Does Evolution Prove There Is No God?

It's wacky to take myth literally. I grew up to do that. So silly.

I don't think evolution proves there is no God any more than understanding photosynthesis proves there is no God. Even when you understand how it works, life on this planet is rather miraculous if you really think about it.

I don't think it proves there is a God!

PJS I put God on the same sphere as Santa and the Easter Bunny only not quite as fun.

Bridget interesting point.

Julia yes it is interesting. It is miraculous.

Evolution doesn't say that God didn't create the first matter - but it does look bad for the Adam and Eve story being literal.

Seems like an interesting read! I personally believe evolution and creationism can coexist. Neither is 100% believable in my opinion. I don't feel that one day *POOF* everything existed. I believe there is a higher being whether it be God or not, but I have tangible proof that evolution occurred with fossils and artifacts so could it not be that one day God (or whatever god you prefer) created man, but they still had some evolution to do to become the people we are today. We are still evolving, that is evident through technology, the economy, etc. so evolution really can't be disproved in my opinion. It takes time.

PJS actually got short and sweet to my point. The Old Testament doesn't say that Adam and Eve were the "humans" we are today. Whose to say that the first "humans" weren't more apelike in appearance? To each his own, I suppose, people will believe what they believe.

I've always wondered how they gathered up all those animals and loaded them on the ark.

No, life is not a "miracle". A miracle is an unusual magical event, like turning water into wine, or walking on water. "Life" on Earth is very very very common. Babies are not a miracle. Everything alive reproduces. Even grass. Unless you want to marvel at your lawn and its weeds being a miracle every day.

To say "life" is a "miracle" dilutes that word so much that you would then have to use a whole different word to describe the things Jesus does in the Bible.

It does sound interesting. There is no denying science. There is no denying that all cultures have had some sort of deity. I had a Catholic priest tell me one time that the Bible story of creation is more a story to teach us principles to live by. Also, think about people who lived centuries ago. They thought the world was flat...no way could they imagine travel to the moon or evolution.
I've always been a scientific, logical person by my nature. Maybe there is a god...maybe it is the power of human potential untapped. Who knows. We won't know until we die, will we...and even then, maybe not. ;-)
I respect everyone's right to believe their way. But just don't force others to go along.

Shannon --- I heard he used a flute like the Pied Piper!

Actually...the Bible states it slightly differently:

Genesis 7
[ 1 ] And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
[ 2 ] Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female:
[ 3 ] of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

"Wouldn't that make us all the products of incest?"
Stop fantasizing...there were more than two people.

I'm sure there was a time when Christian people thought fire was a total miracle (having no scientific understanding of it).

My Dad once told me a rainbow was a miracle, that there was no scientific explanation for it. Wrong.

I have just decided that when the internet works, it is a miracle. And when it doesn't work, I must have done something "bad" on it.

(doesn't it always seem that way?)

Um Sparks I realize there are more than 2 people but this is what I meant.

Noah took his sons and their wives. Say there are 3. Now any children they have are going to be related...1st cousins....so in order to procreate those children would have to either marry their brothers and sisters or their cousins.

Thats what I was talking about.

PJS that is another interesting thing.

If you do something good it was Gods will and not really you doing it but god allowing and pushing you to do it.

If you do something really bad then again it wasnt you it was the devil.

Religion allows for no personal responsibility. Which probably explains why ministers kids are the worst ones ever.

Haven't you ever heard that we're all brothers and sisters?

God and Evolution. In fact they can coexist, because the one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Evolution is a principle of science based on observation and extrapolation to basic principles. The other is a religious belief based on faith with no material evidence. That's not comparing apples and oranges - more like comparing sea turtles and the poetry of Shakespeare, then saying if one exists then the other cannot.

Evolution is not proof there isn't a god. Common sense is proof. With so many flavors of god available, everyone is making up their own version. The idea of god has evolved (or devolved) if you read different creation stories and myths.

I don't think explaining the unknow as "god's doing" is very scientific. It just says that person isn't willing to look for the answer any more.

There's also a guy who's really smart that may change your mind. At least about the fact that evolution is true... His name is Dr. Dino and he's VERY smart. He can change any critics mind because he knows EXACTLY what he's talkin about.

I love that song from Flower Drum Song - A Hundred Million Miracles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvLUKmprbSU

And yes, that is Edy's Mrs. Livington. :-)

It's a mythological story for past generations that were not progressed enough to understand the world in any more complicated way. Like the Greeks and Romans, they made up how things came to be in stories...mythology. That does not mean there is not a 'higher power'. As our intellects expand, so should our reasoning.

Well if you think about it, wouldn't the fact that God created Adam and Eve make us all a product of incest?

One of the biggest problems of modern man is the perpetual confusion between science and philosophy. The second problem is that of ego. Both evolution and creationism are terms that are constantly abused. I can argue at length against creationism from a religious and philosophical standpoint, but since this is a reply to your post, I’ll just stick to your argument.

First and foremost, what is a “greater” species and what is a “lesser” species? The horseshoe crab is an ancient species that has lived for hundreds of millions of years. The shark is also an ancient species that has lived for hundreds of millions of years. Their current form is younger, only a hundred million years old, but both creatures live in the modern world. Are they greater or lesser than humans who are only hundred of thousands of years old?

Evolution basically states things evolve and change over time. Natural selection basically states that as conditions change those creatures that are best suited to the new condition survive. The combination of the two implies that natural changes over time can cause new features or changes to existing features to develop which can either lead to success (and thus allows for a greater population) or failure (and thus causes the new variation to die out). Over time new functions form, old functions change or become recessed. Evolution also suggests that over a very long period of time and with enough isolation our DNA codes can diverge so much as to prevent their recombination (in any manner that can continue to procreate).

This is the realm of science. It is easy to jump into the realm of philosophy and bring God into or out of the picture. If we do so, I have to insist on doing it right. While we generally describe “God” as the “can do anything” being, in Christianity there are some interesting things God can’t do. God, for example cannot be deceived, but he cannot deceive either. He cannot lie, he cannot go against Himself. In short the very nature that God has to violate the very laws of creation he created is something that is intuitively obvious as something he would not or cannot do. Therefore it is clear that God works in and through the laws of physics and nature and does not violate them.

The same argument can be used when overanalyzing the Bible as though it was a science textbook. The same argument against Leonardo da Vinci that if (and he really hadn’t proved it scientifically at the time) it were true that the sun was fixed and the earth was not fixed (and neither are fixed technically speaking) that the Bible was “in error.” The Bible is not our science textbook; it tells us how to get to heaven, not how the heavens go.

"then why are the primates still surviving?"

In the wild? They may not be for much longer.

The alligators got it down. They're older then the dinosaurs. They'll get through anything.

Short answer: No

Longer answer, anyone who claims to have detailed knowledge and understanding of the behavior and motivations of a divine being who's omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent is deluded.

Humans and primates have a common ancestor but evolved separately.

Is the planet actually miraculous? Are we really so complex that we just have to have been created by a greater being? Or are we, and the planet, and the universe just what is?

If were so damn special, why are most of us (present company excluded) such closed-minded lunkheads?

Padre, we didn't evolve from the chimp. The chimp evolved from the same branch we did.

I volunteer to commit Biblical scale incest with any of you ladies that are young, good looking, and willing....

The only branches the truly religious understand are the ones they can use to beat their religion into your head, Peter.

I'm with Sheryl. I went to a very progressive Catholic High School in the 60's and for our Senior Religion class we studied the literary history of the Bible.

It just made so much sense then and now.

Literal translations of text written centuries after the events allegedly occured, are ridiculous.

Do you know what you were doing at this time, on the 10th of January of this year? Could a friend write it out?

Yes, you have to let go of the literal. And then, like any good mystery, it blooms.

Padre:
Your premise is DEAD WRONG. Nobody says we evolved from chimps. What they say is that we BOTH evolved from an earlier species that is extinct.

Well, that's not precisely true - people who don't understand evolution and who don't bother to educate themselves say we evolved from chimps.

Lori, did you ever wonder what all those animals did to incur the wrath of god? Were rogue bands of Giraffes roaming the plains harassing the other animals and beating them up? Lion's den casinos and animal brothels? And why didn't the fish and birds whose natural habitat is water get punished? Lot of holes in those stories.

There's also a guy who's really smart that may change your mind. At least about the fact that evolution is true... His name is Dr. Dino and he's VERY smart"

Ha ha! That's my bookie! He'll break your legs if you don't believe him.

Yeah, but chimps were the most advanced branch, they have no religions that we know of. They don't kill, torture or enslave because of one. They don't spend their time trying to spread the word, or persecuting their fellow chimp for their different religion, or anything. No wonder the religious take umbrage at the very suggestion we share anything with them.

"Lori, did you ever wonder what all those animals did to incur the wrath of god? "

Sheeesh. They were NAKED! They also...you know...do it...sometimes in public.

Sheeesh. They were NAKED! They also...you know...do it...sometimes in public.
Doyle ( aka the MAN of 6 senses ) "

Well, I guess that explains why they keep telling me I'm going to Hell. I have to stop fornicating in public. Life will be so dull!

Wade fornicates in public? Where am I when this goes down?

After the Obamanation kookage over the past 2 years I can certainly see how religions get started.

Tonight on Channel 13, New York City's PBS station there is a great two hour program (NOVA) about Evolution and Intelligent Design. It's called Judgement Day: Intelligent Design On Trial. It tells about a city, Dover, PA, where science teachers were ordered to talk about Intelligent Design and how the teachers took it to court to fight the decision. Here is the link to the program description:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/about.html

I saw this NOVA and have to say it is one of the best programs in the NOVA Series. If you live in the NYC area try to watch it. The show runs two hours but it's well worth the time.

I just saw that if want to watch it whenever you want you can see the full two hours at this link:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3416_id.html

Hmm. I am very interested in intelligent design, especially wiener dog construction.

wade, what about platypuses?

Will someone please tell me what is the big fuss about heaven? If there is sucha place then I as well as everyone else will know all about it eventually. If there is not such an actual place then none of us will know of it. Who cares or why should we care. What we know for certain is what is going on this very moment. I happen to care about it. This is enough for me to be concerned about.

"Does Evolution Prove There Is No God?"

((( NO )))

Evolution is science. Creationism is religion. They are mutually exclusive concepts. You can't use one to prove/disprove the other, because they serve completely different purposes. It's like trying to use a car to prove that a dog has hair.

People fall into this trap all the time and it is actually a distraction from the point. Evolution is a science designed to present facts and data for purposes of advancing our understanding of the natural world. Religion (and by extension all mytho-poetic literature) speaks to internal, universal truths about the human condition. When you try to use one to prove or disprove the other, you cheapen and corrupt both.

There is no way to prove there is a god.

"Sheeesh. They were NAKED! They also...you know...do it...sometimes in public."

Yeah, but those rhesus monkeys throwing handfuls of crap at him as he tried to feed them peanuts through the bars might have had something to do with it, too.

I'm with Berf, the answer is no. No one has proven how life began, and the thought that imperfect human beings on a spec in this vast universe, having all the answers to life and its creation, is ridiculous.

Lori...sounds like a very interesting read!! Please post more from this book!!! Actually, I think I may just buy this book too!!

I do have a question: Assuming the 'big bang theory' is correct....."who" lite the fuse?? (Just askin')!!

Exactly, Phyllis! It drives scientists crazy, because they do not know!

I don't think that evolution and God are mutually exclusive