THE EVOLUTION OF ME
When I was growing up, I remember seeing a picture similar to this one in my science books; probably as early as third or fourth grade.My teacher taught this theory of evolution, the millions of years, the ape to man, and I believed it.
Why would I question my teacher?
She taught me everything.
(Except reading. My mom taught me that.)Well, this understanding of how we all came to be, stuck with me…for a long time.
I remember one time in the summer after my senior year in high school, a Jehovah Witness guy came to my door in Garland and tried to tell me that this whole evolution thing was wrong…according to the Bible.I knowingly told him that I believed that God could use evolution just as well, because, well, he just could.
Honestly, I never, ever remember questioning this idea…not one time in my life.
Until…a little while after I had my “born again, new life” experience, I began to read the Bible, listen to men teach the Bible, study the lessons of the Bible.
I started to believe the Bible.
I started to think.
To question.
Why do we think man evolved from more primitive forms?
Why do we believe these millions of years, or billions of years?
What about Noah, the flood, the annihilation of mankind except for his family?
Is any of that possible?
Could the world’s population have reached the current levels if it had only had 4000-6000 years to do it?
So many questions.
I no longer believe the picture.
I no longer believe the “science” that says “billions of years ago” or “millions of years ago”.
Strangely, as I have grown, questioned, studied, I have actually held onto the idea of a young earth, without evolution.
I’m not saying I can prove it…but I am challenging anyone to disprove it.
I’ve listened to a lot of arguments over the years, and I have yet to hear one that is convincing.
All the arguments begin with the premise of a 2 to 4 billion year old earth.
Can anyone even conceive of a billion years?
How does one measure that?
I really would like to know.
I would love to hear your take.
My Rainy, Windy Life 
Hi, Randy. There is no reason to start with the billions of years as an assumption. That first has to be demonstrated.
It has been demonstrated. We know it is true not because it makes one worldview fit, but because it has been demonstrated repeatedly.
I’m not a scientist, but I would be happy to refer you to some if you’re curious.
Best of luck, TSA
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The billions of years only works because we can’t conceive of a time passage that great.
Even hundreds of thousands of years in the time of man doesn’t work when you do population growth mathematics.
When I out look at continental drift and extrapolate it over billions of years…well that doesn’t work either.
With distant starlight…we don’t know if the speed of light was always “as slow” as it is now, do we?
With complexity of organisms and the interaction of the organs and the necessity of all to make an organism survive, it is difficult for us to accept this gradual evolutionary process.
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I’m not sure what you mean by “doesn’t work”….
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For example, the rate of continental drift of North America, when taken to two billion years, has the continent jumping over Asia at least four times. Unless of course, all continents drift at the same rate. If you start at the story of Noah, and use a very conservative growth rate and carry it out over 4-6,000 years (it has been a while since I did the figures) it brings you easily to the current population. Sea shells found on mountain tops imply massive flood. Grand canyon wouldn’t have to be millions of years of erosion in…could have been a massive earthquake.
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Oh, okay. You don’t think the math adds up. If I misunderstand that, please correct me, because that’s what I plan to address.
1) Continental drift. Nobody is saying that the continents started spreading the moment the earth was created. They started drifting apart about 200,000 years ago. I did some quick math, and this makes sense.
But here’s the real problem. By your own account, you used continental drift to determine the earth couldn’t be billions of years old. But the same math arrives at somewhere around 200,000 years. This still makes you wrong by a factor of 33. That’s like estimating that a football field is 3 yards long. By YOUR OWN math, I might add. So, I don’t think you really thought this through. I think once you arrived at a number that wasn’t 2 billion, you thought “aha!” and moved on. But I encourage you to examine your own math more closely not just that it seems wrong for the other argument, but that it actually matches your argument.
And I’m not sure why you would expect the continents to have started drifting the moment the world was created anyway. California hasn’t gone anywhere yet. Once it breaks free from the rest of North America, then it will be able to move. But until then, it’s still stuck. Is this not a plausible explanation of what happened when the continents broke up?
2) Population Growth. Again, we use your math and the bible. Current population growth, run it backward, comes to around 4000 years. Okay. Your math seems fine here. Noah supposedly ran aground about then.
Again, let’s examine your answer in more detail.
Using YOUR MATH, when Moses led the Exodus out of Egypt, the entire world population was somewhere around 450. Obviously, this does not work out.
But then again, why would you use current population growth numbers? We have pretty accurate world population numbers going back a few hundred years, and the current population growth is a very new trend- as in the last 100 years or so. For the majority of human history, the population numbers stayed pretty flat because death rates were higher and longevity was much shorter. So you’re trying to extrapolate using numbers that we verifiably know have changed. That is a very odd way of doing things.
3) Sea shells on mountain tops could imply flood. But we also know mountains grow. Mt. Everest grows about 4mm every year. Let’s do the math on this one. At 8847.7 meters, it would take around 22 million years to grow from sea level. So since we know that mountains, and Everest especially, grow, then we don’t need a flood 5 1/2 miles deep if we just let the mountain do what it is already doing. But we do need 22 million years.
So, 5.5 mile deep flood, or 22 million years. Which of these is correct? How do we find out? Evidence.
If the evidence shows the sea shells are only 4000 years old, global flood is supported. If we find the sea shells are many millions of years old, then the mountain just grew.
Also, if you are correct and the flood happened 4000 years ago, then we should also find modern species as well. We should find human, ape, cattle, and other such creatures. Hell, we should find lots of humans on the higher mountains, since they would have certainly headed there as the waters rose.
Is this supported by the evidence? Of course not.
Sorry, I’ve been going back and forth between this reply and other stuff, and realized it’s a bit long. Bottom line, the very math you have provided demonstrate that the earth must at least be millions of years old. So, I don’t think you really thought through the problem completely. I hope I helped with some additional considerations.
TSA
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You’re right about me not thinking it through. I wonder how long mountains have been growing at 4mm/year. I’m sure someone could answer that. And the population of the earth when Moses led Israel out of Egypt…you don’t believe that do you? Jacob’s family was about 70 strong when they went into Egypt. When they left, that population alone was probably between 1.5 and 3 million people. One family. But I probably haven’t thought this through either. Current population figures probably indicate a much lower birth rate per family than would have been necessary for survival in an agrarian system. Especially considering mortality rates. About the humans and animals heading to higher ground, they probably didn’t have that much time. Just a few things to ponder. (I love pondering, don’t you?)
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Hi, Randy. Yes, pondering is fun.
I don’t believe that the exodus ever happened. That is informed by the best archaeologists and the best Jewish archaeologists (who’s religious beliefs hinge on this story) all unanimously agreeing that there is no evidence that it happened. And again, back to the math and using today’s population growth rates, there is only enough time from the flood to exodus to have about 450 people on the whole of earth.
I don’t think that the world’s population of humans would have huddled on the highest mountain all together, because as you said, they only had about 40 days to get there. But many would have. And many modern animals both would have and could have. But that’s just not what the evidence reveals.
All fun stuff! TSA
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Perhaps the humans didn’t believe Noah’s message.
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