Why Do Evolutionist Debate?

[Warrior FC]

Originally posted by wildernesse
If the debate has nothing to do with salvation, why make the false dichotomy between Christians and people who accept evolution?

And, for what it's worth, humans are still classified as great apes/primates so I would say that man is still a "monkey". We weren't once chimps and now humans, but we do share a common ancestor in the past that was neither of those things.

Individual animals do not evolve--populations evolve. Who was the first person to speak French or Spanish? These are languages descended from Latin, yet no one woke up one day and decided to speak all on his own a new language. As populations of people were geographically separated, their language changed with them. Eventually French became a separate language from Latin and Spanish did likewise, but they share a common ancestor in Latin. Sometimes if you move out of the charged environment of biology , a concept is easier to grasp.

I'm sorry that I haven't responded more quickly to this topic, and now I have to refer everyone back to page 4, but I wanted to address your reply.

--tibac

Get a bible and read Genesis 11 and you shall see that everyone spoke the same language, then it was God that scattered them aboad on the earth and seperated the people and the languages!

 

 

[kern]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
What may I ask is that common ancestor?

I'm sorry that I don't know enough about evolution to answer your question here. One of the actual biologists on the message board can give you a better answer to this question. You might try talkorigins.org if you are interested in an answer (i.e. if this is not just leading up to some punchline where I am denounced as a heretic)

-Chris

 

[kern]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
Get a bible and read Genesis 11 and you shall see that everyone spoke the same language, then it was God that scattered them aboad on the earth and seperated the people and the languages!

 

Now wait, even if you believe in a literal Babel Tower story, French and Spanish still evolved from Latin. Every language in the world did not suddenly spring into existence at one time.

-Chris

 

[Warrior FC]

Agreed, that is why we also have slang words and so forth...But God did originally seperate the languages and also He has given His people a spiritual language called "tongues".

 

[wildernesse]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
Get a bible and read Genesis 11 and you shall see that everyone spoke the same language, then it was God that scattered them aboad on the earth and seperated the people and the languages!

 

Show me French as it existed prior to Latin. Why do we call those languages Romance languages because of their similarity to Latin? Or Germanic languages that include German, Dutch and English. Or Slavic languages like Russian and Croatian. Or we could look at the big picture and think about Proto-Indo-European and hundreds of languages around the world. The change from Latin to French (and other modern languages from ancient ones) is historically recorded--much like the fossil record records some biological evolution.

Let's take Old English for example. We do not speak this today and would not understand it if it were spoken and would have an amazingly difficult time reading it. We can see examples of it in writings from the post-Biblical past.

A descendant of this language is Middle English. We might recognize more vocabulary and phrasing in the written language, but it is still not modern English. A "mutation" of sorts occurred that we call the Great Vowel Shift and changed the way English was spoken. We modern speakers of English would have an incredibly hard time understanding spoken Middle English. Over time, our language had vocab/grammar deletions and insertions from the outside environment. Today, modern English is a completely different language than Old English--a descendant, if you would of that ancestor. We can see this in writings and poetry through history--where does Babel enter the picture?

--tibac

 

[wildernesse]

Originally posted by s0uljah
Assuming evolution is a Satanic lie for a moment, then don't you imagine that it also might be damaging to Christians?

Why would I assume that evolution is a Satanic lie? If you assume for a moment that Catholics worship Mary, then you can see why we shouldn't consider them Christians!

There is nothing Satanic in understanding that those populations of individuals who have traits that allow them to live long enough to reproduce will have their traits passed on to future generations and that over time traits that allow the best adaptation to the present environment may cause those populations to be significantly different from past populations.

--tibac

 

[Warrior FC]

Satan is the god of this world and if you are not born again (a new CREATION) than you don't understand or see (spititually speaking) and are under the power of satan and therefore you believe the lies he tells you to be truths or facts!

If evolution was NOT a tool of satan then "the theory of evolution" would glorify God and confirm creation rather than oppose it!

 

[Mechanical Bliss]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
If evolution was NOT a tool of satan then "the theory of evolution" would glorify God and confirm creation rather than oppose it!

How can a scientific theory glorify God when science does not deal with the supernatural?

I guess the theories of plate tectonics and gravitation are tools of Satan as well.

Some Christians DO interpret the theory of evolution as something that glorifies God because they believe the theory explains the complex way in which God created.

Evidently evolution neither "glorifies" nor "opposes" God. God's not in the picture here.

 

[Warrior FC]

Originally posted by Mechanical Bliss
How can a scientific theory glorify God when science does not deal with the supernatural?

I guess the theories of plate tectonics and gravitation are tools of Satan as well.

Some Christians DO interpret the theory of evolution as something that glorifies God because they believe the theory explains the complex way in which God created.

Evidently evolution neither "glorifies" nor "opposes" God. God's not in the picture here.

BINGO!....The last 6 words you just said is the problem!

 

[lithium.]

LOL you just don't get it do you? Evolution has nothing to do with god. It doesn't say there is a god or that there isn't. It only tells us how we got here.

 

[Mechanical Bliss]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
BINGO!....The last 6 words you just said is the problem!

No, that's not a problem. That's a fact of life, and it doesn't mean the theory of evolution is automatically false.

 

[Superman53142]

Originally posted by seesaw
LOL you just don't get it do you? Evolution has nothing to do with god. It doesn't say there is a god or that there isn't. It only tells us how we got here.

Bingo!!! He is a personal God; why do I need to worry about exactly how everything was created when I can rather spend my time learning how God works in my life!

 

[lithium.]

Originally posted by Superman53142
Bingo!!! He is a personal God; why do I need to worry about exactly how everything was created when I can rather spend my time learning how God works in my life!

You don't have to worry about it, but I do. I want to know how, when and why.

 

[Warrior FC]

Originally posted by Mechanical Bliss
No, that's not a problem. That's a fact of life, and it doesn't mean the theory of evolution is automatically false.

It all comes down to what one BELIEVES! And whether ayone wants to admit it or not, both sides in this debate are using FAITH to justify what they BELIEVE to be truth.

Evolutionists have FAITH in Science and what scientists have determined and Creationists have FAITH in God and what He has given us in the bible to be the truth!

Evolution has absolutely nothing to offer anyone here on this planet but a theory to spread to others and pass on, but God as our CREATOR has eternal life and everlating peace to offer everyone!

 

[lithium.]

Evolutionists have FAITH in Science and what scientists have determined and Creationists have FAITH in God and what He has given us in the bible to be the truth!

Come on we don't just use faith we have evidence backing up what we believe. There is no real evidence for christian god or any god.

Evolution has absolutely nothing to offer anyone here on this planet but a theory to spread to others and pass on, but God as our CREATOR has eternal life and everlating peace to offer everyone!

You may believe that but I don't.

 

[Mechanical Bliss]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
It all comes down to what one BELIEVES! And whether ayone wants to admit it or not, both sides in this debate are using FAITH to justify what they BELIEVE to be truth.

Evolutionists have FAITH in Science and what scientists have determined and Creationists have FAITH in God and what He has given us in the bible to be the truth!

Evolution has absolutely nothing to offer anyone here on this planet but a theory to spread to others and pass on, but God as our CREATOR has eternal life and everlating peace to offer everyone!

Yawn...

You didn't even answer my post. You just cross-posted by copying and pasting.

It is a fact that science, in general, does not address the existence of God because the supernatural is not in the realm of science. That does not mean the theory of evolution is automatically false, plain and simple.

AGAIN: just because the theory of evolution has nothing to "offer" with respect to the afterlife, does NOT make it false by any stretch of the imagination. What it has to "offer" is the best explanation of all observable evidence of the diversity of species.

 

[lucaspa]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
Why do evolutionist debate to try and prove their belief of evolution?

Christians debate and try and prove their belief of creation because they hunger for others to believe and have a relationship with God which will lead then to to eternal life!
...
Can any evolutionists here explain the importance of getting others to believe in evolution along with you?... What benefit will be gained by believing in evolution?... What do evolutionists have to offer?

First, evolution is not a belief. There are evolutionists who are theists, evolutionists who are agnostics, and evolutionists who are atheists.  There is even an organization of scientists (all evolutionists) who are also ministers.

Now, you second sentence reveals the tragic logical mistake of creationists.  You have said you debate creation (creationism) because you want people to believe in and have a relationship with God.  Don't you see what you have done? You have tied a testable, falsifiable scientific theory (creationism) to the untestable statements of ultimate meaning that there is a god and that you can have a relationship with it and get eternal life!!  IOW, if God didn't create the way you say, then God doesn't exist.  See how silly that is.

God creating through evolution exists and can offer you all the same benefits as God creating by zapping species into existence.

Now, why do I debate?
1. I don't like seeing anyone get conned by the con artists that are professional creationists.
2. I love my profession and want to share it with people.
3.  I want people to understand what science really is and not what the extremes of creationism and militant atheism say science is.

How does evolution benefit people? Not spiritually, because evolution has nothing to do with spirituality.  Truth is always a benefit.  As a "benefit", consider that all the medical advances of the past 50 years could not have happened if evolution were not true. Think about that the next time you take a drug (even Tylenol) or have surgery.

 

[Warrior FC]

Then we are to throw away the bible?

Because there is no evoluional evidence in the bible!

The book of Genesis in the bible is all pointing at CREATION (God is a CREATOR, not an evolver)

If evolution was evident, then there would be no reason to debate about it!

 

[Humanista]

Originally posted by Warrior FC
BINGO!....The last 6 words you just said is the problem!

"God's not in the picture" is the quote you are referring to.

Reminds me of a guy--a evangelical Christian---who claimed that any activity, thought or action that did not relate to God was atheistic. Therefore, going to the bathroom was atheistic. Children at recess in school were participating in an atheist activity if they were not thinking about God or relating to God. Any conversation that didn't mention GOd was an atheist conversation.

It is carrying atheism-phobia to a ridiculous degree.

 

[seebs]

I see, so, this guy believed in the Big Voyeur In The Sky, then?