What proof is there of evolution?

hotchocolate

Being raised a witness, throughout my life I've always switched off when I heard an argument for evolution. So I know almost nothing about the subject, except what I was taught in the "Evolution vs Creation" book, and I'm guessing that wasn't entirely impartial. ;-)

I think of the arguments put forth by witnesses about the amazing design in nature, thereby proving a creator. Actually, these arguments seemed to push me further toward evolution - from a very young age I felt that if the creaTION was so impressive, how much more so would the creaTOR be impressive. And yet He didn't need a designer but these things did? I know it simplifies the argument, but this childhood logic still seems hard to deny.

SO. I'm after a crash course in evolution, JWD style!

What can you tell me that could convince me there is truth in evolution?

x

AlmostAtheist

Lot's more here than you prolly wanna bite off at once, but it can't hurt to glance around: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

The first book I read on evolution was "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins. It's a good starter book, since it doesn't get too awfully deep, but it does dig deep enough to be convincing.

Good luck!

Dave

journey-on

Another good read is "The Science of God" by Gerald L. Schroeder. Belief in evolution and the belief in a Creator

are very much compatible and need not be conflicting at all! Schroeder believes it is possible to reconcile our

faith in science with scriptural wisdom. He is a physicist and Biblical scholar and makes some excellent arguments

that the latest science and a close reading of the Bible are not just compatible but interdependent.

zeroday

HUMANS have a tail bone WHY ??????????? we don't have tails....

hotchocolate

Thanks for those tips, and links.

I'm not quite ready to start reading books on the subject, I have a pile of reading material in regard to coping with my current situation (the upheaval of my life!) which is higher on my priority list right now.

So in asking this on JWD, I'm actually being a little lazy. :-)

I'm hoping there's others that have spent time researching this and might throw me some interesting thoughts on the subject.

xxx

SacrificialLoon

All life on Earth shares a common ancestor, and through random mutations and the process of natural selection over several billion years has brought about the diversity of life today. That is pretty much evolution in one sentence.

As far as proof the fossil record shows the progression from simpler life to more complex life. Also you can see the process of natural selection at work in microbes that infect people as a lot of human disease causing microbes are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

hamsterbait

I read a creationist paper mocking evolution.

One of the examples they used to disprove was the movement of jawbones into the inner ear. it is "hard to see how these bones could have migrated as claimed by evolution"

I did plenty of research. Fossils of early amphibians where the lower jaw picked up sound.

Where one of the lower jawbones not only picked up sound, but also articulated the jaw.

The progression is well documented from fossils.

Dolphin fossils with hooves on the ends of the fins.

Fish with perfect eyes but no optic nerve because they live in caves. Fish that live in caves with perfect visual systems but the eyes are inside the skull with no socket.

With the wealth of information today, all I can say is that if you believe in God, he uses natural processes to do his work: I first realized this when I considered the creation of dry land.

"And God said "Let Dry Land come to be." We can see this taking place before our very eyes.

Iceland is growing by inches every year. The new land in the Pacific created every day. The sedimentary land created on coastal areas. There is no startling "Divine hand" to see, but it is happening before our eyes.

All God said was let life come to be. Evolution follows the order given in Genesis.

HB

5go

Fish with perfect eyes but no optic nerve because they live in caves. Fish that live in caves with perfect visual systems but the eyes are inside the skull with no socket.

Yeah that was one of he things that finally through me over the fence. Why would these fish have those systems unless they used them at one time in the distant past.

hotchocolate

This is good. Is there a link where I could look at the mutant fishies?

Moxie

Years after I left the JW's I still had questions about evolution. The Society taught me to think that evolution meant we evolved from apes...

I read a book recently that really helped clear things up for me and I would recommend it to you. It's called the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

I would suggest an objective approach to reading this book. Dawkins is an atheist and projects those views at times throughout the book, but more interestingly he is an accomplished evolutionary biologist and his arguments are very interesting and enlightening. At one point in his book he actually references the JW evolution vs. creation book.

Anyway, it's a good read that deals with a lot of the 'basic' evolution questions that I had.

Good luck (oops I said luck)

"Moxie"

What proof is there of evolution?

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