So let's discuss the evidence around us that supports the conclusion of Evolution over Creation! Woop woop!
For the purposes of this thread, we'll define "creation" as a single event over a brief period of time during which all life on earth was created in more or less its present form by a deliberate, intelligent designer.
We'll concentrate on a few basic evidences: The fossil record Gross morphology Genetics
First up: The fossil record!
Using an evolutionary model we would expect to see life on earth going from less complex to more complex as adaptations compound. From a creation standpoint where the animals were created at around the same time we would expect to see animals at all stages of complexity mixed together.
Well, which circumstance do we actually observe?
If we look at the fossil record, we see the former example: Simple invertebrates to fish to reptiles to mammals and so on. These are separated by distinct geological layers. And while we do of course see simple organisms coexisting with complex ones ( just look at an earth worm) we never see something like a ichthyosaur in a fossil bed with trilobites. Nowhere. Ever. AND we find fossil beds comprised entirely of simple organisms and we never find things like a mosasaur alongside a whale or a triceratops alongside a rhino.
How does creation account for this data? Can it account for the data better than an evolution model?
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@Bushranger something like that. For instance, God Made the World in 6 days, and on the seventh, he rested. Before man invented time, or keeping track of time, Who's to say before man was created, that a day in God's time, could have been millions of years?
@Montanaman I think that would imply a God who is not involved in the day-to-day affairs of humans. Even though I don't believe it, the idea makes sense on some levels.
If this God started everything with the big bang then just sat back and watched, then that's a God I might believe in.
It could be both. No way to prove otherwise. What can be proven or disproven is certain kinds of creationism. Like the kind which says that animals don't share common ancestry or the kind which adheres to a certain order of creation.
@Montanaman You’re saying that a magical entity created life (abiogenesis), which is a common claim in religions, but nothing to do with evolution, which describes what happens once life has begun.
@newjaninev2 But what's behind evolution? How did it all start? When did The Universe begin and how? Is there an end to space? How can you explain the complexities of the human body? The brain? Birth? The capacity to Love? And why Love? What's the point if there's no God? Why not just survive and die? And what happens when you die? Do you just cease to exist except in the memories of those left behind? Why live. Why fight for life? In other words... What the fuck is the point if you have nothing to believe in except a pitiful existence on earth? Theses are the questions posed by us. There has to be some point.
@Montanaman As I said, abiogenesis is nothing to do with evolution.
In like vein, cosmology is nothing to do with evolution.
For complexity, we’ll need some definitions (happy to help with that), and then we can examine Emergent Properties... also nothing to do with evolution.
Love has nothing to do with evolution
Death has nothing to do with evolution, except that it’s one of the three major factors of Natural Selection
Existential angst is nothing to do with evolution.
Before man invented time, or keeping track of time
The Earth formed (as part of the Solar System) ten billion years after the Big Bang, which is what permitted spacetime. Humans arrived 4.5 billion years after the Earth formed. Spacetime has been happily rolling along without any need of humans, and will continue to do so long, long, after humans are just another extinct hominid species.
@Montanaman You've asked a lot of questions, too many to address all of them at once. How about you pick the one you think is the most important and we'll start from there.
