“The theory says that all life began as relatively simple & small organisms and evolved over geological time scales into larger more complex organisms, such as ourselves. The evidence confirming it is all around, notably in the form of fossils which consistently show change from oldest to youngest, from simplest to more complex.”
There is evidence of changes in organisms over time. However complex organisms could have been created over time just as the single-celled organisms were created. The fact that complex creatures appeared over time doesn’t mean they evolved from simple organisms.
You are a FReeper who may have studied this in depth as I have but you came to a different conclusion.
Besides the fact that complex creatures appeared over time — what is the evidence that single celled organisms over time evolved into complex organisms with eyes, ears, a brain and consciousness?
Well, I'm glad to see we at least agree on one fundamental -- the fossil record in geological strata does show changes over time, from relatively smaller & simpler to often larger & more complex.
So the question then becomes, how do we explain that?
And I understand that you wish to explain the fossil record as all the products of special (supernatural) creation.
And I agree that is one possible explanation.
However, by definition of the word "science" supernatural creation is not science, and should not be taught to children as if it were science.
The proper place to teach such ideas is in classes devoted to the specific religion of a child's family, I.e., in church or private religious school.
Specifically, definition of the word "science" includes the search for natural explanations of natural phenomena.
So anything supernatural -- whether a phenomenon or an explanation -- by definition is non-scientific.
Of course, that doesn't automatically mean it's wrong -- some things have no natural explanations, but it does put them beyond the reach of natural science.
plain talk: "Besides the fact that complex creatures appeared over time — what is the evidence that single celled organisms over time evolved into complex organisms with eyes, ears, a brain and consciousness?"
Aside from the fossils themselves, the second major line of confirming evidence comes from comparing the similarities and differences in DNA of different species.
These show striking similarities in ALL DNA, and nearly identical DNA in closely related species.
Further, DNA recovered from "recently" extinct species, like mammoths or Neanderthals, show just the expected similarities and differences evolution theory predicts.
Further, by counting up the differences in DNA of two different species, it is possible to calculate roughly the time period of their common ancestors, calculations confirmed in the fossil record.
Another line of confirming evidence, though often ridiculed & mocked by anti-evolutionists, remains the similarities in new embryos & fetuses of most animals.
Early drawings of similarities were later shown to be unrealistic, however current photographs still show many similarities.
And another, any extensive physical comparison of living species shows great similarities among more closely related with increasing differences among more distantly related -- notice the term here "related".
Species can only be related if they have common ancestors.
Evolution explains how different species can have common ancestors.