Do you accept Evolution? Why or Why not

[Sorcery]

RockSmith372 said:

Sorcery said:

CrazyHorse said:

Sorcery said:

No, when I look at the world and see everything our world has to offer, I just have a hard time fathoming that the millions of different species of plant life and animal life all derived from evolution. When I look at something as simple as fruit, I know its purpose (using animals to spread its seeds), I just can't envision the point when fruit was first created. For me, it's similar to the chicken and the egg paradox. The way that life on planet earth has specialized in the way it has is unbelievable to me, and the fact that so many evolutionary steps are completely missing doesn't help me change my mind. It's hard to believe in macroevolution when intermediate points haven't been discovered.

 

Another reason I probably don't accept it is my theological background, you can call it willful disbelief if you like. For me, it's easier to believe in Intelligent Design than evolution, even though many aspects of the Theory of Evolution have been proven.

The thing I can't understand with this view point is that you (and others) have a hard time accepting that evolution is true due to its complexity, specialisation and fossil record gaps yet you are willing to accept that a Being for which there is absolutely no empirical evidence and would surely have to be even more complex than that which he created is does exist.

I don't mean to insult your view, I'm just asking a genuine question on what I personally see as very contridicting beliefs.

If you're not a theist and could never be one, then there's no way you can understand. Belief in a higher power doesn't come from empirical evidence, it comes from anecdotal evidence. When I pray, I feel different, I enter an altered state of consciousness, and I feel like there's another universe out there that is so complex I can only wish that I could understand it. It's even easier for me to believe in that since, despite all of our scientific progress, we still understand virtually nothing.

 

You can't apply logic to faith, and you can't expect others to follow your logic when you might not have experienced some things in life the way that they have. I know how I feel about it, and I can't expect any atheist to understand me either, I can only explain as best I can.

 

I should note, that although I do believe in a higher power, I don't necessarily believe it's a single being called "God", or that Christ is our savior, or that beings called Gods or Goddesses even exist. However, I still find it acceptable to pray to whichever God I choose, since it's the only tangible way I can direct my beliefs. I practice Christianity, but I know there's a very real probability that Christianity is completely and utterly wrong.

evolution has nothing to do with the existance of God. It just explains the diversity of life. You can still believe in a supernatural force(aka. God) and evolution. Why is this always the case that it has to be either the world was supernaturally created by a higher power or it is by "chance" without a God and with evolution by natural selection. I don't understand why you can't believe a high power can use natural selection to drive his/her/it's will to creating the diversity in life that exists today?

You can believe that a higher power uses natural selection to create specialization if you want, but I don't. I'm not trying to say I'm right and anyone else is wrong, I'm just giving my opinion and why I have those beliefs. I believe in a higher power and the possibility that Intelligent Design is responsible, and I am apprehensive about believing in evolution because of all the gaps there are.

 

So yeah, I'm open to virtually any possibility, but I choose to believe in a single reality. The only thing I am set on is that there's a higher power/spiritual world/supernatural force/alternate dimension of some sort, all my other beliefs are flimsy and subject to change depending on future research or personal experiences. I'm not the type of theist to say "THIS IS THE ONLY LOGICAL CONCLUSION AND THAT'S THAT!" I'm the type of theist that shrugs, accepts that there's a shitload of knowledge that we're yet oblivious to, and therefore refuses to try and persuade others that my way is the only way (as far as evolution goes). I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that there's a lot that humankind does not yet understand.