Education? I think most in here are educated enough to understand that 1. Carbon Dating is unreliable
2. There are so many gaps in darwins theory that are filled with opinions, guestimates and assumptions that even darwin doubted some of his own work (challenge me on this please)
3. Something cannot be created by nothing and when this does actually happen, please show me
4. Show me one creature that has given birth to a new species? You can breed different dogs and each litter will be different from the rest, but they are still dogs
5. DNA and the complexity of a single cell is proof enough that we are by design, not accident
6. If the first humans appeared 500,000 years ago from a common ape like ancestor, why haven't other ape's, chimps, monkeys etc evolved even in the slightest in that same period of time (let me guess, evolution takes BILLIONS of years, oh right i forgot)
7. If natural selection and the survival of the fittest theories are to be taken as accurate, answer me this, the animal that came to be a bird, did it's wings form in one go and did it fly immediatelty, or was it gradual?
Oh dear...where to start with this heap of ordure. You should read a few books rather than just listening to what your pastor or creationist websites tell you. Ho hum. You should also look up PRATT as your post is a classic example. Still... I'll play...
1. C14 dating is very accurate and becoming increasingly so as the technology improves. However, the half-life of C14 means that it is unsuitable for dating fossils, as they are too old. That's why other isotope dating methods are used, and whaddayouknow...the dates correlate.
2. Of course Darwin had doubts. He was proposing a radical new hypothesis, some of the mechanisms of which he didn't fully understand. However, science has moved on a bit in the last 150 years (yes...really!). These mechanisms are now well understood and supported by mountains of evidence. On a secondary point, what does what Darwin thought matter? Unlike you fundies who base your total belief on an argument from authority, scientists use something called evidence. What Darwin thought is actually irrelevant to the theory as it stands. Bear in mind that Darwin
discovered evolution, he didn't
invent it.
3. Look up abiogenesis. Scientists don't fully understand the process yet, but they will. In any event, evolution deals with the diversity of life on Earth, not with its origin. God may have created the first life, who knows, but evolution explains how it got to where it is now. To reverse your silly argument. If something can't be created from nothing, what did god create everything from? What was god created from?
4. This question shows your utter lack of even a basic understanding of the ToE. If a dog gave birth to a rabbit, this would actually disprove evolution. Tiny changes occur to the genome of a species through mutation with each generation. Those that are selected as a better fit to the environment build up in the species. If species are isolated (though not necessarily), then eventually these changes accumulate until the separate populations can no longer interbreed. This is speciation and it has been observed. Over the vastness of geological time, these changes have led to the diversity of life we see today.
5. Classic argument from ignorance. Every proposed instance of irreducible complexity has been refuted. Also, if we are the product of design, why did the designer do such a shoddy job? The only mechanism that fully explains vestigial organs and crappy designs like the human skeleton or the eye is the ToE. The squid eye is very similar to the human eye, except it isn't wired back to front and doesn't therefore, have a blind spot. If your god had that design available, why did we end up with the flawed version?
6. The ignorance grows. Can you give any citation that apes, monkeys etc. haven't changed in the last half million years? No? Thought not. Evolution is a continuum, moving at different rates in different species, though always moving. All primates (including us) have evolved in that period and continue to evolve. Genetics and DNA studies clearly show divergence points to common ancestors.
7. Gradual of course. Dawkins, in one of his books, gives a very clear explanation of how a wing can evolve over time. The funny thing is that we can observe actual living animals today with all the different stages of wing development. (Hint...think of things that glide.)
If you truly wish to learn anything, then talkorigins is a good place to start. Rather than making yourself look stupid by regurgitating PRATTS, do some research. At the most basic, at least learn what the theory you are criticising actually says.
Alternatively, if your faith is so weak that you fear the onset of information, look up Morton's Demon.
