I refuse to accept palaeontologists have discovered any transitional fossils between complex invertebrates and fish, and this destroys the whole evolutionary story in my own mind.
Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution
by dubstepped 340 Replies latest jw friends
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2+2=5
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WhatshallIcallmyself
Fisherman -
Every extant species is transitional and every extinct species was transitional. Fish and all 'complex invertebrates' share a common ancestor.
Those are just 2 obvious responses to 2 of your more obvious 'misunderstandings' from your recent posts that prove you do not understand what you are writing about.
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Searril
I'm interested in how you reconcile the two.
I don't believe the creation account in Genesis is to be taken literally. Actually, I believe a great many things in the old Hebrew scriptures were not literal but rather allegorical in nature (many Jews believe the same).
For a time I had considered atheism, but in the end I simply found it to be too irrational. I believe the evidence for evolution is clear, but I find it too irrational to believe that the initial building blocks weren't put into motion by something intelligent.
I have considered the whole "so doesn't that mean that a god would've needed a creator too" thing, and I don't discount the merit of that question at all. If God exists then his nature is outside the scope of what I can readily describe so I can't know if such a question would even pertain to his "form of life" (for lack of a better term). So it's not that I discount the question. It is a very valid question. I simply don't know and I don't know how I could ever possibly know.
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Searril
(Disclaimer, I haven't read what's on this page in at least a few years)
A fellow by the name of John Clayton who travels and discusses origins and Christians who believe in evolution. I attended one of his programs locally and then we actually went out to dinner and talked for a few hours.
Again, I don't know what stuff he publishes on this site, but I know in speaking to him personally that I believe he is on the right track. My only real issue was that he wasn't willing to go "far enough" on certain things (local flood vs global flood, vestigial traits in humans, etc). He may not post some of the more difficult to accept things publicly as a lot of older Christians simply can't emotionally handle certain things that are contrary to what they've always been taught, so that's why I say I'm not sure what he does or doesn't post publicly on his site.
Anyway, gotta run for now.
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cofty
Thanks Searill. The question of origins is interesting. I suspect that when we know the answer for sure we will find that life is as inevitable as a rock rolling down a hill. Jeremy England is doing interesting work on this from the perspective of physics and entropy.
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Driveby
I don't believe the creation account in Genesis is to be taken literally.
Or to be taken seriously. Creationism is a belief based upon faith. Evolution is a theory based upon evidence.
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DesirousOfChange
As an engineer trained to evaluate systems within systems within systems, whose functions are complementary and contribute to a complex array of diverse cooperative functions, the design of all life on Planet Earth is found to be incredibly complicated. The thought that all of this beautiful, productive life which covers the Planet just came into existence without an extremely intelligent guiding hand is incomprehensible.
Who designed/provided the "extremely intelligent guiding hand" (or the "individual creature" who has the arm with said hand)? If that is "God", who "created" God? How did "God" evolve? Or, is "God" too complicated to have evolved without an more intelligent guiding hand?
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Fred Franztone
I've noticed that engineers have a propensity to belief in quackery.
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ttdtt
Fisherman - EVERY species is a transient species.
That's what evolution is about.
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Old Navy
Quote from Desirous of Change:
Who designed/provided the "extremely intelligent guiding hand" (or the "individual creature" who has the arm with said hand)? If that is "God", who "created" God? How did "God" evolve? Or, is "God" too complicated to have evolved without an more intelligent guiding hand?
There are things outside our Physical Realm which are impossible for us to comprehend. How can we possibly comprehend a God who has always been and will always be? In our Physical Realm we see all life as having a beginning and an apparent end. We see things wear out and nothing is able to last for a long time without some deterioration. That is our present reality.
However, when examining all of the evidence regarding life and how it is sustained within its limits, one sees many wondrous things which are very complex, very ordered and very precise. How is it that our eyes are able to convert images into electrical impulses and apply them to the proper areas of the brain to enable us to "see?" Just one example of superior design and implementation of systems integration. There are thousands of other equally mysterious examples which take place in our bodies continuously for the duration of our lives. Processes which we, even with our great intelligence, are simply unable to synthesize.
How are we able to wonder about such things as the questions you have asked? We were obviously given amazing thinking abilities by someone. And so much more.