Have You Made An Informed Choice?

[Kahalachan]

This is all I ask. Have you read both sides of the issue and derived your own conclusion?

Or have you listened to someone at church and gained all your information about evolution there? Have you gone to a biology class and thought Creationism is silly without reading Genesis?

As for me.........

I have read the Bible twice, some Christian books, Christian sites about Creationism.

I have read the Origin of the Species, biological textbooks, and viewed sites explaining evolution.

 

[Grengor]

Yes I've made an informed choice. I originally held YEC in much higher esteem than I do currently. But there is a huge difference between reading Genesis and taking a Biology class. Not just the amount of information, but the class would give explanations with examples as to what they just told you, and you'd be able to look under a microscope to see for yourself. Genesis can't say the same thing.

 

[steen]

This is all I ask. Have you read both sides of the issue and derived your own conclusion?

It was easy. Scientific Evidence on one side. "that's just wrong because I say so" on the other side. Not much of a contest there.

 

[Asimov]

This is all I ask. Have you read both sides of the issue and derived your own conclusion?

Or have you listened to someone at church and gained all your information about evolution there? Have you gone to a biology class and thought Creationism is silly without reading Genesis?

As for me.........

I have read the Bible twice, some Christian books, Christian sites about Creationism.

I have read the Origin of the Species, biological textbooks, and viewed sites explaining evolution.

Creationism isn't the "other side of the coin" for Evolution.

 

[Pete Harcoff]

On creationism/ID:

I've read Genesis (and other books of the Bible), two books on ID, and one on creationism. Plus, I've read countless articles on creationism and ID (mostly from ICR and AiG), watched an ID video and all of Kent Hovind's video seminars.

On evolution:

I've taken two university courses with material relating to evolution (one on paleontology, one on human evolution and genetics), read at least 6-8 books (inc. chunks of Evolutionary Biology, 3rd Edition, a college level textbook), read countless web articles (mainly from T.O.), at least two dozen journal papers, and other articles in science magazines.

So yeah, I would say I've made an informed choice..

 

[Hydra009]

It was easy. Scientific Evidence on one side. "that's just wrong because I say so" on the other side. Not much of a contest there.

Yeah, but which one makes the laws? In your face, scientific evidence.

 

[steen]

Yeah, but which one makes the laws? In your face, scientific evidence.

Well, clearly, the law is with the facts as we saw in Dover. (That as a great day )

 

[Jan87676]

Creationism: Kent Hovind's seminars

Enough said.

 

[Chrono Traveler]

Creationism: Kent Hovind's seminars

Enough said.

Not even close to enough.

What about Evolution?

 

[David Gould]

I did not make 'a choice' at all. Everything that I have read and heard has led me to the conclusion that evolution is the best explanation for what we see around us. I never chose to conclude that.

 

[Cocoa]

Creationism: Kent Hovind's seminars

Enough said.

sounds like you're really listening to different explanations...

 

[Adriac]

Not even close to enough.

What about Evolution?

Well, actually, if you're looking for evidence that ID is a creationist showboat run by used car salesmen and based on total ignorance (on one side) and misrepresentation (on the other) of science, you could hardly do better than the esteemed Mr. Hovind.

 

[Chrono Traveler]

Well, actually, if you're looking for evidence that ID is a creationist showboat run by used car salesmen and based on total ignorance (on one side) and misrepresentation (on the other) of science, you could hardly do better than the esteemed Mr. Hovind.

Well of course. But as far as actually researching both sides..then no =p

Hovind seems to be quick, which I think is one reason why so many people believe him, even so I still see him dodge so many questions. Sigh, too bad people wont actuallly LISTEN to both sides.

 

[Jan87676]

Sigh, too bad people wont actuallly LISTEN to both sides.

Why should I?

Evolution is false. Period.

 

[Chrono Traveler]

Why should I?

Evolution is false. Period.

I find it sad that you seem to not even be able to bring yourself to research a little more on the other side.

I guess no one wants to know just to know anymore. Or maybe some people are afraid of it shattering their faith.

 

[Electric Skeptic]

Why should I?

Evolution is false. Period.

What a tragedy that an otherwise rational person would say such a thing

 

[USincognito]

I did not make 'a choice' at all. Everything that I have read and heard has led me to the conclusion that evolution is the best explanation for what we see around us. I never chose to conclude that.

I think David Gould expressed my POV perfectly. There never was a moment or time of concious choice. I went to church, that's where I learned about Jesus and God. I had books on dinosaurs - none of which had people riding or herding them. When I was in elementary school I remember watching a movie on the Leakey discoveries in Africa (1960s/70s stuff). When I was twelve I watched Cosmos which devoted a whole episode to evolution. And I was still going to church.

To make a long story short, it wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I even became aware of Creationists or that anyone thought the world was only 6,000 years old.

As for resources:
High School Biology.
Creationism - lots of tracts, Hovinds seminar vol. 1, a couple of books including my now missing copy of Bones of Contention , and about 8 years of websites offered up by Creationists.
Evolution - Things like I mentioned above, a couple of books, more than enough Talk Origins, plus news of new discoveries as they are made every day.

For me it's pretty simple, either the theory of evolution is valid or biology, paleontology, geology and related fields simply shouldn't function... and yet they do, magnificently.

 

[Hydra009]

I find it sad that you seem to not even be able to bring yourself to research a little more on the other side.

What a tragedy that an otherwise rational person would say such a thing

As an aside, Jan isn't serious. Probably.

 

[tocis]

This is all I ask. Have you read both sides of the issue and derived your own conclusion?

Yup.

Or rather, I gave creationism and ID the chance to present their best arguments, and found that there are no arguments. Everything scientifically-minded people and groups claimed about creationists I found confirmed. Everything creationists claimed about science I found wrong, and often painfully so.

The decision was clear.

 

[tocis]

Genesis can't say the same thing.

Oh, it can of course. Sadly (for the creationists), there is nothing to back up that claim