Question:
Do you believe in Adam and Eve (the Story of Creation in the book of Genesis)?
TheGuru
2006-04-18 03:37:23 UTC
I posted an earlier question on time travel (its still open so 10 points up for grabs) and was intrigued to see an answer where a respondent thought they could travel back in time to see Adam & Eve.

As a Catholic I was taught this story but told it was like a parable (God or at least Jesus seemed to like speaking that way) as man at that time would not be able to understand if God tried to explain what he really did. Imagine trying to explain quantum mechanics or biochemistry to laymen! Or perhaps God wants to keep it a mystery for future revelation the way parents talk about storks with babies when children ask where they came from. So I don't take Genesis literally and am able to reconcile my belief in evolution.

With the science fact of evolution do you still believe in the science fiction of Adam &b Eve?
Twelve answers:
Suttkus
2006-04-18 05:53:31 UTC
Kinda prejudiced in the way you asked, dontcha think? :-)



The story of Adam and Eve is a parable. I don't expect it was meant literally even by the people who wrote it. I feel very sorry for the small-minded people who have to have the story be "true" in order to see any value to it.



Every human on the planet has a gene that, if it worked, would make us as furry as chimpanzees are. It doesn't work, it has a transposon (a type of genetic parasite) stuck in it. Without that transposon, we'd all have to pay a lot more for shampoo every month!



So, the question before the creationists is, wherefore doth we have it? Did God create us with a broken gene, complete with parasite, that we don't even want? Or were Adam and Eve furry? So far, I've only found one creationist willing to accept that Adam and Eve were hirsute people.



There are a thousand arguments like this. To date, creationists flee in terror from all of them, while presenting the same old, tired, long refuted nonsense in support for their cause. They cannot explain the pattern of genetic similarity. They cannot explain how the Great Flood hasn't left the entire surface of the earth salt-infused and sterile. They cannot explain how any species more complicated than a protozoa survived the flood. They've got nothing.



Responding to some of the nothing they have:



Population Growth:



Assuming a constant rate of population growth is simply naive and silly. We *know* the population growth hasn't been constant. Remember the black death? 60% of Europe *died*. That's not growth!



If we apply the same argument to fruit flies, we find that the entire earth is covered in fruit flies in a matter of days. Funny how that hasn't happened. It's almost as if populations do not experience continuous growth because limits are set by the environment!



Another fun fact about the constant population growth argument: If it's true, the Bible LIES! After all, at the time of Exodus, it says more people left Egypt than existed on earth at the time!



So, dump the rather silly population growth argument.



Dinosaurs:



There are NO human fossils found with dinosaur fossils. Not a single one. You're welcome to point out a specific exception. There are three sites showing "human" and dinosaur footprints, but Paluxy is a product of wishful thinking and some faking by townsfolk hoping to get more tourist dollars (they admitted this) and the other two (Tuba City and some site in Russia I don't remember) are just really bad fakes.



Dinosaurs are not lizards. Let a lizard grow forever and it will not turn into anything resembling a dinosaur. This is one of Carl Baugh's silly claims and it causes nothing but ridicule for creationists. Lizards belong to the suborder Laertes. They have sprawling legs. A large lizard has large sprawling legs. Dinosaurs have legs better mounted. Small dinosaurs have smaller legs. Small dinosaurs cannot be mistaken for lizards. (Well, if you're utterly ignorant about biology, I suppose they could.)



(At least Baugh stopped claiming that breathing pure ozone would help you live for hundreds of years, despite the fact that ozone is explosive and poisonous! But since when has a creationist needed to understand a subject before making declarations about it.)



Sea monsters as evidence? Gee, now that's desperate. I'm sure you'll present the physical evidence that dinosaurs were fire-breathing next, right? Sheesh!



Oh, and carbon dating has not been "proven wrong". Not that it matters. There are thousands of different dating systems. Carbon dating, by the way, only works on organic materials: NOT FOSSILS. Dinosaur fossils are NEVER dated by carbon dating. So, you're wrong. Again.



Law of Angular Momentum:



Um... because other collisions happen? I know, stunning!



Really dumb argument.



Historical records 6000 years old:



So? They're 6000 years old on a 4.6 billion year old planet.



Incidentally, isn't it strange how those same 6000 year old cultural records fail to record a global flood 4,500 years ago? In fact, they continue to record their culture without interruption right through the supposed flood! Weird...



No Missing Link:



Creationists maintain that all anthropoid fossils are "obviously" human or "obviously" ape with no possible transitions between them. The funny thing is, those same creationists cannot agree which fossils are "obviously" which. The fact that they cannot agree which fossils are "obviously" human and which are "obviously" ape pretty much demonstrates that they obviously not one or the other at all, but transitions:



http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/compare.html



The fossil record is full of transitions between types. Acanthostega links fish and amphibians. Diadectes links amphibians and reptiles. Diarthognathus links reptiles and mammals. In fact, the transition between reptiles and mammals is so good, they had to arbitrarily draw the line between the groups because WE CAN'T FIND ANY GAP. You'd think, with the fossil record being rather imperfect, there would at least be a little gap, but nope, not there!



Here is a list of hundreds of very much non-missing links:



http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.html



Scientist recognize only one kind of evolution. Creationists invent dozens and pretend they're refering to science. This is called "arguing a straw man" and it is a logical fallacy. But then, illogic and falsehoods are really all they have.
sun of samsa
2006-04-18 04:03:44 UTC
I don't believe it, because I am an atheist. I went to Catechism as a child, and even there we were told that most of what happened in Genesis (Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood, etc.) did not really happen but were, as you said, a parable.



Maybe that's just the way Catholics roll, but after hearing that, how was I supposed to know what to believe from the Bible, if all of it were presented the same way but not all of it was true? I also could not grasp the idea of eternal damnation for honestly -good- atheists. I still can't comprehend it.



To some people, evolution is the answer. To others, it's the Bible. To even others, it's a giant Turtle floating on the water with the world on its back. I just happen to choose evolution.
past_present_subsequent
2006-04-18 04:00:26 UTC
Although evolutionary process is slow, every differentiation into a species is a milestone. Although growth is an important aspect, the bible in the old testament presented the finality of growth. Hence, it was not said that Adam evolved from lightning and methane and nitrogen to the first blue-green eukaryotic alga and so on. It is said that god made wildlife, and that God made man.



In fact, the Creation is very in tune with science. It is some people's current inability to find a missing evolutionary link, and still hastily conclude that science is disproving the Creation that had them started thinking that this is irreconcileable.
anonymous
2006-04-18 04:05:35 UTC
Yes I do, and here are my reasons:



1.The Bible says that Adam was the first man created on the 5th day, then Eve was created. If you study the geneology all the way up to Jesus (knowing Jesus did live 2000 years ago), we can place the beginning at 6000 BC. According to the Bible, the Great Flood of Noah took place 4500 years ago; So at the rate of the increase of the world population, we can presiseley pinpoint all the way back to 6 people living 4500 years ago, which is the family of Noah. Think about it, if the world was 3.5 billion years old, then the population would be about 1.5 trillion, not 6 billion. Another thing about the Flood, cultures around the world have flood myths that date about the same time as the Biblical flood.



2. Dinosars. There are thousands of fossils around the world showing human fossils with dinosaur fossils. The Bible says that dinosaurs and man lived together (in the book of Job). Think about it. Lizards dont have the hormone that stops growth, they grow their entire lives and if the early earth was in such good shape that man was living 900 years, then imagine a 900 year old iguana or komodo dragon. There are tribes in South Africa that have claimed to see "dragons" (look up "Mikele Umbembe")and dont forget the tales and century old stories of sea monsters and dragons. Oh, and forget carbon C14 dating, that was actually proven wrong years ago, but science wont admit it.



3. The law of angular momentum. The 2nd law of thermodynamics states that an object that is spinning, when it breaks apart, the smaller pieces continue spinning in the same direction away from its orgin. The Big Bang originated in a "compact region of mass" that spun until its energy was released and it exploded creating the universe. If the 2nd law of thermodynamics is true, why do we have planets that spin backwards? Or whole galaxies for that matter? There are galaxies that are coliding with each other too.



4. Historical records do not date any earlier than 6000 years, in any measure. Egypt and China are thought to be the oldest civilisations, but none of their records date earlier than 6000 years. Some cultural calenders are no older than 6000 years. If humans have been around for millions of years, we should have a ton more history than 6000 year old records and historical artifacts. And in the past 2000 years the whole world was in agreement that the world was 6000 years old until Darwin came along.



5. Let us not also forget their is no "missing link". There are only ape fossils and human fossils. There are also no transitional forms found in any other species as well.



There are 6 only kinds of evolution:

1.Cosmic: Origin of time, space, and matter. The “Big Bang”.

2.Chemical: Origin of elements from hydrogen.

3.Stellar and Planetary: Origin of stars and planets.

4.Organic: Origin of life.

5.Macro: Changing from on kind to another.

6.Micro: Variations within the kind.



All of them have no support for being true whatsoever except 6. There are only variation within the kind for adaptation and such, but no transition from one kind to another.



Now I cant prove creation any better than someonce can prove evolution, but it is clear when you study all of the facts that there is way more evidence of a created earth than an evolved earth. And science and religion can mix, the basic foundation of scripture is full of science, just read it, and remember, nothing in the Bible has been proven false, ever.
josified
2006-04-18 04:01:34 UTC
No, I saw a Discovery channel episode that investigated the truth of Adam and Eve. The facts that they came up with were enlightening.

Think about it like this, There would have to be a black Adam and Eve. a chineese, and so on and so on. Also one of the strongest evidense that they proved is that if we all origionated from " Adam and Eve" we would all share at least one same chromozone, or gene, and we don't. This was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Obviously man had no knowledge of how we came to be and as always the unexplainable is almost always " The Will of Gad.'
WC
2006-04-18 03:46:13 UTC
The creation of mankind by God is doctrinal.If you are a Catholic, you HAVE to believe this as much as you believe there is a GOD.Man is not perfect, and his reasoning, along with all he thinks he knows is not perfect.Besides, the ability to think and come up with "scientific knowledge" is a gift from God. Without this gift, there wouldn't be any scientific knowledge, technology, or anything for that matter.Suppose one day, you find out that the theory of evolution is for the most part WRONG?
Dutchman
2006-04-18 03:42:52 UTC
No. It is a story made up by people who lived nearly two thousand years ago to explain the workings of the universe and to teach other people a certain morale.



But I guess there are indeed still people to believe the story to be true (as in: it really happened).
London Lady
2006-04-18 04:12:42 UTC
Born a catholic - no I don't . How would that explain all the different blood types and DNAs if there were only two people. romantic as it is.
Cranberry
2006-04-18 03:41:03 UTC
Yes!
Ken
2006-04-18 03:42:22 UTC
No, I'm Buddhist.
?Mr:Question?
2006-04-18 03:40:18 UTC
absolutly



































not
anonymous
2006-04-18 14:05:19 UTC
no myth


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