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KoltirasRip — EvolutionChart
Published: 2012-06-25 00:36:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 5347; Favourites: 138; Downloads: 49
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EDIT: Apparently hyenas aren't dogs. This blows my mind *laughs* Anywho, the point was that mutts would look like them in the sense that a common dog resembles all of its peers, like wolves, African Wild Dogs and Dingos do, if left to their own devices...so since Hyenas are morphologically similar to canines, the point is still valid.OKAY...COMMENTS CLOSED NOW. It's been an hour since I made my last reply to the last comment sent to me, and I haven't gotten another response...so I'm gonna go ahead and close this thing. Please be aware that there are only like...3 people total that ended up getting banned because of their arguments, and it was certainly not because of their beliefs. It was their manner. I've said it before and I'll say it again...believe whatever you want, but don't shove your faith down someone else's throat like it's fact. Faith and fact are not the same, and no matter how hard you think something is true, believing it won't make it so. Until you can find proof for your claims, they are little more than empty, soulless promises. So I close by saying "I respect the believer, but not the beliefs, and I can't, so long as a large chunk of those beliefs brainwash people into hating, discriminating, and devaluing other people who never once had the choice of being born into your favored place in existence."
UPDATE: Just a fair warning...I'm gonna close comments on this thing pretty soon cuz I'm spending far too much time reading and responding, and I'm not getting any work done. It's been awesome talking with some of you guys (frustrating as shit with others of you,) but I gotta finish my costume for Otakon XD
At the risk of pissing off a lot of people, I'm gonna post this. Normally I keep my views about this to myself but there's been a lot of Creationist stuff going around lately and my forehead is raw from the face-palming and head-desking I've been doing.
If you believe in God, that's cool, I'm not trying to tell you not to. However, your religious leaders are going out of their way to impose upon ALL PEOPLE their twisted views of how the universe came into being, and the morality rules of some Bronze Age goat-herders who believed lightning was God's wrath, and children could be sold into slavery. It is both detrimental and absurd.
So...yeah. Don't hate. Educate. Learn. Never take ONE source as the truth. There's a reason your school teachers and college professors REQUIRE you to cite several credible sources when you do research assignments. If you only use one source, and that source ends up being wrong or an outright lie, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble.
And no, the Bible doesn't count as multiple sources because it was written by multiple people. It has been heavily altered, mistranslated, changed, mistranslated again, applied falsely, and most of it, even before then, was heavily self-contradictory... The Sunni and Shia Muslims are killing each other because of a difference in translation of the Koran. The entire Protestant Bible is a heavily edited version of the Old Testament because King Henry VIII wanted a divorce that the Pope wouldn't give him. The Old Testament itself is a fucked up amalgamation of DOZENS of religions and pagan beliefs that predated it.
After all, if Emperor Nero had chosen Mithra-ism as the State Religion, everyone in America would believe in Mithra. I would still be an Atheist. The very reason you find all other religions on earth to be false is exactly why I know Christianity is. It's all a lie, perpetuated by superstition and the inferiority-complex of long-dead men who wanted to control even more inferior men (and women.) Sorry.
I'm hoping any comments added to this are civil. I feel, however, that many people will see this as an attack on their faith. To me, it's no different than telling a child that Santa Claus isn't real. The only difference is that God is the Santa Claus of adults and it's frightening that many are trying to dictate how others live their lives because of their 'faith.' Faith is not a virtue. It's a cancer.
EDIT: Really quick...if I don't respond to you, there's probably 2 reasons. 1, You're agreeing with me, or 2, I think you're too stupid to breathe. If I don't reply to your nonsense, it's not because I think you're right...it's because you can't be reasoned with and I'm not going to try.
YET ANOTHER EDIT: [link] Here's a link to an article that describes how scientists created biological entities in the lab. They weren't insects and you could hardly call if 'living, breathing, motivated life' but RNA is an ancestor to DNA, and we all know what comes after that.
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Comments: 200
Really? They are closer to cats huh? That is odd. o.o And very interesting.
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Evolution has been proven, observed and documented. The only reason people struggle with it is because of religion and a complete lack of scientific understanding.
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Life has been started artificially in a lab. Life does not require god.
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Out of interest, which experiment were you referring to?
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I grew up in a southern baptist background and when I would question evolution, I would always be thrown the God defense. It was only when I was older and had more knowledge that I was able to bring up examples and evidence to my mom of evolution. I'm not bashing the folks who are religious but I just feel that they shouldn't follow everything that they are told with out looking at other reason. If we didn't, we would be with a lot of Ned Flanders or Jim Jones.
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I have a confession. I need to get this excruciating burden off my chest. It is very ironic that you bring up such a matter at this particular moment. I am well aware that I am placing myself in a very vulnerable position and will likely be criticized accordingly. No matter, I shall take my chances. This is very scary for me, if I am to be completely honest with myself. I was a child abuse victim. My father sexually and physically abused me since the age of four. This experience has emotionally retarded me. Even though it has been years since the occurrence, the scares have never, and will likely never fade completely. It is exceedingly difficult for me to form any type of bonds with other human beings. Those I do share one with are a rarity. I have severely lacked the capability of feeling common placed emotions since I was a child, and I still struggle with this to this day. I actually wish I had more emotions. I am empty and life in reality has no meaning; it serves no purpose. I just exist. Christianity gives me a purpose. What you said IS correct. The Bible has been heavily altered, mistranslated, misused and has contributed to the death of millions throughout the centuries. I am aware of this, and I openly admit it. It is no secret, after all. I was raised in Christianity, so this is no laughing matter. There have been numerous occasions that I have openly admitted my acknowledgment that there might not be a God to myself. I feel as though I am committing the ultimate act of betrayal for admitting this openly in public, however. Despite everything, I cannot bring myself to renounce my loyalty to God, to my faith, to the very thing that has given me some purpose in this world. Perhaps I am a coward, or just plain stupid. I do not know anymore. I just want the emptiness to dissipate. I wish He would make Himself real to me. I am tired, so very tired. So there it is, my confession.
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I'm very sorry to hear that you were abused. You deserve to find peace and if Religion gives that to you, then so be it. Most Atheists and Agnostics (myself included) don't have a problem with someone who believes in God or Religion. It's when they try to force their beliefs down our throats and claim that Evolution never happened because a book and their pastor told them so, that we have a problem. We cannot understand how they can blatantly refuse the facts provided by History, Geology, Fossil records and DNA based on a book that was written by a human thousands of years ago.
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This is kind of going on topic about what this post was for, but that was actually very brave of you to admit to, and don't worry about wondering whether God is real, I'm a christian too (though not a strict in the slightest) and I've wondered about his existance as well. Believe in what you want to believe in and you'll feel better
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I'm sorry you were abused, but commenting on a chart on the facts of evolution isn't going to help you find peace. I'm only posting this because I'm sick of th misunderstandings of science by a large number of hardcore creationists. If religion gives you comfort then that's fine. I'm not trying to tell you it shouldn't. Just don't try to tell me mankind rode on the backs of dinosaurs is all, cuz that's just not true.
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0.0 Mankind did not ride on the backs of dinosaurs? ( I am being sarcastic). Sorry, I could not resist. That last sentence made me smile.
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There is a Creationist Museum that has really expensive exhibits featuring modern man in animal skins living with dinosaurs. It scares me.
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Sorry to barge in like this but......wut? Seriously?? You got a link to that cause I would really like to see/read about it. The fact that people would think that man and dinosaur lived together just..hurts my brainXD
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You can probably find it pretty easily. I'm at work and my phone isn't good at copy/pasting links lol
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Haha, I did just that and found an article already. I may have to look for more later, it's kinda fasinating. I've got something else to do today when I get tired of drawingXD
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I did not know that. I am now scared as well.
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I love this! Thank you for taking the time to create and post it.
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Thankyou very very much for posting this.
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There's hope left in the word :'D
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"EDIT: Really quick...if I don't respond to you, there's probably 2 reasons. 1, You're agreeing with me, or 2, I think you're too stupid to breathe. If I don't reply to your nonsense, it's not because I think you're right...it's because you can't be reasoned with and I'm not going to try."
Aha! Well, I'm going to agree with you, WHILE contradicting you!
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oh non-existent god, the comments.
You have much more patience than I do. I think I started physically face palming around the time someone decided micro and macro are different evolutions - not to mention their misunderstanding of what a theory is.
Applause to you for both this deviation, taking the time to type all this, then replying to the comments.
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This is very well done and hopefully people will finally get their things together.
I mean, c'mon. There's proof! (Archeopteryx!)
But then again, there is one teeny-tiny mistake you made.
You mentioned that canines moving to africa will evolve into something like Wild Dogs or hyenas.
But that is not right. Hyenas aren't even canines.
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I said canines left to their own devices would eventually becomes something that resembles those breeds. Mutts are more like Wild Dogs and Dingos than not.
I take back the Hyena bit. Although, looking it up, they are morphologically LIKE canines so it's an honest mistake.
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Well, I guess that problem is solved
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I believe in God, and I believe in evolution. I'm a rarity, even alongside my peers; and they're always trying to prove me otherwise.
However, I believe that God is the ultimate scientist. He created the rules and the laws that govern this universe, and He follows His own rules. The Bible says God created man out of "the dust of the earth"--that sounds like evolution to me! I believe that God carefully breed and crafted the creatures of His world until He created a body that resembled Himself closely enough to "breathe the breath of life" into--aka: give an animal a "human" soul.
As of today, science can't perform a blood test to accurately test a person's personality. Science can't fully explain why every person thinks the way they do. Science can't find a soul. Not yet, anyway (I think outer space's "Dark Matter" is the stuff of souls--it's the powerful, all-encompassing force that holds everything together and cannot be seen nor measured). But we all have personalities and thoughts; it's what makes us human, and humans are God's special creations. Our souls are His children.
Anyway, this chart is very informative and thought-out. Creationists need to understand the evolution is NOT bio-genesis. If you're faithful, like me, then faith and science work seamlessly together if you understand that God placed life on this planet. But really, trying to argue that evolution NEVER happened is ridiculous.
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"...then faith and science work seamlessly together if you understand that God placed life on this planet..."
The problem there is no one can prove God exists, and life has been synthesized without any divine string-pulling. That's the difference between science the theology. You can believe the moon is made of cheese for all I care, but if you want to try to teach that to kids without any proof (especially when we've been to the moon and can prove to you that it's made of anything BUT cheese), that's where the lines are crossed.
Religious folk in the US are trying to claim, TODAY, that the Lock Ness Monster is both REAL and DISPROVES evolution. The Scotts are laughing at us. Nessie has been proven a hoax for years now, and if it DID exist, there would have to be hundreds and thousands of them in the Loch to support a viable breeding population (which, I can assure you, we would have noticed.) Not to mention, there would have to be fish in the water bigger than large minnows to sustain their health. Neither exist. The Loch is pretty well empty. Fish are small and sparse. The biggest thing you'll find is a sunken log.
So long as there are people out there who want to hold hands and say "evolution is true...but only after God started life!" you're going to have people like me who will tell you to kindly give up your computer, cellphone, medical care & medicine, synthetic-fiber clothing, mass produced food, and generally anything that's come about since people started disproving things the Bible stated were undeniable truths. You can't have both, especially not when God isn't required to create life, and we've proven it.
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I don't think it's so impossible to believe that a divine creator used evolution as a tool to create life here on Earth. There are just too many perfect "rolls of the dice" that happened for humanity to develop for me to honestly believe that we're just some random coincidence.
I used a poor choice of words... >.< What I meant to say is evolution is a tool. People evolved wolves to dogs. Why can't the same thing be done, but on a much grander scale--like a celestial scale!--for, well, everything else?
I believe God oversaw natural processes to place, or create, life on Earth. No one is sure exactly when or how life got started, but it all started as simple, single-cell organisms that, eventually, under the watchful surveillance of a divine creator, evolved into complex lifeforms. And some of those eventually evolved into our common humanoid ancestor, and then into our human bodies we know today. Once the body was set up, the animals and plants set up, and the earth was set up for us to be here, only then, I believe, that God "breathed the breath of life" (aka our souls), into these carefully prepared bodies--bodies that were eons in the making!
I don't think God just opened a can of amoebas and shook it out on the planet for life to start. He used science and natural processes. Science and religion are one and the same--they manifest each other; you can't have one without the other, but I think a lot of people don't see it that way.
You look at life and you see a million different processes that somehow--through luck, survival, and the roll of the dice--managed to become what it is now. Which is completely fine and awesome. I look at life and see no coincidences; there's just no way for things to naturally fall so perfectly in place like that. And that's also completely fine and awesome to believe.
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I'm not sure what you're looking at as being "random rolls of the dice." The universe is an enormous place, and we are made of its most common ingredients. I'd say your 'random rolls' would be more convincing for the notion of a deity or creator if we were Ammonia-based creatures living in a Carbon-based environment. As it stands, we are perfectly molded from the material around us and couldn't survive in any other conditions. Also, to me at least, the fact that our bodies aren't so perfectly 'designed' means we weren't intelligently created at all. Our sex organs are located within inches of the orifices that excrete waste, leading to sometimes chronic bacterial infections in the female urinary system. 1 in 4 pregnancies ends in miscarriage before 8 weeks gestation due to chromosome malformations. DNA can't perfectly replicate itself, and our bodies start to die the instant a sperm and ova begin fusing together. The very processes that allow us to live in the first place can get messed up rather easily. We aren't as strong as some of our terrestrial cousins, our vision is terrible and most of us require some kind of ocular assistance, our teeth grow in crooked most of the time, hearing fades, skin loses its elasticity over the years. We are broken machines in a hostile environment and the only reason we DO exist, in spite of countless other locations and environments in the universe, precisely because it's exactly right for life in THIS form to take place at all.
I mean, your supposed God took 6 days to make everything, but placed us on an insignificant, small rock in the backwoods of a small, insignificant galaxy, which itself is spinning tirelessly around the center of a supermassive black hole and we will all eventually be destroyed by the very forces that enable us to live. If your supposed God exists and created us, he sure put us in a really shitty place, next to a half-dead star that's going to destroy everything on this planet in just a few more billion years. It's going to turn into a red giant, whose size alone will put Earth a spitting distance away from its surface, boiling away all the water and killing everything alive.
If your supposed God exists and created everything and set life on its path, he has left it until this current .0005% of ALL TIME that life has existed on Earth to produce beings capable of wondering about its own place in the universe. 2 BILLION years, most of which, life was no more interesting than yeast. It's only been the last 10,000 years where mankind has left evidence that it 'worshipped' anything, and before that, believed in animist shamanistic sorts of spirits. Monotheism is a relatively new invention, the last 2-3 thousand years or so, and Christianity itself has only existed in the form we see today for about 500 years. So if your supposed God exists, he sure didn't join the party until rather late. To me, that basically proves he's man-made and doesn't literally exist at all. It's just a gap-filling concept, created by people who didn't know anything ABOUT anything, to make themselves feel better and to give them hope that life isn't as meaningless as it really is. The processes of science were happening for trillions of years before anyone even cobbled together the ideas of anything supernatural.
And now that we have, we've manifested this grandiose story about how this mythical thing created the universe, has all the power of reality, watches everything we do and judges us for it, but now, the best he can do is appear on TOAST and be spoken of in hushed whispers like a boogeyman? Religion serves as a tool to serve man, as a means to make folks think there's some kind of meaning to our existence when there is none, to suggest we live forever (which would suck if it were true, cuz after 2-3 hundred years of people-based drama, fuck it, I'd leap off a building)...and the more we learn about our natural world, the less we realize a creator had to put it here for it to exist. Science may not know all the answers right this second, but we know SO much more today than we did when religion was invented, and deities are being relegated to filling in gaps and being told around campfires by people too scared to believe life doesn't require a god to happen. To me, religion worships death, puts people on a path of self-degradation (Islam, for example, has instructions on how to take a crap, it's THAT dogmatic, but there's like a billion people on the planet who all think they will commit a sin if they wipe their ass with their right hand instead of the left.) Life is too wonderful to say it's because of a deity.
To me, the notion of a creator is the greatest insult to the existence of life, because it seeks to claim responsibility for something that will, on its own, come about.
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I can see your point, and I'm glad you shared with me your point of view. You make valid arguments, but really... It's like you're arguing with a wall with me; I'm not going to be convinced that there is no God, and likewise you will not be convinced that there is one.
I like to believe the words of Mufasa: "You are more than what you have become." XDDD No, seriously, I'm one of those people who honestly believe that my existence isn't meaningless. I am of great worth and prestige; I am a daughter of God, and hopefully, one day, if all goes well, I can be like Him one day, at least, that's what I believe. It's just more fun to think that way, y'know?
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"It's just more fun to think that way, y'know?"
Not really...being in love with the idea that you're gonna 'be like God' or 'meet God' means little more to me than the notion that you worship death, because everything you seek to do or achieve will only give you reward after you've bit the dust. It scares me because people like that tend to think their life is basically a meager stepping stone to a concept you can't even prove exists, and you cause more damage to the land in the process because you believe you'll leave it behind for paradise.
Like, all the people who have, several times now, been duped into thinking the Rapture was going to happen? Threw away their life savings, put their pets into shelters, cashed out their kids' college funds and all that? They thought FOR SURE they were gonna get beamed up to the mothership. The only thing about Rapture that atheists find endearing is that, if true, and all the 'worthy Christians' leave, we'll finally be able to do things right on this planet cuz we won't have pointless bigotry, hate and the holding back of science because of primitive and foolish beliefs. I mean...if all the Christians are going to heaven, then awesome, cuz quite frankly, I'd rather share an eternity in Hell with people who think like I do, than a single day surrounded by people who don't. But, it doesn't matter, because I'm a trillion percent sure there is no Heaven, no Hell, and no one waiting for me.
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THANK YOU! I wish more people would realize it's not ONLY just creation vs. evolution. Some people do believe they can both be true, me included. It doesn't always have to be either one's true or the other is.
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I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way!
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Some of these comments are just painful. *cough*IchigoMoonCutter*cough*
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Even though I'm religious (well more spiritual, either way i follow my own beliefs rather than a religious leader) and even being religious i can say the Bible is so contridictory -.- each to there own I guess~
back to the point! Even I understand that this is evolution |: It'd sbsurd when you find people who don't believe in evolution at all |: Especially with things like fossils and such |: It's basically denying history which is ridiculous,
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woha O_O you did all the research ? if you did the *aplouds* you did awesome job !
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Awesome points. I've always known this about you (since the first thing I ever saw you post) that you're studious nd researched and such, and I really respect you for all your knowledge. But... This is one of those things where I can't agree wih you. No, I really do think you have great points, and yes, I might be one of those people who you think are "too stupid to breath", but... We'll just have to agree to disagree on this xD
I might be an optimist, but why can't some parts of religion and evolution be correct? I don't think evolution is false; I know about the drastic change in dog breeds and how people have changed so much (height, size, etc) in just a few hundred years. How could I not acknowledge the existance of evolution? But... I still believe in God and in God's power. To be made "in His image" doesn't mean everyone's supposed to be identical and look the same. It's that odd thing in every human being that makes us act differently than animals. You said it yourself: humans "mate together out of love, not instinct to breed... have the self-interest in mind to NOT breed... choose to breed excessively". Animals seem to be following some plan and agenda humans just don't perceive or have. They breed and adapt to survive, but we have a sense that we don't have to. It's that choice and free will that make us "in God's image" (according to the Christian faith; everything I'm saying is from what I know about the Christian faith -which isn't much, admittably)
I'm not trying to shove my religion down your throat, and I definitely don't want you to think that I'm attacking you for your beliefs. I just figured...you deserved a comment about Christianity that maybe wasn't completely aggressive? I haven't read what kind of comments you've gotten so far, but *shrugs* some people might be giving Christianity a bad name by reacting badly. And I'm sorry if that's the case. I just hope this isn't one of those comments.
I don't expect a reply to this message; I just figured I'd say my own piece
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Why does it have to be because of a god though? I don't understand the religious notion that people can't make up their own minds about their lives without some sort of divine help or reason. It's like the crazy notion that people can't be moral/good/decent unless they have the Bible to tell them what to do. I act like a decent person, help a friend when they're in need and feed my cats every day...but NOT because the Bible told me so. I'm decent and kind because it's the natural thing to do. No one ever had to tell me not to murder someone...it was just kind of normal not to want to do that to someone.
I also choose not to have kids simply because I have better shit to do than change diapers and spend all my time babysitting. I have no desire to ever experience pregnancy and I don't have a boyfriend/partner to get pregnant with anyway. Having a period is a giant pain in the ass and I'm never happier than I am when I have my happy pills that make it go away for long spans of time. Religious institutions want to inflict the animalistic cycles of reproduction on its followers by outlawing contraception (but only the kind women use, conveniently...you'll NEVER see someone lobby to outlaw condoms, or put crazy rules and regulations on vascectomies.) You'd think the notion of being the highest order of creation on this earth, we'd be more than happy to flout our ability to control our own bodies and what we do with them. But no...religious leaders want women popping out babies every time they have sex, and label them as prostitutes for wanting NOT to have babies all the time. I haven't had sex for more than 4 years but that doesn't mean I don't want BC options. It also doesn't mean I'm gonna jump some random stranger's bones just cuz I CAN have sex and not get knocked up.
It's fine if people wanna believe in God or an afterlife or any other thing they want. That's totally cool. But when they try to kill people for suggesting the earth orbits the sun, for saying creatures change over time, for saying illness is caused by microbes rather than the wrath of God, or for suggesting the King or Pope isn't the first in line to God on this world...that's when I have issues. My problem with Creationism lies solely in the fact that there are Creationists out there trying to change SCIENCE COURSES in PUBLIC SCHOOL. Creationism IS NOT SCIENCE. It's THEOLOGY. If someone had EVER suggested making me learn Creationism in Biology I would've flipped my shit. Keep Creationism in the Church, where it started and where it belongs.
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Well, I can't speak for other people, but I know my own reasons for believing in God. I was raised in the Christian faith; I went to a Christian private school from pre-school until graduation. I listened to the Bible and the teachings of there being a God every day of my life, minus weekends. I also recognize conditions in myself that make me hold onto such beliefs even after I've been out of that environment for two years and am faced with words like your chart. I just believe things easily and don't let go easily xD It's a personal affliction that I'm not changing for anybody
But I doubt you wanted to hear my life story. Bottom line about believing in a God (singular, plural, or not at all) is that it's a personal choice that people can only decide for and by themselves. I continue to believe in a single God (heavily influenced by the Christian faith) because I choose to *shrugs*
When it comes to the Bible and needing it to be "decent people, etc", the Bible is really only a rule book (I'm referring only to the 10 Commandments because I really only know the most talked about basics). It's like the laws we follow in the US. Yes, people can be fine without the Bible, but can you deny that life wouldn't be slightly more hectic without national laws, which exist only as deterants? "Don't do this or you're going to jail/receiving some other type of punishment"; isn't that how it basically works? Nonreligious (or following a different religion) people obey these rules so that everything doesn't go to complete chaos. As to not killing people, there's murder and animals kill each other also; so it's not natural to not want to kill each other, but most don't kill each other because the law says don't (and if you do, there's a punishment). Same deal with the Bible, only there're more rules to fine tune behavior. I'll use your example of helping people in need. Bible says to do it, but you don't need the Bible to tell you to. However, the Bible (in one form or another) has existed longer than you have. I'm sure (may be assuming) that at some point in your life, someone has been nice to you and helped you when you were in need; you return the favor to others. Who's to say that those who've helped you weren't influenced by the Bible at some point in their lives, or hadn't heard some if its teachings? Without it (and this is a leap, I understand that) and other considerate acts taught in other religions, it's very plausible that people wouldn't be nearly so kind as they are. It wouldn't seem "natural" to help others without the Bible (or other such things) telling you to.
I don't know much about politics, but aren't most politicians (those who can make the laws about contraceptics) keeping their religion out of it so that athiests will vote for them? I don't think it's religious institutions (though I honestly don't spend much time in them anymore) that're trying to make women permanently pregnant.
The main problem with religion is that people take it too far, right? At least for Christians, we were told to go out and -basically- recruit people to our faith and so many of us start attacking people who believe differently, but what many seem to be forgetting is that we're also told to love people regardless; win others over in kindness, not harshness and obnoxiousness.
I think science is good to teach people; it belongs in schools, and religions really don't need to be a required course. Now, I don't think public institutions should outlaw praying and other religious displays (held by individual students) either. Science is incredible because it's not one single person's direct thoughts; it's objective and doesn't outright attack things that believe differently (such as religions). Religions might though, so I agree, Creationism shouldn't be taught in Biology. But religions can give good influences, too, not just bad ones, so I believe they have their place in society and in people's beliefs (should they wish them).
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Violence and killing is as natural a reaction as being disgusted at a bitter taste in your mouth. However, normal, sane people don't need to be threatened with punishment to deter them from acting on those impulses. I myself long used to joke that if I ever saw my exboyfriend in a parking lot, alone, at night, I'd have a hard time not running him over with my car, cuz killing his ass wouldn't be worth the jailtime. The truth is that, no matter how much I want to see his brains splattered on the pavement for what he did to me, I'm not the kind of person who's psychotic enough to go out of my way to kill him. I'm just as happy knowing I'll never see him again because I left that area of the city and likely won't ever see or hear from him ever again anyway.
Violent thoughts and acting on them are different things, and different people have different thresholds for what they can tolerate. Studies show that psychopaths and serial killers start their demented processes by torturing and killing animals, and working their way up. Normal people don't do that. We don't need to be told we'll go to prison if we do. Senseless killing is disgusting at a basic level. I mean, I love meat, but I'd probably have to take a step back if it meant killing the animal myself, unless I knew the animal was going to die painlessly and instantly. I gotta eat. But I don't have to eat MEAT if it comes from the tortuous death of the creature.
Society generally comes up with these rules and laws because it's harder to maintain order over massive groups of people. Smaller tribes can take care of themselves because if one person does something fundamentally wrong, the whole community feels it, and that person who committed the act is punished accordingly (no dinner, extra chores, whatever.) Acting selfishly is detrimental to the group. That kind of behavior only works for creatures that exist to be solitary. Any creature that's social, that rears its young and mates with (generally) only one partner throughout its life is going to find benefit to acting cordially to other members of the group. That's just psychology...you don't need rules written down to get that.
The Bible may have existed longer than I have but I can assure you, as the sky is blue, that it did NOT NEED to exist for me to behave the way that I do. I could've gone my entire life without ever being told "thou shalt not kill" and I would never kill anyone (at least not maliciously...in self-defense, I would if it came to it, but so far it hasn't been necessary so I'm good.)
You're arrogant as all get out if you think people are only kind to one another on the pretext that they've probably been influenced by the Bible. If anyone ever acted according to the Bible positively, I'd be cringing in the background, waiting for the bears to attack me for making fun of a bald guy, or to be told I can't talk to my friends cuz I'm on my period, or to be stoned to death by my town because I worked on Sunday. For every single, nice thing the Bible MAY have suggested we do...I can guarantee you, there are at least 5 things that are hateful, murderous, senselessly cruel, cynical, spiteful, malicious, degrading, sexist, oppressive, or generally fucking insane things right behind it. Your Bible is a textbook for cruelty and oppression, derision and division. I want absolutely NOTHING to do with it, and I'm always cautious of anyone who takes it too seriously.
People are NATURALLY kind to one another. It's BENEFICIAL to be kind. If someone ever told me, to my face, that the only reason anyone is kind to me is cuz "The Bible told me to" I'd probably kick them in the knee, and tell them "The Bible didn't tell me not to punish you for saying stupid things." (Well, not really, but I'd have a hard time prying my eyebrows off the back of my head from the sheer shock that someone had the balls to tell me something that offensive and untrue.)
It's like in highschool, some twat had the gall to tell me that the only reason I could draw well was because God gave me the talent. It's the only time in my entire life where I've been in a situation where I had to stop and actually convince myself not to smash someone's head against a wall for offending me so badly. I haven't spent my ENTIRE LIFE drawing, working learning, taking classes, observing, screwing up and doing it again, just for some asshole to even SUGGEST that all my efforts were simply 'manifested' in me by some fucking mythical figure in the sky, whose very existence can't even be proven. Fuck her, fuck the horse she rode in on, and fuck her upbringing for convincing her no one is capable of achievement without mystical assistance.
And no, politicians are keeping their religion on the downlow lately because 1, Romney is a Mormon and Mormonism is fucking retarded, and 2, polls show that even religious folks are getting a LITTLE sick and tired of hearing their leaders drone on and on about their faith when "I believe that God will fix the economy" realistically isn't going to happen. Our last President said God told him going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do. Fuck him, fuck the horse he rode in on, and fuck his upbringing for convincing him that the disembodied voice in his head is anything but his own thoughts.
Religion is a mind-game. You're told to go out and preach to the masses and bring people into the fold by giving them the "Good Word" but where does that really get you? It gets you tens of millions of people all believing that the Pope is the one true connection between man and God, and suddenly, anything he says, goes. Tens of millions of people are willing to do absolutely horrific things to anyone who doesn't think like them. Today, thankfully, those people are called radical fundamentalists, and their actions are viewed negatively by the majority of the population. I mean...I see Christians going on missions to Africa to help out, and all I see is them handing out Bibles to the starving kids who can't read and don't give a fuck. I'm sure they'd be more appreciative if they got FOOD. They'll never get any nutrition from gnawing on the petrochemical-based book handed to them.
As for your last point...religion does do good for certain people, I'll agree. That's why I said in my Author's Notes that I wasn't trying to convince anyone to stop believing just because I don't. My problem is when religious leaders, or followers, harass me or try to dictate how or in what way I should live my life, what sex positions are allowed, whether I'm legally allowed to control my menstrual cycle for ANY reason, and then following it all up by suggesting that I'll burn eternally in Hell if I don't gladly accept it. Cuz I'm just a lowly woman and I have no place telling the penises what to do.
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I know this sucks, but I really don't have any further comments xD
You're set in your way, and I wasn't ever trying to make you change, and I have no reason to change my ways.
Oddly enough, your responses made me smile. I'm glad there're people who feel so strongly about what they believe, and who have the ability and drive to research what they don't know. You're highly intelligent, and I'm really glad I've gotten to talk to you.
I am sorry about offending you, though. I over stepped my boundaries, and I should be more conscious of my words. I'll try to learn from this so that someday someone doesn't smash my head into a wall for saying something stupid. It's difficult to figure out people's triggers (or rather, I have a hard time seeing them all the time, especially when all I really know of a person is what they post online) and I'm really sorry that I hit one of your's.
I doubt my apology means crap to you, so before I do anymore damage, I'll let the topic go. It really has been nice talking to you.
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I'm only set in the ways that can be proven. I mean....you could never convince me that limestone tastes like cotton candy, because I know it doesn't. That sort of thing. I can never just 'take it on faith' that something works the way it does. If it's important enough to take seriously, it should be provable. You should be able to provide evidence for something unfailingly and with little difficulty. I shouldn't have to 'see between the lines' or look for the meaning behind poorly translated metaphors to find whatever someone else sees. I've seen so much damage done by adults that are brainwashing little kids...watch "Jesus Camp" if you ever want an example of how religious indoctrination truly scares the crap out of me. It's a documentary that follows these kids around as they attend, literally, a Jesus Camp.
David Edelstein of CBS Sunday Morning, New York, and NPR finds Jesus Camp "a frightening, infuriating, yet profoundly compassionate documentary about the indoctrination of children by the Evangelical right."
Get em while they're young and still think mom and dad and all adults are telling then unabashed truth, before they're old enough to think for themselves or to question the truth about what's being said to them. Scare them so badly into believing they will legitimately suffer in fire and brimstone for ALL ETERNITY for ever questioning anything... Religion, to me, is no better than physical child abuse. But instead of shackling a child in a closet and refusing to give him/her food...you shackle their mind and threaten them with Hellfire if they don't do what they're told. Look at all the poor jacks in Arabia who are blowing themselves up for their religion. It violates everything about a living being's desire to survive. It's psychotic. Religion, time and again, gets people to violate the laws of nature.
I wish people would just go back to being spiritual instead of religious ;_ ; This gigantic corporation of 'faith' is a cancer on this world...
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I remember the day I first discovered that Creationism was still an accepted belief.
I was in 10th grade, in biology class, and the topic we were studying at the time was evolution. At the beginning of the unit, one of the girls in my class (who I knew was very religious) raised her hand and said that she didn't believe in evolution. I just looked at her like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS." Sadly, she was.
Very fun and informative chart you've got up there. Would you mind if I were to save it on my computer for future reference if I ever get into a debate over this sort of thing?
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Nope go right ahead.
I had something similar happen in one of my college biology classes. The student was removed from the course because she told her mother that men and women had the same number of ribs. The mother firmly believed men had to have one less because Adam lost one for Eve to be created. Apparently children inherit the injuries of their parents now, too.
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Thank you for posting this! Hopefully those creationists can actually get a clue and stop trying to deny what is actually the way the world works.
Thanks again!
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It doesn't look like they will. They just keep pestering for "transitional forms" like it wasn't right there on the chart. I think they want me to list the names of every creature that ever existed that lead up to one particular animal alive today? Like, from the first single-celled organisms to the name of a guy alive right now? Not only do I have no time for that, but odds are these twits will ask for the transitional forms that exist between each name on the list. I don't think Creationists can be informed. They have blinders on that are soldered to their heads.
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Exactly. It's beyond me why they think that it is possible to discover and name every single small change that takes place over the MILLIONS of years that evolution needs to occur. It almost is just plain ignorance to put it bluntly.
I guess though even if it is a gradual process (much like evolution) maybe in time some of the creationists can come to accept it. Only time will tell.
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