Christian Evolution Myths

This was prompted by an argument over Evolution with a Christian that had obviously been spoon fed every thing he “knew” about Evolution from preachers, and Christian books. At the time I was only able to accurately refute a small number of his “facts”, I have since done research and will now put here, a pretty comprehensive list of the major myths and their rebuttals.

Hitler Was inspired by Darwin and Nietzsche:
It is a fact that the Nazi’s did get some inspiration from Nietzsche, however he never agreed with them, and is noted as being disgusted with their Anti-Semitic trend. His sister was a Nazi, and despite her repeated attempts to recruit him, he never gave the Nazi’s anything but his contempt.
There is no evidence that Darwin was any influence on Hitler. In fact Hitler was a staunch Christian, in so far as he was anything other than a mad man.

The fact here is that while Nietzsche’s writings did inspire Hitler, and Darwin could have, Hitler twisted everything to fit into his notions of reality. Darwin’s theories are specifically about nature directing it’s self, without direction from anything. The Nazi’s preached the opposite, not natural selection, but artificial selection. Even if some of Darwin’s notions did influence Hitler, he perverted those theories to his own purposes.

Humans Evolved from Monkeys:
A pitiable common myth still spread by christians, that apparently slept through science class.
Humans and Monkeys (apes) evolved from common ancestors.
This should not be a hard concept.
To put into an easy to consider format, think of Humans and Monkeys as distant cousins several times removed. We both descend from the same ancestor, but due to the many generations that have passed, one is an albino man from Utah and the other is an Ethiopian with skin so dark you can only see his eyes and teeth at night (silly joke, but I’m making a point).
Okay, now take that concept and extend it by several million years, and take into account the pressures nature puts on us when we have no technology. IE, adapt to nature or it kills you.
One branch of ancestors survived by evolving into us, the other by evolving into monkeys.

It’s only a Theory:
This one has a simple answer. In science a theory is never just guesses. They have very specific criteria one must meet to have a theory accepted.
Taking that a step further, in science even things that have a great deal of evidence, are still often referred to as theories for the simple reason that scientists do not ever make the assumption they are completely right about something.
Taking it another step further I will add that in science an unproven theory is referred to as a hypothesis.

No Intermediate Fossils:
Very wrong. First off Christians that use this one often do so with the notion of bizarre hybrid creatures. Like Kirk Cameron and his Croco-Duck.
Once again there is either a complete lack of understanding of the actual processes involved, or a purposefully turned blind eye to the fossil record.
Like the Monkeys to Humans myth, the misunderstanding is in using two modern animals instead of the modern animals and their ancient ancestor. Further, Christians can’t seem to wrap their brains around the concept of failed species, and the fact that unlike their creationism, evolution is never nice and neat.
To use another example: “reality tv shows” like The Real World. A strange one, but it works.
When a bunch of strangers are thrown into a house together you have no idea how they will interact. Going by their profiles you can guess, but you can never be 100% sure about who will get along, and who will hate each other.
Evolution works along the same principle, throw things in the pot and see what happens. It does not plan things out ahead of time, nature changes, either the animals change with it or they die. So if the weather gets colder for several hundred years, the animals that adapt to best meet the challenge, have evolved, while those that can’t, die.
Further there are plenty of “transitional fossils”. Many Fossils have been found that link reptiles to birds. The Archaeopteryx is a prime example. It has many traits in common with both reptiles, and birds.

Evolution is not testable:
Well the Fossil record does act as the test. Plus there are many examples in nature. However in the sense of a lab test, no it’s not. Not unless someone manages to create a device that can speed up time.
However I will put out a hypothesis of my own. Going back to The Real World example. Watching the way people interact is a mini-test of evolution. Two people can start off hating each other, and end up in bed by the end of a series. There are many similar situations on that, and other shows. Not to mention actual real life.
Further I say that the entire world is the testing lab for evolution, because it can be seen every day. There is not a day that goes by that the living creatures of the world don’t change what they do because of nature. That is the underlying principle of Evolution.

Complex life can not form on it’s own
Well there have been successful tests done that show it is possible, and they were only testing one potential source of the building blocks everything evolved from. There are other hypothesis that have yet to become theories.

Here is some good stuff from an article I found today, that also prompted this article of my own:

Exerts from the Associated Press Article: Before Lucy came Ardi, new earliest hominid found

“It is relatively complete in that it preserves head, hands, feet and some critical parts in between. It represents a genus plausibly ancestral to Australopithecus — itself ancestral to our genus Homo,” said Pilbeam, who was not part of the research teams.”

“In Ardipithecus we have an unspecialized form that hasn’t evolved very far in the direction of Australopithecus. So when you go from head to toe, you’re seeing a mosaic creature that is neither chimpanzee, nor is it human. It is Ardipithecus,” said White.”

“• Paleoanthropologist Gen Suwa of the University of Tokyo reported that Ardi’s face had a projecting muzzle, giving her an ape-like appearance. But it didn’t thrust forward quite as much as the lower faces of modern African apes do. Some features of her skull, such as the ridge above the eye socket, are quite different from those of chimpanzees. The details of the bottom of the skull, where nerves and blood vessels enter the brain, indicate that Ardi’s brain was positioned in a way similar to modern humans, possibly suggesting that the hominid brain may have been already poised to expand areas involving aspects of visual and spatial perception.

• Ardi’s hand and wrist were a mix of primitive traits and a few new ones, but they don’t include the hallmark traits of the modern tree-hanging, knuckle-walking chimps and gorillas. She had relatively short palms and fingers which were flexible, allowing her to support her body weight on her palms while moving along tree branches, but she had to be a careful climber because she lacked the anatomical features that allow modern-day African apes to swing, hang and easily move through the trees.

• The pelvis and hip show the gluteal muscles were positioned so she could walk upright.

• Her feet were rigid enough for walking but still had a grasping big toe for use in climbing.”

Article Sources: I never cite my sources, since it’s so easy to type in a search and find them yourself. If you really want to know you will look for accurate information. If not, you will just pop over to your fav christian dogma site and pull a bunch of garbage off, and past it into comments to “prove” me wrong.
Regardless I look forward to any and all comments, and forum discussions.

Edit: Added:—

Mutation is impossible, therefore Evolution is Impossible:
2 parts to this one.

Another absurdly common myth. One that would easily be shot down by even a minute look at what Evolution is.
To make it nice and neat and to waaaaaay over-simplify it, Evolution has nothing to do with ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (oh to be young again) style mutation. Nor spontaneous transformation from one species to another.
Here’s how it works. Minor adaptations occur due to environmental pressures over time. As these changes become more reinforced through successive breeding they become the norm for one branch of that animal. Additional adaptions further act to separate them until they are no longer able to interbreed. At that point they have become two separate species.
This process of adaption, branching, and eventual separation is Evolution.

Second, Mutations are possible we just call them Birth Defects.

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