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The divine version of the origin of the earth. Theory of the origin of man: gods or aliens created man? Steady state theory

Talk to the earth and instruct you
And the sea fish will tell you.
Who doesn’t recognize in all this,
What did the hand of the Lord do these things?

Job. 12: 8–9.

The question of the origin of the world, the nature and nature of this origin is one of the most difficult, but at the same time one of the most fundamental and significant in the dialogue of science and religion in modern society. What is the origin of the world: creation or evolution? This is a problem that is extremely important not only for Orthodox dogmatic theology, but also for all Orthodox Christians, since many issues are directly related to the solution of this problem that directly affect our Orthodox teaching and worldview: the relative dignity of science and theology, modern philosophy and patristic teaching , about the doctrine of man (anthropology), about our attitude to the writings of the holy fathers, to the knowledge and serious understanding of their creations, about our attitude to modern philosophy, i.e. the so-called “The wisdom of this world,” and the Orthodox interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, especially the book of Genesis.

In this study, based on the experience of the Church, mainly the judgments of the Holy Fathers, and the consideration of the theory of evolution in its scientific embodiment, I will try to solve the question of the degree of legitimacy of the evolutionary theory in its claims to its presentation as the only true and true doctrine of the origin and development of the world and person.

SCIENCE AND DIVINE REVELATION

What is the source of our true knowledge of the pristine world, and how different is it from science? The Orthodox Church teaches us as follows: “ Without a doubt, God is the Creator of all visible and invisible creatures. First of all, he produced with His thought all the heavenly Forces ... After that, God created from nothing this visible and material world. In the end, God created man, which is composed of a non-material rational soul and material body, so that from one, thus composed man, it was already visible that he is the Creator of both worlds, both non-material and material". These words, proceeding from the mouth of the Mother Church, are not based on empty reasoning burdened with passions and sin of the secular mind, but on the basis of Divine Revelation and patristic experience, on the creations of the fathers of the highest spiritual life. We complement the arguments begun with the words of sv. Isaac the Syrian, who spoke about the ascent of the soul to God on the basis of his own spiritual experience: “ And from here it already ascends with its mind to that which preceded the formation of the world, when there was no creature, no heaven, no earth, no angels, nothing brought into being, and how God, by His only good pleasure, suddenly brought everything from nonexistence to being, and every thing appeared perfectly before Him».

From this it is seen that the holy ascetics comprehended the pristine world, being in a state of Divine contemplation, which is beyond the limits of natural knowledge. So St. Gregory Sinait claims that the “eight main objects of contemplation” in a state of perfect prayer are the following:

1) God;

2) The order and structure of life of reasonable forces;

3) Device existing (of the world) ;

4) House-building convergence of the Word;

5) General resurrection;

6) The terrible second coming of Christ;

7) Eternal torment;

Why would he include the “order and structure of life of rational forces” and the “device of the existing” with other objects of divine contemplation that belong to the field of theological knowledge, and not science? Is it because there is such an aspect and state of creations that is outside the scope of scientific knowledge and can be seen, like the Monk Isaac the Syrian himself once saw God's creation, contemplatively by the grace of God? The objects of such contemplation can be seen and understood. St. Gregory of Sinai says that, "He speaks with his lips ... the wisdom and meditation of the heart - knowledge (Psalm 48: 4) who clearly ... sees with his mind the imprints of primitives, and with the help of a living word he preaches wisdom from wisdom, but he illuminates the heart with the power of renewal spiritual knowledge."

CONFLICT BETWEEN DIVINE REVELATION AND HUMAN PHILOSOPHY

What is the reason for the dispute between the patristic understanding of Genesis and evolutionary doctrine? The latter tries to understand the secrets of God's creation through natural knowledge and worldly philosophy, without even admitting that there is something in these secrets that puts them outside the scope of this knowledge. After all, the book of Genesis is a narrative of God's Creation, seen in divine contemplation by the God-seer Moses, and what he saw is confirmed by the experience of later living holy fathers. Although frank knowledge is higher than natural, we still know that there can be no contradiction between true Revelation and true natural knowledge. But there may be a conflict between Revelation and human philosophy, which is often erroneous. Thus, there is no disagreement between the knowledge of creation contained in the book of Genesis, how it is interpreted by the holy fathers, and the true knowledge of creatures acquired by modern science through observation. But here, of course, there is an insoluble conflict between the knowledge contained in the book of Genesis and the empty philosophical speculations of modern scholars, not enlightened by Faith, about the state of the world for six days of Creation. Knowing that there is a genuine conflict between the book of Genesis and modern philosophy, and in order to comprehend the truth, we must accept the teachings of the holy fathers and reject the false opinions of philosophers from science. After all, the modern world is so infected with a vain modern philosophy that pretends to be a science that even very few Orthodox can or want to investigate this issue passionlessly and find out what the Holy Fathers actually taught, and then accept the patristic teaching, even if it seems to be false and “dark "For the empty wondering of this world.

HOLY FUTURE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CREATED WORLD

Regarding the true patristic vision of the primordial world, the most surprising thing is that the Holy Fathers understand the text of the Holy Scriptures “as it is written,” but at the same time they do not allow us to interpret it freely or allegorically. “But many“ modern-educated ”Orthodox Christians are accustomed to associate such an interpretation with Protestant fundamentalism, and they are afraid that they will be considered“ naive ”by sophisticated philosophers of science; but it is clear, on the one hand, how much deeper the patristic interpretation is compared with that of fundamentalists who have never heard of divine contemplation and whose interpretation only occasionally coincides with the patristic; and on the other hand, how much deeper the patristic interpretation than that which uncritically perceives the speculations of modern philosophy, as if this is true knowledge. "

The primordial world before the crime of Adam was imperishable, because in this world there was no death yet, for " God of death did not create”(Prem. 1:13). A modern Orthodox Christian can understand how the imperishability of the primordial world is beyond the competence of scientific research if he considers the fact of incorruptibility, as it is presented through God's action, even in our present perishable world. We cannot find a higher manifestation of this imperishability than that of the Most Holy Mother of God, about which we sing: " Without the extermination of the God of the Word, the born, existing Mother of God of You is magnified". The Mother of God of our Orthodox services are filled with this teaching. St. John of Damascus points out that in two respects this “incorruption” is outside the laws of nature: ... “ and that without a father, it is above the natural laws of birth ... and what is painless, it is above the law of birth". What can the Orthodox say when a modern unbeliever, under the influence of modern naturalistic philosophy, insists that such "incorruption" is impossible, and requires that Christians believe only in what can be proved or observed scientifically? One should adhere to the Holy Orthodox Faith, which is frank knowledge, despite the so-called "Science" and its philosophy, and explain the act of incorruptibility, as supernatural deeds of God. Not in vain John Chrysostom closely links the correct and strict interpretation of the Holy Scriptures (specifically the books of Genesis) with the correctness of the dogmas that are urgently needed for our salvation. Speaking of those who interpret the book of Genesis allegorically, he writes: “ But we ask, we won’t listen to these people, block our hearing for them, but we will believe in the Divine Scripture, and, following what is said in it, we will try to keep sound dogmas in our souls and, at the same time, lead a right life so that life bears witness to dogmas, and dogmas tell hardness to life ... if we ... living well, neglect right dogmas, we cannot gain anything for our salvation. If we want to get rid of hell and get a kingdom, then we must be adorned with one and the other - and the correctness of dogmas, and the rigor of life».

There is another question regarding the state of the primordial world that may arise: what are these “millions of years” of the existence of the world that science “knows as a fact”? After all, the fallacy of the “radiocarbon method” and other “absolute” dating systems has already been proven, so it remains to be recognized that these “millions of years” are also not a fact at all, but again a philosophy, some version of the duration of the prehistoric era. The very idea of \u200b\u200bthe Earth’s millionth existence did not arise until people, under the influence of naturalistic philosophy, began to believe in evolution, and since evolution is true, then the age of the world should be in the millions of years. And here is the reason for the deception: since evolution has never been observed, it is only conceived under the assumption that countless millions of years could cause processes that are too “small” for modern scientists to fix. If you examine this issue objectively and impassively, separating genuine evidence from assumptions and philosophy, it is easy to notice that there is no evidence that would make us believe that the earth is more than 7,500 years old (I, as a historian by first education, convinced myself of this even in the first year of the University). Therefore, the views of scientists on the age of our planet are completely dependent on their philosophical attitude to Creation.

To summarize the review of the patristic teaching on the primordial world, it will be appropriate to the divine words of sv. a father who shone so much in prayer that the whole Orthodox Church calls him the third "Theologian." This is sv. Simeon the New Theologian. In his 45th Word, he speaks from patristic tradition, and also probably from his own experience, the following: “ God in the beginning, before he planted paradise and gave it to the pristine, in five days built the earth, and that on it, and the sky, and that in it, and in the sixth created Adam and made him lord and king of all visible creation. There was no paradise then. But this world is swift from God, as it were, a kind of paradise, although material and sensual. God gave him power to Adam and all his descendants ... “And God implant paradise in Eden for the whole time. And to God still from the earth, every tree red to vision and good to eat ”(Genesis 2: 9), with different fruits that never spoiled and never stopped, but were always fresh and sweet and gave the primordial great pleasure and pleasantness ... After the crime of Adam, God did not curse paradise ... but cursed only all the rest of the earth, which was also incorruptible and corrupted everything by itself ... The one who became mortal and mortal due to the crime of the commandment, was in all fairness to live on the earth perishable and eat food perishable ... Not it is fitting for the bodies of men to clothe themselves in the glory of the resurrection and to become incorruptible, before all the creature was created incorruptible, and then man was taken from it and created, so it must again and foremost become creature incorruptible, and then clothed and become incorruptible and perishable bodies of people, let it be again the whole man is imperishable and spiritual and may he live in an imperishable, eternal and spiritual dwelling ... You see that all this creature in the beginning was imperishable and created by God in the order of paradise? But after God was subordinated to corruption, and submitted to the bustle of men. Know also what kind of glorification and light shine of the creature will be in the next century? For when it is renewed, it will not again be the same as it was created in the beginning. But it will be the way that, according to the word of the divine Paul, our body will be ... All creature, by the command of God, has to be, by universal resurrection, not what it was created - material and sensual, but has to be recreated and become some kind of immaterial and spiritual an abode exceeding all senses. ”

Could there be a clearer doctrine of the state of the primordial world before the crime of Adam?

ORTHODOX VIEW ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN

ST GRIGORY PALAMA

Now we should approach the last and most important issue raised by Orthodox evolutionary theories of modern evolutionary theory: the nature of man, and, in particular, the nature of the first created man Adam. This doctrine of man - anthropology - concerns the closest image of theology, and here, probably, it is most likely to reveal the theologically error of evolutionism. It is well known that Orthodoxy teaches about the nature of man and divine grace in a completely different way than Roman Catholicism. In other words, the theological view of the nature of man, implied by evolutionary theory, is a non-Orthodox view of man, but a point of view close to Roman Catholic anthropology. This is only a confirmation of the fact that the theory of evolution, which no Orthodox father teaches, is simply a product of a Western apostasy way of thinking, and even despite the fact that it was originally a “reaction” to Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, it’s deep rooted in the papist scholastic tradition. This patristic view is very well expressed by the great Hesychast Father sv. Gregory Palamas, when he was forced to defend Orthodox theology and his spiritual experience specifically from the Western rationalist Varlaam, who wanted to reduce the spiritual experience and knowledge of hesychasm to something achievable by science and philosophy. Answering him, sv. Gregory in his famous work “The Triad in Defense of the Sacred Silent” puts forward general principles that are quite applicable today, when scientists and philosophers think that they can understand the secrets of creation and human nature better than Orthodox theology. He's writing: " The beginning of wisdom is to be wise enough to discern and prefer wisdom to be low, earthly, and vain - truly useful, heavenly, and spiritual, coming from God and leading to Him, and creating God-pleasing ones who acquire it».

He teaches that only the second wisdom is good in itself, and the first is both good and evil:

« Knowledge of various languages, the power of rhetoric, historical knowledge, the discovery of the secrets of nature, various methods of logic ... all this is both good and evil, not only because it manifests itself according to the idea of \u200b\u200bthose who use it, and easily takes the form that it gives to him the opinion of those who own it, but also because studying it is good only to the extent that gives the vision of the soul insight. But it is bad for those who surrender to these studies so as to remain in them until old age.».

In addition, even " if one of the fathers says the same thing as external, this agreement is only verbal, and thoughts are completely different. The first, according to Paul, have “The mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2: 16), and the latter express at best human intelligence. “But as heaven is above the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts”, says the Lord (Isa. 55: 9). Moreover, even if the thoughts of these people were sometimes the same as those of Moses, Solomon or their imitators, what good would they do? What kind of person of sound mind and belonging to the Church can deduce from this that their teaching is from God?».

From worldly knowledge, writes St. Gregory, “ we absolutely cannot expect any accuracy in the knowledge of divine things; for it is impossible to draw from it any particular doctrine of the divine. For "God made him clear" ».

And this knowledge can be harmful and hostile to true theology:

« The power of this understanding, which has befallen and bearing, enters into the struggle against those who accept tradition in the simplicity of the heart; it despises the scriptures of the Spirit, following the example of people who treated them carelessly and restored the creature against the Creator».

It is unlikely that a better than this assessment can be given of what modern "Christian evolutionists" have tried to do, considering themselves wiser than the holy fathers, and using secular knowledge to distort the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and the holy fathers. Is it not obvious to anyone that the rationalistic, naturalistic spirit of the views of the heretic of the Middle Ages of Varlaam is quite similar to the spirit of modern evolutionism?

THEORY OF EVOLUTION: SCIENCE OR PHILOSOPHY?

It should be noted that St. Gregory speaks of scientific knowledge, which, at its level, is true, and becomes false, only fighting with the highest, theological knowledge. Is the theory of evolution true even scientifically? And here we have to ask ourselves: why should we relate to the creations of modern scientists and philosophers “simply”, taking their word for it when they say something, that this is true - even if the acceptance of their statement forces us to change our theological views? On the contrary, we should be very critical when modern sages tell us how we should interpret the scriptures. We should be critical not only of their philosophy, but also of the so-called "Scientific evidence", which is believed to speak in favor of modern neopagan philosophy, because often "scientific evidence" in itself is such a philosophy.

This is especially true of the scholarly Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, for “he not only built the most elaborated and influential philosophical and theological system based on the concept of evolution, but was also closely connected with the discovery and interpretation of almost all fossil evidence in favor of“ human evolution ” found during his lifetime. "

And now we ask ourselves an elementary scientific question: what is the evidence of "human evolution"? Studying at the historical department of the university, I had the opportunity to study the history of primitive society, and I recall how the teacher told us beautiful stories about various "human ancestors", of which there were two dozen. But I could not understand where the real evidence of the real existence in the distant past of all species of these animals was: no one provided them to students.

In fact, scientific fossils of “evidence” in favor of “human evolution” consist of: fossils of a Neanderthal man (many specimens); synanthropus (several skulls); the so-called Javanese, Heidelberg and Piltdown “people” and finds in Africa (all of them are extremely fragmented) and from a few other remains. Thus, all the fossil evidence of “human evolution” can be placed in a box the size of a small coffin, and they come from far distant from one another, in the absence of reliable indications of at least relative (and even more so “absolute”) age , and without any indication of how these different “people” are related by kinship or origin.

In addition, one of these "evolutionary ancestors of man", the "Piltdown man", as it turned out later, was an intentional fake. Interestingly, the Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin was one of the “discoverers” of the “Piltdown man” - a fact that can be found in most textbooks. He “discovered” the fang of this fabricated creature — a tooth that had already been tinted, with the intention of misleading the age of the find. This “discovery”, of course, was what was required for the “missing link” between man and monkey, which is why the Piltdown fake consisted of precisely human and monkey bones. Teilhard de Chardin was related to the discovery, and most importantly, to the interpretation of some finds of the "Javanese man", which were fragmentary. In fact, wherever he was, he found “testimonies” that exactly corresponded to his expectations — namely, that man “descended” from monkey-like creatures.

If we study objectively all the fossil evidence in favor of "human evolution", then it turns out that there is no convincing or even any reasonable evidence for this "evolution". All scientific works on this problem come down to semi-fantastic conjectures, with an implausible reconstruction of the structure and life of ancient human society, not confirmed by real archaeological finds and other documentary sources. But it’s generally accepted that there is evidence of evolution because people want to believe it; they believe in atheistic materialistic philosophy, which requires that man descend from ape-like creatures. Of all the fossils of the “people,” only the Neanderthal man (and, of course, the Cro-Magnon man, who is simply a modern man) seems genuine; but he is simply homo sapiens, no more different from modern man than modern people differ from each other. But the pictures of Neanderthal man in the textbooks on the history of primitive society are the invention of artists who have preconceived notions of how a “primitive man” should look based on evolutionary philosophy.

As a result, we come to the following conclusions:

1) Evolution is not a scientific fact at all, but a philosophical system,

2) Evolution - a false philosophy (loving not wisdom, but the father of lies), invented in the secularized West, as a reaction to Catholic-Protestant theology, and disguised as a science, to deceive people who agree to believe an allegedly scientific fact.

HOLY FOCUS ON THE CREATION AND CREATION OF A HUMAN

Where should an Orthodox Christian go if he wants to know the true doctrine of the creation of the world and man? St. Basil the Great clearly tells us: “ What to talk about before? Where to start the interpretation? Is it to expose the vanity of the Gentiles? Or exalt the truth of our teaching? The Hellenic sages talked a lot about nature, and not one of their teachings remained solid and unshakable: because the subsequent teaching always overthrew the preceding one. Therefore, we do not need to expose their teachings; they themselves are enough for each other to their deposition».

Following the example of St. Basil, " leaving external doctrines, let us return to church doctrine". Like him, we will become " to explore the composition of the world, to examine the universe not according to the principles of worldly wisdom, but as God taught this to His servant, who spoke with him “Reveal, not fortune telling” (Num. 12: 8). ”

Returning to the holy fathers, it should be recognized that evolutionist views on the origin of the world and man in reality not only teach us nothing about the origin of man, but on the contrary speak falsely about man.

The Orthodox doctrine of human nature is most succinctly set forth in Avva Dorofei's “Useful Teachings”. “This book is accepted in the Orthodox Church as an ABC, the main textbook of Orthodox spirituality; this is the first spiritual reading given to the Orthodox monk, and it remains his constant companion throughout his life, read and reread. It is extremely important that the Orthodox doctrine of human nature is presented on the first page of this book, since this doctrine is the foundation of the whole Orthodox spiritual life. ”

What is this teaching? Avva Dorofei writes in the very first lines of his First Sermon: “ In the beginning, when God created man (Genesis 2: 20) He placed him in paradise, as the divine and holy Scriptures say, and adorned him with all virtue, giving him the commandment not to partake of the tree that was in the middle of paradise. And so, he stayed there in the enjoyment of paradise: in prayer, in contemplation, in all glory and honor, having senses of soundness, and being in that natural state in which he was created. For God created man in His image, i.e. immortal, autocratic and adorned with all virtue. But when he broke the commandment, having tasted the fruit of the tree, from which God commanded him not to eat, then he was expelled from paradise (Genesis 3), fell away from his natural state and fell into unnatural, and was already in sin, in popularity, in love to the pleasures of this world and in other passions, and was possessed by them, for he himself became their slave through crime ...

(Lord Jesus Christ) took our very nature, the beginner of our composition, and became the new Adam, in the image of God who created the first Adam, renewed his natural state and made his feelings healthy again, as they were in the beginning ...

A child of humility is the essence: self-reproach, distrust of one’s mind, hatred of one’s will; for through them man is able to come to himself and return to his natural state through the cleansing of himself by the holy commandments of Christ. "

DAMAGED PRE-CREATED NATURE DUE TO SINCOSE AND RESTORED BY HIS CHRIST THE SAVIOR

The Holy Fathers clearly teach that when Adam sinned, man did not just lose something that was added to his nature, but rather human nature itself changed, was corrupted at the same time that man lost the grace of God. The services of the Orthodox Church, which are the basis of our Orthodox dogmatic teachings and spiritual life, clearly teach us that human nature is not natural for us, but is in a tainted state: " Healing the human nature, decayed by an ancient crime, without aphids, a Baby is born, and in Your entrails, as if on a throne, is sitting, Silently, I did not leave the Fatherhood to be neighbors of the Divine"(Minea December 22, Mother of God of the 6th song of the canon on Matins). " To save though the Aphids and the Lord, the decaying human nature, from the aphids, dwelling in the womb cleansed by the Holy Spirit, indescribably imagining"(Minea January 23, Mother of God of the 5th song of the canon on matins).

And in such hymns, our entire Orthodox concept of the incarnation of Christ and of our salvation through Him is associated with a proper understanding of human nature, as it was in the beginning, and which Christ restored to us.

Fairly writes professor of Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville I.M. Andreev: "Christianity has always considered the modern state of matter as a result of the fall ... The fall of man has changed his whole nature, including the nature of matter itself, which God cursed (Genesis 3, 17)." Agreeing with this statement, we conclude that evolutionary doctrine not only rejects the act of Creation described in Genesis, but also rejects the idea of \u200b\u200bsin, sin itself, rejects the great experience of repentance accumulated by Christianity over two thousand years.

Therefore, it is logical to draw the following conclusion: evolution contradicts the teachings of the Holy Fathers, i.e. does not fit into the framework of the patristic doctrine of the Creation and creation of man.

From the experience of living with our perishable body, it is impossible for us to understand the state of Adamov’s imperishable body, which didn’t have natural needs, as we know, eating “from every tree” in paradise without any waste, and not knowing sleep (until the direct action of God made fall asleep so that Eve was created from the rib). And how less able we are to understand the even more exalted state of our bodies in the coming century! But we know enough about the nature of the primordial world and the life of the first people in paradise from the Holy Scriptures and Traditions, i.e. from the teachings of the Church to refute all those who believe that they can understand these secrets through scientific knowledge and worldly philosophy. The state of man in paradise and the primordial world is forever taken beyond scientific knowledge by the barrier of Adam's sin, which has changed the very nature of the primordial man and all creatures, as well as the nature of knowledge itself.

CONCLUSION

According to the Orthodox doctrine, which comes from divine contemplation, the nature of Adam in paradise was different from the present human nature, both in body and soul, and this exalted nature was enlivened by God's grace. And according to the Latin doctrine, based on rationalistic deductions from the present fallen nature, man is by nature perishable and mortal, as he is now, and his condition in paradise was a special, supernatural gift. All this shows how distorted the miraculous patristic vision of Adam and the primordial world when they approach this from the position of the wisdom of the fallen world. Neither science nor logic can tell us anything about paradise; “And yet many Orthodox are so deceived by modern science and its rationalistic philosophy that they are afraid to seriously read the first chapters of Genesis, knowing that modern“ wise men ”find there so much“ doubtful ”or“ confused ”, or one that is subject to a“ new interpretation ", Or that you can get a reputation as a" fundamentalist "if you dare to read this text simply" as it is written, "as all the holy fathers read."

The sensible feeling of the Orthodox Christian suggests turning away from the “deep” fashionable point of view that man descended from a monkey or any other lower creature. Therefore, it is true when St. fathers express their righteous anger at those who are trying to prove that man is a monkey, from which, as they boast, they came from. This is the point of view of Orthodox holiness, which knows that creation is not as it is described by modern sages with their empty philosophy, but how the Lord revealed it to Moses “not wonderfully”, and how the holy fathers saw it in divine contemplation. Human nature is different from monkey nature and has never mixed with it. If the Lord God, for the sake of our humility, wished to make such a mixture, then the holy fathers, who saw the very “composition of visible things” in Divine contemplation, would know this.

“How long will the Orthodox remain captive in this empty Western philosophy?” - the greatest ascetic of modernity, hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), calls to us. And not only he. Much has been said about the “Western captivity” of Orthodox theology; when will we understand that today every helpless captive of the “spirit of time”, the prevailing current of worldly philosophy dissolved in the very air that we breathe in a Godless, God-hating society, is in an even more desperate “western captivity”? The Orthodox, who does not consciously fight against the empty philosophy of this world, but simply takes it into himself and is with her in the world, because his own understanding of Orthodoxy is distorted, does not conform to patristic institutions.

Sophisticated in worldly reasoning laugh at those who call evolutionism "heresy." Indeed, evolutionism, strictly speaking, is not a heresy, but evolutionism is an ideology deeply alien to Orthodox Christian teaching, and it draws into so many wrong teachings and opinions that it would be much better if it were just a heresy that could easily identify and expose. Evolutionism is closely intertwined with all the apostolic mentality of the secularized “Western Christianity”, it is an instrument of “new spirituality” and “new Christianity” into which Satan now seeks to immerse the last true Christians. Evolutionism offers an explanation of Creation that is contrary to the patristic; it brings the Orthodox under such influence that they read the Holy Scripture and do not understand it, automatically “fitting” its text into a biased secular natural philosophy. Accepting evolutionism, it is impossible not to accept also an alternative explanation of other parts of Divine revelation, the automatic “fitting” of other scriptures and patristic creations to scientific “wisdom”.

Modern science knows only what it observes, and what can be reasonably inferred from observations: its guesses about the earliest times of creation have no more and no less significance than myths and fables of ancient pagans. True knowledge of Adam and the primordial world, as far as it is useful for us to know, is available only through Divine Revelation and in the divine contemplation of saints.

Among all the hypotheses about the origin of mankind, the religious is the oldest: it appeared back in those days when only religion, but not science, could answer complex questions. Religious Theory of Human Origin does not require evidence, since it is based on faith. This does not suit scientists, but it completely satisfies believers.

Ancient religions and religions of the East

The inhabitants of ancient Egypt, as well as the Sumerians believed that man is the creation of the gods. At the same time, clay was confidently called as the material for creating the first person. In all likelihood, this was due to the fact that clay was a common, flexible and easy to sculpt material - in a word, ideal for creating people.

It is noteworthy that for mixing clay when creating the first people, it was not water that was used, but blood, and the blood of the gods. This brought people closer to the deities. At the same time, the Egyptians believed that the gods created people not just like that, but as their slaves.

Eastern religions were rather indifferent to the issue of the origin of mankind. Buddha himself simply did not answer this question, and his followers did the same. The idea of \u200b\u200ban endless wheel of samsara, which you can get off only after reaching a certain level of enlightenment and plunging into nirvana, does not imply any beginning of the world. According to the philosophy of Buddhism, the world has always existed, and people have always existed, and how their forms of existence changed, depended on various factors.

Taoism, the only religion in the world where the gods are absent as a class, also does not pay much attention to the creation of mankind. According to this religion, two energies emerged from the initial chaos - male and female. And all that exists in this world is the result of the interaction of these energies. For people, no exception is made.

The religious views of the peoples of India, on the contrary, assumed the divine origin of man. Regarding the one to whom it is from the gods that people owe their appearance, there is no consensus, but most often they say the name of Brahma, a little less often - Shiva. Interestingly, the Hindu gods did not sculpt people from clay, but simply created new creatures by the power of the spirit.

Christianity

Today, Christianity is one of the most widespread religions in the world. In addition, this religion has had a huge impact on the culture of many countries on the planet. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that it was the Christian myth of the emergence of man that became widely known.

The creation process is described in the first part of the Bible - the holy Christian book. According to Christianity, man is God's last creation, which allows him to be considered the most perfect creation. The first man - Adam - was created from the “dust of the earth”, after which God breathed life into him and settled in the Garden of Eden. Adam's task was to cultivate the garden and invent names for all the animals that existed at that time. Soon, Adam was given a wife - Eve. God used Adam's rib to create it.

God forbade to touch only two trees - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. However, under the influence of the Serpent, the first people circumvented the ban, tasted the fruit from the Tree. This caused the wrath of God, who drove Adam and Eve out of paradise. This story well reflects the essence of a religion based on humility and obedience - for violating the prohibition, people became mortal, Eve was ordered to bear children in pain, and Adam to work with sweat. In the future, the life of the first people was joyless and full of suffering, but they fulfilled their mission and became the ancestors of the human race.

The legend of Adam's first wife, Lilith, is much less known. . The story of this marriage is not included in the Bible, but is mentioned in Kabbalistic theory. Lilith was created by God in the same way as Adam, therefore she considered herself equal to her husband and did not want to obey him. She escaped (or rather, flew away) from Adam, but was overtaken and punished by the angels . As a result, Adam's first wife turned into a demoness who specialized in the killing of newborn babies and women in childbirth. Despite the fact that she was the first woman, her family was interrupted, so Eve, who God created already taking into account previous mistakes, is considered to be the mother of mankind.

Creationism

Creationism is a theological concept, according to which man (like all things) was a product of the creator, that is, God. The origin of man from God for millennia has not been questioned. However, at the end of the 19th century, the development of science led to the fact that religious views based solely on faith in God began to seem inconclusive against the background of scientifically verified scientific discoveries. As a result, a new term appeared that denotes the views of conservative Christians who do not accept the theory of evolution and other scientific discoveries.

Most scholars are highly skeptical of creationism. None of the principles of creationism can be verified empirically, so even theories that claim to be scientific do not inspire confidence in the scientific world. Nevertheless, this theory has many admirers, which is reflected, for example, in education: there were precedents when, under the pressure of supporters of creationism, the theory of evolution was not taught in schools. For this reason, the attitude towards creationism in the field of education is wary; this concept is regarded as violating human rights.

There are many trends in creationism - from literal interpretations of the Bible and other religious literature to theories at the intersection of science and religion. Such theories, for example, may not deny geophysical data on the origin of the planet, but categorically reject the theory of evolution. Only evolutionary creationism does not deny evolution as such, but at the same time consider it an instrument of God, and not a regular process.

Maria Bykova

Human Origin: Creation or Evolution

Talk to the earth and instruct you

And the sea fish will tell you.

Who doesn’t recognize in all this,

What did the hand of the Lord do these things?

Job. 12: 8-9.

SCIENCE AND DIVINE REVELATION

1) God;

2) The order and structure of life of reasonable forces;

3) Device existing(of the world) ;

4) House-building convergence of the Word;

5) General resurrection;

6) The terrible second coming of Christ;

7) Eternal torment;

CONFLICT BETWEEN DIVINE REVELATION ANDHUMAN PHILOSOPHY

HOLY FUTURE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CREATED WORLD

The primordial world before the crime of Adam was imperishable, because in this world there was no death yet, for " God of death did not create”(Prem. 1:13). A modern Orthodox Christian can understand how the imperishability of the primordial world is beyond the competence of scientific research if he considers the fact of incorruptibility, as it is presented through God's action, even in our present perishable world. We cannot find a higher manifestation of this imperishability than that of the Most Holy Mother of God, about which we sing: " Without the extermination of the God of the Word, the born, existing Mother of God of You is magnified". The Mother of God of our Orthodox services are filled with this teaching. St. John of Damascus points out that in two respects this “incorruption” is outside the laws of nature: ... “ and that without a father, it is above the natural laws of birth ... and what is painless, it is above the law of birth". What can the Orthodox say when a modern unbeliever, under the influence of modern naturalistic philosophy, insists that such "incorruption" is impossible, and requires that Christians believe only in what can be proved or observed scientifically? One should adhere to the Holy Orthodox Faith, which is frank knowledge, despite the so-called "Science" and its philosophy, and explain the act of incorruptibility, as supernatural deeds of God. Not in vain John Chrysostom closely links the correct and strict interpretation of the Holy Scriptures (specifically the books of Genesis) with the correctness of the dogmas that are urgently needed for our salvation. Speaking of those who interpret the book of Genesis allegorically, he writes: “ But we, please, will not listen to these people, we will block our hearing for them, but we will believe the Divine Scripture, and, following what is said in it, we will try to keep sound dogmas in our souls, and at the same time lead a right life, so that life testifies to dogmas and dogmas tell hardness to life ... if we ... living well, we will neglect right dogmas, we can’t do anything to gain for your salvation. If we want to get rid of hell and get a kingdom, then we must be adorned with one and the other - and the correctness of dogmas, and the rigor of life».

To summarize the review of the patristic teaching on the primordial world, it will be appropriate to the divine words of sv. a father who shone so much in prayer that the whole Orthodox Church calls him the third "Theologian." This is sv. Simeon the New Theologian. In his 45th Word, he speaks from patristic tradition, and also probably from his own experience, the following: “ God in the beginning, before he planted heaven and gave it to the pristine, in five days built the earth, and that on it, and heaven, and that in it, and in the sixth created Adam and made him lord and king of all visible creation. There was no paradise then. But this world is swift from God, as it were, a kind of paradise, although material and sensual. God gave him power to Adam and all his descendants ... “And God implant paradise in Eden for the whole time. And to God still from the earth every tree red to vision and good to eat ”(Genesis 2: 9), with different fruits that never spoiled and never stopped, but were always fresh and sweet and gave the primordial great pleasure and pleasantness ... After the crime, Adam did not curse God of paradise ... but cursed only all the rest of the earth, which was also imperishable and everything itself was corrupted ... The one who became perishable and mortal due to the crime of the commandment, was in all fairness to live on the earth perishable and eat food perishable ... It is not fitting for the bodies of people to put on the glory of the resurrection and become incorrupt, before the creature was created imperishable, and then a man was taken and created from it, so it must again be made incorruptible before all creatures and then be worn out and become imperishable and perishable bodies of people, let the whole man again be imperishable and spiritual and live in imperishable, eternal and spiritual dwelling ... You see that all this creature in the beginning was imperishable and created by God in the order of paradise? But after God was subordinated to corruption, and submitted to the bustle of men. Know also what kind of glorification and light shine of the creature will be in the next century? For when it is renewed, it will not again be the same as it was created in the beginning. But it will be the way that, according to the word of the divine Paul, our body will be ... All creature, by the command of God, has to be, by universal resurrection, not what it was created - material and sensual, but has to be recreated and made into some kind of immaterial and spiritual an abode exceeding all senses. ”

Could there be a clearer doctrine of the state of the primordial world before the crime of Adam?

ORTHODOX VIEW ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN

ST GRIGORY PALAMA

He teaches that only the second wisdom is good in itself, and the first is both good and evil:

And this knowledge can be harmful and hostile to true theology:

THEORY OF EVOLUTION: SCIENCE OR PHILOSOPHY?

As a result, we come to the following conclusions:

1) Evolution is not a scientific fact at all, but a philosophical system,

HOLY FOCUS ON THE CREATION AND CREATION OF A HUMAN

DAMAGED PRE-CREATED NATURE DUE TO SINCOSE AND RESTORED BY HIS CHRIST THE SAVIOR

CONCLUSION

Bibliographic list

1. The Bible. Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. M., 1997.

2. Abba Isaac the Syrian words ascetic. M., 1993.

3. Zenkovsky VV (prot.). Fundamentals of Christian philosophy. M., 1996.

4. Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). Orthodox view of evolution. M., 1997.

5. Even in the saints of our father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, selected creations. Conversations on the book of Genesis. T.1. M., 1993.

6. Macarius (Bulgakov). Orthodox dogmatic theology. SPb 1868.

On this important issue, there was a division into several warring camps, where everyone is fully convinced of his rightness. At the same time, some firmly talk about their divine origin, while others confidently relying on Darwin's theory claim that man descended from a monkey. Here it can only be noted that at least one camp of opinions is completely mistaken.

In other words, in the most important knowledge of the essence of man there is a mass error. To begin with, we can consider Darwin's theory. The name itself already noted that this is only a theory and a version of only one person. The fact that this theory was massively introduced into the consciousness of people does not at all speak about its truth and truthfulness. Indeed, until recently, all people were sure that the Earth was flat, and a person with a different point of view was simply burned at the stake.

But for many people, their own divine origin is also difficult to perceive. It so happened that the most important knowledge of its origin does not have its own clear and clear understanding. Disagreements about the origin of man do not find common ground. Supporters of Darwin's theory would even want God to come to each of them and personally prove to them his existence. But now even science in its deep studies already finds evidence of the existence of a Higher Mind.

Therefore, atheism is not at all a sign of progressiveness, since it limits the understanding of the true essence of man. And the biggest mistake would be to assert that man descended from a monkey. The question is quite acute. Is man descended from a monkey or is it still of divine origin? The answer to this question will give that fulcrum, starting from which, a person can find the right path in life.

At all times, various prophets and saints constantly talked about Soul, Love and God. At different times, these special people often spoke of the Soul as the main essence of man. Not perceiving the existence of his Soul, a person signs in indifference to himself. A person who acknowledges the existence of his Soul immediately raises the question: who created his own Soul? Then everything begins to converge on God, as the Creator of the Soul of man. But, recognizing that the Soul of man was created by God, one should also acknowledge one's own Divine origin. Recognizing the existence of your Soul, you need to perceive its path in Eternity, understanding the life of a person as development in school. Some come to Earth for development, others with their special mission. However, the environment created for people does not contribute at all to the development of the Soul. Everything is so arranged that only a negative environment was created for man to suppress his Spirit and pollute the Soul. As a result, man is led away from God and his true divine essence.

The question of the origin of man was not at all for the prophets and saints, since they knew exactly about their relationship with God. All these people were on the same frequency with God and this frequency is Love. By analogy with the receiver, the Soul of each person can also be tuned to a different frequency. Here lies the important thing that the prophets of the past tried to convey. It is the transition of the human Spirit to the energies of Love that connects it with God.

Religion, however, quite vaguely forms its position on this issue, sometimes defining a person simply as a servant of God. And a huge number of religions and spiritual practices also do not give here a clear understanding of the origin of man. Fortunately, true knowledge about the essence of man came today in the dictations of the Creator himself, in Revelations to the people of the new century.

Even numerous spiritual practices are too vague and they often replace genuine spirituality. Spiritual practices and increasing spirituality should in essence be based on the word Spirit. Many of the spiritual practices have nothing to do with genuine spiritual growth. Spirituality means increasing the frequencies of the energies of the Spirit to the height of the vibration of Love (fiery energy). It is called fire energy because when the Spirit moves to this vibration, warmth and even heat are felt in the chest. Love is a state of the Human Spirit. This energy first cleanses the Soul of a person from everything negative, saving him from duality. In the future, a person reveals a huge internal potential laid down by the Creator. Only one can reveal the potential of God in man - the only key is Love.

God is Love and Wisdom and He can act only with these qualities. Any Father wants his children to be like Him and possess the same qualities. Therefore, the accumulation of wisdom by man and the transition to the frequency of God - this is the way to God. In this true aspiration of a person, he will be given lessons and tips, whether it be a chance meeting or a book. Helping a person in spiritual development always goes on constantly, but from the misunderstanding of these lessons by people, numerous errors occur.

Various misconceptions and deliberate lies about the origin of man contribute to this misunderstanding. Managing intelligent animals is a snap. Some can be confused, others can be bought, and others can be intimidated. It is only necessary to convince people of their animal origin. It is impossible to dominate the children of God. That is why people are convinced of their animal origin, deceiving consciously and thoughtfully. If people learn about their divine origin, then you will immediately have to review the entire system of control over people. Therefore, people's understanding of their Divine essence will be limited in every way.

The main mystery is that man is a part of God, in him lies the full potential of the Creator and all its great opportunities. But only the transition to higher energies allows us to unlock this potential. The frequency of God is Love and it makes a person free and similar to God, revealing huge internal possibilities laid down by the Creator. This divine potential was revealed to various degrees by saints and prophets. They showed people numerous miracles and the possibilities of God inherent in each person. Manifest this potential of God in man allows only the frequency of God - Love. The prophets and saints of the past constantly spoke about this, urging people to reveal the great opportunities God has laid in them.

Currently there are many theories of human origin on our planet. The issue of the emergence of intelligent life on Earth has always attracted the attention of scientists from different fields. In this lecture, the main versions of the origin of man will be considered, although none of them has a 100% guarantee of their veracity. Archaeologists, along with astrologers from different countries, have studied the most diverse sources of the origin of life (morphological, biological, chemical). But all these efforts, unfortunately, did not help to find out in which particular century BC. the first people appeared.

Darwin Theory

The most probable and close to truth version of the origin of man is the theory of Charles Darwin (a British scientist). It was this scientist who managed to make a huge contribution to biological science. Darwin's theory is based on the definition of natural selection. In his opinion, natural selection plays a large role in evolution. The foundation of Darwin's theory was created from numerous observations of nature in the process of traveling around the world. The project began in 1837 and lasted for over 20 years. Another scientist, A. Wallace, supported Darwin in the late 19th century. At his report in London, he stated that it was Charles who inspired him, after which a direction called Darwinism appeared.

All the followers of this movement claim that each representative of the flora and fauna is volatile and comes from pre-existing species. It turns out that Darwin’s theory is based on the inconstancy of living things in nature, and the reason for this process is natural selection. It turns out that only extremely strong forms survive on the planet, able to quickly adapt to the environment. Such beings include man. Evolution and the desire to survive have contributed to the development of a variety of skills.

Evolutionary theory

According to the followers of this theory, the appearance of people on Earth is associated with the modification of primates. Nowadays, evolutionary theory is one of the most discussed and widespread. Its essence lies in the fact that people are the descendants of some species of monkeys. As for evolution itself, it began from time immemorial under the influence of natural selection and other external factors. This version of the origin of man is confirmed by many evidence and evidence (psychological, paleontological, archaeological). On the other hand, the ambiguity of many facts does not give the right to consider it 100% true.

Fig. 1 - The evolutionary theory of human origin

Space anomalies

This theory is the most fantastic and controversial. Her followers are sure that a person appeared on planet Earth by chance. Its essence lies in the fact that man is the fruit of parallel anomalous spaces. The forefathers of modern people were representatives of other civilizations, which are a combination of energy, aura and matter. The theory suggests that in the Universe there are a huge number of planets with the same biospheres as the Earth, which were created by informational substance. If the conditions for this were favorable, then they contributed to the emergence of life.

This branch is called creationism. All his followers deny the main theories of the appearance of man. They are sure that it was God who created the highest link who created all people. At the same time, he created man in his own likeness.

Fig. 2 - Theory of Creation

If you consider biblical theory of the origin of man on earth, then the first people are Adam and Eve. For example, in countries like Egypt, religion goes deep into ancient myths. A large number of skeptics consider such a version impossible. This version is not supported by any evidence, it just is.

The basis of this version is the activity of extraneous civilizations. In other words, humans are the descendants of alien creatures that flew into our planet millions of years ago. There are several outcomes in this version of the origin of mankind. One of them is the crossing of ancestors with aliens. Other interchanges are to blame for the genetic engineering of the higher mind, which created the thinking person from his own DNA. Very interesting is the version about the intervention of aliens in the evolutionary development of people. Archaeologists still find various evidence (records, drawings) that ancient people were helped by supernatural forces.

Fig. 3 - Theory of intervention

Evolutionary stages

Whatever the history of the origin of man, most scientists agree on the identity of the stages of development. The first prototypes of people are Australopithecus. They communicated with each other with the help of hands, and their height did not exceed 130 cm.

In the next stage of evolution, a pithecanthropus appears, which has already learned to use fire and use the gifts of nature for its own needs (bones, skins, stones). The next stage of evolution is the paleoanthropus. Such types of people were already able to think collectively and communicate using sounds.

Before the appearance of the thinking person, neoanthropes are considered the last stage in evolution. Visually, they were very similar to modern people, created tools, chose leaders, united in tribes, etc.

Ancestral home of people

While there is debate about which theory of the origin of man is correct, it was possible to establish exactly where the mind originated. It is about the African continent. A large number of archaeologists believe that the location can be easily narrowed to the north-eastern part of the mainland. Although, there are scientists who suggest that humanity began its development from Asia, namely from India and other neighboring countries.

The fact that the first people lived, namely, in Africa is confirmed by numerous finds in large-scale excavations. It can be noted that at that time there were several types of the prototype of man.

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