Creationists, could you do me a favor?

Question

Please, take some time out of your busy schedule, and read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_vs._evolution_debate . It would be best for everyone.

question man: I clicked on your link. The intro video had 2 guys who directly appealed to your fear of death by quoting the number of people that die each day, and then claiming that as justification for God. There is no science there; there is no real argument; there is only fear. I am saddened that you even linked that.

cogito sum: I read your article. You make it sound like the whole controversy can be wrapped up in that small contention, as though there is not fact and evidence to support the theory of evolution. Anyways, while lengthy, your article eventually reveals itself to be using a 'god of the gaps' argument, whereby the idea of a god is pushed back to cover the gaps in human knowledge. It is faulty and scientifically frowned upon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps .

eefen: It is a widely discredited lie that Darwin recanted on his deathbed (see: http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CG/CG001.html ). Not like you even read the article I linked. Whether or not Wikipedia can be edited does not change the amount of research and evidence used to support an idea.

Jeff H: "Change into an evolutionist?" How about accept scientific theory, formulated upon evidence and with research from people vastly smarter than you? Yes, they have a lot of information to back up their viewpoint. Creationism has only the Bible, a dogmatic scripture with no science.

question man: I did watch the 2nd video, and I was shocked. That is disgusting. There are so many outright lies and disinformation spread throughout that video that I am seriously offended. Show it to any scientist and they will laugh at it. Unacademic zealousy is really scary.

Watching that movie, it is clear that the two hosts do not understand any of the scientific theories, and are not actually trying to. They pick random people off the street and then mock their explanations as if they were experts. Seriously, claiming evolution is false because the person explaining it is having a hard time because they are not an expert is ridiculous. Just like a middle-schooler cannot simply comprehend calculus by talking to some pre-calculus students, you cannot expect to understand the full theory from talking to people who have not spent their time studying it. An intelligent person can still judge which theory is correct; one is formed with the scientific method, based on naturalist evidence with no need of a god for explanation, while another is based solely on one dogmatic book (no evidence) that has so many outright false explanations in it that it could never be taken for anything more than a metaphor.

Answer 1

Sooo... one puts up an unbiased, neutral, input-laden article, and another responds with a biased, one-sided article. Very interesting.

Answer 2

You know the problem with quoting Wikipedia as a source? It's unreliable, and open to editing from anyone, whether it be the scientist from Oxford or the farmer in Timbuktu. That alone is a major factor against it. Also, any human work always has inherant errors, i.e. bias. Thus, Wikipedia cannot be relied upon for complete truth. I could go on right now and edit the thing! That is why, if you want to state a scietifical "truth", then please quote science! Evolution was, is, and remains a theory. It is known as the Evolutionary Theory. But go back to bias for a moment. One might look at the simple event of Charles Darwins death to see in at work.

"...on October 20, 1985, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart announced that the great British scientist repudiated his life's work as he lay dying, and that he also asked to read the Bible so he could know Jesus. Swaggart's was not the first to make use of the Darwin death-bed recantation. It's an old fabrication. Shortly after Darwin's death at seventy-four on April 19, 1882, the evangelistic widow of Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Hope, told a gathering of students at Northfield Seminary in Massachusetts that she had visited Darwin in his last hours and found him reading the Epistle to the Hebrews. Darwin, she said, announced that he wished he "had not expressed my theory of evolution as I have done," and he also asked her to get some people together so he could speak to then of Jesus Christ and His salvation, being in a state where he was eagerly savoring the heavenly anticipation of bliss." But Darwin's daughter Henrietta vigorously denied that her father ever made such statements. "Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness," she declared. "I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier. . . . The whole story has no foundation whatever." Francis Darwin, who was with his father toward the end, reported that Darwin said, "I am not the least afraid to die," a few hours before his passing. These seem to have been his last words

Even here, one can see different forces at play. The Creationists want it to be remembered as recanting, his children as passing peacefully. It could be theorized that the reason he was "not the least afraid to die" was because he HAD indeed recanted privatly, and HAD indeed received salvation, and KNEW that, though he had left his footprint on the world, he could be confident that he was forgiven by the mercy of Christ Jesus. Again, even this is speculation, but who on earth really can say for sure? The whole Theory of Evolution is essentially theory backed up by a few (one might say misdated) teeth and bones. I hope that this might help shed some light on the subject, God bless!

Note:
I never said that I supported the idea, I was simply using it as an example of bias. You may notice that there are different views expressed by the individuals, each attempting to illustrate their own point with their views. Also, when you clicked on question man's link, did you watch the video on evolution? If you have not, I would suggest it. It can be found if you click on the number "2" after the video. God bless you!

Answer 3

I think the whole debate is silly. There is as much evidence of Creation as there is of Evolution. For those dead set against Creationism check out Darwin's Black Box. A non-Creationist, biologist actually does not believe Evolution. The human body is just too complex.
Oh and regarding seeing the creator in a casket, that still does not logically prove that the earth was not created, just that its creator is dead.

Answer 4

Why bother? Let people believe what they want to believe. Some people find it hard to believe that a "force" created all of this... And sometimes, their point of view makes sense next to the spiritual outlook on things. If someone came to you and said "Look! Look! The lights in the field just turned on and off!" What would run through your mind? What would make more sense to you? That a divine being made the lights go on and off? Or that someone, somewhere was flipping a switch?

You want people to accept your beliefs, so why are you trying to change the minds of others?

Answer 5

I took the time to read it. That was a lot of information. What is your question? Did you want a Creationist to change into an Evolutionist after reading this?

Answer 6

I read it. The problem is that it is unfairly constructed. The issue is between materialism, and belief in a creator, not between science and religion. Could you do the same, read this, for the first link. The second is so so, but you may find it interesting.

http://www.deism.com/dogmatic%20atheism.htm
http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/flew-interview.pdf

Answer 7

That is actually a very interesting article. Thank you for posting the link to it.

Answer 8

Why is it bad for "creationists" to talk about their views but good for "evolutionists?"

Answer 9

What does it matter? You could show them incontrovertible proof - you could show them God laying in His casket dead and they STILL will beleive. One of them told me that today... "I dont care what you say or prove, you will never break my faith." That is SCARY!

Answer 10

You shouldn't have asked them to read it only. You should have asked them to at least TRY to comprehend it.

Won't happen.