So you believe in evolution..
December 23, 2011 at 4:53 am
(This post was last modified: December 23, 2011 at 5:05 am by power.)
Hello,
I realize many of you do not believe that God exists because you believe evolution is a proven fact, so I would like to open your eyes to a few things.
First, when I refer to evolution not being proven, I am referring to "macro evolution", which is defined as changes above the species level. Micro evolution, which is change below the species level, is a definitely a proven fact and has been observed. (if you don't know the difference between micro and macro evolution, or like some atheists, you believe they are terms invented by creationists, please take some time to research)
What Darwin observed in his studies of the Galapagos finches was micro evolution. He observed that the lengths of their beaks changed to adapt to their environmental conditions. From there he made the assumption that if a species could change over time to adapt to its environment, eventually it might change enough to become an entirely different species. From there he made the further assumption that all life has a common ancestor.
The problem with this theory is that the fossil record did not support it. He admitted this when he said:
innumerable transitional forms must have existed but why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? ..why is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geologoy assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain, and this perhaps is the greatest objection which can be urged against my theory.
Charles Darwin
Origin of the Species
So, the relative poverty of the fossil record at the time was blamed for this lack of transitional forms. Overr one hundred years later and not much has changed. We now have access to billions of fossils and those transitional forms that darwin hoped for have failed to manifest themselves.
What we observe in the fossil record is stasis. That is, that species enter the record suddenly and fully formed, show no changes, and then suddenly leave the record.
For this reason, the theory of punctuated equilibrium was introduced, which basically states that evolution happens so fast that we cannot see it in the fossil record.
That being said, I know many of you will probably claim that there are plenty of transitional fossils (most have roundly been debunked) or that *every* fossil is a transitional form (please do more research), but the fact is not even a single one is bullet proof. If you do your research you will find that none of these so-called transitional forms have any true ancestry. Meaning, they fill in the blanks with their imagination.
Specifically, I'll bring a few things to your attention:
1. Living fossils
Army Ants - unchanged over 100 million years
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May...y.bpf.html
Coelacanth - unchanged over 400 million years
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/302368.stm
Sturgeon - unchanged over 250 million years
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...121902.php
Seems kind of fishy when evolution isn't happening over hundreds of millions of years, doesnt it?
2. Soft tissue and blood cells found in T-Rex fossils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ZCc7Ea2...re=related
Biological material could survive hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, but definitely not millions. This is evidence that dinosaurs were around not too long ago.
3. Cambrian Explosion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKMKYd0WSV0
Since the Cambrian explosion, no new phyla have entered the fossil record. All of the major body types appeared suddenly, and creatures were both immediately diverse and complex.
So, if anyone has any answers to any of this, I am all ears. The evidence as it is demonstrates that life did not gradually evolve. Macro evolution has simply never been observed. Darwin made an important discovery with micro evolution, but that is far as it goes. Macro evolution is simply not science, since it cannot be observed or tested.
So, if you're basing your disbelief in God over your belief in evolutionary theory, you need to rethink your position. We haven't even started talking about the problems with abiogenesis yet.
I realize many of you do not believe that God exists because you believe evolution is a proven fact, so I would like to open your eyes to a few things.
First, when I refer to evolution not being proven, I am referring to "macro evolution", which is defined as changes above the species level. Micro evolution, which is change below the species level, is a definitely a proven fact and has been observed. (if you don't know the difference between micro and macro evolution, or like some atheists, you believe they are terms invented by creationists, please take some time to research)
What Darwin observed in his studies of the Galapagos finches was micro evolution. He observed that the lengths of their beaks changed to adapt to their environmental conditions. From there he made the assumption that if a species could change over time to adapt to its environment, eventually it might change enough to become an entirely different species. From there he made the further assumption that all life has a common ancestor.
The problem with this theory is that the fossil record did not support it. He admitted this when he said:
innumerable transitional forms must have existed but why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? ..why is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geologoy assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain, and this perhaps is the greatest objection which can be urged against my theory.
Charles Darwin
Origin of the Species
So, the relative poverty of the fossil record at the time was blamed for this lack of transitional forms. Overr one hundred years later and not much has changed. We now have access to billions of fossils and those transitional forms that darwin hoped for have failed to manifest themselves.
What we observe in the fossil record is stasis. That is, that species enter the record suddenly and fully formed, show no changes, and then suddenly leave the record.
For this reason, the theory of punctuated equilibrium was introduced, which basically states that evolution happens so fast that we cannot see it in the fossil record.
That being said, I know many of you will probably claim that there are plenty of transitional fossils (most have roundly been debunked) or that *every* fossil is a transitional form (please do more research), but the fact is not even a single one is bullet proof. If you do your research you will find that none of these so-called transitional forms have any true ancestry. Meaning, they fill in the blanks with their imagination.
Specifically, I'll bring a few things to your attention:
1. Living fossils
Army Ants - unchanged over 100 million years
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May...y.bpf.html
Coelacanth - unchanged over 400 million years
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/302368.stm
Sturgeon - unchanged over 250 million years
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2...121902.php
Seems kind of fishy when evolution isn't happening over hundreds of millions of years, doesnt it?
2. Soft tissue and blood cells found in T-Rex fossils
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ZCc7Ea2...re=related
Biological material could survive hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, but definitely not millions. This is evidence that dinosaurs were around not too long ago.
3. Cambrian Explosion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKMKYd0WSV0
Since the Cambrian explosion, no new phyla have entered the fossil record. All of the major body types appeared suddenly, and creatures were both immediately diverse and complex.
So, if anyone has any answers to any of this, I am all ears. The evidence as it is demonstrates that life did not gradually evolve. Macro evolution has simply never been observed. Darwin made an important discovery with micro evolution, but that is far as it goes. Macro evolution is simply not science, since it cannot be observed or tested.
So, if you're basing your disbelief in God over your belief in evolutionary theory, you need to rethink your position. We haven't even started talking about the problems with abiogenesis yet.
Of all choices, atheism requires the greatest faith, as it demands that ones limited store of human knowledge is sufficient to exclude the possibility of God.
Francis Collins
Human Genome Project
Francis Collins
Human Genome Project