Tech | April 29, 2009 | 13 comments

The Contradictions in Creationism

source: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=contradictions-between-creationists

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DeliaTheArtist
"At the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., I learned that Earth was created in 4004 B.C., about the same time that the Mesopotamians invented beer (“That’s on the secular timeline,” I was told). Dioramas feature children frolicking among vege­tarian dinosaurs, including a Tyrannosaurus rex and Utahraptor, whose daggerlike teeth and claws, it was noted, were used for cracking open coconuts before the Fall. But then the snake tempted Eve, who in turn charmed Adam into tasting the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil—after which dinosaurs became meat eaters, humans became sinners and Noah gathered the animals into the Ark (also rendered in­ a dioramic drama complete with screaming left-behinders on soon-to-be swamped rocks).

I countered by pointing out that Francis Collins, former head of the Human Genome Project, is a born-again evangelical Christian who fully accepts evolution. In his book The Language of God (Free Press, 2007), Collins describes ancient repetitive elements (AREs) in DNA that arise from “jumping genes” that copy and insert themselves in other locations in the genome, usually without any function. When you align sections of human and mouse genomes, the AREs are in the same location. “Unless one is willing to take the position that God has placed these decapitated AREs in these precise positions to confuse and mislead us,” he asserts, “the conclusion of a common ancestor for humans and mice is virtually inescapable.”

Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in Bristol, England, is run by a kindly gentleman named Anthony Bush, who insisted that I not confuse him with those “loony American creationists” who think that Earth is only 6,000 years old. “How old do you think it is?” I queried. “Oh, I’ve worked it out to be around 100,000 years old, with Adam and Eve at around 21,000 years old.” (At an order of magnitude difference that makes Mr. Bush only five zeros shy of reality.)

What about, I pressed on, all the geologic evidence for a much older Earth? All those strata of, say, sandstone—loose sand compressed into solid rock over immense periods? Those strata are laid down every season, like tree rings, Bush explained. Interesting analogy, given that we can see trees growing from year to year, but where can we find sand being annually compressed into stone?"

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There are contradictions even between Creationist movements- what do YOU believe? Are you a creationist? Do you accept evolution? Do you accept evolution but think god created it all? Why do you believe what you believe?
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13 comments // The Contradictions in Creationism

  • GlinT5
    • 0
      GlinT5  

    • Without God there is no purpose to life. We would live and work our whole lives, having children so that they can continue in pointless lives after us. It seems like none of you have honestly searched to find God. Most people assume they know who or what God is just by what they hear from other people. If we want our lives to have a purpose we must actively search for God. If there is no God then we spend our lives no more pointlessly than if we never searched.

    • 2 years ago
  • Billy_Goodreasonnews
    • 0
      Billy_Goodreasonnews  
    • GlinT5:

      I have purpose to my life and I don't need any phony-baloney gods to give me that purpose. I gave my own life purpose.

      Furthermore, to say that without a god character there would be no purpose to life has no impact on the truth value of the claim that any gods are real. It's like saying "If Kermit the Frog isn't a real singing frog than there is no point in imagining that frogs can sing."

    • 2 years ago
  • GlinT5
    • 0
      GlinT5  
    • Billy_Goodreasonnews:

      The whole bible and life is the arguments that God exists. You're never going to hear an argument from anyone on some blog that will seamlessly argue for or against it. I'm just saying that many times people assume that God doesn't exist when they haven't looked with unbiased eyes on what the Bible says. Acts 17:11 says "These (Bereans) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (KJV). Their minds were ready to critically consider the words of the new doctrine, not throw them away because they are different than they were taught.

    • 2 years ago
  • eyedea
  • morirjedi
    • 0
      morirjedi  

    • Well evolution explains everythign except where the big bang came from. Creationism does have qiute a few holes in their ideas. I do believe in evolution but believe in God. So I am in the middle of the argument. A moderate with two sides not willing to come together. Couldn't God have created the big bang allowing evolution to come about? As an educated man I have a problem with the whole Adam and Eve idea. What man would have listened to his woman that many years ago? The Bible in all forms was written by human hands. Multiple human hands. You try passing on a story around your friends and see how much it changes. Faith had its place but common sense has to come into effect sometime.

    • 3 years ago
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  
    • morirjedi:

      Could be. Could be that the Big Bang resulted from divine flatulence. Could be anything. But why would you make any assumptions without evidence?

      God could be anywhere in the equation, but God hardly answers anything, all it does is add an additional step. Might as well eliminate the God factor and wonder about the origin of the universe. All the inclusion of God does is leave you wondering about the origin of God.

    • 3 years ago
  • malathion
    • 0
      malathion  

    • i thanked jesus this morning when i created the mother of all dumps . i said something like "holy f-ing jesus this feels good mofo " . for a bloke like me to thank anyone for anything at all is rare .

    • 3 years ago
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  

    • Thanks for showing lots of sides of the Argument Delia. My quick comment here is that I think it is absolutely foolish to say that evolution does not exist. We can still see it happening. Believe whatever you want, just don't hate science or we'll never get anywhere!

      The sooner people start realizing that the stories in the bible are useful as long as they are not taken literally, we'll be in a better place. That's the least I can hope for. They are stories. Lessons. Nothing more. The unfortunate truth is that even these stories are misinterpreted and used for evil deeds.

    • 3 years ago
  • SoundBigfoot
    • 0
      SoundBigfoot  

    • First let me say the I believe in evolution! But i recently read and article in Discover magazine about Biocentrism. It is a theory that life creates the universe. Not that the universe was set up in just the right way that allowed life to happen, but the consciousness and perception put it all into motion. Go to the link!!

    • 3 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  

    • I believe the Earth was formed by a giant space fish as it was swimming through the ether, eating emptiness and exreting reality. I probably won't believe that tomorrow.

    • 3 years ago
  • eyedea
    • 0
      eyedea  

    • Evolution all the way, who remembers Lucy? The 3.3-million-year-old fossilised remains of a human-like child in Ethiopia. I wonder what the creationists have to say about her...ohh and every other fossil dated beyond 4004 BC and 100,000 years ago. We need to educate the people who are dictating the future of our children and stop the nonsense.

    • 3 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • eyedea
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