Evolution and Jesus

[constant?er]

Assuming the veracity of evolution, doesn't the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus become superfluous? If evolution is true, then the Fall of Man is allegorical and no atonement is necessary. The need for a literal resurrection to save mankind from an allegorical fall makes little sense. Consequently, what is the significance of Jesus for liberal Christians who accept evolution?

If God used death and "sin" to guide the creation process, then man never consciously chose to separate himself from God by sinning. According to current evolutionary theory, there was never a single pair of humans faced with a moral decision that could affect all human descendants.

Thus, it appears that we are left with two primary choices in regards to Christianity. Either evolution is true and Christ becomes little more than a moral guide; or evolution is false, and God for some reason created the earth to appear as though evolution is true. I find it difficult to believe that a loving God would create a system where belief in Christ's death is the sole means to get to heaven, and where rational people could reject the need for Christ based on credible natural evidence.

Does Jesus hold any supernatural significance in the beliefs of theistic evolutionists, or is he merely a good person who taught important moral lessons?

[Bb]

I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home that taught that evolution was a lie and that the Genesis story needs to be interpreted literally. I’ve come to the realization that I can no longer accept a literal interpretation of Genesis and still be intellectually honest with myself given the scientific evidence for evolution and an old earth. I’m not as hostile to theistic evolutionists as I’ve probably appeared in my posts, so I hope I haven’t offended you; I’m just trying to determine whether Christians like yourself have credible answers to these issues or whether agnosticism is my only reasonable option right now.

I understand where you're coming from and I don't the think choice needs to be between agnosticism and literal belief. I was raised Catholic and remain one. I had similar doubts as I learned more about science and history. I think evolution is only one of the problems a literalist faith faces. Human history is perhaps an even greater argument against the literal truth of many of the events in the Bible. Look up Tom Harpur's book "The Pagan Christ" for some of the research on how the very same stories that show up in the Bible actual are found in many different societies as far back as ancient egypt (and probably further). All of these things argue for the conclusion that much of the Bible is myth and allegory.

This could be seen as a huge demotion for Christ. But I think its wrong to dismiss Jesus as 'just' a myth or even 'just' a Ghandi of his time. The stories are universal, they recur many times in many ways for good reason. Part of the human psyche needs these stories. They are even more True because they are so timeless. I find that this perspective helps me to maintain the symbolic and spiritual power of praying to God and participating in religious ceremonies even while my scientific mind reinterprets the stories as I hear them into a philosophy that is consistent with science.

Bb