do you believe in evolution? please explain your answer :)?

Question

to the girl that says there would be no God...if you were going by the bible's making the world in seven days..who says that 100,000 years couldn't be interpreteda s one day?

Answer 1

Belief is something that implies that it is a truth beyond question. If I believe you, I'm not going to question you any more, and that's just not the scientific process.

I accept evolution as the natural process that caused the variety of life to emerge onto earth. I do so because

A. It is predictive (when you postulate a species exists, it is not uncommon for the fossil of that species to be found later; DNA evidence, which Darwin knew nothing about, confirms the theories he put forward).

B There has been no strong argument of an alternative explanation.

C. It allows us to understand the interrelationship of all creatures on earth.

I also am unthreatened to see human beings as being a component of an unbroken thread of life going back millions of years.

That's why.

Answer 2

There is no proof that we evolved. (School textbooks & random websites on the internet are not proof) It doesn't even seem possible. All you have to do is look at the human body and really think about it. The body is perfect, it's symetrical, did one eye evolve at a time?
Did the eye lid or tear duct or eye get developed first? or did it all "poof" at one time. Oh...and the optic nerve? did it form with the eye, or the brain? and did that just "poof" when the brain was made or when the eye, eye lid & tear duct was made? It just makes no sense at all and my imagination cannot even fathom evolution. All I have to believe is that God is huge and He created everything. When you know the order of a tiny atom (I'm a medical chemist) it tells you not only that it couldn't happen randomly, but that God knows the details of every single person. When you see the order in the universe, how all the planets & sun have to be in a perfect position to keep the earth viable, it shows me how God is in control of the big things, too.
God is not human, so He could have created the universe in 7 days.

Answer 3

Christians like to say that they believe in microevolution (which has been proved in the lab, so they have been forced to say it), but that they don't believe in macroevolution. Microevolution is changes in an organisms DNA within the species which leads to speciation (macroevolution). In reality they are the same thing and you can't have 1 without the other. Macroevolution is just microevolution over lots of time.

I do indeed believe in evolution. It is impossible for a thinking mind who has been presented the evidence not to. Creationists believe that the life that is on Earth today has always been as it is. That it has not changed since "God" made it. This can not be so for a simple reason. There are dinosaur bones in the ground (along with many other creatures that aren't dinos and that aren't alive today). I'd like a Christian to tell me how large mammals such as elephants and giraffes survived with big bad Mr. T-rex hunting them. Did "God" make the dinos only eat other dinos? This sounds like something a Christian would answer.

There is also other evidence that makes me believe evolution. Dogs have dew claws (a "thumb" claw on their leg that they can't move and which servers no purpose). It is a vestigial structure from when dogs had more digits than they do today. Whales have hip bones that have no other bones attached to them and which have atrophied since they have no use. Lobe finned fish such as the Coelocanth which don't swim like normal fish but which use their fins/feet to propel themselves off the ground. Junk DNA which every organism has in abundant quantities, but which serves no purpose. If "God" made the world, he would have made the life on it pefectly suited to it's environment with no flaws. Why add dew claws and junk DNA? Just to test our faith and make sure only the dumbest people who can ignore the evidence get into heaven?

Answer 4

Let's start with the common ground. First, there's the fact (easily provable, not really subject to debate) that different species are related, and that common attributes of species change over time. Humans have gotten taller over the past couple thousand years. Moths change colors. Island variants of species are often smaller. All of these are readily observable from available records. Mendel proved the concept genetics 150 years ago, and science has been able to demonstrate both genetic similarities and genetic drift (changes) ever since. And it doesn't really matter which camp you are in, since only the most fanatic literalists would ever attempt to argue that the world is completely unchanging over millenia. So, let's just accept these premises as fact: species are related and species change over time.

The more complicated question is why do species change and how do related species emerge or die off. Darwin put forth the guess (barely a theory) of "survival of the fittest", called adaptive evolution. This works great to explain the slow gradual changes, but is more shaky on the sudden big changes.

Moderate theologians countered with "Maybe that's true for the slow subtle changes. But we think that God has been tinkering with DNA and creating the big evolution leaps that have occurred." How do they know? Faith. Ok, unprovable but not inherently invalid.

How do we know? We don't. Not having been able to witness a sudden major adaptive shift, the best science can do is try to fit the theory to the available facts. That's what so annoying about the evolution/creationism debate. Those who oppose evolution say that we should ignore the many exampes where we can see direct evidence of change caused by adaptive evolution. They argue that since evolution can't always explain everything, that makes it invalid.

Answer 5

Yes I do but not in the man from monkeys sense. All organisms specialize to meet their needs based on the environment that immediately surrounds them. This is called species specialization. Eskimo's, have thicker, heavier hair than someone living in a tropical region. A black bear indigenous to Louisiana is smaller and thinner than the polar bear, desert plants, animals, and insects can go extraordinarily long periods of time without water while living in extremely hot environments while several species are able to live under extremely thick sheets of ice. These species have specialized over time to meet their needs. In humans I believe that the mind continually evolves more quickly than any other living thing alive. If we were to look at someone 100yrs ago they could not even fathom the advancements in science and technology that we have today. I believe that we use past knowledge to evolve our minds and ideas. SPECIES SPECIALIZATION. I believe that species specialization over a long, very long, time we have EVOLUTION.

Answer 6

Let me give you a concise and easy-to-understand answer. Evolution is a never ending process of formation, growth or development and modification. Everything in God's creation is a process of evolution - the nature surrounding us, our birth, the way of our life, our thinking, feelings and emotions etc are all evolutionary. Even non-living things such as equipments, machinery, buildings, cars, computers etc etc are all products of evolution. These things don't pop-out just like that. There is a beginning, an end and a new beginning. That is evolution. I believe in it and all of us shall believe in it.

Answer 7

Evolution in science has nothing to do with "believing". One does not "believe" in gravity or the ability of flight. Scientists gather evidence and test as much as possible. Beliefs however can not be tested. Evolution has and is still going on.
My beliefs: Education over ignorance. Science over superstition.

Add on:

I borrowed this from a new book by Micheal Shermer publisher of Skeptic Magazine "Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design". Used this on a lot of questions because it makes sense to me.

If one is a theist, it should not matter when God made the universe—10,000 years ago or 10,000,000,000 years ago. The difference of six zeros is meaningless to an omniscient and omnipotent being, and the glory of divine creation cries out for praise regardless of when it happened. Likewise, it should not matter how God created life—whether it was through a miraculous spoken word or through the natural forces of the universe that He created. The grandeur of God’s works command awe regardless of what processes He used.

As for meanings and morals, it is here where our humanity arises from our biology. We evolved as a social primate species with the tendency of being cooperative and altruistic within our own groups, but competitive and bellicose between groups. The purpose of civilization is to help us rise above our hearts of darkness and to accentuate the better angels of our nature.

Believers should embrace science, especially evolutionary theory, for what it has done to reveal the magnificence of the divinity in a depth never dreamed by our ancient ancestors. We have learned a lot in 4,000 years, and that knowledge should never be dreaded or denied. Instead, science should be welcomed by all who cherish human understanding and wisdom.

Answer 8

Yes I believe in evolution, we can see micro-evolution happening.
Macro-evolution, though, I'm not sure of, it seems like circumstantial evidence to me. The jury's still out on macro, as far as I am concerned.
I also believe in creation, and the two do not cancel each other out, unless you're of the idea that God created the earth 6000 years ago as it is today. (YEC, or young-earth creationism, Genesis literalism)
God could very well have created the earth billions of years ago and used evolution as one of His tools.
Evolution theory ONLY addresses what happened to life AFTER it began, it does not, and cannot, address HOW life began.

Answer 9

People in the time of darkness say 6 days.
People in the time of great light say 15 billion years.
I think that 6 days and 15 billion years are both mysteries not facts!
We should truly, humbly, persistently learn to discern fact from fiction rather than quarelling on things that we are all blind of!
I greatly admire the immense wisdom of the Lord Buddha in telling more than 2500 years ago the story of the blind men who quarrelled about the form of an elephant based on their touch of different parts of its body!

Answer 10

Yes. There is so much scientific evidence that only the ignorant can overlook. Yes, evolution is a theory, but so is gravity (I don't see anyone saying gravity defies his/her religion). Religion and evolution can very much coexist if people would just examine before they make up some arbitrary judgement.