Hello Christine,
A discussion about evolution! Wonderful, can I join? Before I write, I'd like to say that I don't believe evolution is totally false. I think God could have used evolution to bring about the variety of animals and plants on this earth. I don't think it could have happened randomly however.
First you conted that we share 98% of ourselves with apes. I'm not exactly sure what this means, but I'll buy it. There are MANY animals out there in this world. They are all made up of basically the same stuff for the most part, blood, organs, etc. Suppose for a minute that God made all of them. Don't you think that there would be some animal that would resemble the human more than the others? The Ape in this case?
For example, look at some Ford cars. Many of the different brands have the same parts in them and look relatively the same (98%? I don't know). Does this mean that they randomly evolved from one another? No. A creator (Ford Inc.) made them.
I may agree with you that there isn't much scientific evidence supporting the 7 day, 8 thousand(?) year ago creation. I think one thing to remember about the Old Testament is that the way the ancient Jews wrote things down wasn't meant to be strictly historical. For example, the number 7 signifies a covenent relationship throughout the Bible. I believe that this 7 day reference to creation refers to the covenant God made with man to sustain the Earth. I could be wrong though. I've seen some relatively cogent arguments for a young earth, but I don't buy them for some reason.
On the other hand, my problem with evolution is that it is a THEORY but is taught as the truth in schools. Many people (including non-Christians) have criticized the thoery throughout the ages but have failed because the only theory they can appeal to is 7 day creation. Therefore it still stands. I don't want 7 day creation taught as the truth either, but I believe it should be mentioned (or another plausible theory) if evolution is taught.
Have you really examined the evidence for evolution Christine? I recently did. Here are some things I found:
1. Have you ever heard of the Bombardier beetle? It repels enemies by firing a hot charge of chemicals from its behind. The chemicals fired by the beetle will EXPLODE when mixed together in a lab. The beetle luckily has an enzyme prevents the explosion within the animal. Can anyone explain how and why this beetle's defense mechanism could have been made through evolution? Seems tricky to me!
2. The greatest attackers against Darwin at the time of his theory weren't Christians but paleontoligists. Darwin wasn't able to find intermediate types to fill in the gaps between animals at the time. Guess what, they still haven't found conclusive transition animals, althought there should be MILLIONS of them out there.
3. There's no way for the theory to account for the beginning of life at all.
Evolution is a theory in crisis, IMO. Look around for current articles and books about it, there are many attacking the theory (not all are written by Christians either).
If anyone would like to discuss the theory more in depth, I'm more than willing.
God bless,
Grant |
