Following up on a couple of fairly serious posts on evolution lately, here’s a fun one about genetics.
I first heard about the Fainting Goats last week while I was on vacation. Fainting Goats are a breed of goat that suffers from a hereditary genetic disorder called Myotonia Congenita which causes their muscles to stiffen when startled. They don’t actually faint - they just sort of tip over.
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Mike O | 3 Comments »Similar to last week, I’ll be using articles from www.howstuffworks.com as the basis for this post - in particular, their articles on How Evolution Works, and How Cells Work.
I’m on chapter three of How Evolution Works - DNA and Enzymes.
First, I should mention that I don’t have much trouble believing this aspect of the evolution topic. Why? Because we can see scientifically that this is how things work today. We can see it and reproduce it, and that is enough to satisfy the skeptic in me.
My questions regarding cells and DNA are not whether or not they work the way we think they do (unlike speciation, which we talked about some last week, and can only be assumed). My questions revolve around the origin of cells and DNA, the completeness required for the evolutionary process to work, and the spontaneous start of any of the processes involved.
1) Cell Structure - In their article on How Cells work, they give the parts of an E-Coli bacterium - the Cell wall, cytoplasm, DNA and Flagellum. Assuming a chemical origin to life, how could a chemical reaction produce a cell wall, filled with water, other elements and DNA, with flagellum to propel it? Even if a chemical reaction could produce the parts, I don’t see how it could produce the parts in that form. The flagellum is interesting because a chemical reaction doesn’t need to move - how or why would it develop things that make it move? NOTE - I know the E.Coli may not have come directly from a chemical reaction - but something did. And something was the first thing with a flagellum. So ultimately, for purely natural evolution to work, a chemical reaction produced a flagellum. Read the rest of this news item »
There is a quote that I found a few days ago that pretty well describes, from a Christian perspective, my interest in evolution, and all things atheistic.
“Unthinking faith is a curious offering to be made to the creator of the human mind.” ~John Hutchinson
This post in particular is not about me ‘wondering’ if evolution is true or not, although there is an element of that to my thinking. Rather, I’m taking the approach that there are an aweful lot of people that believe in evolution, and I believe in creationism. How, exactly does evolution work? Other than the fact that I am a Christian and believe in the Bible, what *don’t* I believe about evolution? Am I missing something? Are they?”
So I went out to www.howstuffworks.com and typed in “evolution” just to see if they would have anything. What I found is a sort of “evolution primer” - an “Evolution for Dummies” - of the theory. What I got is actually pretty good! Interestingly, even though it is not a religious site, they are willing to take a look at the holes, and .that leads me to believe they will present evolution from an objective, if not pro-evolution perspective.
My hope is that this will turn into a series where I try to look at the theory of evolution as objectively as I can - given that I’m very skepticaL - and relay my questions and reactions to what I find. Also, since I do invite several Christian friends to read what I write each week, this may be a good opportunity for them to ask questions, too. Again, the goal is not to prove or refute, but to understand what evolution is, and why it makes sense to so many people - and doesn’t make sense to so many others.
A couple of years ago, Eliza posted a series on her experience as an atheist, sitting in on a Lutheran membership class (look at articles titled ‘Class #__”), and relayed her perceptions of what it was like as an outsider. That’s kind of what I want to accomplish here - I want to look at what evolution has to offer, as objectively as possible, and see if it makes any sense. Parts will, I’m sure. And parts won’t, I’m equally sure.
If you click on the link I provided, it will take you to the actual article I will be working from. Please feel free to go look at it, too. I’m hoping that as questions arise - and they will - you will be able to help me through them.
Here endeth the intro :) Read the rest of this news item »