Do You Believe In Evolution?

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Okay. So, someone at work today said that he didn't believe in evolution because he's a christian, so we ended up kind of getting into a debate about it. He was being completely illogical, and even used the old "if we came from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?" argument(which shows a complete lack of understanding in how evolution works in the first place). No offense to anyone who disbelieves in evolution, but most of the arguments i've heard against it make no sense at all and i can't really understand how someone can not believe that we came from other animals. So, i was just wondering how many people here believe and don't believe in it. I don't necessarily want to start an argument or convince anyone here of anything, i just want to know where other people here stand on the issue.

I don't, because of religious reasons.

I voted yes, but I'm not your #1 evolution fan waving a foam finger and stuff. I don't think I've ever gotten a full grasp on it. People jump to "oh you're a Christian and you just don't know anything about it"....I've taken college courses in Biology and other sciences, but evolution just isn't strongly emphasized. I understand microevolution, and am on the fence about macroevolution. I see how it could happen, but in most cases I don't really see the need why. However, I don't believe in abiogenesis.

Since I've already admitted that I don't have a great understanding of evolution, could you explain this to me? I get that if there is a need in a population then evolution's role is for that species to change to fit their environment, and sometimes that means different kinds living in different places. But why not different kinds of monkeys instead of monkeys and men?

All creations evolve.


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Except for Snickers, they got that one right and it should not be altered.

Coldblooded, I have this same problem with the rest of my family. My parents and both my brothers are religious and I have never been able to buy into all that ever since I was a child. I have always been one to question and everyone would get so mad at me. I just dont see how someone could not believe in evolution when its right in front of your face. I guess im just too much of a logical thinker, I have no spirituality at all. Ive been told faith is believing in something that you cant see....that just seems preposterous to me.
I respect people who believe in God and I dont try to force my ideas or science on them. I am happy for my parents and my brothers that they honestly believe that they are going to heaven when they die. I wish I had that, its better than my reality of just shutting off.

God is a (lifelong) science, therefore science is (lifelong) God.

There's a point in each where it comes to faith, I chose to believe the one that has more proof with it.

I'd wave a foam finger if i found one that had anything to do with evolution, lol. Yay Darwin!

As for the "why aren't there still monkeys?" thing... First of all, we didn't come from monkeys as they are today, but monkey-type things that modern monkeys came from. We actually share a common ancestor with apes... So that common ancestor came from the early monkeys-type things and then that ape-type thing branched out until we get what are now apes and humans(what i don't understand is why we don't categorize ourselves as apes).. So saying that we "came from monkeys" kind of gives the wrong idea, because it wasn't modern monkeys, it was modern monkeys' ancestors. ANYWAY... All the monkeys or whatever in existance aren't going to evolve at the same rate. You get a certain population of them in one place that is going to evolve in one way, another population of them somewhere else may evolve in a different way, and some of them are going to stay pretty much the same if they are already well-suited to living where they live. So, you see, it is very possible for some of the early monkey-type things to evolve toward being ape-type things(and then, in the same process, different groups of them branch out and we get humans, chimps, gorillas, orangs, and bonobos) while other groups stay monkey-ish and then different groups of them evolve into the various monkeys we have today.

I've reconciled large portions of the Bible with science by not adhering to a literal 6-day creation, but I'm still slowly working on evolution.

The 24 hour "Day" was not invented until much later on. A Day is a reference to a period of time, said period could easily be construed to satisfy science and the bible at around 1.5 million years. Furthermore, nowhere does it say all days are equal. IOW, it was/is an evolving process.

Good idea. I'm not a christian, but i don't see why a christian can't believe in science and the bible. In that conversation at work, i said that i knew of christians who believe in evolution and he said "they aren't true christians"(also, apparently the world is 6,000 years old ) I mean, not everyone has to interpret the bible the same way, do they?

What happened in the paleolithic era and the eras before mankind does not define one's faith in God. In fact I even attend a church that is an offshoot of the Baptists (and I even teach sunday school), and the first sunday of this year the pastor invited his wife, who was the science major, to teach on literal 6-day creation and she was very critical of any secular or hybrid theories. I would love to publicly debate her someday, and I would love to teach the sunday school kids how beautifully God orchestrated the big bang, but it would cause lots division in the church without teaching them anything about being forgiven and finding God's plan for their lives so I just drop the issue except in private.

Hey there ColdBlooded.

What do you mean by believe? The theory and fact of evolution doesn't need belief and shouldn't be treated like a religion. Do you understand the difference between belief and accepting evolution?

I agree that it is a fact, however there are apparently people who don't "believe in" things that i see as facts. I don't mean anything religious by the word "believe."

I do. Though I grew up with a big bunch of scientists and was taught that since I was very little. As a result I don't really "believe in" things, but accept things with enough valid proof and evidence. I find it really hard to just believe in anything without enough reason. Faith is a very alien concept to me. I really tried to understand it but just couldn't.

There are many theories of how organisms manage to survive and change. Darwin's Theory of Evolution is (in my view) the most reasonable explanation so far but there are others. It all depends on how you balance the conflict between religion and science.

Vanilla_Slice