Is Darwin's Theory of Evolution True? Part Three

[Kei]

Randomness as it refers to biological evolution does not mean without purpose, but without biological purpose to that end. As in, there is no biological reason for the mutations to occur specifically in that way.

 

[Kei]

Dinosaurs were not a known being until the 1800s. There’s no real reason to mention something so confusing and not able to be understood by the audience by describing such an unnecessary detail to the narrative.

 

[Aloysium]

This sounds like your opinion but it’s not scientific, let alone a part of the standard theory of evolution.

There are obvious causes of mutation in the genome. They include high energy radiation, glitches in the system of reproduction that may be as rare as 1% (because I haven’t researched the numbers) but are cumulative, viruses and possibly other infections, and a variety of toxins.

 

[LeafByNiggle]

Interesting post. It reminds of a story I heard from a well-known Evangelical preacher called Chuck Missler: A certain prominent scientist (unfortunately, I forget his name), as a result of his study of quantum physics, came to the conclusion that God exists. Being rather devoted to atheism (how unusual for a scientist to be an atheist!), this scientist couldn’t live with such awful knowledge and committed suicide.

Speculation about why someone commits suicide is pure guesswork. A suicide note may say one thing, but a person in that state is not rational and even his own notes are not to be trusted. It is much more likely that he had undiagnosed severe depression.

buffalo:

Humans are devolving.

… but our stubborn atheist brethren will deny this …

and so will many Catholics.

So, you don’t consider sudden appearance and stasis in the fossil record to be evidence of creation? What about the absymal lack of “missing links” betwen the major groups?
…
Here’s an interesting quote from the late Stephen Jay Gould: “The extreme rarity of transitional forms (between the major groups) in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.”

The rarity of fossils that are transitional between groups is in a way a natural consequence of our defining the groups to match the existing fossil record. The groups are arbitrary divisions made up to contain all that there is. Treating them as something absolute after the fact is the mistake.

 

[Glark]

What strikes me about the prophetic Isaiah passage I quoted is how very different those future conditions are to the extremely violent, ruthless and blood-thirsty natural world we live in now. So, well may you mention “God’s gentleness”. It’s a comforting thought.

 

[Glark]

Sounds like the book of Wisdom 19:19

For the elements, in ever-changing harmony,
like strings of the harp, produce new melody,
while the flow of music steadily persists.

And this can be perceived exactly from a review of what took place.
For land creatures were changed into water creatures,
and those that swam went over on land.

Didn’t say it was God who did the changing directly, so it could have been evolution.

Sorry to disappoint you, but this passage has absolutely nothing to do with evolution. Instead it alludes to some kind of curse/punishment that God imposed on idolaters, whereby very freaky things happened in the natural world around them (similar to what befell Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the book of Exodus. In fact, the (Wisdom) text even makes reference to the crossing of the Red Sea).

 

[Glark]

The reason many scientists are atheist is because they base their life’s work on a philosophy which places observation and experimentation as the best ways to learn about things. You cannot directly observe God or God’s will, nor can you control experimental conditions such that God can be studied.

That’s no excuse:
“17 For the justice of God is revealed therein, from faith unto faith, as it is written: The just man liveth by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice:
19 Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
21 Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

• Romans 1

For the most part, atheists are just people who aren’t religious, and don’t like to be bothered with a cultural tradition they consider little more relevant than stories about the Tooth Fairy.

No, instead, they become devoted to the theory of microbe-man evolution, which is as irrelevant as stories about the Tooth Fairy!

 

[Glark]

Scientists do not “reject the existence of God and creation and consequently believe that microbe-man evolution is the truth.”

Yes, they do. If one rules out creation, one will naturally arrive at evolution as the only plausible explanation for how life came to be what it is. This is known as the general theory of evolution - evidence for which isn’t necessary in order to accept it. That’s why the general theory of evolution has been around for at last 2500 years. Darwinism is used to explain the mechanism for how this evolution happened.

You still seem to think that science is a single institution-- big-S “Science,” and that there is some conspiracy or some interest in disproving the existence of God at its root. This simply isn’t what science is, or how scientists work.

Right - a scientist like Richard Dawkins has no interest in debunking the existence of God. So I wonder why the title of his best known book is “The God Delusion”.

 

[Glark]

But you need to learn the difference between inference and guessing. We don’t “guess” that birds are related to certain dinosaurs: we see the skeletal similarities, we see that some dinosaur fossils have feathers, and we can infer that one has evolved into the other.

This is a giant leap of faith. because no one can prove that such evolution is even possible. It’s like inferring that aliens control the Pope, without first proving that aliens exist.

 

[Aloysium]

What strikes me about the prophetic Isaiah passage I quoted is how very different those future conditions are to the extremely violent, ruthless and blood-thirsty natural world we live in now. So, well may you mention “God’s gentleness”. It’s a comforting thought.

The depth of sin is deep in this world now that we have replaced God’s standards of love and gentleness with our own. The ruthlessness we witness reflects the status of our own soul.

 

[Glark]

It’s the modern version of spontaneous generation

It’s amazing that an army of modern scientists steadfastly believe in superstitious nonsense and magic!

 

[Glark]

So. . . God didn’t know that they would do that? He was limited in that way?

But God did know they would do that, because He is outside of time and can see into the future. Apart from that, the New Testament tells us that God knows what we will pray for, even before we say the prayer.

 

[anon65111186]

Randomness is the lack of pattern or predictability in events.

Random to humans and scientists is not necessarily randomness to God.

Natural Selection is the process whereby those organisms that better suited to their environment survive to produce viable offspring.

Are these the factors which led to this guy here?

Sure, why not?

 

[Glark]

Really? Wow. I hope their attention spans improve

The day chimps build a nuclear reactor is the day a living organism arises naturally from dead matter.

 

[anon65111186]

Sorry to disappoint you, but this passage has absolutely nothing to do with evolution. Instead it alludes to some kind of curse/punishment that God imposed on idolaters, whereby very freaky things happened in the natural world around them (similar to what befell Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the book of Exodus. In fact, the (Wisdom) text even makes reference to the crossing of the Red Sea).

Is there a good reason to think it is all about idolators, and that is the only reason they changed from one species to another? Because we can establish that what they are indeed referring to is a change in species, whether in response to sinners or not, they changed species.

 

[anon65111186]

God is perfectly capable of making the Earth and all the physical rules in the Universe, and so whatever evolves ultimately starts with Him anyway.

Exactly, I’m of the opinion that God is the God of evolution, and everything we see in evolution has its origins in God.

 

[Glark]

What about the missing links in the Bible? I don’t hear much talk there of dinosaurs or of Neanderthals, either. Nor is there a mention of even a basic understanding of hygiene or the existence of viruses or germs.

Besides the mention of Behemoth and Leviathan in the book of Job, I believe there may have existed a creation prior to the “six days” creation, in which dinosaurs existed.

There are God-given instructions (in Leviticus, I think) on various hygiene measures that should be taken. No one knew why such measures were advised until modern science explained them thousands of years later.

 

[Glark]

Thank you, Lord, for creating that incredibly beautiful bird!

 

[Aloysium]

Random to humans and scientists is not necessarily randomness to God.

Science is a human relationship with nature and one another. Through it we can also connect with God, through its revelation of His glory, his power and infinite creativity.

What randomness exists in nature is because He wills it. Many aspects of the physicalbworld are like the sides of a die, which being cast is subject to a multitude of influences determining the result, which side turns up.

I’m not sure what you mean by your statement but our creation is not a chance event in the universe. Darwinism is quite clear about what random genetic mutation means. If God’s definition is different, since He is Truth itself, then Darwinism is not true.

 

[Glark]

A chick magnet? How did he get noticed by the ladies before he got the extra fancy plumage?

A little known fact is that Lyre birds are amazingly good at imitating sounds (google “lyre bird imitating chain saw”), so before the plumage he probably impressed the ladies with this skill. (Imitating the sound of a cash register would do the trick!)