July 7, 2013

  • Evolution by Intelligent Design

    There is often a heated argument between those who believe in the THEORY of EVOLUTION, the idea that life began as a series of chemical reactions and evolved as mutations which gave an organism an advantage toward survival resulted in new species,  versus the THEORY of INTELLIGENT DESIGN, the idea that a Supreme or Divine Being, or more than one (gods and/or goddesses) created Earth and all of the creatures upon it, much as they exist today.

    I do not claim to be an expert, but I have studied and pondered both theories, as well as others, and have come to believe the two ideas are not at all incompatible, they are just different ways of explaining how the universe, and life on Earth, developed.  Many scientists believe there MUST be a supreme being behind life, yet they also believe in evolution.

    I ask this:

    What could be more miraculous than for a supreme being  to start a sequence of events that would create a planet, Earth, with just the right physical environment to develop so that it could support life, which would then evolve from simple one-celled plants or animals into the wondrous diversity of life we have here on Earth?

    I am confident that if we continue to explore, we will find even more wonders, on Earth and on other planets.

Comments (33)

  • Without getting into the actual debate, you should know that intelligent design is not a theory in a scientific sense, because it is not falsifiable. Finding a rabbit skeleton in Precambrian fossils would falsify evolution, but can you name a single finding that could possibly disprove ID?For more on this, check out my latest blog.

  • @GodlessLiberal - As some have said, proving something does NOT exist is impossible.  I’m still an agnostic, I just maintain an open mind.  I submit this for your thoughts, and welcome your ideas.

  • @lonelywanderer2 - Right, but by that standard you can’t disprove that unicorns are the reason that grass grows. Which is why that isn’t a theory, it’s conjecture. Precisely BECAUSE intelligent design isn’t falsifiable is exactly why it isn’t science.

  • @GodlessLiberal - Evolution can also not be proven NOT to be true, although I personally believe in it.

  • i agree with GodlessLiberal

  • I think this debate on intelligent design, creationism, evolution and so forth is getting terribly wearing and I wish Xangans would focus on something else.However, I enjoyed your post and I agree with you :)

  • I always thought both theories were compatible. 

  • To be fair, evolution isn’t falsifiable, either. Neither theory is, unless we can go back in time and actually witness the beginning of the world.That’s why I don’t get why people freak out over it so much. If you weren’t there, you don’t know, so why act like it’s the be-all to end-all argument for or against God’s sovereignty or existence?

  • I don’t believe in Evolution, or the Big Bang Theory, or any of that.  It dosen’t make sense.

  • Creation by evolution, is a terrible way to create a planet.  What you are saying, is that an omnipotent creator, or creators. Took millions of years, and several hundreds or thousands or mutations, in order to create a perfectly balanced universe. Why on Earth, would you want to worship a being or beings, that needed to use such an imperfect method? would you reall, honestly, truly, worship a being or beings that weak? Think about the millions of creatures that had to die, because a mutation happened that weakened the gene pool and they had to be cast aside, in the wait for the mutation to happen correctly, so that life could improve one more step.

  • I believe that your conjecture is as valid as any other. I also consider myself agnostic and keep an open mind to all of the possibilities. Anybody who claims to know one way or the other is kidding themselves, unless they are immortal and were there to witness the beginning of the universe.

  • @ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake - Why would you have to worship the creator?? 

  • @ange_lae - Why would you not want to worship a surpreme being that is responsible for your very existience. You appreciate your parents don’t you? buy your mom cards on her birthday. give her gifts because you love her? How much more, should we love someone that not only gave us our life, but the lives of our family, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, forests and mountains, and everything you see around you. It was all made possible by a creator. why would you choose not to worship him?

  • @ProudToBeAChristianFruitcake - Him? Are we speaking about “God” now?I choose to respect and love the world I live in and the nature that surrounds me, but I will not “worship” a god.

  • I’ve always thought it was weird. Evolution describes the how, ID the why.

  • this very topic came up in a discussion earlier this evening during a group study.  I like the title you gave it…Evolution by intelligent design.  I am a Christian by choice but I don’t care how I was created…I’m here…and since I am here what matters is what I put in that line between the two dates on my stone.

  • Whatever the process of creation of this planet, everything around us shouts ‘design’ at us. Why it is perverse for people like Dawkins to tell us that everything sppears designed but it isn’t. That is not scientific thinking based on observation.

  • I don’t see the two theories as being incompatible, either.

  • Can you make a fire without a spark? NO! The Spark that it took to create this “BIG BANG” can be called whatever anyone wants be it GOD or THE CREATOR or EVOLUTION but it still goes without  too much thought that you cant make SOMETHING from NOTHING! We run on what is called Faith, Hope and Mystery as it should be because I think if we really knew the whole story many would give up and say “WHY BOTHER?” If this is all there is so be it do the best you can for yourself and as many others as you can daily so you don’t waste what time you have here. If you can’t find God in the smile of a child or a the beauty of a sunset or the feeling of love then why bother?I am pleased so many consider this topic and discuss it! We will find out sooner or later!Be BlessedPalamar  aka Rev.Christopher

  • I recall seeing a Chrysler commercial some years ago.  There was a drop of water, rippling into a pool of water, and then the newest Chrysler was shown.  The announcer said, “It didn’t happen by chance”.I took this obviously to mean, the automobile was created by intelligent design.  Intelligent design can only be created by an “Intelligence”…  in this case man.  We don’t need FAITH to know that man is intelligent enough to make a car, that will eventually decay into a pile of rust.  In fact, everything man creates will one day erode to nothing, although I can’t prove that at all, I have faith that even plastics will disappear in say, millions of years.

  • my thinking is this:  intelligent design/creationism has no hard evidence of any kind.  there are things which they can say can only be in place because of a creator’s planning, etc, but no evidence.  just things which might be extrapolated to fit the idea of creationism.  still, it is only a theory, but with nothing anyone can set on a table as an exhibit and say, “look at this that we dug up.  see how it proves this?”  creationism is based on, primarily, belief.  creationists, over all, don’t lay all ideas out for equal consideration.  evolution is also a theory, only there is at least a few pieces of evidence that can be laid on a table and can be pointed at, explaining how one thing might progress or evolve into the next.  there is more thinking and less belief involved.  still, it’s only a theory.we are in the infancy of true thinking and science.  we were not there to record what happened when life began and various organisms emerged and died-off.  so, none of us have the slightest idea how it all happened.  we just have some thinking and beliefs.j.

  • Not long ago the smartest minds on earth believed the earth was flat. I believe what we don’t know far exceeds what we do know. Great post.

  • @GodlessLiberal - Actually no, it wouldn’t falsify evolution.

  • Really, there are 1189 chapters in the bible and only 2 or 3 talk about creation. This really isn’t an important issue for religion. There are much more important things.

  • Ah, I certainly love your rhetorical question. I ask the same thing. Why can’t other people? 

  • I don’t believe in either intelligent design or evolution. And I ask those that argue for one or the other, ‘What difference does it make if one is true and the other isn’t?’ Ultimately we are all here right now and we exist. However, it isn’t an argument about origin that people are concerned with, it ultimately comes down to religion being challenged by science, but the evolution vs creationism arena is not the place to disprove religion, and it will just lead to a circular argument since one cannot prove the other false just as one cannot prove itself true. Ultimately just a waste of time to debate so let people believe what they want just like I believe that dragons exist on some planet somewhere in the universe. I might be wrong, but I don’t think so. I’m sure a dragon exists somewhere in this huge universe. Fuck everyone else that disagrees <^>

  • I have often thought about this and came to an idea:  God, or whatever, set certain things in motion, created certain situations, that allowed everything else to happen on auto pilot.But like some one else said, it’s not the end all be all discussion that some people make it out to be.  The world will never agree.

  • I’ll say it again: Yes! My understanding is that God did it, and that’s all I need to know for now! Even the six day creation is possible considering the fact that a day is defined as one rotation of the earth. There are celestial bodies in abundance that rotate so slowly that their rotation is unmeasurable. How can we know that Earth’s first days (a day being defined as one complete rotation of the planet on its axis) didn’t take millions or billions of years? And to a believer, what does it matter? …let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written… Hope all is well with you my friend. Peace.

  • i have always thought the same thing!! thank you for adding to my suspicions about the universe. i knew i wasn’t the only person who believed in the integration of evolution and intelligent design!peace

  • @h4lfawak3 - Glad you enjoyed the post.  I actually found out, in trying to find this post to put it back up, that there is a book with the title “Evolution by Intelligent Design”, which came out somewhere around the same time I posted this, I believe after I posted it, but I am not sure.http://www.evolutionbyintelligentdesign.com/

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