ok, so here's my closer and I'm really going to be done after this because this is quite literally endless. I was all excited to come home and find links and quotes and blah blah blah, but this will never end either way. Everything I say will be argued and everything you say will be argued. Everyone keeps bringing up "proof" that I don't think solidifies anything. I never said there was no form of "evolution." There is growth, adaptation, mutations, etc etc. I just do not believe in the grand, long term theory of evolution, and none of this "proof" is going to change my mind. Not because of God, not because of the Bible, but simply because I don't accept it has a viable explanation, it's just that simple. I don't buy it, I don't accept it as a good enough answer. My doubt of evolution does not come from my belief in God, however my belief in God does further my doubt in evolution. Something you have to remember is that we're not even remotely in the same frame of mind.
Follow me here... I accept the various tests and theories and ideas and notions and assumptions as possible, but it doesn't disprove God, in any way. You can not disprove God, it is an impossibility, you can not disprove something that there is no evidence of. You can't disprove that there is not an invisible purple elephant sitting next to you either, it's impossible. So, being that God can not be disproven, which is something I have accepted as truth from my life and experiences and logic that I find to be sound, you must assume based on MY beliefs that there is a God. If there is a God (based on my ideas) then there is some truth to creation. If there is truth to creation, there is at least SOME falsities to evolution, even if it's on a small scale. I know that creation doesn't cancel the idea of evolution, nor does evolution cancel the idea of creation, but I believe in divine creation, not that we evolved from tiny organisms and developed into the complex, diverse, emotional begins we are now. I just don't buy it. So, being that in my little world there is a lack of evidence for evolution I am going to continue to lean towards the idea of creation. The fact that there are not even theories of where it all began, I mean the very very very beginning, pushes me towards the idea of an omnipotent being. It just does.
I didn't want to get into the actual God part really, but I will to back up why I can NOT accept there is no creator, and that is the nature of beings. Now, this for the most part applies to all creatures, but it can and will be disputed, so i'll limit it to humans for the sake of LESS argument. Human beings have an instilled moral compass, this is true through out history. From the earliest recorded history to modern tribes who are completely disconnected from civilization, we ALL share a similar moral value system of life and death and for the most part right and wrong. Now, are there tribes and civilizations that do not treat these values the same? Of course, there are cultures that accept murder and such as part of their lifestyle. But it's due to the different growth of societies and how they handle situations. For example, the Salem Witch Trials. EVERYONE knew that killing these women was wrong and were using it as a punishment. This is a practice we would certainly not commit today, simply because our knowledge of it has progressed and we understand it differently. But imagine this if you will, if you were convinced, ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED there was a person of magic power in your community that was abducting and harming children and putting curses on people and your own family was in danger, would you not react similar? Think of the emotional response that drives in you, both the idea of your loved ones in danger AND the idea of what you have to be capable of to deal with it. That emotional response is instilled in us as it is in all people. Now, assuming that there is such an instilled value system, this suggests the idea of right and wrong, which some might classify as good and, if I dare, "evil." Assuming for a moment that this does in fact warrant the notion of good and evil, and not just a chemical make up, then there must be a power behind it. The notion of free will suggests that there must be wrong/evil to be able to choose. If there is evil, there must be good. If there is good and evil, there must be a power behind it. Assuming for a moment there are beings behind the idea of good and evil, one must assume that there is a more powerful being in order for any form of balance to be kept, and that the more powerful being is good and created the evil being, for if the evil being was more powerful it would have never created the good. Now, many cultures have different names for this belief of good and evil, but that is a debate PURELY between religions and I won't even begin to go there.
Another instilled aspect of human nature is the need for something greater, the need for more, the need for answers. Human nature dictates that there is no desire with out necessity. There is no food with out hunger, there is no drink with out water. If you put stock in this, then you must believe that there IS something greater beyond our understanding. Being that we all strive for something greater, there MUST be something greater. Whether you believe that is science and the cosmos and the ability for something to appear out of nothing or you believe that there is an ultimate power that created our world, we all strive for answers of an ultimate truth. Now that is what splits EVERY human being down the middle. You either believe there is some sort of ultimate power (of any religion) or you believe in the idea of no creator and rely purely on science. Which brings us to the debate as a whole. But having established there is an ultimate truth, something I think we can all agree on, that brings me to my explanation above of instilled human nature.
Now, I have no doubt the idea of human nature can be attempted to be explained via chemical composition and genetic make up and all that, and that's totally fine. That all exists for certain. I know that fear and love and all that can be diminished through nothing more than science. I understand that love and fear and all emotion all have chemical and physical reactions. This is just about proven. However, it can not be easily attributed to just these things. Think of the way you feel about people... I know you've all been in love... do you really dumb that down to a pure chemical reaction? If you did, I see no point in seeing love out, because it wouldn't really matter, you would know that you could evolve through it. Your desire for love of another human being is a recognition of what they really are. You could also attribute this to the survival of our species and the need to mate. That however does not back up the notion of love, because many, MANY species survive and mate with out maintaining an solitary partner, or stick to their mate in anyway. Some do, many don't. So love must be emotional based. The desire to remain with someone for any period of time comes for a desire to connect with their inner being. Some might call this the soul, which if you don't believe in a god, then you wouldn't believe in a soul. But I for one certainly can not understand how you can think that we are just fleshly robots aimlessly roaming the earth like zombies with actions based of nothing more than chemical and scientific reactions. The idea that when we die our bodies just shut down like a broken computer just doesn't add up. If it were true, why would we miss loved ones so much? Chemical reaction, right? Not likely. And more over, why do ALL humans fear death? People can say they are not afraid to die, and perhaps even some truly are not, but come on now, MOST people are in fact afraid to die. Why? If there was nothing after we died, why are we born with an instilled fear of death? A true atheist should have absolutely NO fear of death, because there is no consequence to death. You could say that "you enjoy living" or you "don't want your love ones to feel pain when you die" or just that you want to ride the life cycle out in general. Especially if you're happy. But the very first time an atheist hits a rough patch, they should realistically just want to kill themselves and be forever done with our soulless husk and never feel pain again. Think about it... We do not want to die, we do not want our loved ones to die, we fear the unknown of what happens after. Whether you think you're going to heaven or you think you just rot, we all still fear the idea of losing our lives. This, to me, suggests there is in fact something more after death. As a Christian, I would subscribe to the idea of reincarnation (something I don't believe in at all) well before I swallowed the idea of no soul or no after life.
I know people have a scientific theory about everything, and that's great, it's the search for knowledge and truth, coincidently, most of the theories can not be proven, just backed.
It has been said, even in this post, that the need for God shows a lack of intelligence. To me, a lack of intelligence is displayed by not accepting possibility, especially of something that can not be disproven. You don't have to believe in God, but in my opinion, any man of science should be at least open to the idea of a ultimate being. I accept the possibility that I could be wrong, it's part of my search for the truth. People that close out the idea of a "god" are nothing more than stubborn, closed minded individuals who do not want to accept the idea of a being more powerful than them who they, in theory, may have to answer to at some point, or even just someone who "has control over them." I think that's madness personally. Insanity is doing something over and over again expecting a different result. To me, people trying to disprove a god is insanity at it's highest caliber, it CAN NOT BE DONE. You could say i'm insane for practicing my beliefs every day in hopes to reach a heaven. Well A: my beliefs have yet to be disproven, there will be only one result (whatever that result may be), and B: and I live each day a little differently in hopes to learn more about myself and truth itself. I consider myself a relatively intelligent person. Due to my various "chemical imbalances" I have seen numerous doctors and have been solidified as both sane and intelligent by all, including a very high IQ. I'm sure you're thinking "IQ tests don't mean anything right." Well, we're not talking about internet IQ tests, we're talking about full studies. Anyway...
I find it unfortunate that some people have never experienced what they feel could be God. I'm not saying I am better than anyone else in any form, but I most certainly have experienced MANY things that I believe to be that of a higher consciousness. That's fine if you don't share that belief, luckily what you believe in no way effects my beliefs.
This all started off with a simple quote that I found amusing by an absolute leader of evolution. Not to mention many other quotes that can be found by top people of their field admitting that there is no way to truly prove evolution. I get that science is not based off of something being proven beyond a doubt. I get that's it's learning and growing as you go in the hope to become more knowledgable of the idea of a truth. I even greatly accept the idea that grand, long term evolution is possibly 100% real and maybe even the big bang theory. I don't know, and it would be absolutely infantile of me to suggest I do. We weren't there, we don't know. All any of us can do is strive for knowledge and make the best guess possible with the information available to us. As I mentioned before, I am fine with the idea of being wrong, because if I am and there is no creator or no afterlife, then I will reap no consequences of living my life under this belief system. In no way do I mean this as a crazy uppity christian... but I truly, truly hope you all have the same level of confidence if you turn out to be wrong.
*(I love intelligent debate and I always welcome it. However, I feel that this will never reach a conclusion. You believe what you believe, and I believe what I believe. I respect your beliefs, I would ask you do the same in return. Despite the fact that this debate is generally healthy and intelligent, I do not wish to continue it, I have spent a lot of time with this and I have other things I need to focus on. If anyone would like to discuss this further I would be happy to do so over the telephone or in person. I however will not respond further. Thank you for your respect.)*
