by IronGland 184 Replies latest jw friends
Here's a question about evolution I don't understand:
If it's "survival of the fittest", and we came from apes, then why the hell are there still apes around today? Where's all the "ape men"?? Since ape men were supposedly farther up the food chain than apes, there should be no apes today, but various forms of ape men........some more ape than men, some more men than ape.
Never could figure that one out
Rem said, "Remember, most, if not all, of us were creationists before doing the research and seeing the problems with the bible creation story and the explanitory power of the evolutionary model."
For anyone who wants to do a little "research" check this website out:
www.origins.org
Fell and Landed
Mary,
That is a good question and one that I had before I studied about Evolution. The thing is is that what you just asked is a misconception of Evolution. Evolution does not say we came from modern apes or monkeys at all. Evolution only says that modern apes and man have a common ancestor. That's a big difference. Apes evolved from one branch of this common ancestor and humans evolved from a different branch until we have what we see today: Modern apes and humans living side by side. But notice, that our ancient, common ancestor no longer exists.
rem
Parousia,
Yes, in the spirit of Proverbs 18:17, I would recommend anyone who is interested to do research on both sides of the issue. The problem is that many people only research the side that is comfortable to them (creation, intelligent design) and don't honestly look at the other side and the counter arguments.
rem
Rem said: ".....Evolution only says that modern apes and man have a common ancestor......"
So where's the fossils for this 'common ancestor'? Is this verifiable, or just heresay?
Mary, we (humans) share a common ancestor with the various primates that are around today,as we do with every other living thing if you go back far enough. We did not descend from chimps,gorillas, etc.
Rem,
My question was why did there have to be poisonous snakes at all? The non-poisonous ones do quite well without being poisonous! They have no problem getting prey. Why couldn't all snakes be non-poisonous?
You state: "The AIDS virus is just like any other virus..a bit of DNA that uses a host to reproduce. Unfortunately, some viruses do nasty things to their hosts"
How is that answer any more satisfying than those who believe in God? They say that all the horrible things happen as a result of the fall. You say things evolved that way. However you look at it, that's the way things are whether we like it or not, whether we blame God or not, whether they evolved that way or not, whether we understand why or not.
Mary,
This is verifiable through DNA. Humans and Chimpanzees share over 98% of the same genes - including junk DNA. In addition there are fossil remains of ancient chimp and human-like creatures. The further down in the strata, the older the fossils. At a certain point (around 5 to 7 million years) down in the strata only the common ancestor is found. You can get more information on human evolution and our relationship to modern apes through a book that deals specifically with this subject, or search on talk-origins for information on human evolution. Talk origins is an archive of a lot of good information about evolutionary theory from scientists. Much of the material is explained in a way that laymen can understand.
rem
Edited by - rem on 1 November 2002 20:47:36
Kennesen,
Because your way makes god look like a deadbeat dad and the evolutionary way is just the way things are without some omni-benevolent being looking over us. See? One makes perfect sense... the other brings up serious questions about the personality of this supposed creator.
Regarding AIDS: To say that AIDS is one of god's creations might lead to an apathy in trying to fight it. If god made it, then there must be a reason for it. With Evolution, we can find ways to combat AIDS because it is just a virus just like any other. It wasn't specially created by god to punish certain people or to satiate his craving for human suffering. It just is. Through evolution we can understand how it developed and exploit it or learn how to prevent future viruses as dangerous as AIDS from developing.
Snakes developed venom because it was advantageous for them to do so. It helped them exploit their environmental niche better. Sure, snakes were doing fine before venom, but when venom appeared, there was a clear advantage. Natural Selection exploited that advantage. There doesn't have to be a why... it just happened that way. There didn't have to be venomous snakes. If everything were to start from scratch, maybe there wouldn't be any venomous snakes next time. Heck, maybe there wouldn't even be any snakes!
rem
Edited by - rem on 1 November 2002 20:46:52
I have noted here previously that in the fight between science and religion that religion has NEVER won an argument.
I predict that, sooner or later, religion is going to lose this argument too.
And in the end, the final answers will not contradict science, nor will they insult religion.
God is ONE.
You hide and watch and see.
francois
