When talking with others about our faith, one need not assume that every person that believes in evolution has a foundation of naturalism (the believe that the material world is all there is, no spirit or supernatural) beneath such a belief. There are those, like author Francis S. Collins, who believe in theistic evolution, a belief that God oversaw the process of evolution to accomplish His ends.It is important to note that though theistic evolutionists believe in God, they have not necessarily placed their faith in Jesus Christ. While I personally find biblical Christian and evolution logically incompatible without doing some interpretive gymnastics with the first couple chapters of Genesis, I don't believe theistic evolution disqualifies a person from a genuine saving faith. However, I am not here to attack or defend that belief, but I do have a thought on evolution in general:
We should be careful that we don't make too big a deal out of evolution and burn our bridges at an opportunity to share the Gospel. For the theistic evolutionist, his belief in evolution usually will not be a barrier keeping them from considering Jesus Christ. (Though some consider God and evolution incompatible, the theistic evolutionist by definition does not, and therefore it is not a hurdle for them to at least consider Christ.) And for the naturalistic evolutionist, you must deal with the much bigger barrier of naturalism before they will consider Jesus Christ. Either way, it seems to me that evolution is a secondary issue when given the opportunity to share your faith.
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