Evolution or Creation?

Just a survey to measure the belief (I would be evil and say intelligence ) of the people in SL.

Do you believe in evolution or creation?

I beleive in Darwinion evolution, how about you guys?

What a super question! This is sure to spark a lot of lively and good-natured debate! Nope, nothing the least bit inflammatory about this question!

(Looks down at her little av feet and spies empty can)

"Somebody opened a really nasty can o' worms!"

Hmmm...ok. How about this...

We evolved according to Darwinian evolution, and then the aliens came down and helped us along. There is evidence of high technology in ancient times that cannot be explained.

And what about all those abduction experiences and UFO sightings? They are out there, no doubt. There is way more concrete evidence of the existence of aliens than there is for the existence of God. (Boy, I just felt like the Beatles saying they were more popular than Jesus!)

I also believe in respecting other's beliefs, and there is a place for religion in this world, even though I do not participate in any organized religions. Basically, as long as a person doesn't do harm to another, they're ok in my book.

Just my two cents. Please don't bash me now!

I am with Dar on this one, I believe in the evolution theory. But at some point in the evolution of man God breathed the soul into us.

Hmm, Darwin, we are begging for a flamewar here, aren't we?
I believe in Creation. I believe that the Big Bang created the world and the processes by which it evolved, including the laws of physics, chemistry and biology as we know them today =)
I believe that these processes are intelligent in and of themselves, for they exhibit what we call in the AI field "emergent behaviour" - meaning that from a simple set of rules, something beautiful, complex and unexpected may emerge.
From this perceived notion of intelligence arose the primordial concept of "God" as an antropomorphic embodiment of the ultimate origin and cause of all that we could not explain and control, and our hopes and fears of these unknown and uncontrollable factors made us begin to speak to these invisible entities in prayer and ritual, seeking help and solace.
To me, the self is entirely contained in the brain, which is merely an advanced organic computer. It processes the inputs from the senses, factors in predefined genetic behaviours - instincts acquired through millions of years of evolution - as well as our previous life experiences, stored in long-term memory, producing output in the form of actions and emotions.
IMHO anyone who believes they are any different from other animals and computers because they have this mysterious, poorly defined thing called a "soul" is suffering from an inflated ego =)
I am a worthless pile of organic matter and so are you.
No flame intended of course. You have every right to believe in God, Santa, and the tooth fairy, actually, recent studies seemed to indicate that the brain is hardwired for belief in the supernatural.
Me, I'm not even baptized. I'm an atheist, or rather, someone with the inability to believe in anything supernatural. Maybe that little part of my brain is damaged =P
I hate the word atheist anyway, it seems to be connoted with people who hate christians which is not my case. I think religion and belief is a very old-fashioned, romantic thing, which is actually pretty cool as long as you dont let it control your life like they do in the middle east.
Atheist for me has only the word's original Greek meaning - a(prefix conveying the meaning of absence) + theos(god) - quite simply someone who happens to have no god.
Personally I dont care about what you do or believe in as long as you dont care about my lifestyle either.
Respect and tolerance for people's individual freedom should take precedence over everything else in our lives.

I believe we are a planet set up as a reality show by aliens. All species from the entire universe has been brought together to Earth for the enjoyment of those aliens.

*cough* Southpark *cough*

I knew it! We need much better writers! The storyline has done nothing but go downhill the last 3 seasons.

I believe in Evolutionary Creationism. Uhm, Creative Evolution? I believe in a combination of the two. Evolution is just one of the many tools god used in creating the universe.

I have problems with both theories, due mainly to the arrogance and sloppiness of scientists and the blindness of many theologians to the very clear evidence of fossils and carbon testing. I don't know about aliens, but Driftwood is right; there was a massively advanced civilization previous to our histories that mostly disappeared some seven to ten thousand years ago. Whether it was the Biblical Flood of Noah, or the destruction of Atlantis, we don't know, but it is likely that many of our religious and creation myths came out of that very event of destruction.

It's quite possible, and it has always amazed me, that if we could achieve such drastic technological advances in a mere hundred years, that other civilizations couldnt very well have reached such a point and then completely vanish in the vast amount of time that we have existed. But, as I have made clear before, I don't believe in anything without solid evidence to back it up. So unless and until such evidence is presented to me in a credible manner I will stick with my skepticism and merely regard it as an interesting possibility.

Old Man Coyote sent a duck down under the water to bring up some mud. Then he spread it everywhere, making land. Then he stuck some trees around and sculpted hills, but he didn't do a very thorough job.

Later, after some horrible miscalculations, he accidentally invented people, who made a bad situation worse.

But Charles Darwin's stories are funny too. Everyone likes saying 'Galapagos'.

I'm with Eggy on this one... he said it better (and with more diplomacy) that I would have

Years of experience, old friend!

I kind of figured this would be the crowd that plays SL, and I'm glad to see I was right.

There is more proof of aliens than of God, definetly. But there is overwhelming proof also of FOSSILS, EVOLVED CREATURES, AND DINOSOURS. These are all things the Bible contridicts!

The argument to this would be: "It's a matter of the faith." Well yes, faith is important, but perhaps it's not what you have faith in, just that you have faith?

It breaks my heart to see masses of people converting to a religion, like a lot of blacks converting to moslum because that's what they would have been if it wasn't for slavery. This is just fine with me, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN. If you believe there are 72 virgins waiting for you in heaven, go worship Alah. If you just want to believe for belief's sake, then THAT is a false idol!

But anywho, back on topic: Atlantis has tons of proof, actually. I'd like to think that we'll find it one day, though it's unlikely.

Reminds me of an old episode of "Outer Limits" where an alien calls humans "ugly bags of mostly water"

Me? hahahaha funny considering this was your only post to this thread.... troll.

"You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your f*ing Khakis. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."
-- Tyler Durden

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen F. Roberts

Wow. I so wanna quote your whole post... Bravo, Eggy.

=Sinclair

A few random thoughts (I am gonna get flamed for this)...

Many believers in the Creation camp argue that the biblical account is true, because its the word of God. If you think about it, the original text was written in an era where there were few literate people. Somehow, humans being humans, these early scribes probably decided that the story needed "embellishments". Maybe the original word of God was all about the Big Bang, but the scribes believed the notion of man evolving from lower primates was not credible, so they "embellished" the story with a more credible story of a man and a woman in Eden.

My point? Its human nature to make a mountain out of a molehill.


Next, there is the evidence of advanced but anicient technology. Many argue its left over from visiting extraterrestrials. Personally, I doubt this, because the evidence does not really support it. As far as I can tell (and I could be wrong), no one has discovered anything that suggests that beings who were capable of interstellar flight have been here. The artifacts were advanced for the era, but probably not more advanced than today's technology. I personally suspect that this aincient technology was created by something, either human or nonhuman, which was always here.

Lastly, I think "Ugly bags of mostly water" came from an early episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation".

Errr...I believe we were created and have evolved.

So both, if you must know.

-J

Hehehe oh my THIS could get interesting......AND READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE YOU STOMP ME hehehe

Heres something to think about...
AN ARGUEMENT FOR A EVOLUTION BELIEVER



Observed phenomena:


Most thinking people will agree that--
1. A highly ordered universe exists.
2. At least one planet in this complex universe contains an amazing variety of life forms.
3. Man appears to be the most advanced form of life on this planet.


Known options:


Choices of how the observed phenomena came into being--
1. The universe was created by God.
2. The universe always existed.
3. The universe came into being by itself by purely natural processes (known as evolution) so that no appeal to the supernatural is needed.

Evolution has been acclaimed as being the only process capable of causing the observed phenomena.

Evolution is presented in our public school textbooks as a process that:

1. Brought time, space, and matter into existence from nothing.
2. Organized that matter into the galaxies, stars, and at least nine planets around the sun. (This process is often referred to as cosmic evolution.)
3. Created the life that exists on at least one of those planets from nonliving matter (chemical evolution).
4. Caused the living creatures to be capable of and interested in reproducing themselves.
5. Caused that first life form to spontaneously diversify into different forms of living things, such as the plants and animals on the earth today (biological evolution).

People believe in evolution; they do not know that it is true. While beliefs are certainly fine to have, it is not fair to force on the students in our public school system the teaching of one belief, at taxpayers’ expense. It is my contention that evolutionism is a religious worldview that is not supported by science, Scripture, popular opinion, or common sense. The exclusive teaching of this dangerous, mind-altering philosophy in tax-supported schools, parks, museums, etc., is also a clear violation of the First Amendment.

1. The earth is not billions of years old (thus destroying the possibility of evolution having happened as it is being taught).
2. No animal has ever been observed changing into any fundamentally different kind of animal.
3. No one has ever observed life spontaneously arising from nonliving matter.
4. Matter cannot make itself out of nothing.


wow....lighting fuses lol..oh and lookie this!!!!.....


Charles Darwin wrote:
"THE AFFINITIES of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile largely speaks the truth. The green and budding twigs may represent existing species; and those produced during each former year may represent the long succession of extinct species . . . The limbs divided into great branches, and these into lesser and lesser branches, were themselves once, when the tree was small, budding twigs; and this connexion of the former and present buds by ramifying branches may well represent the classification of all extinct and living species in groups subordinate to groups . . . From the first growth of the tree, many a limb and branch has decayed and dropped off, and these lost branches of various sizes may represent those whole orders, families, and genera which have now no living representatives, and which are known to us only from having been found in a fossil state . . . As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications" (Darwin, 1859).
The theory of evolution, formalized by Charles Darwin, is as much theory as is the theory of gravity, or the theory of relativity. Unlike theories of physics, biological theories, and especially evolution, have been argued long and hard in socio-political arenas. Even today, evolution is not often taught in primary schools. However, evolution is the binding force of all biological research. It is the unifying theme. In paleontology, evolution gives workers a powerful way to organize the remains of past life and better understand the one history of life. The history of thought about evolution in general and paleontological contributions specifically are often useful to the workers of today. Science, like any iterative process, draws heavily from its history.

which came first..the Mcchicken or the Bigmac?????

Warning! Warning! If you're offended by atheist views turn back now! If you read on and get offended don't say you weren't warned



There is a HUGE volume of evidence supporting evolution that clearly shows species changing over time. Divided populations of the same species of insect will evolve noticeable mutations and adaptations within years. Viri evolve even faster. Why do you think you need a new flu shot every year? How do you think viri become drug resistant? In the 1900's the average shoe size for women in the united states was 4. Today it's 9. Why? Because we're evolving bigger feet to support our fat asses. Evolution is happening all around you in observable, predictable, and provable ways. There's not a single shred of evidence or direct observation for Creationism. To pretend that it's a science backed by data on par with Evolution is crazy talk. Creationism is religion. Evolution is science. Religion belongs in churches. Science belongs in schools.

Science isn't biased against religion. Science is about making theories and testing them through observation and research and peer review. Does Creationism pass the same muster? What evidence is there to back it up besides a handful of books written in a time when men thought the sky was an upside down bowl with holes in it...

firmament

from the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew_raki'a_. This word means simply "expansion." It denotes the space or expanse
like an arch appearing immediately above us. They who rendered _raki'a_ by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. The language of Scripture is not scientific but popular, and hence we read of the sun rising and setting, and
also here the use of this particular word. It is plain that it was used to denote solidity as well as expansion. It formed a division between the waters above and the waters below (Gen. 1:7). The _raki'a_ supported the upper reservoir (Ps. 148:4). It was the support also of the heavenly bodies (Gen.
1:14), and is spoken of as having "windows" and "doors" (Gen. 7:11; Isa. 24:18; Mal. 3:10) through which the rain and snow might descend. (Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary)

[sarcasm] Yeah, so I can see why you'd want to take the word of people who believed the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around it... that believed god waved his magic wand and made man, and then made a woman from his rib... I can totally understand why that would hold more weight than modern science (thanks to which you haven't died of plague). [/sarcasm]

If you want your kids to be taught creationism in school, send them to a parochial school. Science classes are for science, not religion. Don't pray in my school and I won't think in your church.