I think you will find that very few Christians or non-Christians held to the flat earth concept. It has long been observed that there is a curvature to the earth’s surface.
At one time, having big powerful teeth was considered “strong”, and was favored by evolution. But after the control of fire and cooking, big teeth for tearing apart raw meat was less important, and in some ways a liability. So it is no surprise that teeth have gotten smaller as civilization developed. Evolution does not favor any fixed notion of strong. Rather it favors whatever characteristic is most apt to successful reproduction.
Yes.
You are misinformed. Evolution includes natural selection, and that is definitely not a random process.
Have you done the actual calculations here, or are you just taking someone else’s word for the numbers. I have done the calculations, for a simple example, rather than malaria. See "The Evolution of Boojumase". You will note that my calculation includes the effects of natural selection. Unless your equivalent calculations also include natural selection then they are worthless.
The average human has about 100 to 150 mutations in the 3 billion base pairs that they inherit from their parents. The overwhelming majority of our genome is inherited intact from our parents. Also, those parents have genomes that are functional enough for them to reproduce. Your parents, and all your billions of generations of ancestors, succeeded in reproducing. Not a single failure. Not one in billions of generations. That is a very strict filter, and accounts for the apparent improbability of our genome.
Evolution does not happen to individuals, your “lifetime”. Evolution happens to populations. If you fail to appreciate that, then you are not talking about evolution. As an example, calculate how many mutations there are in the entire human population if each individual has about 125 mutations. Divide that number by the size of the human genome, to see how many mutations there are for each individual base pair worldwide. It is an interesting and worthwhile calculation.
Show us your calculations. You are talking about probabilities without actually showing us any numbers. That will not go down well in scientific circles. Probabilities are numbers. You cannot talk about probabilities without showing us the numbers, and how you calculated them. See my Boojumase piece I linked to above for an example with numbers and probabilities. Evolution is science, and a lot of science involves numbers.
Evolution in a nutshell: “If you parents didn’t have any children, then the chances are that you won’t either.”
During my studies recieving a BS in Genetics and MS in Biochemistry I learned the more intricate meaning of evolution and what that entails. Natural selection in evolution is based on random chance of genetic mutations. Otherwise you would have to believe in intelligent design that says that God directs all life. From a molecular level u would either have to believe that natural selection if from randomly occurring genetic mutations that provide a selectable favor or there is some creator that has intelligently designed and may direct these genetic change. Intelligent design is more probable.
Although I did enjoy my statistical studies I did not receive a degree in such. maybe one day I will ask a mathematical genius to calculate it. I probably could with time…if I remember correctly when you r trying to calculate the probability of one event in an infinite state of possibilities then your probability will reduce to zero. Understanding the statistical probability of 1 out of infinity doesn’t take a PhD in statistics
It is precisely your point about “Evolution happens to populations.” which some, not all, Catholics fail to understand. The evolution model posits populations in the hundreds to thousands. The Catholic Church teaches an originating human population of two.
Mutations have random effects on the organism. Natural selection non-randomly prefers the organisms that reproduce better than average. Natural selection is a non-random filter, selecting from a partly-randomly generated pool of organisms. The great majority of our genomes is a direct copy from our parents, and so is not random.
You are not thinking on a molecular level or a spiritual level when you talk about Natural Selection as though there is no origin of the selectable trait or the discernment to select. There is no partly random in evolution and partly intelligent design. You either believe in God and that there is intelligent design or you believe that all life is by random chance…if you believe that there is any intercession of God then you believe in intelligent design.
You say this as if that were part of the curriculum. Then how do you explain the fact that the vast majority of your classmates who experienced the exact same classroom material have concluded that evolution through natural selection is more probable? You can’t use the appeal to authority here since most of the other authorities disagree with you.
Because so did I. Because I did not believe in God there was not other possibility that I could believe in so I accepted evolution as the only answer. And because I accepted it I had no reason to challenge it so I did not need to consider the theory analytically. When I came to believe in God then I had to ask myself these difficult questions and critically asses the validity of evolution vs intelligent design. Intelligent design makes everything make a whole lot more sense. Even the Big Bang theory does not make sense unless there is a creator. The Big Bang theory says that all matter in time and space came together at the exact same point and time in the infinite vacuum of the universe…that’s not statistically probable, yet the science indicates that it may have happen. Quantum Tunneling does not make sense without a creator…electrons that can overcome energy barriers…these energetic anomalies, where do they come from? My favorite is how could you physically feel the Holy Spirit unless there was a creator…feelings are otherwise based on chemical reactions…if everyone could simply will themselves without God into Therese De Avila ecstasy of God then they would and everyone would be a nun or if everyone could simply will themselves to be Jesus without God, then they would…and children would have the world for their imaginations and willingness to believe is far greater than most adults! There would be a lot of little superman’s in the world is all I am saying. I could go on and on…
Which part of this is incorrect?
OK, so you came to your view through your belief in God, in spite of, not because of, your training for your BS and MS. Your earlier posting made it sound like anyone who studied what you studied and got the degrees you got would come to the conclusion you eventually came to.
No, the university I attended did not teach intelligent design or address the statistical probabilities of theories. : ) Any discussions that occurred on campus I would be the only one who would not even go because it was irrelevant to me to argue such things. Sadly I recall one devout fundamentalist Christian returning from one of these talks who’s faith seemed to be shaken after attending. At the time I had no idea what came over me but I turned to him and asked (because he was also a programmer) If you were an almighty powerful all knowing God would you sit around saying green eyes, brown hair, tall … or would you create a program and monitor it for changes as you like? He smiled.
OK, let’s discuss this from a philosophical and religious perspective. God is the creator of the universe. Part of that universe involves things like the rules of gravity. When an apple falls from a tree, is that the result of an impersonal law of nature? Or is it the result of God exercising His will? You would have us believe that it has to be one or the other, but not both. Most philosophical thinkers who believe in God would probably say it was both. God created the universe, and continues to create the universe by maintaining the laws of nature. God did not simply wind up the world like a clockwork mechanism and then walk away for it to unfold in an impersonal manner. So God is involved. And yet He can do so without contradicting His laws of nature, if He so chooses. It is only our limited human perspective, trapped in the flow of time, that prevents us from seeing God at work in all that happens.
Laws of nature…ha ha. Study Quantum Tunneling…electrons that cross energetic barriers. Matter cannot be created nor destroyed…then where did it come from? Ever feel the Holy Spirit? That is not a Law of Nature. Laws are made by man to help us best understand our surroundings. They are not perfect definitions that explain all of nature.
Oh really !! we have a huge picture of the evolution of Man on the wall of our BIG Zoo showing how man evolved from an ape to a human. For many decades, ever child that goes in the Ape Complex sees it and is given the idea we came from apes. One glance tells them that! It’s teaching our Children a lie. When I take my grandkids there I try to put myself between them and the picture and keep them distracted. As they got older I explained to them that that is NOT true. Now if you want to believe you came from an ape, that’s your choice, true or not. But not me. I give God much more credit than that!! Scientists know that never has one species ever changed into an entirely different species. A dog didn’t become a horse just because it has 4 legs !! God Bless. Memaw
Excellent explanation Leaf.
This follows the Z. Cobalt Theory of Evolution and Surrival of the Fittest:
A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members! ; In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.
Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first… In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That’s why you always feel smarter after a few beers.
