What do you really know about The Theory of Evolution?

Question

I don't want opinions I want to know about what you actually know about The Theory of Evolution. Not what you think about it.

Please do NOT say "It's fake" or "I believe god created everything"

Please explain what you really know.

I already know what evolution is; I'm trying to figure what religious people know about it.

And try to clear up some of its misconceptions.

I am relieved to find some religious people accepting the evolution.

Thank you mathew for your support. I hope you find more evidence for the future of humanity.

Answer 1

Just the "theory"? Natural selection-survival of the fittest- species either adapt and evolve or fail to adapt and go extinct. Why discuss the theory? Better to discuss the fact of evolution rather than the theoretical mechanism whereby it occurs.

Answer 2

If during the Big Bang, some values would only differ by 0.000000000001%, the resulting universe could never yield any biological life.

Even conservative mathematical estimations show that the probability for the existence of a life-bearing universe is at least 1:10*229.

If one holds to the position that the universe came into existence without a Creator, who deliberately fine-tuned these nature constants in such a way that biological life could appear, then this is a position where one is betting against the most unlikely and the most highly and extreme odds.

Furthermore, if one estimates the possibility for some kind of life form to appear within the universe, then corresponding to the evolution theories the probability that an intelligent life form will appear (we assume humans are intelligent) is much worse (over 400 zeros after the "1" of the denominator).

Evolution itself shows that the possibility of us being here without some outside interference from God is nearly impossible.

The closest thing to evolution is mutations, we have the ability to adapt to our surroundings, but that isn't true evolution.

Answer 3

I don't think evolution eliminates God as the origin of all life. It just shows us the way He works. People expect God to always do something spectacular and grandiose. Sometimes he does. But more often He does something that seems insignificant at first, then snowballs into something huge. The Bible says that God spoke the universe into existence. So a few proteins got together in some mud millions of years ago, strung together some amino acids, started performing respiration, and now you have a world covered with life. Nowhere does the Bible claim to be a complete history of life on Earth. It skips around, hits the high points. We know that what is there is historically accurate, but we don't always know how much time passed between events. Creation is not a static process that started and ended in 7 days and it's all over now. Creation is an ongoing process that is still happening today through adaptation, natural selection, mutation, and extinction. I hope not all Christians are so brainwashed that they can ignore mountains of scientific evidence and still cling to what their Sunday school teacher told them when they were 6. How can they convince anyone of their beliefs if come across as stupid, uneducated, and simple-minded.

Answer 4

The earth was created in a big bang and somewhere along the way picked up some micro-bacterial atoms which, after millions and millions of years, evolved into a human.

That's the basic one-line version .... Y/A doesn't have enough space to write everything we know about it lol.

But please understand, that we have no "misconceptions", we already understand the theory and most Christians don't accept it. I do, I accept evolution as a part of Creation.

Answer 5

Any misconceptions are based on ignorance.

simply put, the "theory" of evolution states that in all species, mutations occur, or their environment changes. when these things happen, those species who gain an advantage from the change, either in their mutation, or in the environment, are more likely to survive and reproduce. As a result of this, their descendants (who, presumably, carry the successful trait) will gradually gain a larger share of the species population, and eventually, the entire population will display this characteristic.

Nowhere in the "theory" of evolution does it say that man evolved from apes.

"If man evolved form apes, why are there still apes?"

Answer 6

Good question! I found this really good entry in Wikipedia explaining the point of view of one religion called the Baha'i Faith. The instant I read about it, it rang true...

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1'%C3%AD_Faith_and_Science

Extract from that page:
"...The teachings state that whenever conflict arises between religion and science it is due to human error; either through misinterpretation of religious scriptures or the lack of a more complete understanding of science. `Abdu'l-Bahá explained that religious teachings which are at variance with science should not be accepted; he explained that religion has to be reasonable since God endowed humankind with reason so that they can discover truth"

Answer 7

I'm listening to "the case for a creator", so I don't have it in front of me to tell you word for word, but basically there are many things that have stayed in textbooks long after they were proven false. There were a bunch of drawings from the 1800's of man, monkey, and two other animals in their "earliest" forms. The artist wanted to demonstrate how close everything is in it's smallest form, and show we all come from a common origin. Years after the drawings were published, it was found out he smudged the drawings and exaggerated the similarities. They weren't even the earliest stages of developement, as he claimed. He just made them look as similar as possible. Yet this drawing is still shown in many high school biology books, as proof of evolution. Why? That's why I don't believe, there are many instances of science proven wrong, yet children are continually taught this form of "truth".

Answer 8

Bacteria formed in the ocean, and it eventually formed into multi-cellular creatures. These creatures were wiped out in a cataclysmic event. Once again, life started over in the ocean, eventually reaching the stage of reptiles who left the water. These were also wiped out by some event. Again, life started over, in the ocean, leading to dinosaurs, birds and fish. These too were wiped out some how. Once more life was made to start over, always coming from the ocean first. This time it created mammals along with its reptiles, fish and amphibians. This is the stage we are at now, simply awaiting another cataclysmic event to occur which will bring about the next stage of evolution.

Answer 9

Charles Darwin spent time observing nature - particularly on the Galapogos Islands. He observed hpw aninal life was particularly adapted for survival, i.e. birds with specialized beaks for the type of food they consumed, sea turtles with fin like legs for swimmimg, etc.
He THEORIZED that these animals had developed these characteristics to their environment over millions of years.
And took it further by saying all life had a common ancestor and mutated to their present state. A flawed theory as the possibilty of these events occurring independently is over 1,000,000,000 to 1. Not only is it more likely for a tornado to sweep through a junkyard and create a Mercedes-Benz - it also provided those who do not mentally ascend to the reality of a Creator a pltaform to argue. Micro-evolution is a fact, Macro-evolution is not.
Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a theory in crisis in light of the tremendous advances we've made in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics over the past fifty years. We now know that there are in fact tens of thousands of irreducibly complex systems on the cellular level. Specified complexity pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist Michael Denton wrote, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world." [5]

And we don't need a microscope to observe irreducible complexity. The eye, the ear and the heart are all examples of irreducible complexity, though they were not recognized as such in Darwin's day. Nevertheless, Darwin confessed, "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." [6]

Take a look at how our bodies work, that we are just the correct distance from the sun not to burn up or freeze, that we have food all around us, that food is grown by a weather system and the earth, that we have souls and wisdom given to us to have dominion over other life, that we have a thin 20 mile layer that protects us from the void of space - we enjoy the work of an AMAZING Creator - Give God his due!!

A person cannot deny the Lord and still live successfully. Mankind was created to acknowledge God and share a relationship with Him. When someone chooses to ignore the truth of His existence or His sovereignty, he or she begins a downward slide. It’s a choice which ends with a hardened heart and eternal separation from a loving Father.

God gives everyone the capacity to understand Him and the free will to choose whether to pursue that knowledge. The truth of His existence is revealed in nature and written into every person’s conscience. However, many people ignore reality because it interferes with their preferred lifestyle. Instead, they chase false philosophies, which are usually mixed with just enough truth to make them believable to the inexperienced.

Any “truth” crafted by man is foolishness. A mind that has rejected the fact of a sovereign Lord cannot see its error. It has slipped from intelligence—an inherent knowledge of God — to willful ignorance. In this state, even when all evidence points to the truth, a person can still convince him- or herself that the opposite is right.

All the denial and atheistic arguments in the world will not change what is real. Jehovah is God. Jesus Christ is His Son. God created you to love, obey, and honor Him. If you resist the truth, you choose a life of darkness and willful ignorance. The choice is yours to make.

Answer 10

I get a kick out of the religious guys who say its fake.All it is in simple terms is the ability to adapt to to ones surroundings. I guess god doesn,t want things to adapt