Vatican City, Rome
Wednesday, October 23, 1996.
In the greatest scientific blunder since the condemnation of Galileo, the Vatican today gave its stamp of approval to the "theory" of evolution. Here is the full statement of that message:
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 23, 1996 (VIS) - In a Message made public today to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, meeting this week in the Vatican in plenary session, the Holy Father recalled that Pope Pius XI, who restored this academy in 1936, called this group of scholars "the Church's 'scientific senate'" and asked them "to serve the truth."
The Pope expressed delight on the plenary's theme on the origin of life and evolution, "a basic theme which greatly interests the Church, as Revelation contains, for its part, teachings concerning the nature and origins of man." If the scientifically-reached conclusions and those contained in Revelation on the origin of life seem to counter each other, he said, "in what direction should we seek their solution? We know in effect that truth cannot contradict truth."
John Paul II, noting the academy's "reflection on science at the dawn of the third millennium," observed that "in the domain of inanimate and animate nature, the evolution of science and its applications make new questions arise. The Church can grasp their scope all the better as she knows their basic aspects."
He pointed to the Church's magisterium on the question of the origin of life and evolution, citing in particular Pius XII's 1950 Encyclical "Humani Generis" and the conciliar Constitution "Gaudium et Spes."
The Pope drew the academicians' attention to "the need for a correct interpretation of the inspired word, of a rigorous hermeneutics. It is fitting to set forth well the limits of the meaning proper to Scripture, rejecting undue interpretations which make it say what it does not have the intention of saying."
"'Humani Generis'," he stated, "considered the doctrine of 'evolutionism' as a serious hypothesis, worthy of a more deeply studied investigation and reflection on a par with the opposite hypothesis. ... Today, more than a half century after this encyclical, new knowledge leads us to recognize in the theory of evolution more than a hypothesis. ... The convergence, neither sought nor induced, of results of work done independently one from the other, constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."
He continued: "The elaboration of a theory such as that of evolution, while obeying the exigency of homogeneity with the data of observation, borrows certain ideas from the philosophy of nature. To tell the truth, more than the theory of evolution, one must speak of the theories of evolution.... There are thus materialistic and reductionist readings and spiritual readings."
"The Magisterium of the Church is directly interested in the question of evolution because this touches upon the concept of man, ... created in the image and likeness of God.... Pius XII underlined this essential point: 'if the origin of the human body is sought in living matter which existed before it, the spiritual soul is directly created by God.' Consequently, the theories of evolution which, as a result of the philosophies which inspire them, consider the spirit as emerging from forces of living matter or as a simple epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. They are moreover incapable of laying the foundation for the dignity of the person."
"Consideration of the method used in diverse orders of knowledge allows for the concordance of two points of view which seem irreconcilable. The sciences of observation describe and measure with ever greater precision the multiple manifestations of life and place them on a timeline. The moment of passing over to the spiritual is not the object of an observation of this type, which can nevertheless reveal, on an experimental level, a series of very useful signs about the specificity of the human being. But the experience of metaphysical knowledge, of the awareness of self and of its reflexive nature, that of the moral conscience, that of liberty, or still yet the aesthetic and religious experience, are within the competence of philosophical analysis and reflection, while theology extracts from it the final meaning according to the Creator's designs." (italics added)
End of message.
The concept of mixing God and evolution is called "Theistic Evolution" as opposed to "Atheistic Evolution." The only difference between them is this: Atheistic evolution believes that the universe began with a big bang about 20 billion years age. No Creator was involved, matter has always existed. Theistic evolution teaches that God existed before this big bang and was the first cause. God then took a vacation for a few billion years, and upon returning, saw that apes were the winners and had come out on top in the natural selection process. . . . As a reward . . . He decided to promote them . . . by making them in His image and giving them a soul and spirit. . . . Sounds confusing?. . . It is. . . . Theistic evolution is worse that Atheistic evolution because God gets the blame for the billions of years of competition, suffering, disease, death, etc., etc. that finally led to man. Big joke? No! They are deadly serious!
Galileo was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for teaching that the earth moves.
Galileo brought true
science to the Vatican in the 16th century, but he was rejected and
threatened with torture by the Spanish Inquisition. Pseudo-science is
warmly embraced in the 20th!!
Moses wrote the Book of Genesis.
He had plenty of time to write during the 40 years wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus. He received the information directly from the Almighty. . . . Moses told it exactly like it was. Genesis lays the foundation for everything that follows. Mankind created to live forever. . . . Satan the Tempter. . . . Adam and Eve sinning. . . . Death entering the Universe because of their sin. . . . The promise of the Redeemer. . . . The chronology and genealogy of this Redeemer. Overthrow Genesis and you destroy the whole foundation of Christianity. Evolution is just a modern version of the old Pelagian heresy. If Genesis is not historically accurate, then there was no Fall of man and no need for a Saviour. Man is then free to exalt himself and even to take Christ's place on earth!!
Take away the time factor from the evolutionists and their whole theory collapses.
This is what Moses said about the creation:
"For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11).
The day consisted of 24 hours just like our day. Moses is also very specific about how long ago this 6 day creation took place:
Table of Patriarchs from Adam to Great Flood
| Genesis Chapter 5 |
Year of Man
|
B.C.
|
|---|---|---|
| Universe created . . . Adam and Eve created |
1
|
4046
|
| Adam's age at birth of Seth |
130
|
3916
|
| Add Seth's age at birth of Enos (105) |
235
|
3811
|
| Add Enos' age at birth of Cainan (90) |
325
|
3721
|
| Add Cainan's age at birth of Mahalaleel (70) |
395
|
3651
|
| Add Mahalaleel's age at birth of Jared (65) |
460
|
3586
|
| Add Jared's age at birth of Enoch (162) |
622
|
3424
|
| Add Enoch's age at birth of Methuselah (65) |
687
|
3359
|
| Add Methuselah's age at birth of Lamech (187) |
874
|
3172
|
| Add Lamech's age at birth of Noah (182) |
1056
|
2990
|
| Add Noah's age at the time of the Flood (600) |
1656
|
2390
|
The above table contains a list of 10 men, one in each generation from Adam to Noah, inclusive. The same form is used throughout thus: "Adam lived 130 years and begat a son, and called his name Seth; and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years; and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years; and he died."
| Adam lived 130 years and begot Seth | 130 |
| Adam lived another 800 years after Seth was born | add . . . 800 |
| All the days that Adam lived were 930 years: and he died | total is . . . 930 |
| Seth lived 105 years and begat Enos | 105 |
| Seth lived another 807 years after Enos was born | add . . . 807 |
| All the days that Seth lived were 912 years: and he died. | total is . . . 912 |
And so on for all 20 Patriarchs from Adam to Abraham. It is impossible to
make a mistake using this method. A second grader could figure out
that the length of time from Adam to Noah and the Deluge was 1656 years.
The Noah - Shem Connection
Noah was 500 years old and Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japheth. The age of Noah at the birth of Shem is not stated, but Noah was 602 years old 2 years after the Flood, and Shem was 100 years old at that time. Deducting 100 from 602 leaves 502 - the age of Noah at the birth of Shem.
Table of Patriarchs from Flood to Abraham.
| Genesis chapter 11 |
Year of Man
|
B.C.
|
|---|---|---|
|
The Great Flood |
1656
|
2390
|
| Shem begets Arphaxad 2 years after Flood |
1658
|
2388
|
| Add age of Arphaxad at birth of Salah (35) |
1693
|
2353
|
| Add age of Salah at birth of Eber (30) |
1723
|
2323
|
| Add age of Eber at birth of Peleg (34) |
1757
|
2289
|
| Add age of Peleg at birth of Reu (30) |
1787
|
2259
|
| Add age of Reu at birth of Serug (32) |
1819
|
2227
|
| Add age of Serug at birth of Nahor (30) |
1849
|
2197
|
| Add age of Nahor at birth of Terah (29) |
1878
|
2168
|
| Add Terah's age at birth of Abram (130) |
2008
|
2038
|
| Abraham born |
2008
|
2038
|
Abraham was 75 years old when he received the Divine call to leave his homeland and go to a strange land. God Almighty appeared to him there, and swore and oath that after 400 years his descendants would possess the land of Canaan: the land where Abraham was then living as a stranger and pilgrim (Genesis chapter 12).
So we see that the Book of Genesis is very specific about the TIME. Only 2500 years from Adam to Moses. No time for evolution to take place whatsoever. Take away the time factor from the evolutionists and their whole theory collapses:
