Don't be misled by intelligent design

good letter

Joseph "Of many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body...Now of all that has been heard; here is the conclusion to the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Teach the children but ultimately teach them God is the one true living God and Jesus is the way, the truth, and the Life...We, all of us, will have accomplished our duty in this life and given our children the greatest gift of all... eternal life....

evolution is a "science" that assumes that a huge explosion caused all life and the theories were created to fit this leap of faith. Why then isn't evolution a religion?

This writer is truly lost. He ignores reason and truth. Anyone interested in the ID debate should read up on Darwin's theory (which is truly suspect and requires a lot of faith) and then read Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe.

And also let me add another book to read that lays out many of the challenges to Christianity called Who Made God. This is a collection of works by Ravi Zacharias that provides an intelligent discussion on Intelligent Design and the truth of the New Testament as well as many other ideas and challenges to Christianity.

Patriciathomas and christian134 are proof against the theory of Intelligent Design. I love green tea in the morning!

Hey shivas good morning....Will wonders never cease I love green tea in the afternoon with a little twist of lemon...:-)

I suggest Stephen Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. Michael Behe is a credible scientist, but huge numbers of scientist have addressed his notions and dismissed them for there fallacious logic. Every single court case has ruled I.D. is not science.

Because, Patricia, there is a scientific basis - proof if you will - to back it up.

Christian134, try the Matcha green tea powder. It has twice the good stuff. Oprah also swears by it.

What does green tea have to do with this letter?

Religion is the belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. Evolution has no supernatural creator or governor, nor has evolution anything to do with the origin or beginning, now I have to admit many atheist revere evolution as an argument to support their atheism. Forget Darwin's theory and read up on the Modern Synthesis and todays perspective on evolution. Why look up something in an 1850 dictionary when you can in an 2008 one. I started studying evolution to demonstrate that it was false, but what I found was truth and reason explaining a biological phenomena. What I find paradoxical is that Christians believe that God created man perfect and that with sin man lost his perfection and changed. A change in traits over time is evolution. We had no disease but God cursed us and now we do-diseases evolved. The link with sickle cell and malaria is strong and an example of evolution. Seems there is plenty of room in the bible for evolution, and if Richard Dawkins is correct and religions evolved as a meme then there is plenty or room for the bible in evolution.

Next, you will be thinking you came from a monkey. But that is not politically correct...or is it? Monkey see monkey do.

Who said man came from a monkey-not a scientist or evolutionary biologist-no that is for the nay sayers who lie. In every court case of I.D. the judge has reprimanded christians for being so dishonest in their efforts. On Wikipedia, christian vandals replace the evolution article with Genesis on a weekly basis-real mature, honest, and a way to win people over to Christ. I think anyone who would use evolution as a stumbling block to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is denying the Holy Spirit and committing a sin. Evolution is not evil, a sin, or an attack on any religion. It is just science and biological science at that. Because I believe in evolution doesn't mean I can no longer go on mission trips, serve the Lord, love the Lord, love mankind. Seek and ye shall find. Well I sought to disprove Christ and I found him, and I set out to disprove evolution and I found it credible science. "Stupid is as stupid does." Forrest Gump

PT, can you please explain your comment "a huge explosion caused all life"? What explosion are you referring to?

Probably the Cambrian explosion.

The origin of life is a scientific mystery. Many believe that life could not have originated here but had to be implanted because early earth was just too inhabitable. However, using the principal of a molecular clock the age of the genetic code is calculated to be the age of the earth itself. That would argue the genetic code predates possible life on earth or at the birth of earth the genetic code was already in the primordial soup. Evolution mostly deals with sexually reproducing organisms, but sex had to evolve. Evolution and evolvability have themselves evolved.

The answer. God created green tea. But then again, that means he created cannibas. This must prove creationism.

What I find remarkable is we are looking for life on Mars. Why would or should we presume there is life on other planets or that it is molded by biological evolution. The existence of life on this planet does't preclude or include life elsewhere. Then there is the notion of "intelligent life" which just opens a huge bag of worms like define intelligent life, etc. I think it takes a huge amount of faith to believe there is life elsewhere and in essence they are spending the taxpayers money on a myth. It is a big universe and while gravity has a theory with universal appeal-biological evolution is not a phenomenon evident in all the universe and it is likely limited to earth.

go see "Expelled". Excellent movie. Notice who gets upset over the movie. Creation without anyone creating is a strong faith.
Can evolution explain why the earth is turning at this moment?

Your high school and college kids need to see "Expelled". See where a belief in evolition can lead. Pay them to go if you have to. It is that important!

I haven't seen Expelled. I hope it is a credible movie and not a bunch of crap like Ken Ham and his ilk. Ham is either intellectually dishonest, dishonest, or incredibly naive. Makes a nice living off of it-despite fellow creationist organizations hounding him for his dishonesty. A belief in evolution is like saying: I believe in vaccinations, and I believe there is disease. It has nothing to do with serving and loving the Lord. Does believing in the theory of gravity mean God doesn't exist? Here is a link to the Wikipedia article with a neutral review-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expelled. It appears Stein maybe either naive or intellectually dishonest too. I would challenge those who link evolution and faith. I also say to secularist who believe in evolution and are now wary of Christianity because of this issue to ignore it and seek God-you will find the face of Christ. It is not a compromise or paradox. I had some science background and evolution was a stumbling block in my faith. I spent a few years reading everything I could get my hands on-starting taking science journals. It touches on so many subjects of biology I can spend the rest of my life reading and exploring. I can't help believe God takes some satisfaction that part of his creation can stand in amazement at the glory of his creation, and we want to know how it works.

Biz, I really wanted to rip you on the law vs. theory deal again but then I read this and gained some knowledge: "In fact, some laws, such as the law of gravity, can also be theories when taken more generally. The law of gravity is expressed as a single mathematical expression and is presumed to be true all over the universe and all through time. Without such an assumption, we can do no science based on gravity's effects. But from the law, we derived Einstein's General Theory of Relativity in which gravity plays a crucial role. The basic law is intact, but the theory expands it to include various and complex situations involving space and time. "

And Biz, you say we have a big universe, when actually the universe is infinite and continuous (and if it's not what's beyond our universe and holding it together, and then what's beyond that, etc. etc.). So if the universe is truly infinite, that would lead one to conclude that there are infinite possibilities that there are the correct conditions for sustainable life on other planets. Also we have to consider that there is the possibility that species can exist under conditions that life as we know it cannot (i.e. sulfur or ammonia based life forms). I think that the odds are too great to discount that there are other life forms in the universe. They probably aren't anything like a human and could just be bacteria, worms, or fish like. Or who knows they could be exactly like us and arguing about God. Wow I sound like a Trekie

Seems to me the whole notion of intelligent design is an affront to God. Limiting God's creation to human logic and design, while clearly the bible states God's ways are not our ways. Why would we preclude God wouldn't create life that is self-perpetuating, self-modeling, and interrelated and dependent.

Why is ID only an issue in the US? The only other places where creationism is taught as science are theocracies.

I didn't say there wasn't the possibility of life on other planets just it would be fallacious logic to assume because there is life on earth there is life elsewhere. Evidence lends Gravity is the same phenomenon all over the universe, where evolution is likely specific to earth. If we discover life elsewhere then we can address did it evolve. It takes faith to believe there is life on other planets as there is little credible evidence or indisputable-non-controversial evidence. I would say the analogy of believing in God with little evidence that is indisputable or non-controversial is appropriate.

You can trust the Bible. It is accurate. It said the earth was round while men thought it was flat. It says your mind causes most sickness and science is slowly figuring that out. It says the earth is young and science is way off on that. I say, cut out the middle man and waiting for science to catch up with the Word. Believe the Word and be smart now. He who screams and gets upset always has the less confidence in what he is saying. God loved us and inspired men to write a Bible so that we could understand this world. He made things so simple you have to hire help to get confused.

The bible states the earth is round but ironically when the scientific discovery was made the Church was its strongest opponent. God says to seek and ye shall find, numerous colleges and universities were founded by religious organizations. Knowledge is not evil least God is evil. Man's sin was not attaining knowledge but defiance of God. The bible does not state the earth is young. Theologians and bible scholars don't agree and generally the belief is there isn't enough info to create such a timeline. Least that is what my Ryrie Study bible says. The bible is the inspired and revealed Word of God. It clearly states no one will understand the bible without God's allowance-the Holy Spirit reveals the Word. That is why secularist don't get it, and why we grow in Christ because it ain't all revealed at once. You don't read the bible once and say I'm done. It is not War and Peace.

Thanks shivas I like trying out new tea flavors....:-)

I say one is not mutually exclusive of the other. We can prove evolution occurs. We have fossils, bones and carbon dating that tell us what happened millions of years ago. It has also been proven that Jesus was real. There really was a Jesus. But it can't be proven he was the son of God...that's hearsay and rumor...Faith. Why can't a person of faith also believe in Evolution? Why are some Christians so vehement about evolutionary science being a fraudulent theory? Why are they so vehement about Christians being the only ones who get into heaven? Why would God ban billions of faithful people from heaven because they call Him by a different name? Does God only speak English? Aren't Muhammad, Abraham, Isaiah and the rest all prophets of God just like Jesus was? Why have people made religion so divisive? "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)