Evolutionist: Why don’t you admit that you accept evolution as fact by “Faith”?

Question

This argument is assuming that evolution is a fact.
Let me Explain. When I was a child I played baseball (unorganized), I knew the game well as it is fairly simple to learn. Later in life when my son began to play the game I was asked to be an assistant coach. I was a little rusty on the rules so I purchased the Official MLB rule book. Wow, was I surprised to see that what I thought were a few simple rules were actually pages and pages of complicated regulations, exceptions, descriptions of plays, etc. The infield fly rule is far more intricate than I had ever dreamed. I spent weeks studying the book and I finally had a good grasp of the game, but often I had to refer back to the book. I reached a point that I could answer almost any question and describe each situation and rule. Then I began to coach the players. Now, knowing the rules was becoming less essential, because the game is actually 9 positions working in unison and each can take years to master with much dedication.

[Continued] Unless you have vast experience in all positions you can’t say you have mastered the game, you may have mastered a portion of the game and only have familiarity with the remaining positions.

The theory of evolution is vastly more complex than the game of baseball. The details are so intricate that only those scientists who have mastered a “position” are truly qualified to explain their findings. And many of their conclusions are open for debate among the other players. The overwhelming majority of people who believe in evolution can not possibility understand it thoroughly enough to have mastered even 1 position, let alone the game. They must simply accept evolution as fact by faith.

For the record, I do not believe in evolution, but I am continuing my study of it as I have no fear of investigating it. I probably study it more than most people who believe in it.

Answer 1

It sure requires a lot of faith to believe that there is no Creator behind this all.

Answer 2

Sorry, no.

You accept that gravity is a fact -- but yet, I'm willing to bet you can't explain in any real detail how it works. Even the people studying cosmology can't quite do that. Relativity is known, for example, to be flawed in that it is incompatible with quantum gravity.

Does this mean you take gravity as a fact on faith?

Have you ever watched a fetus actually develop over 9 months? But if I hand you a few science texts that describe the process of its development, you'd accept the diagrams as fact.

Does this mean you take fetal development on faith?


Unless you're an idiot, and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you're not, you would not call these two things 'faith'. The researchers are credible and their results can be duplicated by anyone who wants to -- in fact, they MUST be duplicated before they are considered part of some theory or another.

Same thing with Evolution.

Evolution is a fact, described by the theory of natural selection. Even the best researchers are still figuring out all the details since we don't know all the details. However, all the research so far points to the fact of evolution via natural selection.

No faith needed.

Anything that requires faith isn't worth bothering with.

Answer 3

I will never understand how Christians see their suppsoed "theory" as anything other than a random belief of faith. It has no basis in science. It isn't a theory, it's a belief. A theory involves SCIENCE.

I study evolution. I know evolution. It is very vast and complex but a generally easy concept to study at the surface, and then you can go further. All the while you are amazed by the complexities and are constantly amazed by what nature can do. I encourage all Christians to study evolution for themsevles.

You don't have to pretend evolution doesn't exist in order to be a Christian. I believe something started evolution all those years ago, I just don't claim to know what, and I certaintly don't claim to ignore science.

Think about this- would you rather have a medication for a disease's original strand, or would you prefer the medication for the strand that the disease has EVOLVED into and you have contracted? Yeah, I thought so.

Answer 4

You can still play baseball knowing the basics. Not knowing everything there is to know is not important- that's a religious thing. I can't name every possible combination of genetics, but I can still make a rational assumption that the theory is mostly correct because I can see enough evidence to satisfy my own curiosity.

Is that faith? Sure, if you want to call it that. But it certainly isn't BLIND faith... with only books to go on, and NO observable evidence.

Evolution isn't a religion. There is no need to know every aspect, every rule, and every line of every term paper ever written on the subject. A rational person can look at the basic outline and see that it makes sense. Digging into the details will find inconsistencies, but that's because its a SCIENCE. Its open for new ideas, and can be tweaked at any time. Religion tends to close this door. A book supposedly written 5000+ years ago providing stories so fantastic that they demand investigation, is left to scrutiny... I've seen people of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Chimps that can communicate with humans, 1,000,000 breeds of cats- some compatible some not, skulls that look fairly human but with a larger brow line and more prominent mouth, fish bones used for breathing that looked identical to the same bone in our ear that allows us to hear... and so on.

Where's your physical evidence?

Answer 5

Not believing evolution is the same as doubting the existence of gravity. The assumption of gravity existing is solely based upon observations. If a ball falls 99 times, it will mostly drop a 100th time. In history, I have never known anyone jumping of a building with the convincement that he or she would be able to float. Unless you doubt observations as evidence and question this reality as not being real, you cannot question evolution. There are loads, tons of evidence which cannot be neglected.

Answer 6

Your point makes the distinction well. Learning the theory of baseball or evolution does not change whether or not baseball is played or evolution occurs. Any particular person's mastery of the theory (how the game or the evolution happen) does not change the FACT that they both happen. Evolution is a fact, though there are some disputes over just how it occurs.

Answer 7

A scientist, by nature, is a person looking to prove a theory. There is nothing wrong with trying to find answers to very complex questions. We have a lot of answers since the invention of the wheel, but we have a lot further to go. To get there, we have to be intelligent enough to know what questions to ask. It takes a lot of discipline, courage, and curiosity to commit to ask these questions, and if none were ever asked, we'd be stuck in the dark ages.

I believe in God and the fact that creatures do evolve to their surroundings.
I also believe that the more questions get asked and answered, the better understanding we'll have how God works.

Answer 8

I have run chemostat experiments to observe evolution in microbes. I have written software to analyze genetic homology, and analyzed gene sequences. (I didn't sequence the gene myself, but I sequenced the protein, and we used the sequence to generate the probe to find the gene.) I am not an expert on anatomic taxonomy, but I have followed the literature in Science for 25 years and Nature (which is better for the purpose) for 20 years. I do not work in evolutionary biology, but I come evidence in my daily work. I'm not a "master" of all related subjects. The evidence is too extensive for any one person to study in a lifetime. It is not a matter of faith.

Answer 9

We don't accept it on faith, we accept it as the clearest theory of explaining the origin of species. It is not set in stone, if there were more evidence to prove contrary, the theory would change, or a new one would be adopted. This is called critical thinking. Holding a theory, testing it, seeing if it can be disproven, finding inconsistincies, and investigating the causes. Not accepting things on blind faith, not simply saying "god did it" but really ascertaining the reasons and causes of things.

Answer 10

I'm just not going to read that. You just cut and pasted it from some website anyway.

Sure, it's faith based on facts and evidence. In the same way, I have faith that gravity exists and that the air you breathe is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen. But I do not have faith in silly things like fairies and spirits and gods.

Answer 11

When it comes down to it, the only thing you really know 100% is that you exist. That said, you have to have faith in everything else. But you should only have faith in things that are supported by the evidence. Evolution is supported. Creationism is not. So yes, I have faith in evolution. Are you happy?