Evointrinsic
Member
I'm sure a few of you (who have seen some of my other posts) already imagined me creating a topic like this. Your dreams came true! 
I'm warning you now how huge this post is. I would appreciate it incredibly if you were to (eventually) read through it all when you have the time. But know that this topic is meant for educational purposes (just as you are educating me in christianity), and i rather not re-post information i have already stated. Thank you for your patients and kindness!
Before i start i would like to let you know a little bit more about myself. (if you feel the need to, skip Anything in red as it only describes how i came to believe in what i believe in and why my mindset is the way it is.) I am 20 years old, have a Jewish father and a (now converted to Judaism, but previously...) Christian mother. Both sides of my family's families tried to convert us children to their side when we were younger. My parents never forced religion on us and let us grow to believe in what we wanted to believe in. I went to public schools all my life and am (personally considered) extremely open minded and all for human equality. I have gay friends, christian friends, muslim friends, buddhist friends, mormon friends, jewish friends, neo-nazi friends, Catholic friends, the list goes on. My girlfriend was Catholic and is now Atheist (before i met her ;) ). I am extremely interested in all religions because i believe them to be the makers or breakers of man kind. The reason why i do personal studies about them is because to know if religion will make or break man kind I have to figure out if one is really true or not. I had a bar mitzvah. I (and hopefully others) consider myself a fairly good guy. And then i started getting into Evolution
When I was 12 I got a Bearded Dragon (Type of Lizard) as a pet. As i got more interested in reptiles (as i always had been, but only then turned it into an extreme) i began to breed them. I learned about different colorations in the same breeds, just like cats and dogs, and learned how to go into selective breeding, which in turn taught me about genetics more so than school ever did.
As the years went on i self taught myself evolution and am going to school (next year) for Evolutionary Biology and Marine Biology, as well as Videography and an educations degree (for teaching).
Over the past few years i've also been debating between creation and evolution. Which has taught me much on both sides. However I am still surprised to see so many people (not just creationists) confused or incredibly misinformed about evolution.
To make this clear, I am not here to debate Evolution or even to say its correct. This topic is specifically designed to give facts about evolution not the fact of evolution (seeing how it is not yet a fact, although many biologist now are beginning to call it so).
All i am simply doing is allowing those who may be confused about something that includes evolution to come forth and ask away. This is not for me to test what i know, only to share it. in fact I would be incredibly grateful if someone would be able to stump me on something as that only allows me to learn more about a side of evolution i have yet to study.
According to every Scientific Organization, Evolution is supported by 95% of all scientists.
To adequately understand evolution, you not only have to understand how to be scientific, (which is the real trick for most people) but you also have to know something about cellular biology, genetics, and anatomy, geology, particularly paleontology, as well as environmental systems, tectonics, atomic chemistry, and especially taxonomy. Most people who accept evolution also tend to know a whole lot about cosmology, geography, history, sociology, politics, and of course, religion.
I have unfortunately seen some theists claim to be scientists and then give incorrect information out. I am not totally sure why they would do this, but they do none-the less.
If your willing to take their advice, you might want to also consider that of the popes?
Pope Benedict described evolution as an “enriching reality†and described creationist contests against it as “absurdâ€Â. Both of the popes before him advised Christians ‘round the world to consider evolution to be “more than an hypothesis†and not to fear acceptance of that as being any challenge to their faith in Christ.
The early pioneers of evolutionary science were all initially Christian, (including Darwin) and many leading proponents of modern evolutionary science are still Christian today. For example, microbiologist Dr. Ken Miller, (who testified against intelligent design creationism in Kitzmiller v. Dover) -is a Catholic. Another outspoken proponent of evolution, Dr. Robert T. Bakker, (who has PhDs from both Harvard and Yale) is not only one of the leading, and most recognizable paleontologists in the world today, but he also happens to be a Bible-believing Pentecostal preacher; though he interprets Genesis differently than literalists would.
Poll after poll continues to reveal that, around the world, most “evolutionists†are Christian, and most Christians are evolutionists. So evolution is not synonymous with atheism, and creationism isn’t synonymous with Christianity either. Most creationists aren’t even Christians! There are millions more Muslim and Hindu creationists than Christian ones.
I often hear claims that Evolution uses no science and that Evolution is a religion. We can safely assume the persons making this claims dont know a whole lot about evolution.
Evolution not only uses many forms of science, but it is in itself a Theory of Science. Evolution even been called the "unifying theory of biology". This is because it unites virtually every independent discipline in biology so that scientific advances in one can be universally applied to all others. Evolution relates to Anthropology, Anatomy, Embryology, Ecology, Genetics, Medicine, Histology, Paleontology, Immunology, Cellular Biology, Molecular Biology and more. Any scientist, and science book, should be able to tell you this. This is not mere personal opinion.
For evolution to work we also need cellular mutation as well as Natural Selection. Natural selection doesn't necessarily need other organisms to function, however. We have environmental factors which are some of the biggest effects on an evolving organism. There are some extremely interesting organisms out there that have been able to adapt to environments that are near unimaginable. For example there are organisms (such as Ferroplasma) that eats Iron, lives inside the equivalent of battery acid, and excretes sulfuric acid. This is scientifically classified in the domain named Archaea. Just as humans are scienfically classified in the domain named Eukaryota. Archaea translates to "Ancient Ones". The reason why they named it as such is because Ferroplasma is what came up when this planet was covered by things like sulfuric acid, and (the equivalence of) batter acid, and eating things like Iron when the earth part of the melted core. Which is also why Evolution dates back so far and can is still imaginable and probable (in some eyes at least ).
We have roughly 3.2 billion base pairs inside the DNA of just one normal human. And really, these 3.2 billion base pairs is really a history of where we have been within the past billion years. And we can start dating things because of this. This allows us to change things such as medicine. If you take the Human species around 700 years ago, White Europeans diverged from Black Africans in a very significant way. White Europeans were subject to the plague, and most people who got the plague died, but those who survived had a mutation on the CCR5 receptor. This mutation was past on to these peoples children because they were the ones who lived through this environmental factor. Natural Selection. In other words, a great deal of a population pressure in this people who acquired this mutation. In africa, because you didnt have these cities (population pressure) you didnt have that CCR5 population pressure mutation which we can date it to 700 years ago (Thanks to evolution). That is one reason Aids is raging across Africa as fast as it is. And not as fast across Europe.
Which also means we can/have been use/using Evolution as another aid for us in the fight against diseases and virus'. Most people assume HIV can effect anyone. But some people have been born with two copies of the "delta32" mutation in the gene CCR5 (thanks to population pressure/Natural selection). This mutation makes them immune to contracting HIV. By taking small amounts of bone marrow from patients with the mutation, doctors and scientists are coming up with ways to produce a vaccination that will prevent and stop HIV. They are already working on this.
As you can hopefully see by now, Evolution is science. And because it is science, it cannot be a religion. We dont have people praying to Darwin or viewing him as a god, simply a scientist that made an incredible discovery. We dont have Gravitationalists (persons who follow the religion of gravity) or anyone who follows the religion of meteorism (the religion of meteorology) just as we dont have "Evolutionists".
I will end this massive post here for now
I really hope you read through all of it as it does touch up on some great issues and points about evolution and how it is not an attack on religious beliefs.
What i want you to do now is, if you have any questions or feel i have been mistaken, then bring it to my attention. I will be updating this thread as well as i try and answer any misshaps in the Theory of evolution around the forums (assuming i dont somehow get banned for this lol).
But know this: I am not going to be debating if creation is correct or not, If you bring up evidence using creation i will take it as your proof, and thats fine, but i will not attempt to say that Creation is wrong, just how the statement you may have said doesnt really relate to evolution (if that is the case, of course).
Thank you for reading!
Resources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnJX68EL ... CC&index=0 (anything in dark blue)
I'm warning you now how huge this post is. I would appreciate it incredibly if you were to (eventually) read through it all when you have the time. But know that this topic is meant for educational purposes (just as you are educating me in christianity), and i rather not re-post information i have already stated. Thank you for your patients and kindness!
Before i start i would like to let you know a little bit more about myself. (if you feel the need to, skip Anything in red as it only describes how i came to believe in what i believe in and why my mindset is the way it is.) I am 20 years old, have a Jewish father and a (now converted to Judaism, but previously...) Christian mother. Both sides of my family's families tried to convert us children to their side when we were younger. My parents never forced religion on us and let us grow to believe in what we wanted to believe in. I went to public schools all my life and am (personally considered) extremely open minded and all for human equality. I have gay friends, christian friends, muslim friends, buddhist friends, mormon friends, jewish friends, neo-nazi friends, Catholic friends, the list goes on. My girlfriend was Catholic and is now Atheist (before i met her ;) ). I am extremely interested in all religions because i believe them to be the makers or breakers of man kind. The reason why i do personal studies about them is because to know if religion will make or break man kind I have to figure out if one is really true or not. I had a bar mitzvah. I (and hopefully others) consider myself a fairly good guy. And then i started getting into Evolution
When I was 12 I got a Bearded Dragon (Type of Lizard) as a pet. As i got more interested in reptiles (as i always had been, but only then turned it into an extreme) i began to breed them. I learned about different colorations in the same breeds, just like cats and dogs, and learned how to go into selective breeding, which in turn taught me about genetics more so than school ever did.
As the years went on i self taught myself evolution and am going to school (next year) for Evolutionary Biology and Marine Biology, as well as Videography and an educations degree (for teaching).
Over the past few years i've also been debating between creation and evolution. Which has taught me much on both sides. However I am still surprised to see so many people (not just creationists) confused or incredibly misinformed about evolution.
To make this clear, I am not here to debate Evolution or even to say its correct. This topic is specifically designed to give facts about evolution not the fact of evolution (seeing how it is not yet a fact, although many biologist now are beginning to call it so).
All i am simply doing is allowing those who may be confused about something that includes evolution to come forth and ask away. This is not for me to test what i know, only to share it. in fact I would be incredibly grateful if someone would be able to stump me on something as that only allows me to learn more about a side of evolution i have yet to study.
According to every Scientific Organization, Evolution is supported by 95% of all scientists.
To adequately understand evolution, you not only have to understand how to be scientific, (which is the real trick for most people) but you also have to know something about cellular biology, genetics, and anatomy, geology, particularly paleontology, as well as environmental systems, tectonics, atomic chemistry, and especially taxonomy. Most people who accept evolution also tend to know a whole lot about cosmology, geography, history, sociology, politics, and of course, religion.
I have unfortunately seen some theists claim to be scientists and then give incorrect information out. I am not totally sure why they would do this, but they do none-the less.
If your willing to take their advice, you might want to also consider that of the popes?
Pope Benedict described evolution as an “enriching reality†and described creationist contests against it as “absurdâ€Â. Both of the popes before him advised Christians ‘round the world to consider evolution to be “more than an hypothesis†and not to fear acceptance of that as being any challenge to their faith in Christ.
The early pioneers of evolutionary science were all initially Christian, (including Darwin) and many leading proponents of modern evolutionary science are still Christian today. For example, microbiologist Dr. Ken Miller, (who testified against intelligent design creationism in Kitzmiller v. Dover) -is a Catholic. Another outspoken proponent of evolution, Dr. Robert T. Bakker, (who has PhDs from both Harvard and Yale) is not only one of the leading, and most recognizable paleontologists in the world today, but he also happens to be a Bible-believing Pentecostal preacher; though he interprets Genesis differently than literalists would.
Poll after poll continues to reveal that, around the world, most “evolutionists†are Christian, and most Christians are evolutionists. So evolution is not synonymous with atheism, and creationism isn’t synonymous with Christianity either. Most creationists aren’t even Christians! There are millions more Muslim and Hindu creationists than Christian ones.
I often hear claims that Evolution uses no science and that Evolution is a religion. We can safely assume the persons making this claims dont know a whole lot about evolution.
Evolution not only uses many forms of science, but it is in itself a Theory of Science. Evolution even been called the "unifying theory of biology". This is because it unites virtually every independent discipline in biology so that scientific advances in one can be universally applied to all others. Evolution relates to Anthropology, Anatomy, Embryology, Ecology, Genetics, Medicine, Histology, Paleontology, Immunology, Cellular Biology, Molecular Biology and more. Any scientist, and science book, should be able to tell you this. This is not mere personal opinion.
For evolution to work we also need cellular mutation as well as Natural Selection. Natural selection doesn't necessarily need other organisms to function, however. We have environmental factors which are some of the biggest effects on an evolving organism. There are some extremely interesting organisms out there that have been able to adapt to environments that are near unimaginable. For example there are organisms (such as Ferroplasma) that eats Iron, lives inside the equivalent of battery acid, and excretes sulfuric acid. This is scientifically classified in the domain named Archaea. Just as humans are scienfically classified in the domain named Eukaryota. Archaea translates to "Ancient Ones". The reason why they named it as such is because Ferroplasma is what came up when this planet was covered by things like sulfuric acid, and (the equivalence of) batter acid, and eating things like Iron when the earth part of the melted core. Which is also why Evolution dates back so far and can is still imaginable and probable (in some eyes at least
).We have roughly 3.2 billion base pairs inside the DNA of just one normal human. And really, these 3.2 billion base pairs is really a history of where we have been within the past billion years. And we can start dating things because of this. This allows us to change things such as medicine. If you take the Human species around 700 years ago, White Europeans diverged from Black Africans in a very significant way. White Europeans were subject to the plague, and most people who got the plague died, but those who survived had a mutation on the CCR5 receptor. This mutation was past on to these peoples children because they were the ones who lived through this environmental factor. Natural Selection. In other words, a great deal of a population pressure in this people who acquired this mutation. In africa, because you didnt have these cities (population pressure) you didnt have that CCR5 population pressure mutation which we can date it to 700 years ago (Thanks to evolution). That is one reason Aids is raging across Africa as fast as it is. And not as fast across Europe.
Which also means we can/have been use/using Evolution as another aid for us in the fight against diseases and virus'. Most people assume HIV can effect anyone. But some people have been born with two copies of the "delta32" mutation in the gene CCR5 (thanks to population pressure/Natural selection). This mutation makes them immune to contracting HIV. By taking small amounts of bone marrow from patients with the mutation, doctors and scientists are coming up with ways to produce a vaccination that will prevent and stop HIV. They are already working on this.
As you can hopefully see by now, Evolution is science. And because it is science, it cannot be a religion. We dont have people praying to Darwin or viewing him as a god, simply a scientist that made an incredible discovery. We dont have Gravitationalists (persons who follow the religion of gravity) or anyone who follows the religion of meteorism (the religion of meteorology) just as we dont have "Evolutionists".
I will end this massive post here for now
I really hope you read through all of it as it does touch up on some great issues and points about evolution and how it is not an attack on religious beliefs.What i want you to do now is, if you have any questions or feel i have been mistaken, then bring it to my attention. I will be updating this thread as well as i try and answer any misshaps in the Theory of evolution around the forums (assuming i dont somehow get banned for this lol).
But know this: I am not going to be debating if creation is correct or not, If you bring up evidence using creation i will take it as your proof, and thats fine, but i will not attempt to say that Creation is wrong, just how the statement you may have said doesnt really relate to evolution (if that is the case, of course).
Thank you for reading!
Resources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnJX68EL ... CC&index=0 (anything in dark blue)
