I have considered the theory evolution, ...
With all due respect: no, you have not.
Instead, you have been fed a gross misrepresentation and -- to be honest and frank about it -- a pack of lies and deceptions which your "creationist" (in quotes because they also misrepresent believe in divine creation) and been told the lie that that is what evolution is. That this is the case is re-enforced by the rest of your post.
... and to me it just does not seem plausible, even practical.
The reason why that is is:
1. because you have never even learned what evolution is nor how it works, and
2. because the misrepresentation (AKA "lie") you have instead learned was devised to appear to be implausible.
The distorted ignorance this imposes on you has a secondary effect of having you make public statements, such as your OP, which completely discredits you and your position among any who have any knowledge of the subject.
Consider these three other things that appear implausible and how you would view them:
quote:
I have considered the automobile, and to me it just does not seem plausible, even practical. The very idea of transporting oneself down the road riding upon a series of explosions is just plain ridiculous. How could anyone possibly even survive such a "ride"?
quote:
I have considered the airplane, and to me it just does not seem plausible, even practical. The very idea of a huge chunk of metal being able to fly any distance, let alone across the ocean, is just plain ridiculous. It goes against the laws of nature, as anyone can see for themselves by tossing a steel ingot into the air.
quote:
I have considered the metal boat, and to me it just does not seem plausible, even practical. The very idea of a chunk of metal floating on the surface of the water instead of just plummetting to the bottom like a stone (which is even lighter than metal) is just plain ridiculous. It goes against the laws of nature, as anyone can see for themselves by dropping a ball bearing into a glass of water.
"Ridiculous claims!", you say? Of course they are. But this is almost exactly what you and your creationist leaders are doing when they misrepresent evolution as you have done (and as we all know you had learned from your handlers^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H"creationist" teachers).
[in case you are too young and not geek enough, ^H is the back-space character used to delete preceding characters]
Each of those "proofs" against those three things is easily disproven by a modicum of knowledge, including the practical knowledge that they do indeed work. Which is why everybody's response is to point out to you that very same fact about your own ignorant proclamation. Are you beginning to understand the reaction you're getting?
We are trying to point you towards actual information, not the deceptions that "creationism" (formerly known as "creation science", but with every court decision it keeps trying to wrap itself into a different kind of sheep's clothing, the latest I heard of being "intelligent design", but now that's also been exposed as sectarian religious teachings so what's the new name of the deception?) has misled you with.
Let's get one thing straight here. If you want to reject evolution, then fine, that's your choice. But you should at least reject it for good reasons, not for false reasons. And if you want to oppose evolution and present arguments against it, then fine.
Just be truthful in your efforts! And,
make your attacks against evolution itself and not against some phantom boogie-man that you only imagine. That last one may seem self-evident, and yet
generations of creationists have persisted in attacking boogie-men and have refused to go anywhere near
evolution itself. Why? Because they are only ever taught those boogie-men and
never, ever, evolution itself!
What is your goal here? To convince us of the error of our ways? How do you intend to do that with sheer nonsense? To disprove evolution? How do you intend to do that by avoiding evolution and only attacking figments of your imagination? Do you want to be effective in your war against evolution?
Learn everything you can about evolution and forget that strawman misrepresentation that the "creationist" deceivers have taught you.
Here's some scripture to guide you on your way:
quote:
Sun Tzu, Scroll III (Offensive Strategy):
31. Therefore I say: "Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
32. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.
33. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril."
(Sun Tzu The Art of War, translation by Samuel B. Griffith, Oxford University Press, 1963)
Integral, you are ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself. Therefore, you are certain in every battle to be in peril. It is imperative that you act to cure your ignorance.
Here's a thought that I must share with you. Creationists rarely last. They have no evidence to support their position, even though they are told by their leaders that they have mountains of evidence. AOL took down all their webpages, so mine are no longer up. I told the story of attending a massive creationist debate in Long Beach, CA, on 28 September 1985 with a creationist from work. Dr. Henry Morris and Dr. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research, the mightiest of the mighty in the creationist world, against Thwaites and Awbrey, two professors from San Diego State University who had themselves conducted a true "two-model" class in which they gave half the lectures and creationist speakers gave the other half -- they had to discontinue that class due to protests from campus Christian clubs.
Anyway, as my co-worker and I were leaving that debate, he was almost in shock. He just kept muttering, "We have mountains of evidence. Why didn't they present any? They could have blown those evolutionists away. Why didn't they? We have mountains of evidence ... " He had been fed the same deception that you have, that they have vast amounts of evidence FOR creation, and yet they refused to present any of it. The obvious reason for their refusal is that they in fact do
not have any such evidence. Why are they lying to him and to you about that? Because you would never dream to question them?
Now here's the other side of the limited longevity of creationists that you do not want to hear. The dishonest ones will persist, because they can deny all the evidence. But the honest ones become ... evolutionists. Which is to say that they come to realize that evolution is right. Those honest creationists will learn what evolution really is and they will investigate creationist claims and they will learn that "creationism" has been lying to them all along. In several atheist testimonials that I have heard and read, a leitmotif to their loss of faith has been betrayal and having been lied to by their religious leaders. When you come to that point, consider this: your religious leader is only human, not divine, so when it turns out that they've been lying to you, why should you consider that as disproving God? Duh? What is religion? What is dogma? What is theology? Yeah! WTF
is theology, anyway? It is
fallible,
human, interpretation of
God. Duh? Is theology getting it right? Frak not! It's a
fallible human attempt at figuring it out! When a theology gets it wrong (and whenever does it not Duh?!? Theology is a
fallible human endevour!) then why immediately assume that that disproves God? Duh? "Creation science" is a
fallible human theology which is not only fallible,
but also completely and utterly falsified!
Does the complete and utter falsehood of "creation science" "creationism" disprove God? Oh, they teach you that it does, but it doesn't. One of the things that you need to learn is that that is yet another lie that the "creationists" have taught to you.
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