ANY EVOLUTIONISTS OUT THERE???

[katieanne]

I go to Bible College, and one of my assignments is to interview someone who believes in Evolution so I can get non-biased answers. It's only about 7 questions I think! If anyone could help me out that would be great

Katie

[Goat]

I go to Bible College, and one of my assignments is to interview someone who believes in Evolution so I can get non-biased answers. It's only about 7 questions I think! If anyone could help me out that would be great

Katie

There are several types here. There are Christians, there are Jews and there are atheists.. all which accept evolution. Which type do you want?

[katieanne]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I am looking for an Atheist's view who supports Evolution. Thanks.

[Goat]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I am looking for an Atheist's view who supports Evolution. Thanks.

Fire away. You should get a diversity of opinions.

[katieanne]

Thanks for helping me out, goat. I just tried sending you a PM but after typing it all out and pressing send it wouldn't let me because I don't have 5 posts yet! Okay.. so here I go again. These are the questions I'm supposed to ask. I thought there was only 7, but turns out there is 9.

1. Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view?
2. How do you think the universe began?
3. How do you think life originated?
4. Explain how you believe life forms evolved?
5. How old do you think the earth is and why?
6. Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, UFOs?
7. Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result.
8. Do you believe in life after death? Explain.
9. How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

Thanks, again! If you have any additional comments you'd like to add, feel feel.

Katie

[QED]

Moderator note:
Katie, this seems to be the most appropriate subforum for your questions. You have copied your question in other forums, so I have put a note in each duplicate to direct people here. I think you will see what a mess can be made with duplicate posts in different forums. Please don't do it again, and make sure you familiarize yourself with the forum rules of which rule 10 forbids duplicate posts.

[Nameless]

I am looking for an Atheist's view who supports Evolution.

1. Do you believe in God?

'Bible college', isn't that an oxymoron?

[bernee51]

Thanks for helping me out, goat. I just tried sending you a PM but after typing it all out and pressing send it wouldn't let me because I don't have 5 posts yet! Okay.. so here I go again. These are the questions I'm supposed to ask. I thought there was only 7, but turns out there is 9.

Here we go....

1. Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view

No.

I have 40+ years of study/research in comparative religion - there is no need reason or evidence for any god. A creator deity, such as the god of christianity, can be shown to be, metaphysically, a logical impossibility.


2. How do you think the universe began?

Why must it have 'begun'. Why cannot the universe in some share or form have always existed?

That said...I don't know is the best answer. 'I don't know' does not mean therefore goddidit.

3. How do you think life originated?

It evolved. It is the result of the 'complexification' of the universe.

4. Explain how you believe life forms evolved?

Life forms better suited to changing conditions survived and evolved, those that did not died out.

5. How old do you think the earth is and why?

Around 4.5 billion years or so. Base on modern cosmological theory.


6. Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, UFOs?

Don't know. Could be. Don't care.


7. Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result.

Yes. There is no 'end result'

8. Do you believe in life after death? Explain.

Life after death is the same as life before birth.

9. How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

My life is full of purpose. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. The purpose of my life is to live in mindful awareness of the happiness and well being of all and to encourage others to do the same.

[Evales]

1. Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view?

I do not believe in a specific religions God.

2. How do you think the universe began?

I don't quite know, there are many theories. One theory is that the universe loops, it expands and grows then collapses and then expands again starting anew. If I were to believe in any sort of "beginning" it would be this one.

3. How do you think life originated?

I believe life on Earth originated from self replicating molecules or amino acids.

4. Explain how you believe life forms evolved?

I believe that life on Earth evolved using natural selection. The creatures which were stronger, faster or reproduced faster etc, survived more.

5. How old do you think the earth is and why?

Around 4.55 billion years old. Using chemical decay. Some elements are unstable such as lead-206. Because they are unstable they decay releasing a neutron or two which changes the weight. The lead-206 then becomes lead-204. Lead-206 take the same amount of time for half of it to decay so we analyse how much lead-206 is left to tell how old the lead is. This helped determine the age of the Earth and our solar system. (This is a very basic version, for more information read up about nuclear decay)

6. Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, UFOs?

Since I believe that our own Earth was populated spontaneously, yes I believe that other planets could have life on them. But most likely the life forms are not very complex, and are very far away from us, the probability of meeting a lifeform of similar biological complexity from another planet in a universe as large as ours is VERY slim.

7. Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result.

Evolution is almost certainly still happening, hence how cockroaches have become resistant to old fly sprays. There is no end result to evolution it is a law like gravity. It is constant. Natural selection is simply the theory that things that survive better, breed more.

8. Do you believe in life after death? Explain.

I don't know if there is life after death. I think it is more likely that there isn't but if there is I'm not going to spend this life worrying about the next. Nor will the next life be spent worrying about the life after that. If that happens you miss out on what's happening in the life you have.

9. How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

The purpose in my life is to have as good a life as possible. And that means having fun.


Hope this helps!

[Goat]

1. Do you believe in God? If so, briefly explain your view?

I have varied between a sort of pantheistic point of view of God to the conclusion there is no God. At the current time, I do not believe
in any God. I never accepted the concept of a personal God, since it never made any sense to me.

2. How do you think the universe began?

The evidence points to there was an expansion that happened about 13 to 15 billion years ago. While there are a number
of theories, I do not think there is enough evidence to make any kind of conclusion about how and why that expansion
started. "M-Theory" and "multi-dimentional branes" are interesting concepts, but until they can actually test some of the
assumptions, they remain speculative. I hope the CERN accelerator can provide some of the evidence needed to either
accept or reject those ideas.

3. How do you think life originated?

Self replicating molecules becoming more complicated over time. There are some interesting experiments going on that
have shown the principles are very good. There is an experiment with self replicating RNA molecules 'evolving' to become
more sophisticated over time. It's a rather new experiment, but it is showing the molecules are responding in a manner
'that would be consistent with evolution.

4. Explain how you believe life forms evolved?

The sophistication of the self replicating molecules eventually became complicated enough to be called 'life' .. I

5. How old do you think the earth is and why?

About 4.5 billion years ago. That is because that is the age of the rocks of the moon, and we have found one rock that has been dated
about 4.3 billion years old.

6. Do you believe in life on other planets, aliens, UFOs?

The size of the universe is vast, so I find it very likely there will be life on other planets. I strongly doubt they visited us,
because of the distances involved. "Aliens" and "UFO" stories sounds to be to be people's imaginations running wild.

7. Is evolution still happening, and if so, what do you think will be the end result.

Evolution is still happening, yes. However, evolution does not have a direction. It all depends on what
happens with the environment, since chances in environment is what drives the selection process in
natural selection. Eventually, of course, the sun expands, and life on earth goes away. We only have
a few billion years left , unless of course we find interstellar space travel

8. Do you believe in life after death? Explain.

No, I do not. Life is all we have, and much more precious because of that.

9. How do your beliefs in origins and evolution affect your sense of purpose for your own life?

It has no effect what so ever on my purpose in life. It is a nice intellectual problem , but it has nothing to do with what I believe, or how I live my life.