From the congregation that brought you these Watchtower comments, I thought you would enjoy some selected quotes from the public talk we had last Sunday from the crazy talk outline: "THE ORIGIN OF HUMANS—DOES IT MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE?"
It's amazing this talk outline is still allowed - some of the material is hilarious, and the arguments are so wild and misrepresented. I still have the audio file if you can bear to listen to it, I could PM you a link. Here are some quotes from the talk...
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"Was life created or are you and I just the result of random undirected events?"
"I would say the long-going debate into the cause of life is probably one of the top three objections that people might bring up in our ministry. But today we're not going to discuss a lot of the evidence for the answer to this question. What we're concerned about today is if it matters what you believe."
"Now there are many varied beliefs about how we got here. Even the people who seem best placed to answer this question may be very educated who who've studied it - they can't agree."
"Often the explanation they give isn't one that we'd expect from someone in their position. For example consider the thoughts of a man who worked in many different universities as a professor of theology. As an academic, he studied the scriptures to a great extent as well as Catholic traditions and teachings extensively. He speaks German, French and Italian fluently, and also has a good command of Latin, English, Spanish and can read ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew. Really this man has a background rooted in theological and classical studies. And since April 2005 until just over a week ago he was known as Pope Benedict XVI. And what has this religious leader said about the origin of life? He said: "there are so many scientific points in favor of the evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enritches our knowledge of life. So maybe not what you'd expect from the pope."
"Now consider the views of a scientific researcher and agnostic who has systematically studied aspects of paleontology, fossils, molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry, a man who's really grounded in science and academia. The molecular biologist Michael Denton concluded to the theory of evolution is "more like a principle of medieval astrology than a serious scientific theory.""
"Now, the most common beliefs about about how we got here are: evolution - by which through a series of events, simple single cells developed into all the life we see around us, and creation by which God designed each species on the planet and created them as we know them today. But then, these two theories are split into many different ideas and even some people will combine the two and believe in theistic evolution - they believe that God created maybe that single cell then has guided evolution to create what we see around us today."
"Many believe that evolution means that life forms are constantly, gradually evolving - slowly changing through each generation, so that some traits become less common and some that are more beneficial become more dominant. Others say there's not really evidence for that, so perhaps things stay pretty much the same for thousands maybe millions of years but then something suddenly causes rapid change. So again lots of different thoughts on those time periods involved in how it all works."
"[After reading Genesis 1:24] So it is in this sixth creative period, that land mammals were formed, each according to its kind. You notice that the various kinds were created separately - domestic animal, wild beast. And within the different kinds there could be great variety as we see in cat-kind, dog-kind, or even human-kind."
"What about human-kind? The ancient record tells us that the creator eventually chose to create a truly unique form of life."
"[After reading Genesis 1:26-27] So the belief in creation and the belief in evolution cannot be reconciled with each other according to the bible. Evolution directly contradicts the bibles account of creation."
"Historians admit that evolution has has changed human behavior. It's encouraged different animal-like behavior and uh... attitudes. Evolution equates humans with animals and it affect the way people think about themselves. If we're just developed animals, then like other animals, life's purpose is simply to propagate genes by whatever means. Some self-help books refer to "evolutionary psychology" and one of them describes human nature as: "not very different from chimpanzee nature, gorrilla nature, or baboon nature" and it states: "when it comes to evolution, it's reproduction that counts." Now this is going to affect people isn't it? Belief in the evolution leads people to reason badly on what is right and what is wrong. If we're animals and there isn't any creator anyway then who is to say what's right or wrong. If we only live to pass on a genetic material then immorality is natural, and any sense of family loyalty we feel, or love is merely some sort of genetic ploy to ensure the survival of our offspring."
"Since as early as 1859 when Charles Darwin published his book on The Origin of Species, people began to note a loss of faith and a general demoralization in society."
"[After reading Colossians 2:8] So philosophy includes how humans endeavour to understand and explain the origins and underlying causes of reality. Paul warns against human philosophy because if we choose to follow human philosophy it can be harmful - it can influence uss negatively, demoralize us and often harm our hope."
"Consider that evolution doesn't satisfy man's quest for the meaning of life. A problem that's fundamental to the theory of evolution is the vast gulf that separates humans from animals. According to evolutionists, our brain is three times as large as we would expect for a primate of our build, and also the human brain is the only organ in the known universe that seeks to understand itself. But evolution can't explain the vast differences between us and animal's brains. They just seem to be programmed eat, sleep and reproduce."
"Also morality and conscience remain a puzzle to evolutionists. What are the functions of humor and laughter? Why do people make deathbed confessions? What is the exact function of grief - once the person has died, how does it help them? Sadly, evolutions cannot provide satisfying answers to these most common of questions."
"Now another major flaw in the evolution model is the evidence the for wheather mankind is really improving - evolving, mentally and morally. Darwin wrote in The Origin of Species that: "...all corporeal and mental endowments would tend to progress towards perfection." Twentieth-century Priest and Biologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin agreed with this, theorizing eventually there would occur "...an evolution of the minds of the entire human race. Everyone would harmoniously work toward one goal."
"But rather than seeing the predicted improvements that evolution suggests, we've seen as humans in general gradually accept this theory they slip further into barbarianism."
"Consider that more than a hundred million people were killed in the wars of the twentieth century - some fifty million in world war two alone. Also consider the ethnic slaughter that's gone on in different places such as Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Now while evolution cannot be blamed for these things it has been used to justify some of these atrocities and it's helped to push the human family into ever greater hatred, crime, violence, immorality and degradation."
"But does the bible satisfy these flaws that we've found in the evolutionary model? What does the bible have to say about the relationship between humans and animals? The bible recognizes that we have some things in common. [Reads Genesis 1:24 again, then Genesis 2:7]"
"So these similarities are like different paintings maybe that a craftsmen or an artist has created. An artist or craftsman will use the same subject matter, familiar materials, or similar brush strokes. Creation bears evidence of one systematic artist."
"Unless we properly satisfy the need to be in touch with our creator we cannot find true and lasting happiness."
The human body, particularly the brian, shows that it was designed to last. Each human brain contains between ten billion to a hundred billion neurons. Each one of those neurons can communicate with up to two hundred thousand other neurons, so making billions of different connections possible. Two scientists wiriting in scientific american wrote: "in every page is a formidable powerhouse, a compact efficient organ whose capacity seems to expand further towards infinity the more we learn of it. No men yet exists who can use all the potential of his brain. This is why we don't accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human brain - it is unlimited."
"We saw that accoring to evoultionary theory, we started out as simple, single trans-cells and we should be improving over time. As a race we should be getting further from anamalistic behavior and getting towards perfection."
"[After reading Deuteronomy 32:4] It is sins harmful effects that introduced undesirable traits into mankind's nature."
"Now, according to evolution, chance rules. Hence evolution offers no sure hope for the future. Evolution is harmful because it justifies animalistic behaviour and it clashes with our God-given conscience."
[Discusses the "Was Life Created?" brochure, reads Psalm 37:10,11]
"The evidence is clear - life was created."
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Download the outline: http://depositfiles.com/files/ti7kcykq2