Comments on: Why I Don't Believe in a Young Earth http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/ Politics and Culture from a Catholic perspective. Thu, 24 May 2012 15:40:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Donald R. McClarey http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13372 Donald R. McClarey Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:02:46 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13372 Animals do not have rational souls. They have a vegetative and a sensitive soul that perish when they do. A good summary of Catholic teaching on this subject is linked below. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Catholics-955/soul-2.htm Animals do not have rational souls. They have a vegetative and a sensitive soul that perish when they do. A good summary of Catholic teaching on this subject is linked below.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Catholics-955/soul-2.htm

]]> By: Henry Karlson http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13371 Henry Karlson Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:55:14 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13371 "Gorillas don’t have souls." Where in the world do you get this kind of nonsense from? By the fact that they are animals, they have souls -- indeed they have a specific kind of soul which transcends the souls of plants (according to classical definitions). Catholic teaching has always said this. “Gorillas don’t have souls.”

Where in the world do you get this kind of nonsense from? By the fact that they are animals, they have souls — indeed they have a specific kind of soul which transcends the souls of plants (according to classical definitions). Catholic teaching has always said this.

]]> By: Tito Edwards http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13370 Tito Edwards Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:52:01 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13370 Darwin, Thanks for the explanation. I'm going to hang out in my neighbors tree house and eat some banana's now. Darwin,

Thanks for the explanation.

I’m going to hang out in my neighbors tree house and eat some banana’s now.

]]> By: DarwinCatholic http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13369 DarwinCatholic Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:49:47 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13369 No more they do. I guess I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by that in this context, though. As a Catholic who thinks that evolution is basically correct in regards to the history of life on Earth, I would say that at some point in history (when I would not presume to say) God infused our ancestors with immortal and rational souls, making them truly "human" in the sense that we mean the term (something which I would say is not reliant on a biological form, but rather on our nature). Not until that infusion of souls into what were, before that, bipedal and rather clever primates, did we become truly persons, truly made in the image of God, etc. At whatever point that divine spark entered humanity, we were permanently and irreparably set apart from the rest of the animal world, because we were no longer strictly animal, but rather both animal and rational, both animal and divine. No more they do.

I guess I’m a bit confused as to what you mean by that in this context, though.

As a Catholic who thinks that evolution is basically correct in regards to the history of life on Earth, I would say that at some point in history (when I would not presume to say) God infused our ancestors with immortal and rational souls, making them truly “human” in the sense that we mean the term (something which I would say is not reliant on a biological form, but rather on our nature). Not until that infusion of souls into what were, before that, bipedal and rather clever primates, did we become truly persons, truly made in the image of God, etc.

At whatever point that divine spark entered humanity, we were permanently and irreparably set apart from the rest of the animal world, because we were no longer strictly animal, but rather both animal and rational, both animal and divine.

]]> By: Tito Edwards http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13368 Tito Edwards Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:28:18 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13368 Gorillas don't have souls. Gorillas don’t have souls.

]]> By: bink http://the-american-catholic.com/2009/11/23/why-i-dont-believe-in-a-young-earth/#comment-13367 bink Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:44:41 +0000 http://the-american-catholic.com/?p=15086#comment-13367 Interesting post, Darwin - and also interesting commenting. Chris, your point concerning the fact that the "image of God" is a good one. Are we to understand that being made in the "image of God" is describing a picture of a human? It seems clear to me that the human form as an image cannot be what is referenced in what we read in the Bible. What of people who are born with missing limbs or other deformities? To the outside observer, some of these people may not even appear human, yet we would not say that they lack the "image of God" we describe. Moreover, our bodies can be changed virtually at will by accident or design, yet I would argue that the image God placed in us is left unchanged, for God Himself is the only one with that power. For these reasons I have always equated our creation in the "image of God" to be the fact that we are given a soul that is indeed in the image of God. Interesting post, Darwin – and also interesting commenting.

Chris, your point concerning the fact that the “image of God” is a good one. Are we to understand that being made in the “image of God” is describing a picture of a human? It seems clear to me that the human form as an image cannot be what is referenced in what we read in the Bible. What of people who are born with missing limbs or other deformities? To the outside observer, some of these people may not even appear human, yet we would not say that they lack the “image of God” we describe. Moreover, our bodies can be changed virtually at will by accident or design, yet I would argue that the image God placed in us is left unchanged, for God Himself is the only one with that power.

For these reasons I have always equated our creation in the “image of God” to be the fact that we are given a soul that is indeed in the image of God.

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