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anonymous
writes:As someone who was raised as a catholic Chistian, I never thought too much about what my faith meant to me. I Began dating a very Chistian boy (a mix of Baptist and conservative) I whent to catholic school so I knew and understood quite a bit of the bible but never really took them qite as 100% fact more morals behind the stories told (God loves us, be kind to others, Jesus died for our sins etc.) We were also taught about evolution. I beleive in it. My Boyfriend compleatly rejects evolution seeing the bible's story of creation as 100% fact. God created the world in seven days? Yom (hebrw meaning day) can litterally be translated into, a 12 hour period of time , a 24 hour period of time, or a large indeffanite period of time. therfore if it was simply seven periods of time it seems posible that God could have used evolution as a tool to create mankind. Also the bible says he spead out the heavans, wich could be consistant with the big bang? am I right?Because evan if the story of Adam and Eve is fact, for there to be peope of other racees some form of evoltion would of had to occour, right?I'm conflicted by my faith and evidance of evolution. Can I really call myself Christian if I dont take all of the bible stories 100% litterally?How can I bring this up with my close-minded boyfriend to help him accept the posibility of evolution, without starting a huge fight?
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reader, anonymous, writes (31 December 2011): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionthank you all you've been very helpful! I can not presure hime to believe the same as me i know that! Thank you for all your imput. I will not try to change his views but. I hope he will accept mine for what they are.
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reader, Miamine  +, writes (24 December 2011):
 Ex-christian atheist here... Here in Europe there is no problem in being Christian and accepting evolution. As you say, it is very possible to translate biblical text to accord with theories like the big bang and evolution. Rejection of evolution is seen as "fundamentalist" over here and is not a view that is very popular because it closes off many thing, especially the opportunity to study or teach sciences.
No point in arguing religion, unless you and your boyfriend are intellectuals who like to debate and discuss. My ex was a doubting Christian who rejected evolution when I met him. We spent years and years arguing and debating and conducting private religious studies together to clarify the facts...
In the end.. I remained a atheist, and he become a strict militant atheist worse than me.. but debating and arguing and investigating, gave him tons of information on evolution, and in the end allowed him to change his views and end up taking a masters in biology, he ended up as a biology teacher.
Debate if it's for education and you both find it fun, otherwise leave him to his views, he is comfortable with them, and you don't have the right to tell him he is wrong.
Can you call yourself a Christian if you don't believe 100% of the bible is true - why not, we do in Europe and our history of Christian thought and challenges from science is hundreds of years older than the history of Canada.
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reader, anonymous, writes (23 December 2011): I am a Church of England christian, I believe that God exists and whatever comes with my beliefs, My boyfriend is an athiest and believes that God does not exist at all. We respect each other's right to believe what we want to believe. I don't see why you want to change his belief's at all, simply tell him you respect that he has his belief's and you would appreciate it if he would respect that you believe what you believe in. Neither of you should be wanting to change each other's belief's, that's the thing about religion you can believe what you want to believe. At the end of the day religion is about belief, so each person to their own belief.
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reader, bardia  +, writes (23 December 2011):
 If your boyfriend comes from that background (as I once did), you will have a VERY difficult time getting him to even think about considering anything but a literal 7 day creation. I come from a significantly religious background (christened Catholic, pentacostal 4Square, Nazarene, Southern Baptist, Christian Missionary Alliance, Methodist, and a couple non-denominational churches). I'm also well educated (I hold a masters degree). I've dated a staunch atheist and believer in evolution for over a year. I'm still sorting through what I believe. He doesn't pressure me and I don't pressure him. If you love someone, you respect them, no matter what they believe. Calling someone on either side "closed-minded" is the first way to start a fight. This difference could cause more serious problems down the road should you have children. Keep that in mind--eventually you will have to deal with what to teach them head on. Can you compromise a bit? Can he? But like I said, if you respect and love each other, you can work through it. There are lots of sites out there to help individuals sort through what they want to believe. (Be descerning, some are more helpful than others--look up Francis Collin, a leader of the Human Genome Project & the BioLogos Foundation). Contact me directly if you want me to spew at you some more! -_o Good luck!
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reader, LovelessAct1 +, writes (23 December 2011):
"Can I really call myself Christian if I dont take all of the bible stories 100% litterally?"Now that is the question for the ages isn't it? Haven't you noticed that through out history, as our society has developed, we've discarded more and more of the biblical doctrine we used to take as truth? Do you know how many accounts of genocide, slavery, rape, and infantcide are in the Bible? All of which are commanded by God as well.Does this mean slavery and murder are okay? Because God did/commanded these things in the Bible? No of course not! As individuals in society we have deemed this actions to be against what we want to become, so religion simply makes excuses such as "Well that's because that was in the Old Testament," or "Its supposed to be a metaphor."Why should you believe one part of the Bible and not the rest? Why is it fine to say "Oh don't pay attention to that part, its in the Old Testament," when so many anti-gay religious people draw their hate from Leviticus in the Old Testament? Why should you take one part as historical fact and another part as just a story or metaphor?I dealt with all of these questions for years. I was a very devout Christian who studied the Bible profusely during college. Ironically, actually reading the Bible was the thing that changed everything I believed, since it no longer added up.As far as evolution goes; its a fact. Its a scientifically proven and accepted fact. The only reason modern American society doesn't consider it a fact is because the Church has done everything they can to make it be seen as a controversy, as if it should be discredited. But don't take my word for it; do it some research. Listen to some lectures on evolution and learn the facts. As far as your relationship goes, yes he is being close-minded, but religion does tend to do that to people. Sorry if it seems like I'm tearing down religion, but I'm simply stating this from my experience as someone who used to be Christian. It leads you to believe that you're always right because you have one book that has all the "answers" and if anyone doesn't agree with that book, they aren't to be taken seriously. Its the idea that "I have God on my side so I'm always right," and it prevents those people from actually learning about the facts of reality and keeps them locked in this fantasy where they don't need to question the world around them.There isn't much you can do or say to change his mind if he isn't willing to listen. The best you can do is to learn. Learn about evolution, why its supported and why its considered a FACT, not simply a theory as religions will claim it is. There is a lot of scientific research and data, all easily accessible through the internet and library, that can provide you with a lot of great tools for learning. Once you know the facts, its easier to explain it to others, but as I said, they need to be willing to listen.
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reader, anonymous, writes (23 December 2011): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionThank you you both are very right! I'll just let it go. He has every right to beleive what he beleives as do I!I'd have to be pretty selfish to try and change that. Thank you
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reader, anonymous, writes (23 December 2011): I'm going to ignore the majority of your questions because they're all open to personal opinion and debate and this is not the place for that.
"How can I bring this up with my close-minded boyfriend to help him accept the posibility of evolution, without starting a huge fight?"
You can't and you shouldn't want to either. Let him have his faith and beliefs and you have yours. Why do you want to change those things or convince him of such things? Let him believe what he wants to believe. If it brings up an argument then why do it? He's not going to believe what you believe just because you want him to. If you can't accept who he is, his beliefs and his views then go find another guy who shares your views. Otherwise just drop it. It's not something that matters or really has a bearing your relationship.
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