[bigfoot13442]

I'll assume your question was not meant to sound condescending (because I don't think it was).

Christianity, in its purest form, is not compatible with evolution. Christianity believes that the Bible is the infallible word of God and therefore is complete truth. The Bible says the world and everything in it was created in 6 days and so is incompatible with evolution. That being said, there are lots of denominations of Christianity that have accepted evolution by "reading between the lines" of the creation story and assuming things that are not there. Catholicism, for example has made an official statement (by the Pope) that there are no incompatibilities between the two.

But, your question and the statement that follows are not related. I am not a Christian because I don't believe in evolution. The converse is also true; the reason I don't believe in evolution is not because I am a Christian. I am a Christian simply because I believe there has to be something more to this life. I am a Christian because having hope that someday everything that has happened here on Earth will someday be worth it is what makes me get out of bed in the morning. I couldn't imagine going through life believing that this is all there is. IMO it would be a miserable and mundane existence if there was no purpose to life.

(And yes, I do consider myself an intelligent developer)

[rsynnott]

> Christianity believes that the Bible is the infallible word of God and therefore is complete truth

Very few Christian sects do that. Quite a lot of interpretation goes on (for instance, see consubstantiation versus transubstantiation).

[mb_72]

"I am a Christian simply because I believe there has to be something more to this life."

Why not be a Buddhist or believe in some other religion then? They also offer something that will make you feel comfortable with your belief; Christianity is nothing special or unique regard to some existence beyond your current life.

"I couldn't imagine going through life believing that this is all there is."

I couldn't disagree more. This precious life, even with it's ups and downs, is awesome!! And, as far as we know for certain - as it's happening right now - it's all we have. The fascination with a possible after- or next-life is a dangerous one that twists many people's actions and motivations.

[bigfoot13442]

"Why not be a Buddhist or believe in some other religion then?"

Maybe I stated it a little too simply, but I think you got my point.

"This precious life, even with it's ups and downs, is awesome!! And, as far as we know for certain - as it's happening right now - it's all we have. The fascination with a possible after- or next-life is a dangerous one that twists many people's actions and motivations."

I agree with you mostly. Life is precious. And the thought of "after-life" does drive some people to do some terrible things. But the same can be said for some people who believe they have nothing to live for. The "religious fanatic" argument only really works with religious fanatics and the unfortunate part is that they are usually the only ones that make the news. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left shaking our heads and hanging them in shame because of the senseless things that are done "in the name of < insert religious figure head here >".

But this has gone way off the topic of the article. The fish still looks cool and, as someone else put it, like a turtle fish. I wouldn't want to get into a fight with it.

[Roboprog]

turtle shark :-)

But yeah, I agree with you: even if I'm not an authoritarian/fundamentalist, I still believe in the core of the Christ story.

[ceejayoz]

> Christianity believes that the Bible is the infallible word of God and therefore is complete truth.

Some of Christianity does.

[Luc]

> I couldn't imagine going through life believing that this is all there is. IMO it would be a miserable and mundane existence if there was no purpose to life.

This realization is part of growing up for many people. One learns to deal with it and find happiness where one can.

[bigfoot13442]

"This realization is part of growing up for many people. One learns to deal with it and find happiness where one can."

I guess I'm just not willing to accept that. I've always been stubborn.

[stephen_g]

> Christianity, in its purest form, is not compatible with evolution.

I don't think this is true at all.

> The Bible says the world and everything in it was created in 6 days and so is incompatible with evolution.

I think this is just a symptom of reading too much into the wrong thing - the creation narrative in Genesis 1 is not written as an exact historical account - the writing style is very different to the parts in Genesis that are supposed to be historical. And if it were meant to be about the literal ordering and times of creation, then why is there a creation narrative with a different ordering of creation in the very next chapter?

The point of the narrative is more theological - about the nature of God and humans. It's not making claims about cosmological mechanisms...

I think this article was fairly good on the subject but I read it months ago so I don't exactly remember - http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/Keller_white_paper.pdf

[mcguire]

"..., in its purest form,...'reading between the lines'...and assuming things that are not there..."

Should we assume that your answer was not meant to sound condescending? 'Cause it kinda sounded like it was.