Doubting Darwin

Newsweek via MSNBC.com ^ | 2/7/05 | Jerry Adler

[freespirited]

Ironically, this battle was touched off when Cobb County bought new textbooks that actually covered evolution, after years in which the subject was largely ignored. The same kinds of struggles are cropping up in towns in Wisconsin, Arkansas and elsewhere, as school boards try to implement state curriculum standards mandated by Congress. All sides are keeping a close eye on Ohio, which last year adopted standards including an incendiary phrase about "critically analyz[ing] aspects of evolutionary theory." Kansas, which in the November election handed the anti-evolution forces a 6-4 majority on the state school board, is due to review its standards in February; five years ago, the state was widely ridiculed for eliminating evolution from the required curriculum entirely. The only thing lacking for a full-scale culture war is involvement by the national conservative movement, which has treated it as a local issue. That could change, though. Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who wrote an op-ed article supporting the Dover School Board, says he regards evolution as one of the "big social issues of our time," along with abortion and gay marriage. . . . .

Soon thereafter, I.D. burst into public awareness with the publication of "Darwin on Trial" by Phillip Johnson, a Berkeley law professor who underwent a midlife conversion to evangelical Christianity. As a scientific theory, I.D. is making only slow progress in overcoming evolution's 150-year head start. . . .

[freespirited]

I think the following excerpt from the article cannot be emphasized enough:

the Vatican has said it finds no conflict between Christian faith and evolution. Neither does Francis Collins, the director of the Human Genome Institute at the National Institutes of Health and an outspoken evangelical. He wrote recently of his view that God, "who created the universe, chose the remarkable mechanism of evolution to create plants and animals of all sorts." It may require some metaphysical juggling, but if more people could take that view, there would be fewer conflicts like the one in Dover.

[Stellar Dendrite]

Evolution is a fraud. Certain proteins are expressed in the developmental stages of human embryos (or any animal). These proteins induce the formation of organs. However, if these proteins are continually expressed, cells will become cancerous. I would like for the evolutionists to explain how THAT process "evolved". If evolution is "fact", then the embryo would initially ONLY produce these signaling proteins. Therefore, you could NEVER evolve because all forms of life would become extinct due to the constant upregulation of these proteins (cancer). They would NEVER have the chance to "evolve" and put the 'brakes' on these proteins after initial development (as they currently do). Also, if evolution is "fact" then how did Insulin and Insulin Receptors "evolve"? EVERYONE NEEDS INSULIN!! Was the insulin produced first with nowhere to bind? Was the IR produced first? The insulin signaling pathway (shown below) is too complex and too well organized to have just "evolved".




This is just one example....think of the many, many, many other receptors in the human body as well.....how did they "evolve"? Any way you boil it down, signaling pathways in the human body are too complex to be explained by a stupid and outmoded theory such as evolution. The belief in evolution is in reality it's own religion, many use it to explain that there is no god. I'm not particularly religious, I definitely believe in God but don't accept Creationism in a literal sense. I sure as hell know that evolution is a fraud. I know the history behind the Scopes Monkey trial, the ACLU and how they used it to push evolution into the classroom around the early twenties. The founder of the ACLU stated that America would never knowingly allow socialism to take over. The ACLU needs to be locked up in Guantanamo bay with their terrorist brethren.

[185JHP]

This is a case of a lie that's so weak it's surrounded by a bodyguard of other lies: the stuff passed off as evidence. The fraud is circling the drain.

[Old_Mil]

Unfortunately the Vatican is behind the power curve on this one. The reality of the situation is that if evolution occurred as humanists today contend that the entire story of Genesis is a complete and utter fraud.

A theory in which millions of years of death and change led to the ascent of man is mutually exclusive with a document which states unequivocally that death did not exist prior to Cain murdering his brother.

The weakest of all philosophical and theological viewpoints is born out of attempting a merger of the two.

[freespirited]

I suggest we agree to disagree.

Also, may I ask that you refrain from suggesting that evolution is my religion? It is not my religion. It is separate from it.

[Stellar Dendrite]

It really is scary as to the amount of lies that are told in our education system and reinforced by the media.

They lie about McCarthy.

They lie about Hitler, he was a socialist...but he is passed off as a "Right Wing Nazi".

They lie about "separation of church and state".

They lie about Vietnam.


I could go on and on.....

[Lexinom]

The two are inseperable. If you prefer, you could substitute the word "worldview" for "religion"; then it might make more sense.

[sgent]

Ping

[Malesherbes]

Okay, I'm open-minded on it, but I would like someone to please explain how the Cambrian Explosion occurred in the context of evolution.

[185JHP]

They are witting or unwitting workers for the king of lies. And unless they get straightened out before they die, they'll pay an unthinkable price...

[JmyBryan]

Basically the Cambrian Explosion wasn't the explosion of life forms as once believed.

See http://home.entouch.net/dmd/cambevol.htm

[Lexinom]

The weakest of all philosophical and theological viewpoints is born out of attempting a merger of the two.

Brilliant! Someone gets it!

There are basically four attempts at reconcilliation:

The Ideal View. Genesis 1 is merely a poetic description of the creative acts of God. This has its forerunner in the allegorical interpretations of Genesis 1 or Philo, Origen, and Augustine. The "days" are seen perspectively and not chronologically. A corollary is Kurtz's visionary theory, which sees Genesis 1 as a backward-looking prophecy.

The Restitution View. This draws a radical divide between Genesis 1:2 and 1:3, placing all events and phenomena taught by geology in between. The six-day "restitution" begins in verse 3, wherein God makes the earth inhabitable for man.

The Concordistic View. The days are lengthened, but their chronological order is maintained. Many well-respected natural scientists of their day, including Cuvier, embraced this view.

The Literal-Historical View. The results of geology are to be found partly in the six days, and partly in cataclysmic events thereafter. The flood and the Ice Age are intimately intertwined.

[durasell]

I'm gonna put my two cents in:

Darwinism is a theory. As a theory it can be proven or rejected or modified as evidence comes in. All part of the scientific process. Everything is on the table and open for discussion.

Intelligent design is not a theory. It's a belief. And as a firmly held belief it's not on the table for discussion, modification or adoption of additional evidence.

You can attack someone's scientific theory and there's no hard feelings in the scientific community (usually). If you attack someone's belief, then you're in for trouble.

It seems to me, that's the core of the problem...

[bondserv]

Unfortunately the Vatican is behind the power curve on this one. The reality of the situation is that if evolution occurred as humanists today contend that the entire story of Genesis is a complete and utter fraud.

A theory in which millions of years of death and change led to the ascent of man is mutually exclusive with a document which states unequivocally that death did not exist prior to Cain murdering his brother.

Yes, and Jesus conquered death by being a sinless sacrifice. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, lions eating straw, no more eating each other, when we get back to the original creation.

Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust [shall be] the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

I agree with you, except for the fact that God dealt out the first sacrificial death on an animal to provide the skins that covered Adam and Eve. Then of course, probably following Adams example, Abel sacrificed one of his flock as an offering to the Lord. The first murder recorded was Cain's murder of Abel.

P.S. Scripturally, plants wither, but don't die. Blood is required for life and death.

Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.

[bondserv]

Meant to ping you to #14 above.

[MRMEAN]

Okay, I'm open-minded on it, but I would like someone to please explain how the Cambrian Explosion occurred in the context of evolution.

And how do you explain how the Cambrian Explosion occured in the last 6,000 years? In fact, since Darwin's time earlier complex fossels have been found from the Vendian period.

[mc6809e]

There is a third theory that really should be given consideration:

SD or Stupid Design

Given the poor engineering of the human body and it's vulnerabilities to disease and malfunction, it must be concluded that the creator is a poor engineer.

[mc6809e]

There are a few additional quotes from the bible that are also important:

Deuteronomy 23:1

1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

2 Kings 6:29 (King James Version)

29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

Song of Solomon 5:4 (King James Version)

4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.

These are important passages we should all take to heart.

[Old Landmarks]

What was your purpose in pasting a few contextually dependant verses into a post?

Why do you consider those verses particularly important (motivating your post) and do you know their historical and theological context?

[mc6809e]

What was your purpose in pasting a few contextually dependent verses into a post?

Deuteronomy 23:1 is obviously not context dependent. The context of the others does not affect their meaning. But hey, if you think it does, more power to you.

Why do you consider those verses particularly important (motivating your post) and do you know their historical and theological context?

God tells me all his verses are important and eternally true. Historical context doesn't change their truth.

As for their theological context, the bible itself is their theological context. I don't trust the "theological interpretations" of man.

Prove me wrong.