hi everyone,
I was wondering if you could edit or check over my essay for me. I need to add in more sources and intext citation. I just want to make sure that I have argued my positions strongly and back it up with evidence. I want to change the introduction because it is not that good. Could you give me some suggestions or ideas how to improve my essay? It is due this thursday.
The following questions I have to address:
a) What do I personally believe about creation and the primeval history of Earth and life, and how confident am I in this belief?
b) Why do I hold this belief, with the confidence level described?
i) lay out and discuss scientific data and theories in support your position
ii) discuss data and theories in conflict with your position, and show why you choose to take your position in face of this conflict.
c) What difference does this belief make in broader life and thought how I think of and relate to natural world.
Here is the essay: (sorry it is long) (10-12 page essay)
In this class, we have discussed creation and the history of life. As a Christian, I believe that God created the heaven and earth in six days I'm not sure if creation was done in 24 hours because I don't have any prove that this happened. I also uphold theistic evolution that God made natural processes and we should honor and respect. I disagree that a single-celled structures evolved to complex life because life is a random chance and evolution stress the naturalistic descent of living creatures from a common ancestor evolved from inorganic matter. Darwin carried a theory of evolution in crisis in light of advances with specified complexity.
I think that creation in the bible it raises questions about how and why if you use the bible and science or just faith and reason. We can not really tell if creation happened in six days because we were not available in those days and that the book of Genesis are metaphorical and meant to represent much longer periods but that the origin of life on Earth, has created by a deity, perhaps "intelligence" of a power found in the "intelligence design theory." I believe God is the creator and created nature as way for his people to connect, worship but God has power to deliver, judge and it is also said that He has dominion over it. He can control but it is for us as humans to appreciate it.
God created the world for a purpose for man that we would honor it but sometimes we as humans tend to take advantage of it. We tend to think that the book of Genesis describes creation in a way that we are familiar with. I have been in a situation were I had a discussion on the subject on life and creation with Jehovah witnesses which tend not to believe in what seventh day Adventist believe. I strongly tried to defend my faith and say that God created the heaven and earth in six day and gave scripture texts she didn't believe that God created and we went on discuss life and death and where do people go when they die and it was very challenging because I felt that I was put on the spot but I know for a fact that I defended my faith and it caused me to think to search for answers because I felt that people have told me about God but now I have an opportunity to search for answers to have a relationship with God.
I don't think that the Bible and science necessarily have to be together but you can either one or the other but I think you need to uphold your belief if you are Christian which I would say that the Bible might be my source but then I would have to question my interpretation on the accuracy of the creation story because I don't think it is very accurate. Sometimes, I have wondered why, how and when did everything come from? We tend to look at scientists for answers when they believe that science has determined the age of the universe. We don't know how old the universe is but I believe that the earth has got older and older as scientists realize how complex life is. Dealing with creation, I tend to focus that God is the designer and I think that creation made in 24 hours period could not be right because we are not sure if it really happened.
In Darwin's book "origin of Species" he accepted that living species came from other living forms and that each species produce offspring which he uphold his theory of natural selection which was the natural mechanism of change. Other scientists such as Benjamin Silliman, Edward Hitchcock and James Dwight Dine accepted that fossil records progress from simple to complex and that the earth is very old and limited organic development also that Genesis should be interpreted as in fugitive. I believe that no one cannot tell how old the universe is which causes us to search for answers. Others have disagreed that creation and evolution are not compatible. Others theologians tried to harmonize the details of creation saying that the universe was created, fall of sin trigger hydrodynamics and the flood let down and ...
We are familiar with the creation story that scientists believe that the word 'day' was important to God we are not sure what time frame was involved certain words describes the various things that God created from day 1 to day six but he rested on seventh day so that He could rest. Scientists have had an issue with creation when it says that he made animals and God might have had a progress of using animals associated with humans. Evolutionists argue that Homo sapiens come into existence from the same kind. Most scientists believe in evolution that creation is linked to the geologic time scale and others. Some argue that it makes God responsible from the start in his "good" creation for suffering but I don't believe God created creation for suffering but it was created for enjoyment. Others argue that God reveal creation to Moses in one week but it said that he created in six days and that it represents a vast period of time but we do not know how time frame God created the world in. God created creation in the means of showing love and He did it with perfection.
Scientists have changed their opinions on creation and how they think God created the world stating that there are other accounts that God might have left out like for example, evolutionists believe that humans came from other common ancestors. Berney A. Neufeld's book Development of theory of Creation points out that creation is not capricious but is inconsistent in actions and in biological/physical universe mathematical terms. The universe is changing and scientists tend to find new evidence about creation and the history of earth and life. People say that creation happened by chance but who could have made the animals, trees but God because he is awesome. Evolutionists prove that the universe and life moves from chaos to order and simple to complex, opposite of the entropy predicted by the second law of thermodynamics. Evidence shows that the 6000 years of life on Earth-species do not evolve from simple to complex and it doesn't go into any particular order.
How do I know that God created the earth in six days? Christians believe that one is the gap theory, which claims there are billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth" and shortly after that Darwinian evolution takes place. The six days of creation could represent more than an actual day. Albert Einstein's general theory of relative that time is relative and we would have to accept that death came before sin. Nature is contingent and it doesn't have to be what it is. Romans 1:20 says that "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." We don't have to explain creation it is what it is and we don't have define it because God created it. He left the Sabbath so that we could rest and celebrate his creation. Others have gone against this argument that they understand that the day 1 to 3 were split up into three that deals with creation kingdoms and day 4 to 6 deals with creation kings that everything rules over the other. Others disagree that the creation account should not be in 168 hour sequence. Hans Küng: "The six days of creation and the narrative of the creation of man are, as we are well aware today, images which do not describe the scientific course of the origin of the world; they proclaim-and still proclaim to man even today-the splendor and uniqueness of the Creator and the greatness, simplicity, and goodness of His work." Küng, H. (1967). The Church. R. Ockenden, transl. New York: Sheed and Row.
To accept, by faith, the biblical statement "Thy Word is true from the beginning" Psalm 119:60 is a reasonable position, which reasonable people, including scientists, can accept without committing intellectual suicide. Other people believe that the six day period signified long ages but I don't believe this but I don't know when God created the earth since no one knows when.
One assumption is the order of nature there seems an appearance of the order of life forms such as sea-dwelling, land plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals is different from the order in either Genesis account. In the Genesis account, it carries out the order of nature but the trees and plants created on the third day.
Other scientists seem to think that the origin of life does not carry any evidence but I disagree because there have been evidence that in the Miller/Oparin experiment on the origin of life, ammonia, water vapor, methane, nitrogen, and hydrogen were placed in an airtight container that had no oxygen. Scientists have believed that they have been changes in the Earth's atmosphere by natural processes dealing with the flood meaning the flood. I have discovered that there were studies of earthquakes and volcanoes showed the surface of crust is a result of natural transformation. In flood geology, fundamentalists believe God destroyed the world by flood and I disagree that they fail to ignore the possibility of the existence of God and his interactions with the world.
Another assumption is that scientists have found that radiometric dating methods have proved the earth is billion years old. Radiometric dating tends to interpret the past but we are not sure but we know they think the earth is 6000 years old. Evolutionists say that the universe and earth is billion years old but the Bible teaches a young universe and earth. In Dr. Libby's original work, he noted that the atmosphere did not appear to be in equilibrium. This was a troubling idea for Dr. Libby since he believed the world was billions of years old and enough time had passed to achieve equilibrium. Dr. Libby's calculations showed that if the earth started with no 14C in the atmosphere, it would take up to 30,000 years to build up to a steady state (equilibrium).
Ellen G White talks about the evidence and biblical account about the flood linked with creation. Ellen states, "Relics found in the earth do give evidence of conditions differing in many respects from the present, but the time when these conditions existed can be learned only from the Inspired Record." She rejects the naturalism in catastrophism. White notes that during the Flood humans, animals, and trees were "buried, and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should establish faith in inspired history; but . . . the things which God gave them [i.e., to us humans] as a benefit, they turn into a curse by making a wrong use of them." I understand that fossils were buried underneath but when we look at the flood we understand that eight people were saved in the ark. I assume that the other humans, who didn't get saved, drowned and other animals were buried underneath in rocks. Ellen G White rejected the idea that "the world has existed for tens of thousands of years." She accepted the Biblical record that the creation days were seven literal 24-hour periods, believing that the world "is now only about six thousand years old" (Spirit of Prophecy, Vol 7, p. 87.)
The earth could only sustain the world but others have said that it only combines certain compounds like oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen that make up the atmosphere. Scientists have said that radiometric dating is an evidence of estimating the age of the earth. Scientist has talked on the issue of origin of life on earth and state that sediments were deposited about 3.8 million years ago. Others have said that they were 10 million animal species but were mostly microorganism such as bacteria, algae, and protozoans. Genesis 1: 2 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Also in Genesis 2:11, I believe that God guided the natural forces of nature to guide the evolution of each new species in their time. But nobody can determine the precise sequence of the evolution of species because there remain many gaps in the fossil record. Scientists cannot tell if they were other species that appeared before creation.
Do you think that origin of life on Earth was created by deity, perhaps "intelligence" of a power-found in the "intelligent Design" theory? I think that the planet had changed over billion years ago and that new species might develop over time. No one knows how life came about but they have heard of the creation and we know that God made the world from nothing and for example, how organic compounds are assembled into more complex molecular systems and the processes by which complex systems evolve that are critical to life's origins. I want to go back talking about the earth was space and that it was teeming with blue-algae before creation and RNA was the road to life that it made the evolution to DNA and life itself. There is evidence that RNA exist to life based on DNA and protein. Is it true that the fossil record appear in order? I agree that the fossil records are in order from oldest to youngest. The earth is changing over the years and it is said that complex life would not appear before oldest eukaryotic cells. They could have made mistakes because in the fossil records humans are placed at the bottom meaning that we are the youngest creatures to still appear on the planet. I don't believe intelligent design theory but it argues that complexity is proof that the hand of God created organisms. 18th century cleric William Paley holds that the eye has been designed by a creator being.
I disagree that structures of DNA and other processes claim to be irreducible complexity for example, Jawless fish have simpler hemoglobin than do jawed fish, which in turn have simpler hemoglobin than mammals. In humans and other vertebrates, the retina consists not only of photoreceptor cells but also of several types of neurons that begin to analyze the visual image. Through such gradual steps, very different kinds of eyes have evolved, from simple light-sensing organs to highly complex systems for vision. Natural selection can bring together parts of a system for one function at one time and then, at a later time, recombine those parts with other systems of components to produce a system that has a different function. Genes can be duplicated, altered, and then amplified through natural selection. The complex biochemical cascade resulting in blood clotting has been explained in this fashion.
Rock layers deep below the continents and ocean floors that were previously thought to be too poor in nutrients to sustain life, have now been found to support thousands of strains of microorganisms. Types of bacteria have been collected from rock samples almost 2 miles below the surface, at temperatures up to 75 degrees Celsius. These chemo-autotrophic microorganisms derive their nutrients from chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, iron and sulphur. Deep subterranean communities could have evolved underground or originated on the surface and become buried or otherwise transported down into subsurface rock strata, where they have subsequently evolved in isolation. Either way, these appear to be very old communities, and it is possible that these subterranean bacteria may have been responsible for shaping many geological processes during the history of the Earth (e.g., the conversion of minerals from one form to another, and the erosion of rocks) (Fredrickson and Onstott, 1996). I believe that organisms are found until this day that was washed away by the flood that destroyed the world in the book of Genesis.
My Christian belief about nature
1. Fundamental to the Christian understanding of human nature is the belief that the first humans were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26-27 declares: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
2. We should treat the world like it was our home because this is our temporal home. Humans were created perfectly good by the Creator.
Thanks. I would really appreciate your help.
Amanda
I was wondering if you could edit or check over my essay for me. I need to add in more sources and intext citation. I just want to make sure that I have argued my positions strongly and back it up with evidence. I want to change the introduction because it is not that good. Could you give me some suggestions or ideas how to improve my essay? It is due this thursday.
The following questions I have to address:
a) What do I personally believe about creation and the primeval history of Earth and life, and how confident am I in this belief?
b) Why do I hold this belief, with the confidence level described?
i) lay out and discuss scientific data and theories in support your position
ii) discuss data and theories in conflict with your position, and show why you choose to take your position in face of this conflict.
c) What difference does this belief make in broader life and thought how I think of and relate to natural world.
Here is the essay: (sorry it is long) (10-12 page essay)
In this class, we have discussed creation and the history of life. As a Christian, I believe that God created the heaven and earth in six days I'm not sure if creation was done in 24 hours because I don't have any prove that this happened. I also uphold theistic evolution that God made natural processes and we should honor and respect. I disagree that a single-celled structures evolved to complex life because life is a random chance and evolution stress the naturalistic descent of living creatures from a common ancestor evolved from inorganic matter. Darwin carried a theory of evolution in crisis in light of advances with specified complexity.
I think that creation in the bible it raises questions about how and why if you use the bible and science or just faith and reason. We can not really tell if creation happened in six days because we were not available in those days and that the book of Genesis are metaphorical and meant to represent much longer periods but that the origin of life on Earth, has created by a deity, perhaps "intelligence" of a power found in the "intelligence design theory." I believe God is the creator and created nature as way for his people to connect, worship but God has power to deliver, judge and it is also said that He has dominion over it. He can control but it is for us as humans to appreciate it.
God created the world for a purpose for man that we would honor it but sometimes we as humans tend to take advantage of it. We tend to think that the book of Genesis describes creation in a way that we are familiar with. I have been in a situation were I had a discussion on the subject on life and creation with Jehovah witnesses which tend not to believe in what seventh day Adventist believe. I strongly tried to defend my faith and say that God created the heaven and earth in six day and gave scripture texts she didn't believe that God created and we went on discuss life and death and where do people go when they die and it was very challenging because I felt that I was put on the spot but I know for a fact that I defended my faith and it caused me to think to search for answers because I felt that people have told me about God but now I have an opportunity to search for answers to have a relationship with God.
I don't think that the Bible and science necessarily have to be together but you can either one or the other but I think you need to uphold your belief if you are Christian which I would say that the Bible might be my source but then I would have to question my interpretation on the accuracy of the creation story because I don't think it is very accurate. Sometimes, I have wondered why, how and when did everything come from? We tend to look at scientists for answers when they believe that science has determined the age of the universe. We don't know how old the universe is but I believe that the earth has got older and older as scientists realize how complex life is. Dealing with creation, I tend to focus that God is the designer and I think that creation made in 24 hours period could not be right because we are not sure if it really happened.
In Darwin's book "origin of Species" he accepted that living species came from other living forms and that each species produce offspring which he uphold his theory of natural selection which was the natural mechanism of change. Other scientists such as Benjamin Silliman, Edward Hitchcock and James Dwight Dine accepted that fossil records progress from simple to complex and that the earth is very old and limited organic development also that Genesis should be interpreted as in fugitive. I believe that no one cannot tell how old the universe is which causes us to search for answers. Others have disagreed that creation and evolution are not compatible. Others theologians tried to harmonize the details of creation saying that the universe was created, fall of sin trigger hydrodynamics and the flood let down and ...
We are familiar with the creation story that scientists believe that the word 'day' was important to God we are not sure what time frame was involved certain words describes the various things that God created from day 1 to day six but he rested on seventh day so that He could rest. Scientists have had an issue with creation when it says that he made animals and God might have had a progress of using animals associated with humans. Evolutionists argue that Homo sapiens come into existence from the same kind. Most scientists believe in evolution that creation is linked to the geologic time scale and others. Some argue that it makes God responsible from the start in his "good" creation for suffering but I don't believe God created creation for suffering but it was created for enjoyment. Others argue that God reveal creation to Moses in one week but it said that he created in six days and that it represents a vast period of time but we do not know how time frame God created the world in. God created creation in the means of showing love and He did it with perfection.
Scientists have changed their opinions on creation and how they think God created the world stating that there are other accounts that God might have left out like for example, evolutionists believe that humans came from other common ancestors. Berney A. Neufeld's book Development of theory of Creation points out that creation is not capricious but is inconsistent in actions and in biological/physical universe mathematical terms. The universe is changing and scientists tend to find new evidence about creation and the history of earth and life. People say that creation happened by chance but who could have made the animals, trees but God because he is awesome. Evolutionists prove that the universe and life moves from chaos to order and simple to complex, opposite of the entropy predicted by the second law of thermodynamics. Evidence shows that the 6000 years of life on Earth-species do not evolve from simple to complex and it doesn't go into any particular order.
How do I know that God created the earth in six days? Christians believe that one is the gap theory, which claims there are billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth" and shortly after that Darwinian evolution takes place. The six days of creation could represent more than an actual day. Albert Einstein's general theory of relative that time is relative and we would have to accept that death came before sin. Nature is contingent and it doesn't have to be what it is. Romans 1:20 says that "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." We don't have to explain creation it is what it is and we don't have define it because God created it. He left the Sabbath so that we could rest and celebrate his creation. Others have gone against this argument that they understand that the day 1 to 3 were split up into three that deals with creation kingdoms and day 4 to 6 deals with creation kings that everything rules over the other. Others disagree that the creation account should not be in 168 hour sequence. Hans Küng: "The six days of creation and the narrative of the creation of man are, as we are well aware today, images which do not describe the scientific course of the origin of the world; they proclaim-and still proclaim to man even today-the splendor and uniqueness of the Creator and the greatness, simplicity, and goodness of His work." Küng, H. (1967). The Church. R. Ockenden, transl. New York: Sheed and Row.
To accept, by faith, the biblical statement "Thy Word is true from the beginning" Psalm 119:60 is a reasonable position, which reasonable people, including scientists, can accept without committing intellectual suicide. Other people believe that the six day period signified long ages but I don't believe this but I don't know when God created the earth since no one knows when.
One assumption is the order of nature there seems an appearance of the order of life forms such as sea-dwelling, land plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals is different from the order in either Genesis account. In the Genesis account, it carries out the order of nature but the trees and plants created on the third day.
Other scientists seem to think that the origin of life does not carry any evidence but I disagree because there have been evidence that in the Miller/Oparin experiment on the origin of life, ammonia, water vapor, methane, nitrogen, and hydrogen were placed in an airtight container that had no oxygen. Scientists have believed that they have been changes in the Earth's atmosphere by natural processes dealing with the flood meaning the flood. I have discovered that there were studies of earthquakes and volcanoes showed the surface of crust is a result of natural transformation. In flood geology, fundamentalists believe God destroyed the world by flood and I disagree that they fail to ignore the possibility of the existence of God and his interactions with the world.
Another assumption is that scientists have found that radiometric dating methods have proved the earth is billion years old. Radiometric dating tends to interpret the past but we are not sure but we know they think the earth is 6000 years old. Evolutionists say that the universe and earth is billion years old but the Bible teaches a young universe and earth. In Dr. Libby's original work, he noted that the atmosphere did not appear to be in equilibrium. This was a troubling idea for Dr. Libby since he believed the world was billions of years old and enough time had passed to achieve equilibrium. Dr. Libby's calculations showed that if the earth started with no 14C in the atmosphere, it would take up to 30,000 years to build up to a steady state (equilibrium).
Ellen G White talks about the evidence and biblical account about the flood linked with creation. Ellen states, "Relics found in the earth do give evidence of conditions differing in many respects from the present, but the time when these conditions existed can be learned only from the Inspired Record." She rejects the naturalism in catastrophism. White notes that during the Flood humans, animals, and trees were "buried, and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should establish faith in inspired history; but . . . the things which God gave them [i.e., to us humans] as a benefit, they turn into a curse by making a wrong use of them." I understand that fossils were buried underneath but when we look at the flood we understand that eight people were saved in the ark. I assume that the other humans, who didn't get saved, drowned and other animals were buried underneath in rocks. Ellen G White rejected the idea that "the world has existed for tens of thousands of years." She accepted the Biblical record that the creation days were seven literal 24-hour periods, believing that the world "is now only about six thousand years old" (Spirit of Prophecy, Vol 7, p. 87.)
The earth could only sustain the world but others have said that it only combines certain compounds like oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen that make up the atmosphere. Scientists have said that radiometric dating is an evidence of estimating the age of the earth. Scientist has talked on the issue of origin of life on earth and state that sediments were deposited about 3.8 million years ago. Others have said that they were 10 million animal species but were mostly microorganism such as bacteria, algae, and protozoans. Genesis 1: 2 "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Also in Genesis 2:11, I believe that God guided the natural forces of nature to guide the evolution of each new species in their time. But nobody can determine the precise sequence of the evolution of species because there remain many gaps in the fossil record. Scientists cannot tell if they were other species that appeared before creation.
Do you think that origin of life on Earth was created by deity, perhaps "intelligence" of a power-found in the "intelligent Design" theory? I think that the planet had changed over billion years ago and that new species might develop over time. No one knows how life came about but they have heard of the creation and we know that God made the world from nothing and for example, how organic compounds are assembled into more complex molecular systems and the processes by which complex systems evolve that are critical to life's origins. I want to go back talking about the earth was space and that it was teeming with blue-algae before creation and RNA was the road to life that it made the evolution to DNA and life itself. There is evidence that RNA exist to life based on DNA and protein. Is it true that the fossil record appear in order? I agree that the fossil records are in order from oldest to youngest. The earth is changing over the years and it is said that complex life would not appear before oldest eukaryotic cells. They could have made mistakes because in the fossil records humans are placed at the bottom meaning that we are the youngest creatures to still appear on the planet. I don't believe intelligent design theory but it argues that complexity is proof that the hand of God created organisms. 18th century cleric William Paley holds that the eye has been designed by a creator being.
I disagree that structures of DNA and other processes claim to be irreducible complexity for example, Jawless fish have simpler hemoglobin than do jawed fish, which in turn have simpler hemoglobin than mammals. In humans and other vertebrates, the retina consists not only of photoreceptor cells but also of several types of neurons that begin to analyze the visual image. Through such gradual steps, very different kinds of eyes have evolved, from simple light-sensing organs to highly complex systems for vision. Natural selection can bring together parts of a system for one function at one time and then, at a later time, recombine those parts with other systems of components to produce a system that has a different function. Genes can be duplicated, altered, and then amplified through natural selection. The complex biochemical cascade resulting in blood clotting has been explained in this fashion.
Rock layers deep below the continents and ocean floors that were previously thought to be too poor in nutrients to sustain life, have now been found to support thousands of strains of microorganisms. Types of bacteria have been collected from rock samples almost 2 miles below the surface, at temperatures up to 75 degrees Celsius. These chemo-autotrophic microorganisms derive their nutrients from chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, iron and sulphur. Deep subterranean communities could have evolved underground or originated on the surface and become buried or otherwise transported down into subsurface rock strata, where they have subsequently evolved in isolation. Either way, these appear to be very old communities, and it is possible that these subterranean bacteria may have been responsible for shaping many geological processes during the history of the Earth (e.g., the conversion of minerals from one form to another, and the erosion of rocks) (Fredrickson and Onstott, 1996). I believe that organisms are found until this day that was washed away by the flood that destroyed the world in the book of Genesis.
My Christian belief about nature
1. Fundamental to the Christian understanding of human nature is the belief that the first humans were created in the image of God. Genesis 1:26-27 declares: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
2. We should treat the world like it was our home because this is our temporal home. Humans were created perfectly good by the Creator.
Thanks. I would really appreciate your help.
Amanda
