Post #37819
Can nature teach us ?
What does nature teach us ?
Can we learn from just observeing the world around us ?
Design Shown In The Works Of God ?
Sure, we can learn a lot from nature. Why is this necessarily indicative of "design"?
Life has had billions of years to evolve, with natural selection working on it, so that organisms have become very well-adapted to their environments. When those environments have changed and life has not been able to adapt, it has gone exinct. The thread called "Evolution explains diversity" in the creationism-evolution forum goes into the evidence for this in more detail.
Why, in your opinion, is the first law of thermodynamics indicative of design?
What point are you making about the second law of thermodynamics? Remember that it refers to a closed system. Life is not a closed system. The sun provides more than enough energy to drive things. If a mature tomato plant can have more usable energy than the seed it grew from, why should anyone expect that the next generation of tomatoes can't have more usable energy still? Not only is life irrelevant to the 2nd law, but order from disorder is common in nonliving systems, too. Snowflakes, sand dunes, tornadoes, stalactites, graded river beds, and lightning are just a few examples of order coming from disorder in nature; none require an intelligent programme to achieve that order.
Post #37835
early Darwinists classified certain organs ,
such as the appendix , the pituitary gland, and tonsils ,
as vestigial.
They consider them to be evolutionary leftovers because theses organs seemed no longer to have any function.
In time, however, the important role of theses organs came to light.
Evolutionists, therefore, had to discard their earlier views.
This comment is based on the mistaken notion that "vestigial" means "useless." The term "vestigial" is used in the sense of an organ no longer or not being used as it is in most other animals. Examples from biology include leg bones in snakes, eye remnants in blind cave fish, extra toe bones in horses, wing stubs on flightless birds and insects, and molars in vampire bats. Whether these organs have functions is irrelevant. They obviously do not have the function that we expect from such parts in other animals.
Another common (and frequently misunderstood) example, one which Lynn has given, is the appendix. In humans, the appendix has little apparent function, although it now appears that it may store some immune cells. However, the analogous organ in many other species does have obvious function. Moreover, the human appendix is positively disadvantageous in the sense that it is subject to nasty infections that can be fatal. The appendix is a vestigial organ since it does not serve a function like the homologous organs in other animals. So, the question becomes, why do humans have an appendix? (Or why does the human appendix not function like the homologous organ in other animals?) Evolution, the idea that we all have common ancestors, provides a meaningful answer. Creationism does not.
A similar development recently occured in the field of genetics..
Early research suggested that about 98 percent of the DNA in humans and other organisms had no function..
Hence, many were influenced by the theory of evolution assumed that this DNA was " evolutionary junk "-- a view that quickly became orthodox..
Once again , however,
an assumption rooted in Darwinism proved to be false..
Recently , scientists have discovered that " junk" DNA..
plays a vital role in the body by yielding special forms of RNA
( ribonucleic acid ) that are vital for life.
Again, some misunderstanding here. It is true that a large part of the human genome, and that of most genomes, appears to have no function. Scientists believe that over time, functions will be discovered for some of this DNA, as has been stated above. (Keep in mind that "junk DNA" refers to many different kinds of DNA, so saying that one use has been found for one kind does not mean that this applies to
all junk DNA.) Anyone who wants to learn about what "junk DNA" really is and what we really know about it can have a look at
Wikipedia.
What's more difficult to demonstrate is why a "designer" would design even a single strand of DNA that appears to have no useful function. This is not a problem for evolution, because it appears that at least some "junk DNA" has been maintained and copied over many generations even though it no longer has a useful function in the organism (though it may once have done). The energy involved in replicating this DNA is much less than that expended in moving a muscle, so it is possible that there is no mechanism for organisms with a large amount of "junk DNA" to be de-selected. My own feeling is that yes, some (though not all) of this DNA does have functions which are currently poorly, or not at all, understood.
Post #37837
In the US, for example , a survey conducted by Newsweek magazine..
In 2005 found that 80 percent of people "
believe that God created the universe
I think you'll find that creationists comprise a rather smaller proportion than this, and this is also just looking at the US. Christian creationism is largely a US phenomenon.
Post #37840
Even scientists who believe in God are reluctant to teach that the design evidence in plants and animals require a Designer.
Why ?
Identifying one reason , Douglas H. Erwin , a paleobiologist at the Smithsonian Institute , says:
" One of the rules of science is , no miracles allowed."
This individual is trying to explain the scientific method. It goes something like this. We look at the available evidence, formulate a hypothesis based on that evidence, test the hypothesis, replicate the tests, and adjust the hypothesis as necessary. After a hypothesis has undergone many rigorous tests by different experts, and it has so far not been invalidated, it becomes a theory. If new evidence comes to light which contradicts the theory, the theory is altered or thrown out.
Science is one important way of learning how the world works. How would we learn about how the world works if we attribute the unexplained to miracles? As soon as we ascribe something to a miracle, there ends our investigation and our questioning. God did it. As I've asked before, how would we have learned what things like lightning and eclipses really are, if we'd carried on believing they were messages sent by the gods (or God)?
Post #37860
Does it seem logical to you , then,
for highly trained researchers who crudely mimic systems in nature to solve difficult engineering problems..
to attribute the genius of devising the orginal idea to unintelligent evolution ?
Evolution is not random for the reason that natural selection works on it, the end result being organisms which are well adapted to their environments.
Also, many theists believe that evolution is God's way of creating life. People can be thanking God for the wonders of nature and accept evolution at the same time.
Post #37863 -- definitions of evolution
From
Evolution theory explains diversity:
Evolution can be explained relatively simply: there are two basic mechanisms:
(1) Evolution: the change in hereditary traits in populations from generation to generation.
(2) Speciation: the reproductive isolation of daughter populations from the parent populations or other daughter populations.
Evolutionary Biologists sometimes call (1) microevolution and (2) macroevolution. Both of these are observed phenomena, and therefore facts on which we can base a theory:
Theory: these mechanisms are sufficient to explain the diversity of life as we know it, from the world around us, natural history, historical record, the fossil record and genetics.
This theory can be tested: compare it to the world around us, natural history, the historical record, the fossil record and genetics and see if there is some element of diversity that is not explained.
This theory can be falsified: all you need is evidence of some diversity that cannot be explained by these two mechanisms.
This theory can also make predictions:
From speciation we can predict that there are common ancestors, and the further you go back in time the more you will find common ancestors between existing life forms linking them into a tree of life, until you reach a point where original species lived.
From evolution we can predict that each lineage will show variation over time, that as you go back in time to those common ancestors that the lineages will become more and more similar until they merge with the ancestral parent population, and thus all evolution occurs within species.
That's it.
Enjoy.
by which evolution occurs include mutation and natural selection, gene flow, and genetic drift.
It's worth being precise about terms under discussion.
Cheers,
Linda.
