Any advice on evolution to a 15 yr old that is truely reaching for answers?

Question

My daughter met a boy at youth group last week that told her he was very confused. My daughter has biblical beleifs towards evolution and this boy just wasnt buying it. But he was opened to what she had to say. Everything she shared with him, he had an opposite response to. he kept asking her to "please convince me. i want to believe" So my daughter came to me for advice, and im at a loss.

Answer 1

I will have to support Evolution! Let me give you a definition of Evolution!
Biological evolution, simply put, is descent with modification. This definition encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in gene frequency in a population from one generation to the next) and large-scale evolution (the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations).
Documentation of ancestor-descendant relationships among organisms also comes from the fields of biogeography, taxonomy, anatomy, embryology and, most recently, genetics — particularly DNA analysis.
The fossil record remains first and foremost among the databases that document changes in past life on Earth. Fossils provide the dimension of time to the study of life. Some of the most basic observations about fossils and the rock record were made long before Darwin formulated his theory of “descent with modification.” The fossil record clearly shows changes in life through almost any sequence of sedimentary rock layers. Successive rock layers contain different groups or assemblages of fossil species.
{We have now more than enough fossils to determine for sure that humans didn’t appear on this planet in the genetic form they are today!
WE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH EVIDENCE THAT THERE WAS AT LEAST ANOTHER SPECIES WHICH LIVED WITH US!! And I am talking about Neanderthal man who was not our ancestor but a different Human than us!!! (Did God experiment with human species?) We even have proof that at a certain point in time 3 human species shared the planet! (Homo sapiens, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthals)}
Of course I want comment the stupid argument why all the apes didn’t evolve to humans. Ok I will comment!!
(We share a recent common ancestor with chimpanzees and gorillas; we have many anatomical, genetic, biochemical, and even behavioral similarities with these African great apes. We are less similar to the Asian apes--orangutans and gibbons--and even less similar to monkeys, because we share common ancestors with these groups in the more distant past.
! By the way why God decided to create 5 different species of primates and 280 different species of monkeys?)
As a conclusion Evolution is not a theory but a proven fact (In scientific terms, "theory" does not mean "guess" or "hunch" as it does in everyday usage. Scientific theories are explanations of natural phenomena built up logically from testable observations and hypotheses. Biological evolution is the best scientific explanation we have for the enormous range of observations about the living world.) Creation is a Hebrew Myth and unfortunately is not a fact but a myth!!!!

Answer 2

What do you want to do? Figure it out and then go for it. In the meantime you can buy yourself some time by reading. If you have a fovorite author then read everything they wrote and everything they read. In other words find an obsession! Try volunteering. I know it sounds lame but that saved my sanity as a teen. Work in a retirement home or with underpriviledged kids. Find something that ignites your passion. It might be art or performing ( introvert right? use the stage as your alter ego!) or something as simple as sewing or writting poetry; just go for it. It also sounds like you might be suffering from a little depression. Try talking to someone ( like a parent, a doctor or a counselor, ) face to face. Growing up I always knew there was more to the world than what I saw day after day. Want to know something? There is. Bear it while you can; when you turn 18 go to College or joing the Army and experience what the world has to offer. Just don't go off anywhere now, there are no options for someone so young in the world tyoday. Be true to yourself and you will be fine!

Answer 3

Ok..let's stick to what we know not "Evolutionary THEORY"

Since the days of Jesus over 2000 years have passed. True.
Point out one change in human kind that would indicate that we are evolving to a different specis. None.

There are different breeds of man but man is still a man.

Remember our scientist start with Theory and work with that until they can prove it.

Evolution has NEVER been proven. Stick with facts.

Also remember that scientist are the one's who told us the earth was flat. Yes we've made progress through science but we should always question their theories. The Theory of Evolution was introduced to our school system as fact and it's been taught that way for the past 40 years. We need to correct it, now!

Answer 4

The problem is that science doesn't give one whit about religion, pro or con. Science just IS. It's people actively engaged in finding out facts. They don't stop trying to find these facts out just because someone says "Wait, wait, that's not what my pastor told me!" or "But you'll hurt my feelings and make me have to re-examine my worldview if you say that!"

Meanwhile, there are those in Christianity who LIKE feeling persecuted and hurt and put upon. It makes them feel special, like they belong to a holy group. Soooo. . .any excuse to feel that way, they will find. And here's Science that's just merrily rolling along, finding facts, not even stopping to stay "oh! Terribly sorry! Excuse me!" when their facts step on some Christian toes. Add to that that science would make us all part of some larger process - and not a very big part of it in the end, wheras some brands of Christianity promise that humans are the ultimate end-all-be-all for the universe (which is pretty egotistical of them, if you ask me, but whatever) and you've got a recipe for some folks to be fanatical about NOT believing in the facts of evolution. (Which is theory in the same way that gravity is a theory.)

OF COURSE you're going to have some Christians spending full time working towards debunking the honest facts. They're going to LIVE for this. It gives their lives purpose. OTOH, it's going to be very hard to get scientists to do the same.

The truth is that many palenontologists and biologists and neurologists and every other -ist that studies things that relate to evolution ARE Christians. They're out there looking for facts, it doesn't preclude their being spiritual. It just precludes being offended because a fact isn't exactly the way they want the world to be all the time.

Answer 5

Evolution is a fact...but that doesn't mean your daughter or her friend can't be religious. Evolution is simply the common descent of all organisms from a single ancestor or ancestral gene pool. IT IS NOT that humans came from apes...this is a common misconception of evolution.....just do a little research for yourself, then decide. Also tell your daughter to do some biblical and scientific research to help her better understand the subject.

Answer 6

First off there are no biblical beliefs toward evolution. Evolution leaves God out of the theory completely. So to really be a Christian you must follow the Word of God. If you are looking for creative evolution, then that is another theory to deal with. There is just too much evidence on the Christian side to even think evolution is anything but a theory.
http://www.s8int.com/dino1.html
http://www.answersingenesis.org/
Just too much info to be taken in by the unbelievers, God has raised up scientists and the truth is out. We are created beings.

Answer 7

Yes, read some books by scientist who do not believe in evolution. If you really take a "serious and honest" look at this debate-you will see that probably most scientist do not believe in evolution. There is really no evidence to support it. But you will not find it in the public schools, or most private colleges. Check out www.icr.org for scientist who are honest and not afraid to tell the truth.

Answer 8

From your post, it is difficult to determine exactly which was for evolution and which was against it. But my response is the same either way.

I am a Christian who believes in evolution. Evolution theory neither denies, nor insists on, the existance of a Creator God. Science doesn't deal with questions of theology.

Centuries ago, scienists were almost exclusively made up of members of the christian church, and they pursued science out of the personal conviction that it was their duty as christians to try to understand God's works. Evolution was postulated as a theory 100 years before Darwin published The Origin of Species, by a christian. Darwin was simply the first to come right out and defend it amidst a climate that was very hostile to anyone who contradicted the church's stance on anything.

Remember that Galileo was sent to the gallows for daring to believe that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

I believe that the Bible is the word of God, and was inspired by the same. But I do not take everything in the bible as literal truth. Truth, yes. But not literally. Especially when it comes to science. The bible was never intended to be a science book. I consider Genesis to be an allegory. A metaphor.

Even though Jesus made references to some of the stories in Genesis, that doesn't mean they were literally true. Just as when a parent explains the story of the Boy Who Cried "Wolf," the analogy is no less important if it never actually happened.

The Genesis story of creation is very similar to the creation stories passed on from several other more ancient, non Judaic cultures. The biggest and, in many cases only, difference is that these cultures believed in multiple Creator Gods. One for wind, one for light, one for rain, etc. The purpose of Genesis was not to explain how or when the universe and everything in it were created, but by whom, and why. The bible doesn't give very many specifics as to how we were created. And what little specifics there are, are very vague. The bible says "Kind after kind." What is a kind? Even creationists can't decide, and their definition has become less and less restrictive as the evidence for evolution grows.

Science and religion are much like oil and water, respectively. We need them both, but they don't mix. We could get along without oil. We would die (spiritually) without water (religion). If one tries to prove the bible is accurate scientifically (ie, proving the earth is 6000 yrs old, proving that birds came before fish, etc) the obvious incongruities are gowing to cause them to question their faith. Do not put your religious faith in the scientific correctness of the bible. That would be like putting your scientific faith in the ethical accuratacy of a science book..

When I want to learn how electrons behave, or how to create a magnetic field, etc, I'll read a science book. When I want to learn how to please God, and how to live my life in a manner that Glorifies Him, I'll read the bible.

The problem with creationists is that the debate removes attention from the more important message of the bible. It doesn't matter how we got here. What matters is what we do while we are here.

If one truly considers the evidence for evolution and an ancient earth with an open mind, while having creationists scream in their ear that to believe such things is heresy, they will likely feel forced to have to make a choice. I see no reason to encourage such a dilemma. Believing in evolution will not condemn anyone. Believing in literal creation or a 6,000 year old earth will not save anyone.

Christ is our Savior either way.

Answer 9

If life started in a pond of water somewhere, What sparked life at that particular time and why?
If the universe started with a big bang. What caused the bang at that particular time and why?
Where did all the material (dirt, water, chemicals, gases, energy, stars, galaxys, comets, planets, moons, mereors, etc.) come from?

The study of a single cell is so complex it would overwhelm the greatest computer. How did this evolve and get so complex with just by chance and coindence?

Answer 10

Why do you think evolution is opposed to God's work...are you so sure about God's methods? Maybe he takes his time to get it right, and just maybe we are a work in progress. OR are you so egotistical to think there is no room for improvement? You will be the first to agree that "God moves in mysterious ways." No one can tell you how God works, period. I don't care what verse is quoted, any and all are open to translation, and all the bible you are reading is definitely a translation from some human, somewhere in time.

Answer 11

You are really up that foul-smelling creek without a paddle. For what it's worth here's my advice. Buy lots of books on evolution and religion. Give them to your daughter to read and let her make up her own mind. Or try the Net on "evolution and religion". There are no hard and fast answers. As Paul wrote in one of his epistles: "Work out your own salavation".