God and Darwin

Newsweek had a fascinating article about Charles Darwin this week. I learned a lot that I didn't know about him or his theories (blame it on bad high school science teachers). Darwin was actually planning to go into full-time ministry before he went on a little boat trip and visited the island of Galapagos (with the turtles) and made all his discoveries about natural selection. After writing his book and announcing his theories about evolution, Darwin eventually fell away from his beliefs in God, not only because of his theories that he believed precluded the existence of God, but also because of personal tragedy in his own life. He asked the quesiton that we all ask, at one time or another, if God exists, why does He let bad things happen? His own daughter died at the age of 10 from illness and Darwin eventually died a non-believer.

The Christian Church has been at war with Darwin and his theories for the last century, the most well-known battle fought over whether children should be taught evolution as part of their studies in public school versus theories of intelligent design. They (or should I say we?) have villanized the man and made it a religious freedom issue.

How important is this issue? Can one believe in evolution and still be a believer in the one true God? Did Darwin go to heaven? Can I be a Christian and still totally deny the truth of certain parts of the Bible? Our salvation is supposedly based on our faith in God and His son, so is it possible to still have faith and false beliefs? Can they co-exist?

A. W. Tozer said "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ... Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God." Is what we think about God central to our salvation though?

Thoughts welcome. :o)