Questions for an Evolutionist

[Iris Paint]

Hello I am a Christian and I am from a conservative and mainstream church.

I am, an evolutionist, as well as an orthodox Christian. Unlike many professing Christians ( in Singapore at least) , I do not agree that evolution is ''anti-Bible''. In the following paragraphs, I will illustrate why faith in God does not compromise an acceptance of evolution, and why neither does evolution ''disproves'' God. I will address your questions one by one. Each paragraph for one question.

1) -Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

Yes I believe in God. The personal God of the Bible. I believe in the Bible's inerrancy and after careful research, I am convinced that the Theory of Evolution does not conflict with the Bible. Superficially yes, there seem to be ''contradictions'', but under sustained reflection, these supposed ''contradictions'' fade away.

2)How do you think the universe began?

I do not know with absolute certainty ( indeed, its not the role of science to proclaim absolute truth). The Big Bang Theory is very plausible. The Big Bang Theory is the most well supported concept in scientific circles. There is a lot of evidence for it, for example, red shift, the background radiation in the universe, etc. Its not easy to elaborate here. Some may argue that the Big Bang theory disproves God, since the Big Bang has replaced God as the Cause of the universe. I disagree. There is a flaw in their reasoning, due to lack of philosophical inclination. The Big Bang is simply a key event in a process which resulted in the universe we see today. It is logically possible for God to use the Big Bang to create our universe. The Bible merely acknowledged God as the Creator. It does not include details on how the universe is created. The Bible only included details on who created it.

3)How do you think life originated?

I think life originated from complex amino acids formed in the primordial days of the Earth. These amino acids form the basic building blocks of the carbon-based lifeforms we see today. They gradually form simple organisms, like bacteria, which then gradually evolved to flora and fauna. I am using very layman language, because I need to convey some pretty difficult concepts and if I use ''chim'' words, I'm afraid that I am incapable of conveying these concepts.

4)-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

In living things there is genes, which are subject to mutations, some of which are good and bad. There are 3 main processes. Natural selection, sexual selection and genetic drift. Please Google to find out more. Once again, its hard to elaborate a massive topic like evolution on forums like this. I recommend you do research on evolution, before doubting evolution. The evidence for evolution is tremendous.
5)
The Earth is roughly 4.6 Billion years old, which is established by consensus from many different fields of science, which are all independent of each other. Radiometric dating places the age of the Earth at roughly that time. This is merely one of the ways science has established this consensus. Once again, I beg you to do an honest research. Try to avoid biased websites, such as Answersingenesis or New Atheist's websites. I recommend objective sources that are free of religious (or anti-religious) bias.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?
I do not believe nor disbelieve. It is a possibility that there are other sentient races out there. Likewise. it is also a possibility that they do not exist. I will not make a stand on this, as this question is irrelevant to the issue of the evolution-vs-creationism debate.

Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Logically yes. I do not know what is the end result. Likewise, the question of ''what the end result is'' is not a relevant question in the evolution-creationism debate. Whether we know what the end result is or not, does not prove nor disprove evolution. The evidence for evolution rests in archaeology, biology , and paleontology ( as well as numerous other fields such as biogeography and evolutionary biology).


Do you believe in life after death? Explain


Yes I do. As a Bible believing Christian, I believe that we have a spiritual side as well, that does not die. A materialist, would assert that there is nothing beyond the natural laws. However, a theist like me believes in an afterlife.

How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

They don't. Evolution, like all other fields of science, does not make any pronouncements on issues like morality, philosophy, purpose. Science does not even propose an answer. When people claim ''evolutionary mutations is random and thus evolution disproves God, because God gives people a purpose'', they are making a mistake. These people misunderstand scientific methodology and have poor philosophical reasoning. The word ''random'' in science means ''unpredictable'', not ''purposeless''. Something can be unpredictable in nature, but it can have a purpose. A child may see a computer as a grandly unpredictable machine, as the child may not understand how the computer functions, but the computer, in truth, has a purpose, which is to provide people with the internet, socialising, information gathering etc. As you can see, evolution may be unpredictable, but it can have purpose. Is it not highly possible that God used evolution as a process with the purpose of creating humanity at a certain point at evolution?

Thank you.

he

 

[jayem]

My beliefs are similar to others, but I'll just expand on a few points.

Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

I'm a naturalist. I don't believe in anything supernatural, including gods.

How do you think the universe began?

I rather like the cyclic theories of the universe. The matter comprising the universe has always existed, and undergoes continuing cycles of expansion and contraction.

-How do you think life originated?

By natural chemical processes, of course. Ultimately, it resulted from the random circumstances by which the Earth appeared. But given our planet's physiochemical characteristics, I think the eventual appearance of life was inevitable.

Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?

It is almost certain that other planets support some variety of life. But it is extremely unlikely that such life has visited our planet.

Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Evolution is always ongoing. Its only result is to favor whatever traits allow an organism to reproduce within its environmental niche. From what we know of paleontology, environmental change will eventually overtake a species' ability to evolve, and it will go extinct. Unless we leave the planet, Homo sapiens will be no exception.

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

Thank-you so much!

Well that was anticlimactic.

Very!

Yeesh, that was literally NatDearborn's third ever post - try being a little nicer chaps. She's not here to satisfy your urge for pwning n00bs.

 

[Cute Tink]

Yeesh, that was literally NatDearborn's third ever post - try being a little nicer chaps. She's not here to satisfy your urge for pwning n00bs.

I think many of us have gotten a little jaded (including me). It's nice when someone is actually just honestly curious.

 

[46AND2]

Yeesh, that was literally NatDearborn's third ever post - try being a little nicer chaps. She's not here to satisfy your urge for pwning n00bs.

It's not about pwning n00bs.

The reason I spent 10-15 minutes or so on my answer was because the OP seemed fairly genuine about wanting to hear about the other side of the issue, and perhaps wanted to engage in some kind of discussion about the answers she received. It's nice to discuss these things with someone who can look at them objectively.

Plus, I don't think my comment was unkind. I was just expressing my disappointment that a discussion did not flesh out.

 

[CabVet]

It's not about pwning n00bs.

The reason I spent 10-15 minutes or so on my answer was because the OP seemed fairly genuine about wanting to hear about the other side of the issue, and perhaps wanted to engage in some kind of discussion about the answers she received. It's nice to discuss these things with someone who can look at them objectively.

Plus, I don't think my comment was unkind. I was just expressing my disappointment that a discussion did not flesh out.

+1

 

[dgiharris]

...
-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view..

Absolutely, I believe in a being that created "this" universe.

-How do you think the universe began?

Big bang theory is the one I subscribe to. Note, this is just an explanation of how God created the universe. Just because you can explain "how" and "what" God did does not negate the existence of God.

-How do you think life originated?
.

Abiogenesis.

THe universe that God has created works in a logical manner (albeit that logic is very complicated and it has taken man thousands of years just to decipher a fraction of that logical manner) There is no reason to suspect that the being who created this universe-- a universe that subscribes to rules of mathematics and logic -- would deviate from this to also create life.

For an omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal being, taking a few billion years to create life would be a non-issue...

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

Darwinism and Evolution.

-How old do you think the earth is and why?

4 or 5 billion years old as supported by separate scientific sources. Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Chemistry, Geology, to name a few. The fact that so many "different" sciences independently produce models (or pieces of models) that arrive at the same conclusion goes a long ways towards proving the validity of that age.

...
-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?.

There are billions of galaxies and bazillions of stars and bazillion-zillions of planets. It is the height of hubris to think that we on Earth are the only life out there.

are there aliens out there? Absolutely.

Are there Star Trek and Star Wars type galactic civilizations out there? Probably, however their life spans as measured on a galactic timescale would be the blink of an eye. Its doubtful that a civilization can last more than a hundred thousand years before it collapses. (Read Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series )

Do I believe in the existence of UFO's. Absolutely, there are tons of unexplained phenomena that can produce light shows in the sky.

Do I believe said UFO's are aliens (like the movies)? Absolutely NOT!!! It is highly doubtful aliens have ever visited us. A belief in this sort of UFO fancy requires a belief that we human beings are "special" and that is just not true. Aliens advanced enough to visit our planet would view us as lower lifeforms and have no need to be so "secretive". Using simple logic, you can conclude that if aliens did in fact ever visit us, they'd enslave us. (see historical accounts of when an advanced civilization crosses path with a primitive one). Or at the very least, there would be evidence left behind. I mean, do we bother to conceal evidence when we are filming gorillas in Africa???

...
-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Of course, why would evolution stop? For us human beings, I believe we will eventually evolve to a transhuman state where we merge with machinery or alter our genes or biology to suit our future needs and desires. There are a ton of Science Fiction books that do a decent job painting plausible futures. Truth be told, we are still fairly "young" technologically speaking. Think of where we were 2000 years ago, 1000 years ago, 500 years ago, 200 years ago, 100 years ago, 50 years ago, and now...

I wish I could have been born 300 years from now. In the year 2313, they will regard us 21st century types as little more than cavemen

...
-Do you believe in life after death? Explain.

This is an interesting topic. I believe that there is life after death however I'm not sure i'm sold on the popular belief of the pearly gate and laying on a cloud strumming a harp...

There are some principles/theories in quantum physics that show that information and observation can alter the physical universe. There are also some theories that propose that information in the form of energy imprints itself on the universe. There are also some more theories that propose that human consciousness may be thought of as an energy/information matrix...

I know I may be sounding "out there" but I believe that truth is truth. And I believe that science and religion (religion in the form of belief in a supreme being or creator) will eventually merge in a way that does not conflict.

For example, lets say that our consciousness i.e. "soul" is an energy matrix that "somehow" imprints itself on the universe... The universe will eventually collapse back in on itself. All the various energy matrices become "one" and thus we are united with our creator...

Now to be clear, that is "not" my belief but just an example of how science and religion could come together without any real contradictions...

Anyways, I do believe in God but I've always had a problem with the interpretations of the bible. I don't care how you slice it, the bible was written by man and man has a really bad habit of injecting his own beliefs into whatever he is doing...

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?
-I would also like to hear any other comments you may have about your beliefs.

Ultimately, I feel that truth is truth. All science does is attempt to explain what God did. That's all. Science is not trying to "replace" God so I've never understood why religious people fear science so much?

My beliefs would best be characterized as a person who believes in God but is wary of the biblical interpretations of other human beings to include the writing of the bible. This presents a bit of a paradox since the bible is supposed to be the authority on governing our relationship with God.

I also believe that mankind is really nothing all that special. I mean, we are just one lifeform out of who knows how many...

 

[Pwnzerfaust]

I'm late to the party, but here are my answers nonetheless.

I am very curious about what evolutionists believe. Here are some questions.

However, before I answer, lemme state first that "evolutionist" isn't really a very good term. It frames it like... Well, frankly, like a religion, which it most emphatically is not. I am no more an evolutionist than I am a gravitationist or atomicist. I simply accept the facts demonstrated by what we know about the universe thus far.

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

No, but I'm not completely closed to the possibility. I would need to see some strong evidence in favor, however.

-How do you think the universe began?

Cosmological data shows that the universe as we know it began about 13.7 billion years ago in an expansion from a singularity commonly known as the Big Bang. That is the explanation that best fits all available data for now, and thus it is what I "believe".

-How do you think life originated?

There are a number of possibilities. The most likely at the moment seems to be that amino acids formed during Earth's early years eventually formed proteins, then RNA, which then eventually led to DNA. This is an incredibly simplified explanation, of course; if you want more information, I recommend taking a look here.

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

Random mutations can cause deleterious, beneficial, or neutral changes in an organism. Sometimes, a mutation that is neutral at first can be beneficial or harmful when combined with other mutations, or when the organism's environment changes; the same can be said for initially beneficial or deleterious mutations. Over time--on the order of hundreds of millions of years--these mutations add up, coupled with selective pressures from predation, environment, etc.

-How old do you think the earth is and why?

The most recent data shoes the Earth to be about 4.54 billion years old, slightly younger than the sun. Dating of the earliest materials in the solar system, along with slightly younger material on those parts of the Earth fortunate enough to have never been a part of the mantle, give these dates. The methods used for dates of this longevity are typically lead-lead dating and uranium-lead dating, along with a number of others, and they are cross-checked against each other to ensure maximum accuracy and precision.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?

Given the abundance of planets orbiting other stars, I would be much more surprised to find that there is no life than that there is. I do indeed think there is life on other planets. Whether it is complex or intelligent, or even recognizable as life by our standards, remains to be seen. I do not believe we have been privy to alien visitors, though.

-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Of course it is. And there is no "end result". Evolution happens; it has no goal.

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain

No. Our consciousness is merely the manifestation of the electrochemical processes in our brain. End the brain, end the consciousness.

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

It makes me recognize that we have a single life to live, and we should make the absolute best of it. It makes me want to leave the planet a better place than I found it, and to contribute in whatever small way I can to humanity's continued advancement and betterment.

 

[Naraoia]

I am very curious about what evolutionists believe. Here are some questions.

And here's some more answers

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

Short answer: no. Long answer: when I was little, I believed in all kinds of supernatural stuff. Like, everything from feng shui through ghosts to faith healing. I even tried telekinesis. At one time I really wanted to believe in God.

All of that stopped when the power of wishful thinking dawned on me. Since then, I've tried not to believe anything I couldn't verify with evidence outside my own head.

-How do you think the universe began?

I don't think anyone knows. Cosmology and theoretical physics have discovered a great deal about what happened since the universe began (big bang, inflation and all that jazz), but AFAIK the currently known laws of physics still break down at the very beginning. I can't wait till someone figures out quantum gravity...

(Disclaimer: I'm a biologist. The last time I studied actual physics was about ten years ago.)

-How do you think life originated?

I don't think anyone will ever know precisely how life originated. The origin of life is pretty much impossible to preserve in the fossil record. The best we can do is learn about the conditions on the early earth, explore the relevant chemistry, and come up with ways life on earth could have originated.

I love the RNA world hypothesis myself, but I'm not at all sure whether I should think it was how life began, or if even RNA-based genomes had predecessors.

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

That there is a question that one could only answer properly by writing a book

-How old do you think the earth is and why?

4.5 billion years, give or take. Add together the oldest dated materials in the solar system (meteorites), and the oldest dated materials from earth itself, and we have a good bracket on earth's age. The fact that many such dates can be confirmed by several different dating methods (see meteorite link for examples), I think they are pretty solid.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?

I don't "believe" in extraterrestrial life. I think it's likely to exist, I even hope it exists (in many ways, aliens would be an evolutionary biologist's wet dream!) However, if someone asked me whether ET life existed, I would have to answer "I don't know".

What I pretty firmly disbelieve is that it has visited earth

-Is evolution still happening,

Of course. Literally all that is needed for evolution is organisms that make imperfect copies of themselves. Evolution won't stop unless all life goes extinct.

...and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

There is no "end result" in evolution, unless you count extinction. Evolution is not going "somewhere". It can't think of the future (in fact, it can't think at all), it has no goals, it just happens.

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain

Not in the religious sense. But of course there will be life after I die. It just won't be mine.

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

Reason and science has no business meddling with your sense of purpose, I think. Finding meaning in life is a deeply emotional thing, whereas my views about origins are, or should be, scientific. That's not saying science is free of emotion or that my scientific views don't influence how I feel about certain things - but just because I don't believe in immortal souls and I think the universe is an unfeeling and meaningless place doesn't mean my life doesn't have a purpose to me.

This issue seems hard for many believers to fathom, so I hope I managed to explain a nonbeliever's perspective reasonably well

 

[Tolerant Skeptic]

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.: Thankfully I do not. I see no evidence for the existence of a deity and find the existence of one to simply be adding needless complexity to the matter.

-How do you think the universe began?: I certainly believe in the occurrence of the Big Bang. However, the precise cosmological model is one that is still certainly of great debate. In the past, I generally adhered to the Steinhardt-Turok model, though new evidence appears as though it may render that theory obsolete. Treating the universe as a biological organism that undergoes a form of cosmic natural selection that best allows it to form black holes and result in a "birthing process" if you will of other universes has gained some attention lately, and I do believe it deserves much of that attention.

-How do you think life originated?: Abiogenesis

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.: Natural selection

-How old do you think the earth is and why?: The scientific community has estimated it to be approximately 4.54 billion years old

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?: The belief that we are the only living things in the universe is quite absurd, and the probability of that being the case is next to nonexistent. However, planets with a climate suitable of developing life are exceptionally rare, and the chance of it actually developing on such a planet possibly even rarer. The chances of meeting extraterrestrial life anytime soon are almost nonexistent.

-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?: It most certainly is still happening, and will continue to occur until life ceases to exist.

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain: No, there is no evidence and it adds needless complexity.

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?: There is no objective purpose to life. I find that to be one of the single most beautiful things in the universe. I would say life is like a blank canvas, but that analogy suffers from far too much limitation in what it can offer. We alone are to decide what are purpose is in life, if we even wish to have any at all. This ultimate power being vested in the individual inspires my strongly individualistic philosophical approach to matters, and has shaped numerous of my ethical and political beliefs.

 

[Strathos]

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

Yes. God exists, He created the universe, and He sent Christ to Earth to die for our sins. However much of what is recorded in the Bible is metaphor or has been corrupted and distorted by humans over the milennia.

-How do you think the universe began?

In the Big Bang, which was either set off by God, or arose from some process that was put in place by God.

-How do you think life originated?

I don't know. But God planned for it to happen.

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

Via the combination of mutation and natural selection.

-How old do you think the earth is and why?

Over 4.5 billion years old, due to radiometric data and other scientific evidence.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?

I believe there are flying objects which people have been unable to identify, but I don't believe they are alien spaceships. As for life on other planets, I have no idea. No one will ever know unless we find some.

-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Yes. There is no "end result", evolution doesn't have a purpose or goals, life just adapts to its environment.

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain

Yes. I believe in Heaven and follow an interpretation of Scripture that implies there is no eternal Hell, but sinners die and their souls cease to exist.

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

They don't, in any notable way.

-I would also like to hear any other comments you may have about your beliefs.

Many Christians consider my beliefs heretical, but there are so many different varieties of Christian belief, I don't think mine are that odd.

 

[troodon]

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.
Yes, I believe in God and consider myself to be a Christian

-How do you think the universe began?
I believe that God created it >13 billion years ago

-How do you think life originated?
Abiogenetically

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.
By a process of natural selection operating on genetic variation.

-How old do you think the earth is and why?
~4.5 billion years old, because that's what the radioactive isotopes tell us.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?
I believe there's probably life on other planets. Intelligent life I'm much less sure about, because I find the Fermi paradox to be fairly convincing. I don't believe aliens are visiting earth, and I have no reason to think they ever have.

-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?
Evolution is still occurring and there is no way to guess how it will operate.

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain
I believe that something happens, but I don't pretend to know what. Hopefully it'll be nice!

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?
Well I am making a career out of my belief in evolution, so it obviously gives me my professional purpose in life.

 

[And-U-Say]

I am very curious about what evolutionists believe. Here are some questions.

-Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view.

For along time I did believe in god. Quite fervently. But then I looked at the evidence (odd that christianity never wants you to look at the evidence] and saw that there was not evidence. So I now don't believe in god because that is what the evidence indicates.

-How do you think the universe began?

The "Big Bang" because that is what the evidence indicates.

-How do you think life originated?

Abiogenesis because that is what the evidence indicates.

-Explain how you think life forms evolved.

Evolution because that is what the evidence indicates.

-How old do you think the earth is and why?

About 4.5 billion years because that is what the evidence indicates.

-Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, and UFOs?

There is no evidence for life on other planets, but our knowledge of Chemistry and Astronomy suggests that there are planets out there with the right conditions and thus may well have life. These will probably be pretty rare. Although intelligent life is certainly possible and even likely, I doubt that aliens (what you mean by UFOs) have visited earth.

-Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result?

Yes. Evolution does not have a direction, and thus, there is no "end result".

-Do you believe in life after death? Explain

No. All evidence clearly points to the physical brain as the source of all consciousness. When the brain goes, everything you are goes.

-How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

I create my own purpose. All of us do. I really don't want myths to be a part of that process.

-I would also like to hear any other comments you may have about your beliefs.

"Money is not the root of all evil. Power is not the root of all evil. The root of all evil is believing what you want to believe rather than believing what is true."