Trying to understand evolution

[JDepps]

I was raised in a Christian home. I believed in God untl I was around 15-16 years old. And even than, after I strayed away, deep down I believed God existed. I'm 25 now. I'm just now finally accepting and admitted there is no God. Or I should say don't believe there is a God. It's ignorant to say there is or isnt a God. Noone truly knows. But I've been through alot the past 10 years. And I tried. I gave it my all. I read the Bible inside and out. I prayed everyday and put my heart in it. The past 2 years I became extremely full of hate and anger because even though I said I didn't believe deep down I did. And even now after no longer believing I still have resentment towards Christianity. I never gave an honest effort into believing anything other than God but I'm that point now where I'm 100% open and willing to the other possibilities, mainly Evolution.

I've watched a couple documentaries but they always start with the evolution of man. They never start at the beginning. And the beginning is where many of my questions come. I guess I don't know enough about the theory of evolution. I can understand the evolution of man but what about our galaxy. I look at the sky and it's hard to imagine it didn't have some intelligent designer. I've said far more than I intended. All I'm looking for is a documentary that explains the beginning, the middle, and the now of evolution.

[Chad32]

Evolution is less concerned with how things began, than it is with how things are. It's the study of species change over time, whereas abiogenesis is the study of how everything originated. We're less clear on that than evolution, but the main thing is that they're different studies.

[Mr.wizard]

I was raised in a Christian home. I believed in God untl I was around 15-16 years old. And even than, after I strayed away, deep down I believed God existed. I'm 25 now. I'm just now finally accepting and admitted there is no God. Or I should say don't believe there is a God. It's ignorant to say there is or isnt a God. Noone truly knows. But I've been through alot the past 10 years. And I tried. I gave it my all. I read the Bible inside and out. I prayed everyday and put my heart in it. The past 2 years I became extremely full of hate and anger because even though I said I didn't believe deep down I did. And even now after no longer believing I still have resentment towards Christianity. I never gave an honest effort into believing anything other than God but I'm that point now where I'm 100% open and willing to the other possibilities, mainly Evolution.

I've watched a couple documentaries but they always start with the evolution of man. They never start at the beginning. And the beginning is where many of my questions come. I guess I don't know enough about the theory of evolution. I can understand the evolution of man but what about our galaxy. I look at the sky and it's hard to imagine it didn't have some intelligent designer. I've said far more than I intended. All I'm looking for is a documentary that explains the beginning, the middle, and the now of evolution.

Evolution has nothing to do with the galaxy, it studies the diversity of life on earth.

[JDepps]

Ok, I didn't know that. As I said I'm new to anything other than Christianity. I was not aware of abiogenesis. I'll look into that.

[Chad32]

Christians like to shoot into the beginning of existence, since that's about the only place left for their god to be. I don't know why they try to connect it with evolution.

Another thing about the divine cause debate is that even if everyone agrees the universe needed an intelligent designer, that doesn't get you any farther than deism. Theism is no closer to being proven. Deism being the belief that something got the ball rolling, and watched things play out from afar. Theism being the belief that a god or gods take an active role in the Human race.

[Minimalist]

Read Dawkins "The Greatest Show On Earth."

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/greatest...1416594796

Unlike silly bible stories there is evidence for evolution and Dawkins lays it all out.

[Sejanus]

Evolution has nothing to do with the galaxy, it studies the diversity of life on earth.

We can, incidentally, study the evolution of galaxies by taking a 'survey' of galaxies at different distances (and hence ages) from the Earth, and infer galactic evolution from the patterns we see. But you were referring to biological evolution. *Sejanus looks down and walks away*

[JDepps]

I'm in a frustrating place right now. I wish I could just move on because I doubt I will ever get the answers I am looking for. But while many can just live there life without answers I cannot. I think a lot of it stems off being brought up in a Christian home and school. Living in that environment and believing in it for so long and than opening your eyes to the deception and lies....it just filled me with hate. And now it's like I can't move on until I get real answers which I know won't happen. But every single day my mind goes back and forth. And deep, deep down there will always be some part of me that believes in God. Its something I want too, but can't shake off. I guess one my biggest questions with any religion or theory is how did it begin? No matter what or who, something was here first. I could never believe in the Big Bang because how can it just appear. But than I as myself how is that any different than God just appearing. It's honestly eating me away; God, Evolution, Big Bang, etc....it gives me a migraine.

[Mr.wizard]

Evolution has nothing to do with the galaxy, it studies the diversity of life on earth.

We can, incidentally, study the evolution of galaxies by taking a 'survey' of galaxies at different distances (and hence ages) from the Earth, and infer galactic evolution from the patterns we see. But you were referring to biological evolution. *Sejanus looks down and walks away*

Sure but he was talking about the theory of evolution.

[Bad Wolf]

I'm in a frustrating place right now. I wish I could just move on because I doubt I will ever get the answers I am looking for. But while many can just live there life without answers I cannot. I think a lot of it stems off being brought up in a Christian home and school. Living in that environment and believing in it for so long and than opening your eyes to the deception and lies....it just filled me with hate. And now it's like I can't move on until I get real answers which I know won't happen. But every single day my mind goes back and forth. And deep, deep down there will always be some part of me that believes in God. Its something I want too, but can't shake off. I guess one my biggest questions with any religion or theory is how did it begin? No matter what or who, something was here first. I could never believe in the Big Bang because how can it just appear. But than I as myself how is that any different than God just appearing. It's honestly eating me away; God, Evolution, Big Bang, etc....it gives me a migraine.

So I suppose you're a deist then? Surely you still don't believe the xian god exists? If so, please stick around and read all the threads, they'll give you a pretty good idea why the xian god is a ridiculous belief.