Evolution Essay Research Paper For decades all

Evolution Essay, Research Paper

For decades, all the rhetoric on how man came to be aroused a debate. This has been a constant cause of disagreement between evolutionist and the Catholic Church. Evolutionists believe that modern man’s existence on earth is the result of evolution, while members of the church argue that God created modern man. This thesis aims to resolve the ancient argument of evolution vs. creation by proving that the concepts of evolution and creation can be reconciled. This “reconciliation” is not synonymous to the absolute integration of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the Bible’s Story of Creation. It illustrates how the two basic concepts can be mixed together to counterbalance for each concepts deficiencies and to produce a convincing explanation of man’s existence on earth. It is important to note that the word evolution and creation, as used in this paper, pertain specifically to human evolution and the creation of man respectively.

How did modern man come to be? Did God create him in the same form in which he appears today or did he undertake his present state as a result of evolution? The answers to these questions and to the age-old debate of evolution vs. creation are truly difficult to arrive at and remain unresolved today. Both explanations contain several believable ideas but both are also subject to loopholes, which prevent them from becoming the accepted explanations of modern man’s existence. Each theory explains clearly the specific idea but does not support these ideas with proofs. Therefore they stay as a theory. Science was able to explain and prove many theories; it is rather simple to believe that science could be correct with this theory.

In scientific labs, special scientists were able to create creatures using the deoxyribose nucleic acids from previous existing creatures to form another of its kind. They are even able to clone creatures and possibility the human race. If scientists are able to do this, it is likely that evolution did occurred. Missing facts are needed to complete this search for the answer to the origins of life. Until these facts are found, tested, and proven evolution is rather convincing.

God, a man who no one has ever seen or encountered, is thought of as the creator of mankind. This can be true but the question is how; how was he able to create man? Using what tools and materials? Can it be proved that this figure exists? Most people would agree that these questions can not be answered therefor why should someone believe in this theory of a mysterious magical figure and his creations.

Devout Christians view the First Chapter of the Book of Genesis or the Creation Story as literal history and Revealed Truth. They consequently believe that God created man in his own image and likeness and that man did not evolve. The main reason why people believe the Creation Story is the fact that it appears in the Holy Bible. For them, the Bible is the Word of God—the infallible truth. People also tend to believe that creation occurred because they find it hard to believe that life, with all its complexities, just began on its own and was accidental. They assume that there must have been something or someone behind it and for Christians, this someone is God, the Creator.

The primary basis of creation is the Bible. Believers tend to take the scriptures literally, forgetting that it is actually a literary work, which is more concerned with meaning than the fact. Bible readers must not only look at the obvious meanings of the words, but also at the deeper meaning which they convey. It must also be remembered that people who lived in a different time and environment wrote the Bible. This fact will surely pose a problem in interpreting the Bible since the modern day interpretation of the Scriptures is bound to be considerably different from the actual message, which the writer intended to convey. Even if it is insisted upon that the Bible is the work of God, it has to be considered that the Bible as it is known today is not the original text. It has undergone several translations and has been made into several versions that differ from each other in some ways. This alone is proof that discrepancies exist between the current Bible and the original. If today’s Bibles were exactly the same as the original, differences between versions should not exist. Yet another point for consideration is the lapse between the time that the first man appeared on earth and the time that man learned to write. This lapse was equivalent to several centuries. Thus, it is unlikely, if not impossible, that the writer of the Story of Creation had actually experienced it firsthand.

Evolution may be defined as the process through which all living things have developed from primitive organisms through changes occurring over billions of years. The concept of human evolution revolves around man’s gradual transformation from an ape-like creature to the state in which he appears now. Much of what is known about evolution is based on Charles Darwin. In fact, the modern theory of evolution relies heavily on the Darwinian concept of natural selection. According to this concept, favorable variations occur in nature and these are preserved and multiplied from generation to generation at the expense of the less advantageous ones. Natural selection may occur due to competition; the organism may capitalize on traits that will help it become an effective competitor. This may also be a response to changes in the environment; the organism may adopt certain traits so as to adapt to the environment.