Does Evolution Scare You?

I am wondering, is the reason that one does not accept something such as the theory of evolution because they truly do not believe in the science behind it? Or simply because it contradicts what you have been brought up to believe?

Science and religion are not compatible. At least, not at the fundamental level. If the scientific theory of evolution is to be refuted so adamantly by the religious because of a 'lack of evidence' and the supposed incredulous nature of the idea, why then, accept any findings from science?

i.e.

The theory of gravity
The theory of general relativity
The theory of special relativity
String theory

Some may say these are common sense with verifiable evidence but, using the same logic, one must also see that the theory of evolution is just as viable as the others.

It is obvious that the religious pick and choose what they would like to believe in order to best corroborate their beliefs and when their are obvious facts which can not be explained away, they say that the original message was not to be taken literally.

An analogous example would be one believing that the Earth is flat because it was said to be so by "god" in some ancient text in which the person has believed all of their life and then after it being scientifically proven that the Earth is actually a sphere, the person refuses to believe it just because it would contradict the so called "word of god" that was instilled in them since childhood.

Basically, what I am getting at is the question..

Why pick and choose? It seems logical, at least to a mind with common sense and reason, that facts are made of observable evidence. So, choosing to completely negate something so feasible as evolution and instead, having faith in an ancient teaching which has itself, changed over thousands of years, seems so counter intuitive.

In my opinion, if you don't want to believe in science then you should go pray for the rest of your days and leave the advanced, technological and scientific world to continue to thrive and grow on its own. I feel that religion only hinders the progress of discovery and change.


Also, in advance, for those who are going to respond with, "show me what PROOF you have for evolution!1!1"
I am not trying to prove anything. I am trying to find the logic behind why one would choose to believe in something that has far less evidence to support it than the one which logically seems to make sense based on the evidence we have found for it so far.

My grandmother was one of those god type people but she thought that the bible was just a guide on how to live your life etc... And thought everything should be taken with a pinch of salt.
She was certain in her own mind that Jesus was the son of this being but she was born almost 90 years ago and things were different back then but i always had a lot more respect for her views over say the views of the guy in my avatar who would probably end up in care in the uk, if he started saying the world is only 4000 years old in public.

I'm scared of religion. It just makes so much fuss for everyone involved; trying to convert each other, fighting and praying is just too much hassle.

Originally posted by xxblackoctoberxx
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Also, in advance, for those who are going to respond with, "show me what PROOF you have for evolution!1!1"
I am not trying to prove anything. I am trying to find the logic behind why one would choose to believe in something that has far less evidence to support it than the one which logically seems to make sense based on the evidence we have found for it so far.

Because it is so wonderfully SIMPLE to say "hey, its created by God, because it says so in the bible.".
Thats a nice example for a circular reasoning and not a forceful argument.
Whenever someone tries to look behind the curtains of an incident like "what the $%$ is this loud sound coming from the sky and why does it always happen when a lightning strikes? Is it really Zeus' fury?" - there we go into unchartered territories. And exploring is hard work.

Compared to "its written therefore everything is explained" - well, the second way is much easier. Although less rational.

Lack of evidence to support evolution say the Faithful? I'd say there is PLENTY of evidence! Because dinosaurs were not in the Bible, does that mean they did not exist? The Christian argument against the evolution of dinosaurs is that there would have to have been millions of different animals on the earth at this time when they roamed, yet there is no evidence. Well, there IS evidence, there are thousands of samples and examples of prehistoric life. The conditions for fossil creation have to be just-so, otherwise they get lost to the earth and return whence it came. To nix all evidence and theory because every single possible fossil has not been found to support evidence of all these different species is short sighted.
Religion on the other hand... *grumbles shiftily* There's so much more evidence to suggest evolution is real and is happening than evidence of there being a God/s

Evolution and science do not scare me. I know and believe evolution to be real, from what I have learnt and what I personally believe.
Evolution is an exciting possibility. While I know I will never live to see the next evolutionary stage for man kind, I am always eager to consider what the next step might be.

Originally posted by BigBruddah
I'm scared of religion. It just makes so much fuss for everyone involved; trying to convert each other, fighting and praying is just too much hassle.

You should be scared of religion, according to writer Dave Barry:

“The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes.”

True......so true.

Or perhaps the renowned French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) is more your cup of tea:

“For seventeen hundred years the Christian sect has done nothing but harm”

It's too easy to take a mulligan and say that "god did it."

People have to learn to take responsibility for themselves first, THEN go looking for who, what, when, where and why. Evolution has a mountain of evidence in support for it and it is ever growing. However the thiest has been indoctrinated or "trained" to resist common sense, logical arguments and generally any intuitive thought what so ever in favor of a fantastic story that must be true because your mother, father or pastor said so.

I wish everything worked that way, then we would be millionaires as much as my parents talked about wanted to win the lotto. But realistically, that just isn't going to happen given the scientific odds of the game.

I guess "god did it"; made me not win the lotto that is, it has nothing to do with me playing, that would be silly.

King

Evolution or Alien Ancestry is ok with me!

Religion (Its, power, influence and control) we all should fear for it is this very thing that threatens humanity and its existence.

Those who live in the realms of reality vs Those that dont (religious nuts)

Hi everybody...

I'm a Christian...yup, believe in God and Jesus....and natural selection... Darwin's theories which have been twisted out of context.

The Bible does NOT say the world is 6,000 or 4,000 years old. It DOES refer to and describe an animal in the book of Job that sounds a lot like a dinosaur...not an elephant or a hippo, but a dinosaur.

In the field of archeology and anthropology and evolution, there is as much conjecture and presumption as in religion...many of the theories are built on tiny fragments of teeth and skulls dating back millenia... yes, I have read Leakey's theories... and until we find a skeleton that is relatively intact... I'll still ride the fence.

Lastly, evolution does not scare me... FANATICS scare me... be they religious, non-religious, enviromental, global warming, conspiratorial, racial, political...etc.

When monkeys climb out of trees, move in next door, and call up inviting me to a cook out... then I'll be worried.

reply to post by xxblackoctoberxx


Your premise is ridiculous and you are trying to bring proven laws of science into a theory long ago debunked. You can test gravity over and over, and momentum, and physics (besides speed of light no longer constant) evolution is a faith a religion. You must believe it happened because there are no evidence of it that is reliable and it has never been reproduced, and it violates all the known laws of science.

I have a Biblical lean but I love science so my laughing at evolution theory is because I find it stupid and unscientific. I accept the new popular way of saying it like Stephen Hawkins w/o offending by saying GOD Created and go with intelligent design. Just the human animal is too perfect in every way for it to be by chance. It was designed this way as were all creatures.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
In the field of archeology and anthropology and evolution, there is as much conjecture and presumption as in religion...many of the theories are built on tiny fragments of teeth and skulls dating back millenia... yes, I have read Leakey's theories... and until we find a skeleton that is relatively intact... I'll still ride the fence.

This is what I mean though. What I was saying even if the theories are based on tiny fragments, they are still tangible evidence. Where as, creation relies on faith in the words of the bible which has been edited over the centuries by men.

Just thinking in unbiased, common sense terms, for a scientist, the theory with more evidence seems more logical to believe.

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
Your premise is ridiculous and you are trying to bring proven laws of science into a theory long ago debunked. You can test gravity over and over, and momentum, and physics (besides speed of light no longer constant) evolution is a faith a religion. You must believe it happened because there are no evidence of it that is reliable and it has never been reproduced, and it violates all the known laws of science.

I am curious as to which laws of science you say it violates?

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
I have a Biblical lean but I love science so my laughing at evolution theory is because I find it stupid and unscientific. I accept the new popular way of saying it like Stephen Hawkins w/o offending by saying GOD Created and go with intelligent design. Just the human animal is too perfect in every way for it to be by chance. It was designed this way as were all creatures.

But isn't assuming that humans are such precisely perfect machines because of a divine creator a bit specious and/or egotistical of humankind?

For all we know we are one of billions of different types of life or consciousness in the universe. And it is not assumed for no reason. We use science with real observable evidence to make these assumptions based on the known structure of biological life and the conditions which are needed to sustain this life against all of the hundreds of planets we have found of which, I believe, have been classified as suitable for sustaining life.

Conversely, I could say, the mechanics involved in humans coming into existence naturally is a very probable thing given the vast age and size of the universe.

After taking into account that there is an observable, large universe full of other stars and planets and galaxies it makes more logical sense that life would arise, especially given the Miller–Urey experiment which showed the building blocks of life can arise naturally.

Those facts compared to the words of a book written a few thousand years ago which has been edited several times just seems like an obvious choice for the one with tangible evidence.[

reply to post by theindependentjournal

humans perfect!
Think you need to lay off the blood of christ mate.
Early tetrapod fossils seem like proof to me, do they not to you?

Evolution scares me. I fear natural selection has selected me out.

Well, some of the time.

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
I have a Biblical lean but I love science so my laughing at evolution theory is because I find it stupid and unscientific.

No worries.

The Theory Of Evolution feels the same way about you.

So, is that it?

I was really hoping to hear from more creationists about the logic behind your decision making when choosing what to believe.

reply to post by xxblackoctoberxx


Tangible evidence... no matter how tiny a fragment...I will grant you that with evolution.

Likewise, grant me the same liberty with the Bible...

Ninevah was thought to be a Biblical myth... but was re-discovered in the late 1800s...just as spoken of in the Bible.

The Bible speaks of a great flood...as do many cultures world wide and there is even geological evidence in the strata to support this.

The trail of the Exodus from Egypt to the "Mountain of God" in Saudi Arabia has been found by thermal satellites way back in the first Gulf War... it pretty much follows the path and accounts and even landmarks as presented in the Biblical Exodus accounts.

I could present more "fragments" of the Bible that have been confirmed...but that would be pointless.

Until Christians present the ruins of the Ark or the DNA of Jesus or some equally momentous historical icon, there are those that will no more believe the Bible...than will Christians believe in the modern interpretation of evolution until the complete skeleton of the "missing link" is presented.

reply to post by xxblackoctoberxx

People don’t choose their beliefs, but are are compelled to embrace them.

The compulsion may be logical. One believes something because a consistent, reasonable argument can be made for it. Or it may be empirical – one believes because one has personal experience, or thinks one has. This kind of belief is often described as knowledge.

The compulsion may also be emotional. One may believe things because they are a comfort, or because believing the opposite is terrifying or personally unsatisfactory. One may believe something out of self-interest, because it suits one’s book to believe it. One may believe something because one thinks it’s too good not to be true.

In none of these cases, however, is belief consciously chosen. If a choice is made, it is an unconscious one.

reply to post by xxblackoctoberxx


Shaken all over.
If science can't first prove God does not exist. Then why take the word of man, which is science over what God has told us ? The Bible trumps science by thousands of years. It has been a source of wisdom way before science became what it has finally, exponentially, become.


Besides just that your OP is all backwards.