Why are opponents of evolution so misguided in their understanding of the fundamentals of the theory?

Question

...and for that matter what a theory in science is?

If anyone has any questions pertaining to evolution or anything relating to abiogenesis or cosmology I will try my best to answer your queries.
I have studied biology so the latter two subjects are a little less known to me. On the matter of abiogenesis this is mostly because it is such an unknown are a as it is.

shirley: I was referring to abiogenesis being unknown. Evolution is very well documented. The only debatable part of it is its mechanisms which are not fully understood.
The story that Darwin recanted is nothing more than a myth. Darwin's daughter (who was by his side till the end) even called this a lie. Even if this was true, however it would not nullify evolution as it has been studied and scrutinized for almost 150 years now. In all that time there has yet to be a single shred of evidence that refutes it.

samuelisiah: I will have to just email you some info. I just typed about 10 proofs and Y!A made me login again so I lost it. Like I said I will just email you.

muttmanah? (I think)
Evolution has never dealt with the origin of life. It deals with diversity in species.
Abiogenesis is the theory dealing with the origin of life. This theory is not very well founded because of its lack of evidence and untestability.
Evolution however is very well-founded with mounds of evidence. I will email you the same thing I send samuelisiah.

jefferyspringer: Evolution is not taught as fact, but rather the best analysis of all information available. This is not considered fact merely because it is not fully understood how its mechanisms work.
This is much like the theory of gravity. The only difference is it does not deny things written in the Bible, so it receives no opposition.
Like I said before the ToE has not had a single shred of evidence refute it. If it did, it would no longer be a viable theory.

luvdalz: It sounds lie you watched a Hovind lecture. Not even creation websites will endorse him because of the outright lies he portrays as evidence. If you don't believe me, check out answersingenesis.com
It gives a whole list of non-effective arguments, most of which are Hovind's staples to his lectures.
As far as your challenge goes:
1. No one can do this. This is like asking me to amke a tree out of its raw materials. Only nature can complete this, which in time it will.
2.Life has been shown to be able to be reproduced fairly easily with a mixture of gasses, water, and electricity.
-Urey/Miller experiments
To say not to use raw materials is asking for this to be done a creating matter. Do I really need to tell you that cannot be accomplished per the law of conservation of matter?

On a side note, species have never been seen producing other species because of the immense amount of time involved. This can be related to modern viruses. We never see a virus creating a completely differentone, however through thousands (or more) of generations this can, and does occur. This is why we need a new flu vaccine every year, but not every day. It takes time for the change to fully occur.

Well this has been fun. I hope someone learned something, and I will be sending a more in-depth email to some of you. Thank you, and goodnight...

smially: You deny the mounds of evidence because of its incompleteness, yet fully believe a completely unfounded 'theory' on the matter. That seems rather illogical.
Again, goodnight.

Answer 1

Lack of education and fear of learning the truth. The truth would invalidate much of their belief structure and most people can't handle that.

And what a fantastic argument you've made, btw.

It's really very sad but it only goes to show the severe lack of schools and the fact that Christianity has far too much power for society's good.

Religion must be kept separate from education but education must be actualy education and not just "covering the absolute basics" like it seems to be now.

I find it shocking how many people seem to have a complete lack of understanding of the fundamentals of science.

They honestly can't even get the meaning of basic words correct (like atheist), and yet they seem to think they can argue against logic using the bible which logic is fundamentally flawed.

The bible has no place in logic because it is, in itself, not logical.

Makes me think that the educational system needs a complete revamp and many of the teachers need to be fired.

Answer 2

Opponents are not misguided. The truth is there is no evolution. If you do not understand the truth of creation then it is you that is misguided, especially when you continue in a subject that definately cannot be proven as fact. When God created the earth and man and all that is in it. Ha gave every living thing a seed, which enables every living thing to reproduce after it's own kind.
Take for instance the human body. God made it for a man and a woman to produce life. Man has the seed and than the womans body, everything about the woman's body, her monthly cycle, how her body changes when it is impregnated with a life and how that life is nurished and taken care of in the womans body until it is birthed. How the breasts begin to work and function after the baby is born. The human body, how it is made, the heart in all it's complex chambers, how the lungs functions, the spinal cord, an extention of the brain, is encased inside of the spinal column, packed with nerves that goes through out the body so it can functioin. How the eys see and the ears hear, how we feel and the senses operate. You can sit there and complain because nobody believes your theory. But, in just the complex system of the human body and all of that is involved for it to function, JUST DOES NOT JUST HAPPENED by something rolling up out of the water and evolving through millions of years. Some body has to be in charge of life, the working of all the earth, the weather, the seasons, (which HAPPEN every year right on time), in charge of the sun and the moon, and gravity and all of the workings of the earth and the universe. You might believe that your aincent grand daddy was an ape. But for me, It is a WHOLE lot easier to believe in a living God who created all living things, after their own kind. Which is fact. If you will fully search Darwins Theroy he himself in the end had to renounce evolution. Another fact.

Answer 3

I have been studying Science for the last 10 years
and as for the Theory of Evolution, it is Just that a Theory.
it is basically like trying to guess what a picture is by only looking at less than one percent of the whole picture.
There are millions of species alive today, and many more species have gone extinct over the history of this planet. also out of the billions of single life forms that have lived on this planet very few Fossils have actually been discovered.(this is the <1%)
these fossils that have been discovered have been used to map out a Theory of Evolution composed of Plateus (rungs of a ladder or steps on a staircase, but with nothing connecting the steps or rungs together) of species. But there are no fossils that have been found that are between these Plateus. for the Theory to ever become a Fact what is reqired is to find fossils that clearly show the change of one species into another (rope, rope-ladder(rungs), or chain of fossil evidence, when graphed will show a slope with horizontal flat sections) or for some currently living animal to give birth to something that is unable to reproduce with the Mother species but is able to reproduce with one that is identical to it.

An Evolutionary-Mutation would be fertile,but would have a completely different Genome from the Parent Species, unlike a normal mutation which damages the genetic code leaving the child infertile or with severe birth defects that ussually end in death, example is a mule which is the cross between a donkey and a horse. though it is similar to the parent species it is unable to reproduce with either species or with other crosses. it is therefor infertile and therefor it is a mutation and is not considered a new species.

Many people have tried to claim that the Finches of Galapagos Island and other areas of the world are able to evolve. This is not the case all it is is a case of specialization. it is simply a case of rececive genes taking dominance through variences in food availability. (the differences noticed in the Finches have been beak sizes and shapes).

As food availability changes the finches that have the genes which will enable them to make the best use of the available foods will gain dominance over those finches whose beak genes are specialized toward the food that is out of season or no longer available. therefor the average shape of the beaks will change over time in acordance to what food is readily available.

The finches have not changed species thay have just become specialized within their species. tThis can also cause some Genes to become extinct within a Species or Race. this is why "Race" could even be concidered to exist. Can make the Species Stronger or weaker based on what genes are lost over time.

On the other hand if the finches were no longer able to reproduce with the parent species but were only able to reproduce with other finches with the same beak size and shape then that Would mean that they had undergone Evolutionary-Mutation.
But this could only be tested in a Labratory under Precice Conditions.

Evolution is a theory that all living creatures evolved from some a common evolutionary ancestor.
Evolution also states that this creature evolved from rocks and rain. the reverse steps are
Animals and Plants
Single Celled Organism
Prehistoric Cell, Mitocondria, and Chloroplasts
Ooze that contains building blocks of life
Rocks and Acid Rain
Lava and Gases from volcanoes.
That is what unpure-science claims you evolved from, in that order.

After all how does a quatinary biological programing language (DNA) that works actually come into existance by accident.
There is too much order in the universe for it to have just happened.
And even though there is the theory that an organism arrived on earth via a comet or asteroid it still had to come from some where and if you are saying it evolved it still came from a rock.

Answer 4

I used to think like you. I used to go online and tell creationists how stupid they were for believing what they did. I was a hardcore evolutionist for 20 years. But after watching a 15-hour seminar on creation science, I began to realize who was telling the truth. I had been brainwashed by my school textbooks all throughout my schooling, until I had believed it without reservation, like yourself. This seminar actually taught me to think for myself! There are over 5000 scientific facts that deny evolution and back the idea that the Earth is young and that there was a worldwide Flood, just like the Bible says.
If you can believe with confidence the claims of Genesis, then you can believe the rest of the Bible. If you destroy the book of Genesis, then the rest of the Bible follows, because Genesis is the foundation upon which all the rest of the Bible rests. Satan knew this, so that's why he inspired Darwin to come up with that crazy "theory". BTW, the scientific definition of "Theory" is "a hypothesis that has been proven (via the scientific method) to be correct beyond reasonable doubt. No such thing has ever occurred concerning evolution.
Here is a students' challenge:
1. Demonstrate, using the scientific method only, how a dog can either come from or produce a non-dog. (Definition of "dog" here meaning any member of the family "Canis".) Your results must be repeatable and falsifiable.

2. Demonstrate how life can come from non-living matter without intelligent input. You may not use pre-existing raw materials.

The only thing that has EVER been observed in nature is that plants and animals ALWAYS "bring forth after their kind." (As per the Bible.) Dogs always produce some kind of dog. Cats always produce some kind of cat. Horses always produce some kind of horse. There is a black box around these "kinds", within which are the various sub-species, but outside of which they NEVER reproduce. To believe that the dog and the cat had a common ancestor is complete fantasy that is not supported by true science, thus giving credence to the idea that evolution is a RELIGION.

Answer 5

There are probably various reasons for the opposition to the theory of evolution.

As a Christian (I am presently 48 yrs.old), I have no trouble saying there is some truth to evolution. What I have a major problem with is the THEORY of evolution (which is vastly different from evolution) being taught in schools as FACT. It is not!!!!!
Pardon my present ignorance of the matter; but I do not know what abiogenesis is and only think I know what cosmology is..

Answer 6

Misinformation. The preacher man will tell them how wrong it is just to keep butts in the pews and change in the plates. They have an answer for everything, true or not. And anything we do not know they laugh at and boast about how they have all the answers. True or not

See the misinformation? Darwin never recanted, but they will hold onto that one as if they saw it on video.

Answer 7

I'm familiar with the theory and I've heard the arguments for it. But doesn't the theory boil down to the presupposition that random mutations can add large amounts of useful information to the DNA structure and that this information can result in a one celled creature turning into a frog like creature that turns into a rat like creature that turns into a monkey like creature that turns into a human being?

That sounds like a huge house of cards to me. And yes, I know that natural selection is supposed to be a part of the process. How then can you account for the butterfly? How does natural selection produce a caterpillar that spins a defenseless cocoon around itself and turns into a butterfly?

Please write to me with your answers.

Answer 8

Because they turn to cut and paste anti-evolution rhetoric, rather than study the subject. Why do you think they ask the same laundry lists of questions all the time?

Answer 9

You can't argue science against religion. One relies on logic and the other on faith. Since logic and faith are mutually exclusive any argument is not applicable to the other camp.

Answer 10

It is all theory and suppostion. false science. 1 Tim 6:20 tells of it. it opposes God and therefore we reject it. Its an area like you said of UNKNOWN. while many of us have seen miracles of GOD and that is very real.
We that dont believe and never will on evoluation know that it is false science, and no we arent misguided. If you knew and believed God and His word, you would know it too.
Your beliefs are only a theory tho you are surely entitled to them. What if you are wrong man? What if there is a God. and this whol big cosmos thing??? Who made it all. GOD.
Even Darwin recanted on his theory before he died? What more can I tell you?
MIsguided? I dont think so. BUt we are guided by the one true God who made it all, and can take it all away.
Jesus is coming soon to take His ppl home. Be one of them, or spend a lifetime of regrets. choose wisely now. for that Ipray.