Has there ever been anything that made you think twice about evolution's validity?

I am curious as to if there has ever been any kind of evidence or argument that has made you stop and think, "Wow, that is a good point, maybe I should reconsider evolutionary theory." If so, please detail it in this thread. Thanks.

The whole idea of "irreducable complexity" had me totally a creationist for like 2 years.Of course, I was like 14 or something, and much more into physics and cosmology than biology. A professor of biology pointed me to The Blind Watchmaker (after I had stayed after class to confront her) and I was brought back into the fold. The funny thing is, the more I make stuff - be it programming, carpentry, whatever - the more I realize that the kind of design that intelligent designers make is totally, fundamentally different - even inferior - to the kind of "design" you get from the mechanisms of heritable mutation and selection pressure.

I have always been obsessed with biology. When I first learnt about evolution it explained things in a way I had already been thinking. I have often doubted parts of ToE. For example, reinforcement theory. Ironically, my doubt is perpetuated by the proponents! But the fundamentals, no.

Nope, never.To be honest, I cannot think of a time, even as a child, that I believed a god created this world or that Noah's Flood was true. Perhaps I was never taught that either were true, but rather interesting stories/myths on morality. I did go to Catechism for 3 years, but can't seem to remember much at all. My father always bought me science books so a scientific explanation is what I learned.

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I am curious as to if there has ever been any kind of evidence or argument that has made you stop and think, "Wow, that is a good point, maybe I should reconsider evolutionary theory." If so, please detail it in this thread.

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Well, no, nothing I have ever heard or read has ever made me doubt evolution.Nothing has ever made me doubt that the Sun is the center of the solar system, either.Yes, that's how much evidence there is to support evolution, and it's just as unreasonable to think it didn't happen as it is to think that the solar system is not heliocentric.

My doubts are only about the tendency of the New Synthesis to assimilate every new idea or hypothesis. New Darwinism is right, no doubt, but I think there are much more in evolution than that, for example the incorporation of a whole alien genome as in endosymbiosis.

Well, I was raised Christian and pretty fundie at that. I always knew that I was being asked to believe some things that, even at eight years old, I knew were a bit odd. Dinosaurs, for example. We have ample evidence of such beasties, but no mention of them in the Bible. I suppose what finally did it was realizing that there was just too much evidence I'd have to ignore to take the Bible literally.------------------
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I gave some consideration to intelligent design for a while, but didn't see it as conflicting with the theory of evolution.I also abandoned ID a while ago. For instance, I had a root canal a few days ago, and my back has been spasming for about 36 straight hours now. Design? Maybe. Intelligent design? My entire ass.

'always knew that I was being asked to believe some things that, even at eight years old, I knew were a bit odd. Dinosaurs, for example. We have ample evidence of such beasties, but no mention of them in the Bible.'dinosaur is a modern word!230 years before the word "dinosaur" was available!. Using a Strong's Concordance, you will find the Hebrew word "tannin" is used 25 times, and is translated as 'dragon(s),''serpent(s),' 'monster(s)'also there is Leviathan .BEHEMOTH 'most excellent beasts.[This message has been edited by mike the wiz, 07-12-2003]

Yes, but when they are mentioned, they are mentioned as individuals. That is, as unique.There were hundreds and thousands of millions of dinasours. Especially in the region of the middle east and Africa.If indeed they were so common, then why did the people in the Bible seem to regard these 'dragons', as individual, unique, and misterious creatures? They must have seen a brontosaurus everyday on their way to work, woulden't that get old after a while?[This message has been edited by Yaro, 07-12-2003]

getting off topic guys!if dinosaurs are interesting then start or add to another thread, maybe please

I was raised as a Catholic, then had my faith destroyed at the age of 15 because I could not reconcile the Bible with science, and I found it hard to believe in something that was sounding more and more like a work of fiction to me.Since I entered the field of geology and learned about evolution properly, I have never doubted it. It has always, without fail, proved to be the best answer we have.The Rock Hound

Sometimes I have had a twinge. Thinking that the explanations could not account for how things are.Not doubting it happened though, that is obvious. Just wondering about the explanationsThe relatively recent discoveries in genetics are making it much clearer how things work and that is making it more comprehensible.

I have never doubted that evolution happened, but just as a few others have already stated here, I have strong doubts about many reconstructions of evolutionary history. For example, I've followed the evolving history of the reconstruction of the evolution of Homo sapiens, and the most important to thing to note is that minor revisions occur several times a year, and major revisions several times per decade, and all the primary advocates of various scenarios seem to hate each other and not be on speaking terms. Not that knowledge of our evoutionary history isn't progressing. Clearly it is. But each new stage only reveals how naive prior interpretations were, and this seems likely to continue. You'd think the scientists involved would have learned long ago to express themselves with much less certainty, though perhaps the field is just suffering the legacy of the strong personalities involved early on, such as Leakey and Johansson.--Percy

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dinosaur is a modern word!

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Yeah, no kidding! Do you really think I expect a modern English word to appear in a document penned in Hebrew and Greek 2000 to 3000 years ago?But take it elsewhere. This is off-topic and thus out of place here.------------------
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