Go away, now, and let the BIG PEOPLE do your thinking for you!

This is from a comment to me:

"When people who actually know something about genetics, or histtory, or paleontology see someone like you leaping to ignorant conclusions and dismissing what those scholars know to be true you do nothing but discredit faith.

Something to think about."
(Spelling not mine)

Ah, yes, we really must let the experts do our thinking for us! Especially people of faith, for if we speak out on any subject other than our faith it makes our faith look bad. Whereas, if we speak out about our faith we are told to please, keep that to yourself, it is personal! Really, the world would be a better place if Christians would just shut up!

I have always made it clear that I do not have a degree in a field involving genetics, or history, or paleontology. In fact, my credentials in those fields are just as impressive as those of Charles Lyell's in the field of geology when he began postulating on Uniformitarianism....*wink*

But I am not trying for a career in any of these fields. I am speaking out as an observer. But whereas I may not have a degree in genetics or history or paleontology, I know fact from fiction. If anyone tells you that macroevolution has been proven to be true, they are a liar! If they say that it has been proven that life evolved from non-life, they are lying. Much of what this commenter proclaims as "truth" are nothing more than hypotheses that are accepted by the majority of scientists in a particular field. Common descent is not proven, but is believed by most, for instance. It is important to make the distinction here. Most scientists believe in common descent, not one of them can prove it.

To go yet again down an oft-traveled road, most thought the earth was flat and we have proof that it is basically, although not perfectly, round. Most thought the sun and planets revolved around the earth whereas we have proof that the planets and the earth revolve around the sun. Early scientists believed that all things were composed of three basic elements. We have since learned that there are far more elements than that, and that elements are composed of atoms and that atoms are composed of multiple smaller particles. Lately the once-thought to be constant speed of light has been shown to not be constant after all.

Scientists must be willing to be wrong. They must be willing to test things, think about things, consider ideas, have open minds in order to advance in knowledge. When I find that people want to simply stifle ideas and silence those who advance them, I don't see them as being on the side of science.

As a thinking individual, I owe it to myself to look for truth as best I may. I don't intend to drift through life, never questioning and never thinking for myself. I suggest many things I cannot prove, but simply present evidence for my position and invite comments on those issues. But when a commenter says something like this, he is really telling me to shut up.

What do you have to fear from the evidence I present and the ideas I offer, the possibilities I suggest? Is your belief in your positions so tenuous as to cause you to fear questioning? The commenter above has presented no credentials that would cause us to believe he knows anything about anything. But evidence speaks for itself. If what I have to say does not ring true to the reader, he has no obligation to believe it or even give it a second thought. If it does cause him to think and investigate for himself then I have done something worthwhile. If anyone out there thinks for one second that I can be shamed into avoiding a subject, they are dead wrong.

I did not start this blog to write about creation and evolution. It is just one of many subjects that fascinate me. But it has become the primary topic on this blog for now and so while it is a hot button topic it will be something I continue to write about.

One more thing - "...what those scholars know to be true..." was referring to scholars with whom I disagree. Since I post the conclusions of scholars with whom I do agree, then the commenter is really saying that I shouldn't post things that are not in accordance with the scholars that agree with him!

Yeah, right!

Now let me get back to the subject of faith...