Do you believe in evolution?

deltablack22

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Having read much of Darwin's work I feel that I have done plenty of research on the matter and if you have knowledge that I do not it would be kind of you to share. If you know of a quote where Darwin claims that he is out to find an alternative to God, it doesn't seem like it would be difficult for you to cut and paste it for my benefit.
Hey Jerth,
Since you said you have researched much of Darwins work, what do you know about him renouncing his theory on his death bed. I heard about this a few times but recall hearing that it was a false statement. Can you clear this up for me?
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by Darknes
I don't believe in evil. I believe in good and absence of good. To explain this, think of heat; cold doesn't really exist as anything, it's merely the absence of heat (there is either heat or lack of it).
God is pure "good". Everything he is and does is good. Anything that we suppose to be "evil" is really just an absence of God. He never created evil. We create this evil (absence of good) by turning from God through our free will.
(Not sure if any of that made sense
)
Actually that is a very good point. I cannot remember the philosopher's name that came up an explaination similar to this one but good job.
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by Darknes
I don't believe in evil. I believe in good and absence of good. To explain this, think of heat; cold doesn't really exist as anything, it's merely the absence of heat (there is either heat or lack of it).
God is pure "good". Everything he is and does is good. Anything that we suppose to be "evil" is really just an absence of God. He never created evil. We create this evil (absence of good) by turning from God through our free will.
(Not sure if any of that made sense
)
i agree but the absence of good is evil
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
Hey Jerth,
Since you said you have researched much of Darwins work, what do you know about him renouncing his theory on his death bed. I heard about this a few times but recall hearing that it was a false statement. Can you clear this up for me?
I do not know for sure since my interest is not so much in his personal beliefs but rather his observations and attempts to explain them.
Also, I believe Albert Einstein spent several years of his life trying to disprove his own theory of relativity. My point is that even if Darwin renounced his theory does not make it any less interesting for us to investigate further.
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I do not know for sure since my interest is not so much in his personal beliefs but rather his observations and attempts to explain them.
Also, I believe Albert Einstein spent several years of his life trying to disprove his own theory of relativity. My point is that even if Darwin renounced his theory does not make it any less interesting for us to investigate further.
darwin knows the truth now much more then us
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
darwin knows the truth now much more then us
Maybe him and God are having a nice laugh listening to all this.
 

darknes

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefreak29
i agree but the absence of good is evil
Because we call it evil, just like we call the lack of heat "cold".
I was merely trying to state my belief that God didn't create evil, rather he created only good.
 

clown boy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
So are you saying the evil is quality that is independent of creation?
Sort of. Let me put it to you this way:
Would you like it more if you knew that someone loved you because they wanted to? The opposite would be someone that is created with love for you programmed into their mind already.
Of course you would prefer the first one. It's the same with Man's relationship to God. That's why God gave man a free will.
 

darknes

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I do not know for sure since my interest is not so much in his personal beliefs but rather his observations and attempts to explain them.
Also, I believe Albert Einstein spent several years of his life trying to disprove his own theory of relativity. My point is that even if Darwin renounced his theory does not make it any less interesting for us to investigate further.
Very true.
Einstein did not believe the universe was expanding, so he spent the rest of his life trying to disprove his theories because of his own stubborness to accept that his beliefs might be wrong.
Even if Darwin renounced his theory, that doesn't make them incorrect.
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by Darknes
Because we call it evil, just like we call the lack of heat "cold".
I was merely trying to state my belief that God didn't create evil, rather he created only good.
i fully agree i did say that in an erlier post
 

deltablack22

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Again, I was not trying to prove a relation by mentioning that fact.
The most interesting similarities to me are the ones we cannot see with the

[hr]
eye. However I have to say the visual observations have done well for people in the past who did not have the means to view the intraworkings of the cell. Mendel based his laws of heredity on what he could see. We now know he was very accurate in his hypothesis because we know about genes and chromosomes now.
Sometimes when things look similar it becomes a good idea to investigate further and not just say, 'oh thats just your imagination.'
Ok as long as you arent trying to dig up the old and dead "gill slit" issue I'm fine with it. Its just sad to see informed people leaning on falsehoods.
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by Clown Boy
Sort of. Let me put it to you this way:
Would you like it more if you knew that someone loved you because they wanted to? The opposite would be someone that is created with love for you programmed into their mind already.
Of course you would prefer the first one. It's the same with Man's relationship to God. That's why God gave man a free will.
So if evil exists outside of creation and before God created anything there was just God wouldn't that make evil apart of God?
Trying to explain why God would do anything seem pointless to me so I don't think it serves any purpose to attempt to understand God's desire for love by comparing it to a human's desire for love.
 

deltablack22

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I do not know for sure since my interest is not so much in his personal beliefs but rather his observations and attempts to explain them.
Also, I believe Albert Einstein spent several years of his life trying to disprove his own theory of relativity. My point is that even if Darwin renounced his theory does not make it any less interesting for us to investigate further.
I was just trying to figure out if he really did renounce it, not invalidate the debate.
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
Ok as long as you arent trying to dig up the old and dead "gill slit" issue I'm fine with it. Its just sad to see informed people leaning on falsehoods.
I think it is an interesting fact to look at, for anyone. But I do agree that people should not be relying on incorrect information, however there seem to be a lot of people making claims about having knowledge of something who when questioned do not produce that knowledge.
I think I have said it before, it is not my desire to prove or disprove evolution or anything for that matter, but I am trying to get people to think their beliefs through and seek further knowledge.
 

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
I was just trying to figure out if he really did renounce it, not invalidate the debate.
Yeah, I cannot tell you for certain. If my limited knowledge and my memory serve me he did. I only added that it wouldn't invalidate his theory as a precautionary measure in case someone wanted to jump in and say, "Ah ha!!"....
 

deltablack22

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Yeah, I cannot tell you for certain. If my limited knowledge and my memory serve me he did. I only added that it wouldn't invalidate his theory as a precautionary measure in case someone wanted to jump in and say, "Ah ha!!"....
Roger...
 

geridoc

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
Hey Jerth,
Since you said you have researched much of Darwins work, what do you know about him renouncing his theory on his death bed. I heard about this a few times but recall hearing that it was a false statement. Can you clear this up for me?
shortly after Darwin's death a woman claimed that he had retracted his theory, and had accepted Christ. However, Henrietta, Darwin's daughter, who was with him throughout his final days, said that the woman in question never visited him. Either way, it is irrelevant, since the theory does not depend on Darwin, but on the observations and experiments of thousands of scientists in many disciplines.
 

darknes

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Actually that is a very good point. I cannot remember the philosopher's name that came up an explaination similar to this one but good job.
If you want a better idea of the Catholic's view of evil, there's a great book by Malachi Martin called "Hostage to the Devil". It has nothing to do about evolution, but I just thought I'd bring it up (book is 18+ material).
 

clown boy

Active Member
Alright, I think some of these topics have become exhausted... not because there is nothing more to say about them, but the type of rebuttal is getting monotonous. LOL
Here's something else for you all to think about...
1. Receding Moon:
The gravitational pull between the Earth and Moon causes the Earth’s oceans to have tides. The tidal friction between the Earth’s terrestrial surface and the water moving over it causes energy to be added to the Moon. This "results in a constant yearly increase in the distance between the Earth and Moon."1 This tidal friction also causes the Earth’s rotation to slow down, but more importantly, the energy added to the Moon causes it to recede from the Earth.1,2 The rate of recession was measured at four centimeters per year in 1981; 3 however, according to Physicist Donald B. DeYoung:
"One cannot extrapolate the present 4 cm/year separation rate back into history. It has that value today, but was more rapid in the past because of tidal effects. In fact, the separation rate depends on the distance to the 6th power, a very strong dependence ... the rate ... was perhaps 20 m/year ‘long’ ago, and the average is 1.2 m/year. 1
Because of this, the Moon must be less than 750 million years old -- or 20% of the supposed 4.5 billion-year age of the Earth-Moon system.4
Note: Even though the maximum age obtained from this method is more than 10,000 years, it is nevertheless much younger than the alleged 4.5 billion year age for the Earth-Moon system proposed by evolutionists. Note also that nobody knows how the Moon got to be in its present orbit. All of the proposed theories as to where it came from have serious problems. It is a complete mystery — unless of course it was designed that way from the beginning.
3. The Sun:
Measurements of the sun's diameter over the past several hundred years indicate that it is shrinking at the rate of five feet per hour. Assuming that this rate has been constant in the past we can conclude that the earth would have been so hot only one million years ago that no life could have survived. And only 11,200,000 years ago the sun would have physically touched the earth. 9,10,11,12 Also, if the sun were indeed billions of years old, then it does seem a bit odd for its magnetic field to have doubled in the past 100 years, but this is what the evidence suggests.
Do you want more? I can give you more...
 

reefreak29

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
I think it is an interesting fact to look at, for anyone. But I do agree that people should not be relying on incorrect information, however there seem to be a lot of people making claims about having knowledge of something who when questioned do not produce that knowledge.
I think I have said it before, it is not my desire to prove or disprove evolution or anything for that matter, but I am trying to get people to think their beliefs through and seek further knowledge.
then i would also incourage you to seek more knowledge in the bible
 
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