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Evolutionism vs. Creationism
I fully accept evolution and it is hard for me to understand why there are still people who don't believe in it. There is no strong evidence against it, only strong evidence for it. Let me give a very basic outline of what evolution is, so that people can really get it. This is based on something that actually happened.
Let's say that a population of moths lives in a forest. The trees have white back, and most of the moths have white wings so that they can blend in and hide from predators. Now let's say that a factory is built nearby that pumps chemicals, such as coal dust, into the air. Over time, the trees are polluted and their bark changes to a dark gray from the ash. Now the moths that are white, which were hidden so well before, have nowhere to hide. All of the white moths are eaten. Only the small number of moths who already had dark colored wings through a mutation survive. Now these moths reproduce the most because they can blend in the best. So over time, the moths wing's color switched from white to gray.
This is a very simple example of evolution. I don't see how you can disagree with this and say that it's not happening. And even if you are religious, how does evolution conflict with religion or God? Why wouldn't God want creatures to be able to live longer and survive better by adjusting to their environment?
Let's say that a population of moths lives in a forest. The trees have white back, and most of the moths have white wings so that they can blend in and hide from predators. Now let's say that a factory is built nearby that pumps chemicals, such as coal dust, into the air. Over time, the trees are polluted and their bark changes to a dark gray from the ash. Now the moths that are white, which were hidden so well before, have nowhere to hide. All of the white moths are eaten. Only the small number of moths who already had dark colored wings through a mutation survive. Now these moths reproduce the most because they can blend in the best. So over time, the moths wing's color switched from white to gray.
This is a very simple example of evolution. I don't see how you can disagree with this and say that it's not happening. And even if you are religious, how does evolution conflict with religion or God? Why wouldn't God want creatures to be able to live longer and survive better by adjusting to their environment?
Microevolution is still evolution... is one type of evolution ok by God but not the other?
Things didn't evolve by accident. What if God started it all off, but just let it go on it's own? If anything, that's what I believe. Organisms who have features that better suit them to their environment have more offspring that survive. These offspring have more offspring with a good trait, etc. etc. I just can't see why this conflicts with God. Unless you take the Bible word for word...
Things didn't evolve by accident. What if God started it all off, but just let it go on it's own? If anything, that's what I believe. Organisms who have features that better suit them to their environment have more offspring that survive. These offspring have more offspring with a good trait, etc. etc. I just can't see why this conflicts with God. Unless you take the Bible word for word...
Why not? Anyone can see the similarities between modern chimpanzees and people. And thousands of years ago, we were even more similar. Mammals with thumbs and big brains eventually evolved to walk upright, to form culture and connections, all because it helped their survival.
Just look at any highschool biology book for some further information. There is an insane amount of scientific evidence backing evolution. Homogolous structures, similarities in embryos, these all point to many living things having a common ancestor, to organisms evolving to meet different environments, climates, and food sources. Humans evolved simply because this is the way be best survive.
Just look at any highschool biology book for some further information. There is an insane amount of scientific evidence backing evolution. Homogolous structures, similarities in embryos, these all point to many living things having a common ancestor, to organisms evolving to meet different environments, climates, and food sources. Humans evolved simply because this is the way be best survive.
Any highschool biology book huh? Okay, I'll make a deal with ya Erin,you read MY highschool biology book where it talks about evolution, and I'll read yours. Then we can argue. A good scientist looks at both points of view before making up their mind.
I have read books from the opposite point of view, purely to educate myself, and I just can't find any truth in it. None of it is based on scientific evidence. And by scientific, I mean falsifiable. As in it can be proven wrong. Evolution can be proven wrong, but it hasn't been. Creationism can't be proven wrong. No matter what cases, no matter how it is explained, there is always blind faith. Evolution is a scientific theory. Creationism is not.
Yeah, you're right. Creationism is fact.
There are no facts in science. Only theories.
True. Creationism isn't really in science though, it IS science. Science is investigating creationism.BTW, how come you believe we could become something from nothing? Or do you now believe in the big bang?
I gotta log, but I shall return to argue later. :)
I do believe in the big bang... however I have been wondering whether it was natural or maybe there was some divine intervention. Maybe God started the big bang and then left it all to create itself.
Up until high school, I believed in the Creation story one hundred percent. But in my religion & world civics classes, many of the arguments brought up have led me to believe in a mix of the two. I think the big bang happened because of God, like Erin said. I also don't think the Creation story is fact, because as it's been argued in my classes, much of the Bible may be more figurative and allegorical than literal. Which would explain a LOT of the stories, miracles or not.
what i dont understand is why we have to have facts to believe something is true. why cant we just have faith and believe that humans arent smart enough to be able to know how the world started. the only way something as HUGE as life could be created was with divine intervention.
I agree, Vivian. But some people think in logic and unless something is broken down in numbers and figures and facts, it's not true. :[ Also, some humans like to think they're oh-so-intelligent and can know everything about this wonderful, confusing universe of ours. I'll be the first to admit God is real rather than try to explain the world with just science.
There will always be proof for evolution, but there will never be proof for creationism. It just isn't logical. And we can't just wave everything off that we don't understand on God... shouldn't human beings actually exercise some curiosity about the world around them? Science is so often portrayed as a bad thing, but what we do with it is great things. Curing diseases, answering questions... it's part of human nature. Waving things away to God is almost lazy.
Science is a hit-or-miss for me. :] This is why I'm half-and-half on this topic, because the world is too complicated to be explained fully with science, yet it's also hard to just blame the big man in the sky for everything. I don't know, it's really not good for me to mix faith with fact. They don't gel.
Really? Okay, so what is some of this rock solid evidence?
Dean: The Creationism theory is based solely on faith. If you don't have faith, you don't have to believe. I know it might be hard to swallow. Also, the Creationism story didn't take place 5000 years ago. Where'd you get that number? :]
It's in that range, 5000 or 6000.
I just have a hard time swallowing creationism when there is just so much proof of evolution.
I just have a hard time swallowing creationism when there is just so much proof of evolution.
So you honestly think that we appeared from nothing? And that all this stuff works so perfectly together and is so complex-by chance?
Not just by chance... I mean, small changes like the moths' wing colors accumulate in every species, eventually forming substantial changes. Every species wants to survive and pass on the most offspring. It's our instinct.
You didn't answer the question. I asked, do you think this complex world just appeared with the big bang? Boom!-by chance?
evolution: *silence* ... *silence* ...KER-BOOOMZ!!!!!!!
wow! hey look! a random explosion of something that WASNT THERE caused me to beable to breath, walk, talk, think, *5 days later* fly a kite, run, *5 YEARS LATER* blink, and reason....
Inteligent design: *silence* ... *silence* ...
earth being created by God, people being designed...
*6 days later* the earth has been created...
sort of like " a room is empty and then the next day a computer is ther. EVOLUTIONIST: uh,,, it evolved from a rock??? INTELIGENT DESIGN: someone put it there"
obviously, evolution is fake.
how do i know?
first, hod did it start?
and where did this "magic mysterious matter" comefrom?
Maybe God created the Big Bang. it's something I've been thinking about. but after that, he let us go and /evolve/ on our own.
Yeah, but WHERE did all of those lovely bits of matter come from in the first place?This type of discussion could go in circles. Because the universe might have been made from all these particles, but where'd the particles come from? And if they came from God, where did God come from? It's endless.
God was always there, we can't understand it because we're just the little creation people who are stuck in time. Think of it like this, God was there. Then one day he made us. We're stuck on not understanding eternity and infinity because we live in a time-controlled place.
I'm not even sure I believe in God... I have a mixture of Catholic and Buddhist views since my parents aren't the same religion. I think that it doesn't really matter if there is a God or not. We decide our own fates by being good people.
Maybe that's a little off-topic but hey.
Maybe that's a little off-topic but hey.
Erin: Really? The mixed views thing is cool! I've been interested in the Buddhist faith for a few months now since we studied it in my civics class. I don't know what religion I am anymore, since I don't tend to be "Christian" in the way other Christians around me are and I go to a "Catholic" school but I question practically everything I'm taught. But I do believe in a higher power and try to be a good person, so yeah, I agree.(Sorry, off topic. Anyways.)
Carry on. :]
Okay, my class is learning about evolution now so this should hopefully snap some things into perspective.
I believe in creationism.
I believe in evolution.
If you think about it, God may have created us, but he could have done it by creating evolution. don't you think?
I believe in creationism.
I believe in evolution.
If you think about it, God may have created us, but he could have done it by creating evolution. don't you think?
I agree that both theories could be right. God could have made evolution so that we would form.
I believe in creationism.But I'm open to hearing other beliefs.
I just don't think we should wave everything away to God instead of exploring our world and looking for answers.
that;s called theistic creationism, Breana. but it really doesn't matter which you believe in, because it's still belief. there is no proof of evolution, but there is also no proof of creation. either way, you have to believe in one or the other.
There is proof of evolution... creationism isn't a scientific theory because it can't be proven or disproven.
Evolution is anything but a scientific fact. And the evidence of creation is all over the place! How could these complex things come from evolution? Tell me that?
Tiny changes, caused by mutations in DNA, build up over thousands of years. The mutations that cause the majority of a organisms offspring to survive are mutations that are passed down. There is a basic definition.
And again, everyone... there are no facts in science.
Give me an example of something you think is too complex to have evolved.
And again, everyone... there are no facts in science.
Give me an example of something you think is too complex to have evolved.
frogs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol Breanna.ok, how about sunsets? How did the beauty and the colors and everything "just happen" to have been created?
ooh that is really good vivian!(i believe in creationism)
A sunset is an easy one. It's just the light playing off gases trapped in our atmosphere.
Humans are more complex, but it's the same theory. Being able to solve problems, walk on two legs, and form a complex society all evolved because of thousands of tiny changes building up in primitive primate species through naturally occurring mutations in our DNA. Think: two primates have two offspring. One of the offspring is born with slightly higher problem solving skills due to a mutation in a protein that functions in the brain. The other offspring does not have it. The smarter offspring is able to escape danger, while the other is not. Only the offspring with the mutation survives, and grows old enough to mate. All of its own offspring also have this mutation, some of them possibility mutating further to become even smarter. This is just simple biological theory.
I honestly can not believe that evolution is still not fully accepted... but I guess other theories took a while to kick in, like the earth revolving around the sun. Humans thought they were the center of the universe, so the earth must also be central. However, with time, people came to accept an obvious scientific theory. Hopefully people will be able to realize that we are not the center of the universe, and wake up to evolution being a perfectly reasonable scientific theory.
Humans are more complex, but it's the same theory. Being able to solve problems, walk on two legs, and form a complex society all evolved because of thousands of tiny changes building up in primitive primate species through naturally occurring mutations in our DNA. Think: two primates have two offspring. One of the offspring is born with slightly higher problem solving skills due to a mutation in a protein that functions in the brain. The other offspring does not have it. The smarter offspring is able to escape danger, while the other is not. Only the offspring with the mutation survives, and grows old enough to mate. All of its own offspring also have this mutation, some of them possibility mutating further to become even smarter. This is just simple biological theory.
I honestly can not believe that evolution is still not fully accepted... but I guess other theories took a while to kick in, like the earth revolving around the sun. Humans thought they were the center of the universe, so the earth must also be central. However, with time, people came to accept an obvious scientific theory. Hopefully people will be able to realize that we are not the center of the universe, and wake up to evolution being a perfectly reasonable scientific theory.
But Erin, you didn't explain what I wanted to know...have you taken Biology?
Yes, I have. I've studied it at home, and I've also taken two college level courses at our local community college. I plan to major in biology.
That's cool. So, what I'm asking is, the cell, the organs, the nucleus, chemical reactions, all the micro stuff in the human body, how is it that something extremely complex like that just happened to come together like it's supposed to?
Exactly. I know, it's amazing, and we can take it as a miracle. I just don't think we should wave it away to God with a magic wand.
Micro evolution: True
Macro evolution: Impossible
Creation: Absolutely true, valid evidence supports it