Creationists, please consider the following carefully.
2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
14And 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:
15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
20And 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 firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
24And 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.
25And God made the 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.
26And 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 creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29And 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 tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 2
2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
13And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The above is the sum total of your evidence against evolution. That's it. Every single objection to evolution and an ancient Earth is based upon this, the first couple of pages from a book of unproven origin that was written during the Bronze Age. Whatever 'scientific' evidence you have been told that contradicts evolution and an ancient Earth is based on the presupposition that the above text is correct.
In contrast, old Earth proponents do not rely upon an ancient text, they have evidence. The Earth, like it or not, is around 4.54 billion years old. Radiometric dating is accurate, but it is not only this method that confirms the age of the Earth is more than the Young Earthers claim. Heck, going to a really basic level we have dendrochronology records (tree rings) that date back further than the time the Young Earth Creationists posit! Don't go thinking that's it, just go and do some research that doesn't encompass such sites as www.creation.com or www.answersingenesis.com, try some scientific sites where the dice isn't loaded from the off and material is written by scientists of all backgrounds, not just religious.
The evidences for an ancient Earth are overwhelmingly compelling and brevity dictates I move on to another point, so will give these references.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=4081
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=4081
Evolution is the main bugbear of Creationists who insist that it's unscientific and wrong. Again, this assertion is based solely upon the chapters of Genesis given above, along with lashings of pseudo-scientific gobshittery from the likes of Kent Hovind and Ken Ham. The arguments against evolution are often so flawed that it is alarming that anybody would swallow such demonstrable rubbish, even to somebody like me who has no qualifications in biology.
Evolution is the Unifying Theory of Biology. Sadly there appears a need to clarify what 'theory' actually means. It is not what so many creationists insist, the colloquial use of “this might be true”. That is a hypothesis, not a theory. A scientific theory is wholly different.
Princeton University defines a Scientific Theory as: A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
"theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"
Make no mistake, evolution is backed up by evidence so strong only somebody completely devoid of intellectual honesty (ie, a creation scientist) would reject it. From the fossil record to comparative DNA, from taxonomic comparisons to the distribution of species and beyond, every single area of science that deals with the subject, even remotely, confirms evolution is a reality.
Don't go thinking this evidence is only supported by secular science, it's not; the vast majority of theistic scientists support evolution – they manage to reconcile their faith with the reality that their particular creation story isn't true. The way I hear many creationists talk you would think that millions of scientists the world over, from various disciplines and from different religious backgrounds are either incompetent or perpetrating a hoax that has continued for over 150 years. This is, obviously, ridiculous. Yet that is the only explanation if you are to claim evolution is wrong.
Rather than delve into the details of evolution because, as I've said, I've no biological training and would prefer to leave it to the professionals, I will present just a few of the best websites available detailing the scientific evidence for evolution.
A quick note to those sitting there with the words “transitional fossil” in their head, having heard no such fossil has been found. This is a load of old cock. Sorry, but there's no better way to put it. All fossils are transitional. When you die, if your skeleton is one of the extremely lucky and rare ones to fossilize it too would qualify as a transitional fossil.
I'll close this blog with a question to creationists, please consider the following scenario.
I'll close this blog with a question to creationists, please consider the following scenario.
If I were to say to you that I believed the Sun orbited the Earth because of a few pages in an ancient book (not the Bible specifically, just a book), would you consider me sane? Probably not, but why? Because science has proven beyond all doubt that the Earth orbits the Sun, right? It's observed science, it's beyond dispute.
Well, here's the thing; so is evolution. Evolution is observed science. The claims that speciation hasn't been observed, as often touted by creationists, is wrong. It has, both in the laboratory and in nature. To dispute evolution is as palpably ludicrous as denying the heliocentric model for the Solar System. Yet creationists continue to do it.
Bad analogy, though, right? Nobody ever said the Sun orbits the Earth did they! Yes, they did. It was even religious doctrine and when Giordano Bruno claimed it was wrong it didn't go down well with the Catholic Church and he ended up being executed.
Well, here's the thing; so is evolution. Evolution is observed science. The claims that speciation hasn't been observed, as often touted by creationists, is wrong. It has, both in the laboratory and in nature. To dispute evolution is as palpably ludicrous as denying the heliocentric model for the Solar System. Yet creationists continue to do it.
Bad analogy, though, right? Nobody ever said the Sun orbits the Earth did they! Yes, they did. It was even religious doctrine and when Giordano Bruno claimed it was wrong it didn't go down well with the Catholic Church and he ended up being executed.
When Galileo made the same claims he was hauled in by the Inquisition.
So you see, religious dogma has held the belief the Sun orbits the Earth, regardless of scientific evidence to the contrary. Today that is the exact same position evolution finds itself in when confronting creationists. Rather than acknowledge those few lines of text this blog began with could be wrong, they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge observable, falsifiable scientific evidence or the myriad of uses to which the results of evolutionary science has been put.
Creationists, when you next deny evolution why not also deny the heliocentric Solar System? Because that'd be crazy, right?
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