Saturday, November 3, 2007

Self Analysis


When I choose this issue for my project, I was in no way taking the easy way out. Although this issue is extremely important to me it has been hard to stay unbiased and present all the information that needs to be presented. However if I could go back to the day we choose our issues, I would not have picked any other one. I have truly enjoyed this topic and have learned so much more about the evolution/creation debate; my view of the issue has definitely been broaden.

While looking back at my posts and after my conference I have come to learn that I was leaving something out. In my posts I have seemed to imply that believing in God and believing in the evolutionary theory are mutually exclusive. Mutually exclusive means that two events have no outcomes in common. So I have implied that if one believes in the evolutionary theory then one can not believe in God. However this is not the case. I know this is not the case because my Biology teacher in high school was an evolutionists that believed in God. As I researched most of the sites that I came upon questioned the existence of God. There are some evolutionists that do believe in God, but not many. I found a study that proved this point. The study was conducted where the participants were professional evolutionary scientists (for more detail on the study click here or here). I found part b of the picture above to be quite interesting where approximately 80% said that they do not believe in God. The rest of the twenty percent are divided between a belief in a personal God (theists), belief in God as a deist, or no belief in God but they leave room for mystery. Being a deist means that one does believe in God and that God did play a role in the beginning of life, but He no longer is involved in the world. They do not believe in a personal relationship with God. (Read the blog "Imagine...A Complex Creation" if you are interested in seeing why there is more to God then what deist believe.) So in way I focused on the 80% of evolutionists that do not believe in God. However, I should have included the fact that some evolutionists do believe in God and so I am adding that now.

Through this project I have became even more aware that there are so many people that remain uneducated about the issues of evolution and creation. I had one commenter who said that they believe the universe has always existed and may always exist. There are many sites that disprove his assumption and that show why the universe has a beginning point. The universe does have a beginning and it has not always been as this one commenter assumed rather blindly. (Click here, here, or here for the evidence). In fact, the point that the our universe does have a beginning is agreed upon by both evolutionists and creationists as I stated in one of my first posts. This point proves that there is a need for more education on both of these issues. Before this post I just accepted the fact that only evolution was taught in public schools. But through this project I have seen more and more that both sides need to be taught, so that everyone can make their own opinions about the issue-not just blind opinions. I feel that it is extremely important for people to know why they believe something and it is even more important for them to be able to back it up. I think our schools should accept other theories into the curriculum so students have the choice...we are a free country aren't we?
I have grown in so many other ways as well. Beginning off I thought I could present a lot of the facts of evolution and creation however I have not even began to skim the top of those theories. The more research I did the more complex I found both of the issues to be. If one is talking about Creation, then one needs to talk about the existence of God. If one is talking about the existence of God then one should talk about the validity of the Bible. So both of these issues of Creation and Evolution are intertwined with so many other issues that it is impossible to write everything that needs to be said in such a short blog. I seemed to think before this project that both issues were a whole lot more simple than they actually are. This issue has always been important to me since I learned of evolution in school but I had never taken the time to really research it myself. So this project has helped me grow in my view of creation and evolution. I have truly enjoyed this assignment.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree wholeheartedly that evolution and creationism need to be taught equally at school. I do believe in creationism but feel that both sides should be taught for fair decisions to be made. If we push only creationism we are no better that those that will only allow evolution to be taught. I have enjoyed your blogs. No matter what you believe your work was well documented and gave "food for thought."

bcoalson said...

I have been reading all your blogs and have responded a couple times before. I can say the issues back and forth can be exhausting but very interesting. I can't help but feel deep down if someone had the years and knowledge to invest the argument could be settled with hard facts....or maybe its not meant for anyone to find the hard facts???????? Maybe God wants us to believe on faith alone!!!

CHRISTIAN TEACHER said...

As you said this is a topic of great dispute and in a final evaluation what have you proven? You have proven there are people in this world with one-sided opinions that will not even consider another. You have proven that even intelligent people can be narrow-minded. Lastly, you have proven to me that I need to more alert and attentive to knowing how to rebute those who do not believe in Creation because they do not believe in God.
I have been researching the Bible for passages that to me prove that God created the heavens and the earth and He created all living things with a PLAN in mind. He did not casually create man, but designed man after His Own Being.
AND I DON'T PICTURE GOD AS A MONKEY!!!
I acknowledge I am one of those people who do not believe in evolution or an existence without beginning or end, nor do I believe there is no Grand Design to the world. Yes, there is a reason for our existence...there is a reason for our creation.... AND, there is a reason for the end of this world and God's Creation.
Here are some passages I found. Maybe some of the non-believers will take time to pick up a Bible and REFLECT.
Job 26:7
Psalms 89:8-11
Psalms 19:1
Psalms 24:1,2
Genesis 1:31
Proverbs 3:19
Genesis 1:9
Psalms 24:1
Genesis 2:15
Psalms 8:39
Ecceleatatis 3:11
Psalms 33:5
Deutronomy 8:7-10
Luke 21:11
Genesis 2:15
Pslams 115:16
Genesis 1:9, 10
Psalms 104: 24, 25
I luckly work in a Christian environment where I do not have to worry about being fair and teaching evolution.
But in cases such as public schools I do wish both opinions were presented and students were allowed to research and question.
I have enjoyed your blogs and this discussion.
Good Luck!

Nicole said...

To bcoalson...thank you a lot all of your comments they have helped me tremendously! You make a great point...it is impossible to prove creation just as it is impossible to prove evolution. Maybe there is a reason why there is no solid evidence...if creation is true maybe God wants us to have faith in Him and believe what we can not see, like you point out. If evolution is true I tend to think that there should be more solid evidence since there is no reason why there should not be...

Nicole said...

To christian teacher...thank you so much for all your input and encouragement. Your comment adds to one of my arguments. In my blog I wanted to show that creation (God designing the universe and everything in it for a purpose in six days) is more logical than evolution where no God exists and evolution where God initiated life but then had nothing to do with the rest (evolution stepped in). Lets take the evolutionists that believe God exists. God states in the Bible that we were created after His own image. I think that means that God played quite a bigger role than just creating a singularity and letting it evolve into what the universe is today. Maybe these evolutionists believe that God exists but they question the validity of the Bible. This of course is another complicated matter. As I have stated many times, there is no way I can possibly write everything I need to to prove my point but hopefully people who read this and will be encouraged to do their own research. I hope since the public schools are not doing this, that everyone who reads this can educate themselves on all theories and make their mind up after researching. One can never learn everything there is to know about these issues. So I will be continuing to do my own research to add to what I have already found. One can learn more and more everyday for the rest of ones life and still not know it all. I look forward to learning more and adding to my point of view.

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