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Hi Neil,
Perhaps the time has come for you to offer some of the evidence that has convinced you to believe the way you do. Simply typing in insulting prose in all caps is not the way to help anyone think intelligently about your point of view.
(Unless you are afraid to see your 'proof' shot down... lol!)
It has been my experience over the short span of my life that those who are most sure of what they believe are the least likely to resort to shouting and anger when they meet someone who disagrees with them.
If you are absolutely certain that you're right, then don't worry about it when others disagree with you! There are billions of people in the world with incredibly diverse opinions, including many brilliant scientists. You can't go through life without meeting others just as intelligent as you who have a different world view from you.
My personal opinion, after years of studying evolution, is that it falls very much into the realm of metaphysics, otherwise sometimes called 'religion.' It is, when you get to the end of it, a matter of faith, not proof.
met·a·phys·ics
–noun (used with a singular verb)
1.the branch of philosophy that treats of first principles, includes ontology and cosmology, and is intimately connected with epistemology.
2.philosophy, esp. in its more abstruse branches.
3.the underlying theoretical principles of a subject or field of inquiry.
An Atheist is defined as one who does not believe in the existence of God (or gods). ('a' - without; 'theos' - god) In other words, an Atheist believes that everything we see came into existence without a creator; that is, the physical created itself out of nothing (absurd) OR the physical is, in itself, eternal, and before and shortly after it appeared in space-time (however that was possible without a cause), was able to defy the presently known laws of physics by forming in an ordered fashion from catastrophe (the Big Bang in whatever form it is accepted.)
What this means is that while an Atheist does not believe in the existence of God in any form, he or she still believes by faith, not by any evidence that is possible to gather. (I can't prove God exists; an Atheist can't prove he doesn't exist).
I look at the universe and everything in it and find it quite compellingly upholds my belief in a creator God.
An Atheist looks at the universe and everything in it, and concludes that evolution is the best explanation of how it exists without a creator (cause).
Note that in both cases, there must be a cause, which must have existed in eternity (before space-time), because only something that existed in eternity COULD exist without a cause.
Evolutionists believe that the universe has existed for many billions of years. Again, that is based on theories that stand on mathematical principals that work on paper. (The only problem and one that is presently being grappled with is that time, itself, seems to be a matter of perspective. In other words, it depends on where it is observed.)
However, in order for evolution to have any chance at all of working, a staggering amount of time HAS to have passed since the universe began in order for it to be in its present state and for the very basic elements of life to have developed. Do the math and you will find that even some of the staunchest supporters of evolution (scientists) admit that the odds of life forming by chance fall in the realm of metaphysics.
Sir Fred Hoyle, a popular agnostic who wrote Evolution from Space (1981), compared the probability of life arising by chance to lining up 10 to the 50th power (ten with fifty zeros after it) blind people, giving each one a scrambled Rubik's Cube, and finding that they all solve the cube at the same moment. These are also about the same odds as the probability of a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling a 747!
It is also important to remember that probability only increases with time, but it still does not guarantee that something will happen. For example, the longer a coin is flipped, the greater the probability becomes that it will turn up heads 100 times in a row. The reality of it is that it would likely never turn up heads 100 times in a row. However, one might accept by faith that if that coin was flipped virtually an infinite number of times it would eventually turn up heads 100 times in a row.
So, no, you will not find one person who is truly honest, intelligent and educated who knows that evolution is a fact from positive proof; only those who believe by faith that it must be the truth because they have weighed all the evidence without accepting the possibility of the existence of a creator God and have concluded that there is no other answer.
Think about it.
God bless,
Dave
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