontrovertible on both sides. Many of Morris' statements could be argued from both the scientific viewpoint and the creationist's viewpoint equally well. That did not seem to stop Morris,
Spiritual care in the past was not considered to be a part of medicine. However, over time both holistic nursing and the health movement have become increasingly involved with the assessment of the patient's religious needs and care. In every day lives, a lot of patients who enter the hospital have strong spiritual beliefs and want to be treated in the same way. There are also cases that a doctor
This type of evolutionary thinking will challenge the initial creationist act as well. Many creationist currents, including the Christian one, believe that human life was also created through divine intervention, so any kind of such approach where life actually evolved to form the human being along the way takes away the special characteristics of human kind, as perceived by Christianity, for example. So, evolutionism virtually challenges the entire theological belief
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