Why I am an "Evolutionist"

[Unknown Soldier]

Evolution, including the evolution of living things, always made good sense to me. I can see how living things change from one generation to the next. I also see Darwin's "struggle for life" all the time. The evidence for evolution offered by modern biology I find very convincing. And the logic behind evolution couldn't be clearer: Small changes occur over short periods of time, and large changes occur over long periods of time. Those who oppose the Theory of Evolution I think are insecure fearing its implications. So those who deny that evolution occurs do so out of emotion rather than reason or evidence.

That's a start! Questions and comments are appreciated.

 

[Nathan P]

Evolution, including the evolution of living things, always made good sense to me. I can see how living things change from one generation to the next. I also see Darwin's "struggle for life" all the time. The evidence for evolution offered by modern biology I find very convincing. And the logic behind evolution couldn't be clearer: Small changes occur over short periods of time, and large changes occur over long periods of time. Those who oppose the Theory of Evolution I think are insecure fearing its implications. So those who deny that evolution occurs do so out of emotion rather than reason or evidence.

That's a start! Questions and comments are appreciated.

We have discussed this and nowhere in the fossil record is there evidence of large changes happening over long periods of time.

 

[Leatherneck0311]

Evolution, including the evolution of living things, always made good sense to me. I can see how living things change from one generation to the next. I also see Darwin's "struggle for life" all the time. The evidence for evolution offered by modern biology I find very convincing. And the logic behind evolution couldn't be clearer: Small changes occur over short periods of time, and large changes occur over long periods of time. Those who oppose the Theory of Evolution I think are insecure fearing its implications. So those who deny that evolution occurs do so out of emotion rather than reason or evidence.

That's a start! Questions and comments are appreciated.

Gen 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 

[rossum]

Gen 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And, being omnipotent, He created a universe in which life would develop from the rules of chemistry He put in place, and that life would evolve in exactly the way He foresaw from the beginning.

Given that god is omnipotent and omniscient, then everything that happens in the universe is exactly as He foresaw it happening.

 

[rossum]

We have discussed this and nowhere in the fossil record is there evidence of large changes happening over long periods of time.

This is incorrect. Whatever sources told you that were lying to you. The development of birds from land-based dinosaurs took a long time. The development of Sarcopterygian fish, to amphibians took a long time.

Both of those large changes are in the fossil record.

 

[Leatherneck0311]

Nope

And, being omnipotent, He created a universe in which life would develop from the rules of chemistry He put in place, and that life would evolve in exactly the way He foresaw from the beginning.

Given that god is omnipotent and omniscient, then everything that happens in the universe is exactly as He foresaw it happening.

, God created He didn’t set in motion evolution—>
Gen 1:11 - And God said,Let the earth bring forthgrass, the herb yielding seed,and the fruit tree yielding fruitafter his kind, whose seed isin itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:12 - And the earthbrought forth grass, and herbyielding seed after his kind,and the tree yielding fruit,whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God sawthat it was good.

Gen 1:13 - And the eveningand the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:14 - And God said,Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,and years:

Gen 1:15 - And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:16 - And God madetwo great lights; the greaterlight to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:he made the stars also.

Gen 1:17 - And God setthem in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Gen 1:18 - And to rule over the day and over the night,and to divide the light from the darkness: and God sawthat it was good.

Gen 1:19 - And the eveningand the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:20 - And God said,Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmamentof heaven.

Gen 1:21 - And Godcreated great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the watersbrought forth abundantly,after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind:and God saw that it wasgood.

Gen 1:22 - And Godblessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fillthe waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Gen 1:23 - And the eveningand the morning were the fifthday.

Gen 1:24 - And God said,Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,cattle, and creeping thing,and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Gen 1:25 - And God madethe beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Gen 1:26 - And God said,Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepethupon the earth.

Gen 1:27 - So God createdman in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:28 - And Godblessed them, and God saidunto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fishof the sea, and over the fowlof the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Gen 1:29 - And God said,Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a treeyielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

 

[Gus Bovona]

We have discussed this and nowhere in the fossil record is there evidence of large changes happening over long periods of time.

What would the fossil record have to look like if there were large changes happening over long periods of time, such that we don't actually see anything like that?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

We have discussed this and nowhere in the fossil record is there evidence of large changes happening over long periods of time.

What is your source? It took me less than a minute to find a source that contradicts what you just claimed. From Science Direct's article Speciation in the fossil record we read:

Recent work has shown that some parts of the fossil record are astonishingly complete and well documented, and patterns of lineage splitting can be examined in detail. Marine plankton appear to show gradual speciation, with subsequent morphological differentiation of lineages taking up to 500 000 years to occur. Marine invertebrates and vertebrates more commonly show punctuated patterns, with periods of rapid speciation followed by long-term stasis of species lineages.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Gen 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Thank you for admitting that opposition to the Theory of Evolution is based in religious faith and not reason and not evidence.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This is incorrect. Whatever sources told you that were lying to you. The development of birds from land-based dinosaurs took a long time. The development of Sarcopterygian fish, to amphibians took a long time.

Both of those large changes are in the fossil record.

I didn't fail to notice that Nathan didn't cite a source.

 

[Leatherneck0311]

Thank you for admitting that opposition to the Theory of Evolution is based in religious faith and not reason and not evidence.

Creation is based in evidence and truth not ferry takes the lost want others to believe.

 

[Nathan P]

What is your source? It took me less than a minute to find a source that contradicts what you just claimed. From Science Direct's article Speciation in the fossil record we read:

Like it has been discussed many times and all that shows is similarities between species and no actual change between species.

 

[Nathan P]

What would the fossil record have to look like if there were large changes happening over long periods of time, such that we don't actually see anything like that?

Because all you would have are similarities between species and no actual change between species. There were no actual changes or some of the many trillions would show up in the fossil record.

 

[unbound]

Nope

, God created He didn’t set in motion evolution—>
Gen 1:11 - And God said,Let the earth bring forthgrass, the herb yielding seed,and the fruit tree yielding fruitafter his kind, whose seed isin itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:12 - And the earthbrought forth grass, and herbyielding seed after his kind,and the tree yielding fruit,whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God sawthat it was good.

Gen 1:13 - And the eveningand the morning were the third day.

Gen 1:14 - And God said,Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,and years:

Gen 1:15 - And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:16 - And God madetwo great lights; the greaterlight to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:he made the stars also.

Gen 1:17 - And God setthem in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

Gen 1:18 - And to rule over the day and over the night,and to divide the light from the darkness: and God sawthat it was good.

Gen 1:19 - And the eveningand the morning were the fourth day.

Gen 1:20 - And God said,Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmamentof heaven.

Gen 1:21 - And Godcreated great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the watersbrought forth abundantly,after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind:and God saw that it wasgood.

Gen 1:22 - And Godblessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fillthe waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Gen 1:23 - And the eveningand the morning were the fifthday.

Gen 1:24 - And God said,Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind,cattle, and creeping thing,and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Gen 1:25 - And God madethe beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Gen 1:26 - And God said,Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepethupon the earth.

Gen 1:27 - So God createdman in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:28 - And Godblessed them, and God saidunto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fishof the sea, and over the fowlof the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Gen 1:29 - And God said,Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a treeyielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Simply translated: "Hold my beer..."

Or just check out the Mr Deity channel on Youtube.

 

[Nathan P]

This is incorrect. Whatever sources told you that were lying to you. The development of birds from land-based dinosaurs took a long time. The development of Sarcopterygian fish, to amphibians took a long time.

Both of those large changes are in the fossil record.

No they are not and all you have are similarities between the ones you list. Show me your proof so it can be proven incorrect?

 

[rossum]

No they are not and all you have are similarities between the ones you list. Show me your proof so it can be proven incorrect?

You need a better understanding of science. Science uses the available evidence to make a theory, as Newton used the then available evidence to develop his theory of gravity. Later, more accurate observations were made and it was realised that Newton was wrong about the precession of the orbit of Mercury. Einstein developed a new theory of gravity: General Relativity. That gave the correct value for Mercury's orbit and correctly predicted the result of the Eddington experiment.

Newton's theory was never "proven". Similarly Einstein's theory is not proven. At some point Einstein will be replaced with a better theory, such as Quantum Gravity, which scientists are currently working on.

Proof is for mathematics, where theorems are indeed proven. In science all theories are provisional, and can change as new evidence is found.

Hence, your request for "proof" is an error. All science can provide is evidence.

In the case of birds, here is a very quick summary of the evidence of descent:

                    Feathers Flight   Bony Tail  Teeth
                    -------- ------   ---------  ------
Dinosaurs              No       No      Yes        Yes  :  Stegosaurus
Feathered Dinos       Yes       No      Yes        Yes  :  Jinfengopteryx
Archaeopteryx         Yes      Yes      Yes        Yes  :  Archaeopteryx
Early Birds           Yes      Yes       No        Yes  :  Ichthyornis
Modern Birds          Yes      Yes       No         No  :  Corvidae

Those species are arranged in order of descent. Over time, some characteristics are lost while other characteristics appear. Your theory would imply that modern birds, like crows, were alive at the time of Stegosaurus. There is no evidence to support that. Currently evolution is the best explanation available.

 

[Nathan P]

No they are not and all you have are similarities between the ones you list.

You need a better understanding of science. Science uses the available evidence to make a theory, as Newton used the then available evidence to develop his theory of gravity. Later, more accurate observations were made and it was realised that Newton was wrong about the precession of the orbit of Mercury. Einstein developed a new theory of gravity: General Relativity. That gave the correct value for Mercury's orbit and correctly predicted the result of the Eddington experiment.

Newton's theory was never "proven". Similarly Einstein's theory is not proven. At some point Einstein will be replaced with a better theory, such as Quantum Gravity, which scientists are currently working on.

Proof is for mathematics, where theorems are indeed proven. In science all theories are provisional, and can change as new evidence is found.

Hence, your request for "proof" is an error. All science can provide is evidence.

In the case of birds, here is a very quick summary of the evidence of descent:

                    Feathers Flight   Bony Tail  Teeth
                    -------- ------   ---------  ------
Dinosaurs              No       No      Yes        Yes  :  Stegosaurus
Feathered Dinos       Yes       No      Yes        Yes  :  Jinfengopteryx
Archaeopteryx         Yes      Yes      Yes        Yes  :  Archaeopteryx
Early Birds           Yes      Yes       No        Yes  :  Ichthyornis
Modern Birds          Yes      Yes       No         No  :  Corvidae

Those species are arranged in order of descent. Over time, some characteristics are lost while other characteristics appear. Your theory would imply that modern birds, like crows, were alive at the time of Stegosaurus. There is no evidence to support that. Currently evolution is the best explanation available.

No they are arranged in order of similarities. Show me an actual tail changing from one species to the other?

 

[Gus Bovona]

Because all you would have are similarities between species and no actual change between species. There were no actual changes or some of the many trillions would show up in the fossil record.

I'm looking for a description of a hypothetical fossil record (see the rest of post 7 for further details). So I'm looking for the completion of this sentence:

"The fossil record would have to look like ____________________ .

 

[CrowCross]

Evolution, including the evolution of living things, always made good sense to me. I can see how living things change from one generation to the next. I also see Darwin's "struggle for life" all the time. The evidence for evolution offered by modern biology I find very convincing. And the logic behind evolution couldn't be clearer: Small changes occur over short periods of time, and large changes occur over long periods of time. Those who oppose the Theory of Evolution I think are insecure fearing its implications. So those who deny that evolution occurs do so out of emotion rather than reason or evidence.

That's a start! Questions and comments are appreciated.

What you have presented is what is called the coloring book version of evo-ism.

You said "Small changes occur over short periods of time, and large changes occur over long periods of time.".....Do you have evidence for this?
Can you show us how mutations add up and produce these large morphological changes....or is all you can do is present the coloring book definition?

......Now, you also mentioned "insecure fearing its implications".....Just what does that mean?

 

[CrowCross]

Both of those large changes are in the fossil record.

Is it the changes or the differences?