> -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 8:42 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: What Do Creationists Make Of This? > > So on a random surfing expedition, I was trying to brush up on some > human evolution and ran across this fascinating chart: > > What I also thought about was, on the chart, Homo Sapiens (us) are at > the tippy top - below us is 4-1/2 million years of evolution where we > didn't exist. And that's just what we know about.
Well... on Earth that's well over 4 1/2 billion years where we didn't exist, but I get your point. ;^) It's often forgotten by evolution deniers (who often try to make the claim that complex cells couldn't have evolved) that while chemistry seems to work in the direction of life and it had a whole planetary ocean to "play" in evolution of the complex cell still took over 2 billion years. In comparison it took less than 175 million years for us to evolve from the very first mammals. Evolution definitely accelerates over time. > So I wondered, do creationists think all of this evidence and science > is false or made up? And if so, how do they explain all other > fossils, tools, etc? There are many reactions... most are incompatible with one another. Biblical Literalists often claim that the evidence was placed by God as a "test of faith". God, for some reason known only to Him created the Universe with this evidence intact some 6000 years ago. The evidence is there, but of course the idea that it was brought into being whenever by an omnipotent force can't be tested. The statement "God made everything exactly as it is five seconds ago" is just not falsifiable. Another group of literalists, and often the noisiest, are those that insist that the evidence is being misread. These are the ones that make claims, for example, that the Grand Canyon could have been formed several thousand years ago as a result of the great flood. These are the ones that scour satellite imagery and every few months claim to have spotted the remains of Noah's ark on some peak someplace. They invoke the "God of the gaps" argument picking apart holes in the fossil record and questions in the science as "proof" that it shouldn't be trusted. In general they demand "scientific approval" of their ideas although they rarely, if ever, follow scientific process. There are also creationists, of course that "push back the boundary". They see the bible as a metaphorical work and so can easily accept pretty much scientific reasoning as long as it starts with an act of God. They often see the "big bang" as God's initial act of creation. > And what about Adam? Was he the first Homo Sapien or was he an > Ardipithecus? Obviously if he was a Homo Sapien, that raises many > questions ... The most common answer I've heard is that while Adam and Eve were the first "people" they had many, many children in their over 800 years on Earth (according to some biblical scholars). Their children married and had children of their own and so forth. One reason I've heard for both the lack of incestuous breeding problems and the lack of modern longevity is that their descendents DNA has become "polluted" over the (6000 or so) years since the Universe was created. Remember also, of course, that this form of population through incest has at least one antecedent: all people except Noah's family of eight were destroyed in the great flood. It was those eight that repopulated the Earth. But in the end to really know what creationists think of all this you have only to ask them. They'll talk for as long as you'll let them (and then some) on the topic: http://www.discovery.org/ http://www.idthefuture.com/ http://www.evolutionnews.org/ Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:201669 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
