MarieV

I am coming from a very conservative background. My parents taught me that evolution was a theory that a bunch of atheist scientists came up with. From my experience talking with many other members, they were taught the same thing. So I am referring to members of the church, not the church. I have met more members than not that were taught from their parents that evolution was wrong, not a scientific fact. And I have come up against the attitude, " If you believe in evolution you are either an atheist or on the path to it." That said, I should have clarified my questions to make sure everyone understood, that I was quoting what I hear, the reasons why people believe in evolution and why not. And if you pray about evolution how much do these ideas effect your answer. Are you just hearing what you are comfortable with. I am not making a judgment call on either side. If you believe in evolution, fine. If you don't, that is fine too. But I have never met anyone that has prayed so specifically about as I have, let alone get an answer, a clear, no-way-to-misunderstand answer.

My question is did you specifically pray about evolution: Dear Heavenly Father, Is Adam a result of evolution from monkeys? Also, my husband challenges some of my answers to prayers because he says that sometimes I am just hearing what I want. Considering the first time I prayed I was expecting a specific answer (not as open), and the second time I just wanted to find what was true (very open to anything). How can you be sure that you are not hearing what you want? That is, can you honestly say you are open to either way? Are you going to go against what most of the church believes, what your parents taught you, the accepting that atheist scientists could be right? Are you going against your educated, open-minded self that would have to put aside your pride to accept that God did just "poof" put us here? I hesitate putting what my answer was because when I have shared it in the past, I have not been taken seriously. I am not really hearing God talking to me. So, forgive me for not making the big reveal. Past experience has left me wary of sharing.

I try my best to do what Jesus would do. I measure my success as a person against how closely I am acting as Christ would do. I will be honest that I have failed and not treated others as kindly as the Saviour would at all times, but I tell the Lord I am sorry, repent and try again. That is another reason I consider myself a Christian. I feel that I cannot be free from my sins and imperfections without His intercession. I also go to Him when I am sad, stressed, or discouraged. I know He knows how I feel and He takes the pain away. I can do my best to follow his example and eventually would like to go to him less often to repent, but until then I will rely on Him to take my sins away. He is my best friend.

When I was in college about 10 years ago I took a biology class. The topic of evolution came up, of course, and it started the typical discussion/disagreements. It was very upsetting to me. I read, studied, questioned, but couldn't find an answer that made me feel better. So I prayed about it. Has anyone else prayed about evolution and where Adam really came from?