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gluadys

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Because not everything in the bible is history. Some of it is story---and the story of Noah is one of them. Most of the stories of Abraham too, though he may have been an historical figure as well. It was not uncommon for legends to gather around a well-known leader.

btw, since you are only 12, you may find talkorigins heavy going at times.

Here is a site that might be easier for you, and has neat inter-active quizzes as well.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/museum/k-12.html

P.S. Don't be afraid to go into the teacher's section.
 
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Aron-Ra

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razzelflabben said:
Okay, as I understand the theory of C at it's origin, they heiarchy of evolving would end when species are no longer able to reproduce. So if a lion and a housecat cannot reproduce, they are different kinds.
1. There is no "theory" of creation.
(a) there is no explanation of properties or function.
(b) there are no experiments to perform for repeatable results
(c) there are no falsifiable predictions for future observations
(d) there is no process of critical analysis or peer-review to scrutinize these claims objectively.
Creation meets exactly none of the criteria required for any scientific theory.

2. The hierarchy is a structure of descendant groups within parent groups that was originally divised by a creationist, Carl Linn, AKA Carolus Linneaus, "the father of taxonomy". This was the man who first discovered that humans were in fact apes, and he realized this about 100 years before Darwin was born. Linnean taxonomy initially grouped all cats, including lions and housecats, into a single group, Felis. But further studies of morphology and genetics had revealed that the "cat family" was in fact divided into a half-dozen sub-groups or genus:
Genus Panthera includes tigers, leopards, snow-leopards, jaguars, and lions; Panthera leo. There are currently three surviving species of lion.

Genus Felis contains dozens of species including cougars, ocelots, margay, pampas, flat-headed, fishing, serval, leopard cat, marbled cat, Jaguarundi, and the common house-cat; Felis sylvestris. Within that one species, there are another couple dozen distinct breeds, some without tails, some without hair, in other words, they are a very diverse sub-group.

Genus Acinonyx includes both surviving species of cheetah, cats who lack the retractable claws of all other modern cats.
Genus lynx contains, well, lynx obviously, but both the American and Eurasian varieties which again are different species that do not interbreed to produce viable offspring.

This is to say nothing of Machairodonts, a separate extinct sub-family of felids that consisted of two genera, Homotherium (several species) and Smilodon, the most famous of which was Smilodon fatalis, "the sabre-toothed tiger."

There were other extinct genera that were a transitional branch between modern cats and early viverrids, (civets, meerkats, bearcats, and genets) but we'll ignore thos for the moment. Looking just at the innumerable breeds within the few dozen species within these half-dozen (or so) genera, how many distinctly different "created kinds" do you think we're really talking about here? How many cats did Ubar-Tutu have on board his ark?
No, they haven't. There is no part of the creationist model that is in any way testible, and no scientific tests have ever supported creationism over naturalist explanations. But you're more than welcome to try and back up your claim. In fact, I insist that you do.
That you have seen neither in the "model" (not Theory) of creationism. But you're more than welcome to try and back up your claim. In fact, I insist that you do.
No it hasn't. Not in any way. But you're more than welcome to try and back up your claim. In fact, I insist that you do.
Is atomic Theory a fact?
Is music Theory a fact?
Is calculus Theory a fact?
Is physics Theory a fact?
Is gravity Theory a fact?

These all seem to be facts because they are all studies of facts.
Evolution Theory is the study of repeatably observable, objectively demonstrable facts of evolution. You "point" is refuted.

You don'tunderstand it at all,. which is why it is so funny that you keep pretending to have found errors that none of the best and brightest of the world's most experienced geniuses and Nobel laureates could ever find even after decades of intense study. You creationists certainly are a confident lot. But I assure you that confidence is grossly-misplaced.

We do see reproductive problems with inbreeding. That's why inbreeding isn't a factor of evolution. Viable, reproductive populations branch out into muliple distinct families flowering out of one common ancestral population. There is no inbreeding and no hybridization involved.
I was told I don't understand the theory and I ask for a definition and of yet to don't have it. So I will have to go with the definition that was taught to me)
Don't. Its dead-wrong. Try these instead:

Biological evolution is the study of (usually subtle) cumulative changes in the morphology, physiology and genetic composition of reproductive populations over successive generations; which often results in increased biodiversity when continued variation in genetic isolation leads to a divergence of two or more distinct descendant branches from one ancestral population.

Evolution Theory is the study of the observed facts of speciation and the ability of various selective pressures to increase biodiversity as described above. There are many known or hypothesized mechanisms and aspects of evolution Theory to examine including punctuated equilibrium and of course natural selection. My favorite is taxonomy: a means of systematic classification of life-forms that reveals distinct relationships of "groups within groups" that link everything alive today with other groups in the fossil record. This includes many transitional species which appear in the geologic column in a chronology that indicates a fluid sucession of subtle variations over many generations, so that everything that has ever lived is evidently related to everything else through a series of succession in common ancestry. Systematic taxonomy has been greatly refined and built upon in the last couple hundred years, and can now be cross-confirmed by DNA sequencing, making it a twin-nested hierarchy that is still one of the most profound proofs of macroevolution.

"Microevolution refers to any evolutionary change below the level of species, and refers to changes in the frequency within a population or a species of its alleles (alternative genes) and their effects on the form, or phenotype, of organisms that make up that population or species.
Macroevolution is used to refer to any evolutionary change at or above the level of species. It means the splitting of a species into two (speciation, or cladogenesis, from the Greek meaning "the origin of a branch") or the change of a species over time into another (anagenesis, not nowadays generally used). Any changes that occur at higher levels, such as the evolution of new families, phyla or genera, is also therefore macroevolution, but the term is not restricted to the origin of those higher taxa."
--John Wilkins, Talk.Origins

None of these imply hybridization or inbreeding.
I have absolutely no interest in converting anyone to any theory.
Good, because you have absolutely no possibility of doing so.
My only agenda here is to get people to see that theory is theory and not fact.
Well, you've failed that. Theory is the study of facts. Thus there can be no "ToC" because there are no creation facts to study. A fact could be synonemous with evidence. Creation lacks any of this at all, and is limited to faith-based notions instead.
If you agree with this, I really have nothing more in my interest to discuss with you at this time.
But of course I can't agree with this because you've been dead wrong about everything you've tried to assert so far.
You're right. It is a common misconception that evolutionary studies constitutes some sort of faith-based belief system, but they do not. So of course whatever philosophical or theological questions you could ask about that would be irrelevent.


My assumptions being that 1. Science does not hold all the answers to the questions in this life. [/quote]True. But as far as I can see, science has most of them, and religion has exactly none.
and 2. E is a theory and as such cannot be called fact without some belief system to back it.
It is a fact simply because it doesn't need a belief system to back it. Quite the opposite in fact. Evolution survives not on belief, but because it can withstand critical inquiry and indepth analysis in peer review. All of this is based entirely on evidence and experiments; facts, facts which are literally undeniable once understood.
No, this babbling of yours is off-topic. My series of queries, which you still have refused to answer, are still more on-topic than anything else you could want to discuss.

You want to argue that science doesn't have all the answers. So I have shown you a few dozen questions science has a very definite and solidly testable answer for, but for which you have no answer, nor any interest in even finding one.
First off, my position is stated above and has been stated repeatedly on this thread.
Then your position is false because it is based on a few faulty premises.
Secondly, I disagree that there is only one theory but as stated above, the thread is dealing with whether or not the TOE is no longer a theory and has now moved into the realm of fact (scientific law)
There's another false premise. A fact is synonemous with evidence, not scientific law. A fact is an element of data which is known to be true because it is consistently demonstrable. That allele frequencies do change in reproductive populations over successive generations is a demonstrable fact, therefore evolution is a demonstrable fact. The study of this fact, (like the study of any other fact) is called Theory.
Thirdly, according to the theory I currently lean towards, I would say they are related it they can interbreed successfully producing offspring with no breeding difficulties.
What could? Lions and housecats? Panthers and felines? Geese and ducks? Synapsids and Diapsids? I gave you quite a list. Could you please be more specific. At this point, simple yes or no answers will suffice, but you need to let me know which quesion you're answering.

The "Theory" [faith-based speculation] you "lean toward" [cling to dogmatically] is nothing of the kind. You have no idea what you're talking about, and you apparently don't want to either.
 
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Aron-Ra

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No I didn't. You ignored everything Merle said about his discovery in the university's volumes on evolution and transitional species. This doesn't fit your world-view, and you have closed your mind to it, so you have excused and ignored everything he said, just like I said you did.

Hypocrisy doesn't look good on you.
 
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USincognito

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I haven't read every post in this thread, but I've read most of them and I'm still at a loss for what the supposedly unanswered questions concerning evolution are? I keep reading there are "many" but the only ones that have actually been presented actually have been answered.

I also keep reading that there isn't overwhelming evidence for evolution, and yet I have read post after post demonstrating that there is overwhelming evidence. We find transitional fossils exactly as TOE predicts. We find DNA evidence exactly as TOE predicts. We find that as the environment of the Earth changed the speicies on Earth changed exactly as TOE predicts. How are the libraries and museums full of mountains of evidence for TOE somehow "not overwhelming?"

I just don't get it.
 
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razzelflabben

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I do not have to look at every fossil studied to know that the fossil record is not enough evidence to say without doubt that the TOE is fact. You act as if I am saying that the fossil evidence disproves TOE?!? All I am saying is that it is inconclusive evidence. Any good scientist will tell you that more is needed to make a solid case and yet, I say this, and you insist on looking at every fossil. The fossil record defintately indicates a possibility for the TOE, but it does not rule out the original TOC. It does not prove without doubt (overwhelming evidence) that the TOE is truth. How much clearer can I be? Looking at every fossil will not change the fact that more than a fossil record is needed to prove the TOE with accuracy. You say youselves that it is not proved, but that one set of observations is sufficient to say we have overwhelming proof? Oh, I forget about all the new species that have reproductive problems that are our means of seeing this diversity of living things on our earth, that have all come about from 1 living cell. Now when I was in school, it was taught that all living things evolved from one living cell, now I am seeing that some E have a litter broader interpretation, and that is good, but is not sufficient proof that the TOE is fact, and the TOC is falsified.
 
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razzelflabben

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Some of this I simply will not take the time to go over again. But I would like to point you to post # 639 the following paragraph was posted in that post as a beginning to the questions that the TOE still cannot answer. Now it is only a beginning but shows that there are a lot of unanswered questions.

razz..quote....As a visual philosopher (which is where my inability to resight names and dates stems from, I do everything in pictures), I can tell you that there are still many holes in the TOE that science cannot address. Why animals today are becomeing extinct rather than evolving, why there are reproductive problems when crossing species lines, how we can know history when the only way to prove history is first hand accounts, even the DNA evidence, is a relatively new device and offers much unanswered questions, not all of which I can put into words because of my extreme visual nature. Then we can deal with the questions that arrise when science assumes only one theory and therefore does not look into the answers the other theories provide for the data. (Accepted that many years ago this was not the case but about the time the YEC was disproven, the theory of C was pretty much thrown out the door and the only theory truely looked at was E, instead of allowing the TOC to adapt to the new data as the TOE is allowed to do.) How is that for a start from someone who is visual not termilogical.


But since I haven't put forth any questions or indicated where the holes in the theory are, I guess we can totally skip this post okay?
 
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razzelflabben

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Not interbreeding within the species, but breeding. Take the mule for instance, if a horse and donkey produce an offspring, that will carry both the horse and donkey traits, then the resulting animal, if adapting would then need to be fully able to reproduce or the evolution process stops. Now I know that the mule is not necessarily an evolution for survival so don't get off on that tangant, it is simply an example. Another problem is the small population base of the new species that would cause genetic problems in the interbreeding necessary for the species to become large enough to be a viable part of this world. It is not the interbreeding problems with the parent species that create the problems, it is the breeding down the road that create the problems. Though we do not see this in every case of "evolution" studied, it does exist in a fair number of cases and brings into question the validity of the evolutionary process, unless one limits the evolutionary process to a much wider base as the TOC does in the Gen account of the theory.
 
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T

The Bellman

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razzelflabben said:
there are still many holes in the TOE that science cannot address.
Are there? Let's see...

razzelflabben said:
Why animals today are becomeing extinct rather than evolving
Nope. Evolutionary theory, in fact, PREDICTS this.

razzelflabben said:
why there are reproductive problems when crossing species lines
Nope. Evolutionary theory, in fact, PREDICTS this, too.

razzelflabben said:
how we can know history when the only way to prove history is first hand accounts, even the DNA evidence, is a relatively new device and offers much unanswered questions, not all of which I can put into words because of my extreme visual nature.
Nope. In fact, this is false. If it were true, forensic science wouldn't exist. First hand accounts are, in fact, a very poor way of "proving" something, as any cop will tell you - eye witness testimony is notoriously unreliable. Circumstantial evidence is far better.

razzelflabben said:
Then we can deal with the questions that arrise when science assumes only one theory and therefore does not look into the answers the other theories provide for the data.
Nope. Would be a problem if it were true, but it isn't. ALL other theories have been examined and found to be false. Science doesn't waste time revisiting already falsified theories.

Simply false. Creationism has had man, many advocates since the birth of evolutionary theory. They have all tried repeatedly to modify creationism to make it valid science. All have failed.

razzelflabben said:
But since I haven't put forth any questions or indicated where the holes in the theory are, I guess we can totally skip this post okay?
We can, since it doesn't indicate a single "hole" in the theory.
 
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razzelflabben

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Thanks, I haven't run away, only limiting the discussion to what is and is not relavent to the issue, and each and every scientific observation is not relavant for it does nothing to close the holes, only futher explains why the conclusions that were drawn were drawn.

What you seem to be missing so nicely is what the TOC says. The theory is put forth in the Gen. account of the bible and leaves a lot of room for possibilities. It is this theory that I hold the closest too. Because no one has offered a better term for what I believe, I assume the TOC to best discribe my tendancies in the explainations of the origins of life. Now with all the evidences you have present, the only one that would bring real true questions to the TOC as put forth in Gen. would be whether or not there was a world wide flood and the Gen. account of C does not specify flood or not, that comes later in the book. The fossil record, as inconclusive as it is does not diprove the Gen account of creation but does allow for other possible explainations.

I do not know all the areguements you are discussing about the TOC because I do not hold to any strain of the theory, only the root theory. I may be unique, but I do not think for one moment that I am the only person out there that holds to the original theory of C as pur forth in Gen. Within that original theory, you have shown no evidence to disprove the theory, which is the opposite of your claims. You have shown evidence that supposedly supports the TOE but the evidence further supports the original TOC and is what the theory would predict when taken literally from the bible. There are a couple of fossils which would present questions, but they are not in direct conflict, only the conclusions could be. So by your definition, the TOC is the sounder theory and since the TOC far outdates the TOE one would have to wonder how E can claim that the TOC is adapting to the TOE rather than the other way around.

If you want to argue about different aspects of the TOC that have been held over the years, I think you would have to talk with someone who has held those views, for I do not know all of them. What I am argueing is that the TOC is what we read in the Gen account and that theory has not been disproven or proven to be less accurate than the current evidence science has. The TOC as put forth in Gen, has not changed over the years to adapt to the evidence, it has stayed a consistant and has continued to be supported by the observations. Compare that to the TOE. The TOE cannot answer many questions asked of it, they rely on the fossil record as their primary support, they have changed the theory over time, they make claims about other theories that they cannot support, etc. Hummm, the stronger theory?????? Creationism as put forth in the Gen account!!!!
 
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DJ_Ghost

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Except that they are both things we would expect to see if the theory of evolution was correct, not holes in it that it can not explain.

razzelflabben said:
how we can know history when the only way to prove history is first hand accounts,

Actually as any police officer will tell you the least reliable testimony is eye witness evidence. Besides which, science relies on falsificationism and not verificationism. Whilst you are correct in saying that this never gives 100%, the margin for error on anything that has withstood so intense a barrage of scientific attempts to falsify it as the theory of evolution, is so small that we can say with near absolute certainty that it is correct. You are trying to take the infinitesimally small figure that separates the theory from absolute proof and inflate it to the point where it is a major gap, which it is not.

razzelflabben said:
Then we can deal with the questions that arise when science assumes only one theory and therefore does not look into the answers the other theories provide for the data.

Except that this is not what has happened with the theory of evolution at all, in fact it just is not how science works anymore at all. We look to falsify a theory not to prove it, so people have looked at alternatives, seen them either falsified or fail to explain the things the theory of evolution explains and so reject them. Evolution is the only theory to have survived the process, no the only theory to have been considered.


Well then, if the theory of creation was thrown out it is because the falsifying evidence undermined its bedrock assumptions, where as if the theory of evolution was kept but modified it is because the bedrock assumptions where not undermined but one or two of the peripheral hypothesise where falsified, again this is how science works. Theories are a bundle of ideas, some of which are essential to the theory as a whole and some of which are not. If falsifying evidence only falsifies a peripheral hypothesis but not the core ones, then the theory itself is not falsified but needs to be modified, if however falsifying evidence falsifies the bedrock assumptions, the entire theory is blown out of the water and is abandoned, and an alternative theory must be found.

Mark J Smith explains it all much better than I can in “Social Science in Question” (Sage Press, London 1998). I should imagine the natural scientists on the forum can each give a reference of an author from their own field who explains it more clearly than I can as well.

Ghost
 
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razzelflabben

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Aron-Ra said:
Then why did you ignore the whole content of Merle's post and ask where the transitionals are after he already told you?
Huh? I did not ignore Merle's post. In fact I have never ignored Merle's posts even though there have been many times I should have.

I told Merle, that one cannot assume to know truth if one is seeking truth. Hum, that is a rough one. In order to truely seek truth, we must do a couple of things, 1. never assume to know truth
2. be open to the possibilities
3. accept the answers that are given then evaluate those answers rather than reading into them for what truth they might hold.
4. never stop looking.

Merle's post showed two fundamental problems with seeking truth, one he assumed he knew truth before he started seeking answers. Never a good sign. Two he now assumes to know truth. Which ultimately means that Merle didn't learn what he claims to have learned, because he still assumes to know truth. Someone who is truely seeking truth, never assumes to have found it, he may believe what he has found to be truthful, but he never assumes to have found truth.
 
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razzelflabben

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I asked, I ask for someone to show me how illogical it is, you provide evidence to back the claim but ask me to add to that logic the word existed.

Because, when all is said and done, that is the real issue. Avoiding the word "existed" is avoiding the evidence.
You change the point and this is suppose to be an explaination of how it is an illogical statement. Come now!
 
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razzelflabben

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What I am saying is that by the TOC, any animal that cannot reproduce after itself and be a fully reproductive intity, was created seperately or became extinct. I hope I said that right, my head is hurting.
 
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razzelflabben

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According to the theory, the breaking line is where ever the creature can no longer be a viable breeder.
 
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razzelflabben

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What do you want me to say, that the fossil record is overwhelming proof? That would be a lie. If I convicted someone based on similar evidence, I would be a very poor jurer, for the evidence is very simply not conclusive enough to support the claims of the TOE that all living matter evolved from one living organism. I does suggest the TOE but is far from proof that it is the only possibility. It is like trying to convict a murderer by one piece of evidence. It requires many differnent peices of evidence combined to convice a murderer. Yet you want to use only one piece of evidence to support a theory. It is not a matter of whether or not the fossil record supports the TOE, but rather if the fossil record is overwhelming evidence to support the TOE and it simply is not enough evidence.
 
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razzelflabben

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So let me get this right, you want us to believe that an organism started evolving and then suddenly decided that it was time to not change any more so it magically stopped the breeding process. Then later, it desided that it was times to change some more so it started to breed again, and then, it stoped the breeding and then some years latter, it began agian and so forth and so on for millions of years. Yeeeeeks! What evidence supports this back and forth breeding abilities to create the diversities we see today. If breeding stops, the species does not continue, it becomes extinct. In order for evolution to continue, breeding capabilities must also continue.
 
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J

Jet Black

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razzelflabben said:
So let me get this right, you want us to believe that an organism started evolving
no, populations evolve.
and then suddenly decided that it was time to not change any more so it magically stopped the breeding process.
what? where on earth do you get that idea? differences in evolutionary rates are the result of environmental pressures. of course the members of the population were still breeding.
Then later, it desided that it was times to change some more so it started to breed again, and then, it stoped the breeding and then some years latter, it began agian and so forth and so on for millions of years.
what kind of half-baked strawman are you envisaging? you've been doing relatively well so far and then you launch into this bizarre tirade that makes it look like you haven't been paying the slightest bit of attention for however long you have been discussing this.
and breeding always does continue, however the evolutionary pressures are what change. Ice ages, new predators, growing mountains, general drift of the population, there are a vast number of things that can change breeding conditions. and the evidence for all of this is right through the biological and fossil record.
 
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J

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well we do have many pieces of evidence. we have the birds, the homonids the cetaceans the therapsids the horses, dinosaurs and tetrapods. we have general suggestions of a significant quantity of the mammals, we have lots of evidence for the emergence of the chordates and vertebrates. it is all in the correct order throughout the fossil record, there are no blindly falsifying bits of evidence, and what is more, the fossil record phylogenetic trees agree perfectly with all the different genetic and biogeographical evidence. you can construct phylogenies based on a number of different, independent aspects of the fossil and biological record, and get the same answer every time. It's like having several photos of someone as they travel round the country, and lots of their bank receipts and the locations of their mobile phone calls and them all matching.
 
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