A very lively and interesting debate here. I believe that firstly we should understand that Darwin wrote what he thought... he had ideas based on observations and then because he could not explain them scientifically he THEORISED on the why and how bit. The THEORY of evolution is just that... it has NEVER to this day been proven. And bear in mind that it has never been DISPROVEN either.
Let me give you an example of how science helps to prove or disprove theories. Many thousands of years ago, people believed that the Sun would rise every day and go down every night. The term 'Sun Rise' is still used today. BUT, science has proven beyond all doubt that the Sun is a STATIONARY star and that it is actually the Earth that spins on its own axis and revolves around the Sun in orbit, which just gives the APPEARANCE that the Sun rises and goes down every day. I hope you guys are still with me? Observations alone, may seem correct, but science will either prove or disprove those observations leading us to what is correct.
Darwin wrote a lot of material about his observations regarding the mutation (or change or evolution) of speices across generations. However, his THEORY that man evolved from apes has never been proven. What is a point worth noting, is that the evolution of one form of spieces from a different form has never been proven across any spieces. He never observed one spieces evolve in to a completely different spieces - he only observed subtle changes or mutations within the spieces. Evolution has always been contained within the spieces which is what lead him to conclude (please pay attention to this one very closely)
"It is not the strongest of the spieces that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change".
The quote above has itself evolved in to
"Survival of the fittest"
...and is falsely attributed to Darwin.
Those of you that state that religion is a matter of faith please consider that science is also a matter of faith. The founding principle or the root of scientific belief regarding the universe is:
"Nothing in the middle of nowhere exploded for no reason"!!!!
Scientifically PROVEN, it is impossible for NOTHING to explode for no reason. So scientists take a 'leap of faith' to believe that on this one parituclar ocassion, in order to start the universe, that it did. Although the BIG BANG has been scientifically proven to have happened, science has no explantion as to the WHY or HOW. It is just a leap of faith to accept that it happened for NO REASON.
Creationists, and or religious people will believe that the Big Bang happened because a 'supreme being' or God commanded the big bang to happen - again, this is neither proven nor disproven.
When people have a habit of writing about their observations and try to pass it off as fact, science has a habit of proving or disproving.
But science is not the be all and end all. Consider...
Q: Why and how does the bumble bee fly?
Please do your own research and see if you can find an answer - then you will understand why i asked the question! This brings together the points i made above - namely observation and science. We KNOW that the bumblebee can fly because we OBSERVE it... but WHY and HOW does it fly. Go ahed, do a search on "BUMBLE BEE FLIGHT".
Atheists - the presence of God or a supreme being has not been proven or disproven. Therefore i would suggest that you have a 'faith' therefore that a God or Supreme Being does not exist?
Good luck everyone and i wish you all the best regardless of what you believe.
Hi everyone
A very lively and interesting debate here. I believe that firstly we should understand that Darwin wrote what he thought... he had ideas based on observations and then because he could not explain them scientifically he THEORISED on the why and how bit. The THEORY of evolution is just that... it has NEVER to this day been proven. And bear in mind that it has never been DISPROVEN either.
Let me give you an example of how science helps to prove or disprove theories. Many thousands of years ago, people believed that the Sun would rise every day and go down every night. The term 'Sun Rise' is still used today. BUT, science has proven beyond all doubt that the Sun is a STATIONARY star and that it is actually the Earth that spins on its own axis and revolves around the Sun in orbit, which just gives the APPEARANCE that the Sun rises and goes down every day. I hope you guys are still with me? Observations alone, may seem correct, but science will either prove or disprove those observations leading us to what is correct.
Darwin wrote a lot of material about his observations regarding the mutation (or change or evolution) of speices across generations. However, his THEORY that man evolved from apes has never been proven. What is a point worth noting, is that the evolution of one form of spieces from a different form has never been proven across any spieces. He never observed one spieces evolve in to a completely different spieces - he only observed subtle changes or mutations within the spieces. Evolution has always been contained within the spieces which is what lead him to conclude (please pay attention to this one very closely)
"It is not the strongest of the spieces that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change".
The quote above has itself evolved in to
"Survival of the fittest"
...and is falsely attributed to Darwin.
Those of you that state that religion is a matter of faith please consider that science is also a matter of faith. The founding principle or the root of scientific belief regarding the universe is:
"Nothing in the middle of nowhere exploded for no reason"!!!!
Scientifically PROVEN, it is impossible for NOTHING to explode for no reason. So scientists take a 'leap of faith' to believe that on this one parituclar ocassion, in order to start the universe, that it did. Although the BIG BANG has been scientifically proven to have happened, science has no explantion as to the WHY or HOW. It is just a leap of faith to accept that it happened for NO REASON.
Creationists, and or religious people will believe that the Big Bang happened because a 'supreme being' or God commanded the big bang to happen - again, this is neither proven nor disproven.
When people have a habit of writing about their observations and try to pass it off as fact, science has a habit of proving or disproving.
But science is not the be all and end all. Consider...
Q: Why and how does the bumble bee fly?
Please do your own research and see if you can find an answer - then you will understand why i asked the question! This brings together the points i made above - namely observation and science. We KNOW that the bumblebee can fly because we OBSERVE it... but WHY and HOW does it fly. Go ahed, do a search on "BUMBLE BEE FLIGHT".
Atheists - the presence of God or a supreme being has not been proven or disproven. Therefore i would suggest that you have a 'faith' therefore that a God or Supreme Being does not exist?
Good luck everyone and i wish you all the best regardless of what you believe.
;-)