Why Do So Many Have Trouble Believing In Evolution?

tybird

drinkbigredinstead wrote:

he still stands wrote:

drinkbigredinstead wrote:

I choose to believe in God, as cliche as it sounds my two boys changed how I felt and saw a lot of things.

Life is too short to be angry, I'd rather live my life a happy fool than a miserable know it all. In the end you can either believe we are insignificant to the world or realize just how precious each and every one of us are...in the entire unviverse that spans further than any can imagine there is only one you.

cool. that has nothing to do with evolution, and evolution doesn't negate your beliefs. It negates the literal interpretation of the bible, but who really believes in that?

It has a lot to do with evolution depending on your religion, as a Catholic I believe in evolutionary creation. In short God planned evolution.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Godfather.

Cosmo wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

logic ?..no offense man but by whos stanards ? that's a two way street.
Godfather.

...
I think you are confusing logic (reason) with opinion.
Using the previously comment regarding the chair and the armadillo... you may be of the opinion that the chair and the armadillo are the same, but the facts disagree. You may choose to believe whatever you want and bring armadillos into your home to set around the dining room table and in the living room to sit and watch T.V.... but it does not change the fact that armadillos and chairs do not behave the same. Logic is what tells you to AVOID confusing the two and sittin your toddler on the back of an armadillo to feed him his Gerbers strained peas.
Now, regarding Evolution... it is based upon scientific foundations. Evolution is found in the realm of natural science. Creationism is found in the realm of religion.
And if you are thinking of using the 'Scientists used to believe the Earth was flat' arguement... it was because of the Church, not science, that placed the Earth in the center of the Universe. Those scientists used explanations to fit the Geocentric directives of the Church, not scientific method. The logic and reasoning they employed had nothing to do with science and everything to do with making sure their head was not going to be separated from their body by Church law for saying otherwise.

everyone assumed because I believe in God that I don't agree with evolution of some sort,I don't believe the "primate" to man theory but I believe we begin to evolve right at conception,I believe that some fish and animals evolve and adapt to what ever enviorment they live or are forced to live (blind cave fish etc.)
but as far as man evolving from fish to primate to man or any other variation I just don't really believe it.
and please buddy you guys can save the armadillo and chair story for somebody else....I have 4 armadillos around my dinning table right now and they work fine.

Godfather.

JonnyPistachio

Godfather. wrote:

and please buddy you guys can save the armadillo and chair story for somebody else....I have 4 armadillos around my dinning table right now and they work fine.

Godfather.

That just made my day.

pandora

I don't get why anyone must choose between believing in God and Evolution

God created Life... Life evolves to survive...Life will find a way

its so easy to understand

Cosmo

Godfather. wrote:

everyone assumed because I believe in God that I don't agree with evolution of some sort,I don't believe the "primate" to man theory but I believe we begin to evolve right at conception,I believe that some fish and animals evolve and adapt to what ever enviorment they live or are forced to live (blind cave fish etc.)
but as far as man evolving from fish to primate to man or any other variation I just don't really believe it.
and please buddy you guys can save the armadillo and chair story for somebody else....I have 4 armadillos around my dinning table right now and they work fine.

Godfather.

...
Actually, my friend, i was addressing your statement about logic being subjective. I wasn't making any assumptions that you negate Evolution, just the comment about logic (results derived from logical thought)being dependent upon the individual.
My personal viewpoint is this... since none of this is fully known to me as truth or fiction, i have to come up with my own opinion... which i based upon my logical thought and analysis of known facts.
So, of God and Evolution... I believe that God create LIFE... that is the image we share, not our existance as homosapien, but with all life. Life evolves to adapt to the natural environment and finds a way to survive... which is why we see single weeds, clinging to life in an otherwise lifeless desert.
When we start to realize that we aren't that fucking special... maybe we'd all be able to better share what God has given us.

JonnyPistachio

pandora wrote:

I don't get why anyone must choose between believing in God and Evolution

God created Life... Life evolves to survive...Life will find a way

its so easy to understand

I agree, they can live side by side.
its just some forms of religion that say that the theories of evolution cannot coincide with Gods master plan.
...Like denying the existence of dinosaurs or our ability to distinguish when they roamed the Earth, and if it was next to man or not. And if humans didnt exist during the time of dinosaurs, that would mean we must have evolved from something else, possibly screwing up the story of Adam and Eve. Thus, some religions dont like the common theories of evolution...We can still have God and evolution, if we live outside of certain christian constructs, I guess.

chadwick

many years back i had several dates with this religious lady who did not believe in dinosaurs, ancient redwood trees, fossils, and the like. her belief is that the earth is roughly 2,000 years old. nothing more, nothing less. and that all this old trees and dinosaurs talk is made up bullshit.

our relationship never worked and i am good to go with that.
i tried very hard to get her to believe redwood trees are thousands of years old. she didn't buy it. tried getting her to understand evolution even a tiny bit was not happenin.

to her jesus or something to that affect started the planet.

yet her oldest son a very racist redneck piece of work... stupid shits...

Cosmo

JonnyPistachio wrote:

I agree, they can live side by side.
its just some forms of religion that say that the theories of evolution cannot coincide with Gods master plan.
...Like denying the existence of dinosaurs or our ability to distinguish when they roamed the Earth, and if it was next to man or not. And if humans didnt exist during the time of dinosaurs, that would mean we must have evolved from something else, possibly screwing up the story of Adam and Eve. Thus, some religions dont like the common theories of evolution...We can still have God and evolution, if we live outside of certain christian constructs, I guess.

...
The issue is religion, trying to pass off something like 'Creationism/Intelligent Design' as a science... in order to nullify Evolution as a viable scientific theory. Trying to fit Intelligent Design into science is the same thing as the Church was doing in past centuries to get science to explain the motions of the other planets in the Geocentric model of the Universe, using epicycles to explain the motions of the planets.
Maybe, people cannot reconcile the Adam and Eve story with Evolution and feel it is one way or the other and both cannot exist at the same time.

markin ball

Godfather. wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

logic ?..no offense man but by whos stanards ? that's a two way street.
Godfather.

...
I think you are confusing logic (reason) with opinion.
Using the previously comment regarding the chair and the armadillo... you may be of the opinion that the chair and the armadillo are the same, but the facts disagree. You may choose to believe whatever you want and bring armadillos into your home to set around the dining room table and in the living room to sit and watch T.V.... but it does not change the fact that armadillos and chairs do not behave the same. Logic is what tells you to AVOID confusing the two and sittin your toddler on the back of an armadillo to feed him his Gerbers strained peas.
Now, regarding Evolution... it is based upon scientific foundations. Evolution is found in the realm of natural science. Creationism is found in the realm of religion.
And if you are thinking of using the 'Scientists used to believe the Earth was flat' arguement... it was because of the Church, not science, that placed the Earth in the center of the Universe. Those scientists used explanations to fit the Geocentric directives of the Church, not scientific method. The logic and reasoning they employed had nothing to do with science and everything to do with making sure their head was not going to be separated from their body by Church law for saying otherwise.

everyone assumed because I believe in God that I don't agree with evolution of some sort,I don't believe the "primate" to man theory but I believe we begin to evolve right at conception,I believe that some fish and animals evolve and adapt to what ever enviorment they live or are forced to live (blind cave fish etc.)
but as far as man evolving from fish to primate to man or any other variation I just don't really believe it.
and please buddy you guys can save the armadillo and chair story for somebody else....I have 4 armadillos around my dinning table right now and they work fine.

Godfather.

Why not?

Eilian

pandora wrote:

I don't get why anyone must choose between believing in God and Evolution

God created Life... Life evolves to survive...Life will find a way

its so easy to understand

I think that if you value scientific inquiry, if you value the progress we make in understanding our world, if you appreciate the fact that the better armed with evidence based knowledge we are, the brighter our future as a species will be, you have to accept evolution as being more worthy of our attention than god.

I also think that the cosmos is only ever easy to understand if you substitute investigation of all the gaps in our knowledge for the "god did it" explanation. It may help the individual make sense of things, but as a collective view it isn't helpful.

markin ball

Cosmo wrote:

JonnyPistachio wrote:

I agree, they can live side by side.
its just some forms of religion that say that the theories of evolution cannot coincide with Gods master plan.
...Like denying the existence of dinosaurs or our ability to distinguish when they roamed the Earth, and if it was next to man or not. And if humans didnt exist during the time of dinosaurs, that would mean we must have evolved from something else, possibly screwing up the story of Adam and Eve. Thus, some religions dont like the common theories of evolution...We can still have God and evolution, if we live outside of certain christian constructs, I guess.

...
The issue is religion, trying to pass off something like 'Creationism/Intelligent Design' as a science... in order to nullify Evolution as a viable scientific theory. Trying to fit Intelligent Design into science is the same thing as the Church was doing in past centuries to get science to explain the motions of the other planets in the Geocentric model of the Universe, using epicycles to explain the motions of the planets.
Maybe, people cannot reconcile the Adam and Eve story with Evolution and feel it is one way or the other and both cannot exist at the same time.

To your point, Cosmo, I think part of the problem is also using the phrase "believe in" when referring to evolution. It has connotations of faith and then is paralleled, incorrectly, with religions.

pandora

Eilian wrote:

pandora wrote:

I don't get why anyone must choose between believing in God and Evolution

God created Life... Life evolves to survive...Life will find a way

its so easy to understand

I think that if you value scientific inquiry, if you value the progress we make in understanding our world, if you appreciate the fact that the better armed with evidence based knowledge we are, the brighter our future as a species will be, you have to accept evolution as being more worthy of our attention than god.

I also think that the cosmos is only ever easy to understand if you substitute investigation of all the gaps in our knowledge for the "god did it" explanation. It may help the individual make sense of things, but as a collective view it isn't helpful.

Well I love science, I love learning anything you got to teach me!
I'm blown away by the Universe and the little we know about it.

Everywhere I look I see God, the evidence abounds when one believes
because God is Life... God is Evolution
but again evidence is old news to be replaced tomorrow...
if we could only see a bit into the future

hey whatcha know ... someday we will! but I have no proof as of yet

Cosmo

markin ball wrote:

To your point, Cosmo, I think part of the problem is also using the phrase "believe in" when referring to evolution. It has connotations of faith and then is paralleled, incorrectly, with religions.

...
That's correct. The whole, 'It's only a "Theory" ' thing makes it sound like there is a option to believe in or not.
If that is the case, then do they also 'believe in' gravity, relativity and plate tectonics, too. Aren't those 'just theories', too?

Eilian

pandora wrote:

Everywhere I look I see God, the evidence abounds when one believes

This speaks volumes to me. First you believe, then you consider the evidence.
I'm glad your view comforts you. All I'm saying is that in scientific terms, it is counter-productive.

pandora

Eilian wrote:

pandora wrote:

Everywhere I look I see God, the evidence abounds when one believes

This speaks volumes to me. First you believe, then you consider the evidence.
I'm glad your view comforts you. All I'm saying is that in scientific terms, it is counter-productive.

Scientific terms ... evidence first then God ... got it!

But evidence is only what you know today ... what about tomorrow?

Discovery can be made before tomorrow without evidence through God
but I have no proof of that today

Eilian

pandora wrote:

Scientific terms ... evidence first then God ... got it!

But evidence is only what you know today ... what about tomorrow?

Discovery can be made before tomorrow without evidence through God
but I have no proof of that today

You've just affirmed my concern that faith and science cannot coexist.

Your first statement sounds like you intend on viewing the evidence, skipping the investigation then claiming it as proof of god regardless.

Your second statement - All I can say is that if the evidence of tomorrow forces me to change the way I think about something, or to reassess what I claim to know, then so be it. I've no problem with this.

I consider your third statement as something I can rest my case on. Nothing can be discovered without evidence - this is the basis of scientific knowledge and claims of revelation by a mythical entity do not deserve equal credence.

pandora

Eilian wrote:

pandora wrote:

Scientific terms ... evidence first then God ... got it!

But evidence is only what you know today ... what about tomorrow?

Discovery can be made before tomorrow without evidence through God
but I have no proof of that today

You've just affirmed my concern that faith and science cannot coexist.

Your first statement sounds like you intend on viewing the evidence, skipping the investigation then claiming it as proof of god regardless.

Your second statement - All I can say is that if the evidence of tomorrow forces me to change the way I think about something, or to reassess what I claim to know, then so be it. I've no problem with this.

I consider your third statement as something I can rest my case on. Nothing can be discovered without evidence - this is the basis of scientific knowledge and claims of revelation by a mythical entity do not deserve equal credence.

Well no, my first statement was quoting you ...
trying to put in a nut shell what you believe

second statement that you seem to agree with
proves my point that we are bound to find the evidence tomorrow
of what we seek today

Third and final statement ... Some people have their evidence
and it is found in faith
if one has not known faith they do not see the evidence

as far as faith and science coexisting...
there have been many brillant minds that do just that

but that is not for everyone

Hugh Freaking Dillon

pandora wrote:

all this one dimensional thinking based in evidence ...

pandora wrote:

Everywhere I look I see God, the evidence abounds when one believes

pandora wrote:

but again evidence is old news to be replaced tomorrow...

pandora wrote:

but I have no proof as of yet

so evidence is only proof to your beliefs. but for everyone else's, including proven scientific theory, evidence is not applicable. got it.

Hugh Freaking Dillon

ok, if people believe god created evolution, then was man the first of his species? you do not believe that we evolved from something else?

brianlux

I have no trouble believing in evolution but I have trouble believing evolution works well all of the time. I just read somewhere that if we humans evolved in a way that worked better for us our spines would have the shape of a tripod and we would have fewer back pain issues. Well, my back hurts big time today so... God... Mother Nature? ... somebody's slackin' off on the job.