10/16/2005

A MATTER OF LIES AFFECTING THE WORLD

In a discussion recently with a fellow on the jobsite, the subject of evolution came up. Once it did, I shut my mouth for a while, and listened intently as this very intelligent man proceeded to tell me everything I already knew about the theory of evolution and the “big bang”. You know the big bang, that’s where everything you see, over billions and billions of years, all originated from the spectacle of a single primeval atom exploding in “space”. “Space”? How could that be, my mind used to ask, if there was nothing before this atom, how could there have been a “space” for it to explode within?

My friend expounded upon the theory, one which I am very familiar with, as I had a chance to study it in high school, and as an elective in college (briefly, but that’s another story), and further studies beyond college, so convinced was I of evolution’s credibility. As I listened, my mind raced around to the reasons I used to believe in evolution, and raced back again to the reasons I no longer do. I listened for quite a while, giving my friend a chance to speak his heart. I truly did not want to destroy what he had faith in.

But a curious thing happened; he began to tell me why whites were superior, why women were weaker, and why it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that the theory of natural selection (which has been scientifically disproven too many times to count) was the only thing worth believing in; to him, it explained everything (and what it could not explain, my mind theorized, it could make up, thereby explaining “everything”).

At this point, I began feeling my skin crawl. It was the same as it had always been, evolution did not prove anything, except to me, it proved that those who believed so strongly in it sooner or later became very racial, and very chauvinistic. I wanted to end the conversation; I didn’t want to talk about this topic any longer. I also did not want to fall for the trap; that trap in which I begin to teach this man that everything about his “theory” is based on a lie. I didn’t want to destroy what he believed, but I also did not want to attack his moral view on the stance of the human race. Simply put, I wanted to walk away.

But he wouldn’t let me. He kept on, proceeding into the obvious, that the natural selection of men would mean that all races non-white would become extinct, as it was obvious to him, and anyone with half a brain, that whites dominated the world economically and politically exactly because they were the stronger. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I opened my mouth to speak, and before I could, He interrupted me, and said, “I already know what you are going to say, Tom, because I know you believe that the creation story in the bible is true. As far as I am concerned, I respect you, but your views are poppycock, and you ought to listen to reason, and not throw away good science trying to protect your God.”

I didn’t expect that. Here’s my answer.

“When I ever see good science again, I’ll stop trying to defend my view, but until then, so long as most of what we see in the scientific community is fairy tales and suppositions, I’ll open my mouth to give my opinion, because really, that’s all you just did; give me your opinion. Show me your scientific evidence.”

He then went into the theory again, acting as if I must not have heard him for the first twenty-five minutes he spoke. I headed him off at the pass, though, and said, “I said, show me your scientific evidence, I’ve already heard the fairy tale, believed in it when I was a child, and dismissed it as nonsense because there is absolutely no evidence anywhere in this world that what you just said is truth.”

My friend looked thunderstruck. I do believe no one has ever asked him for scientific evidence, so when I asked him, I think he believed that scientific evidence meant replaying a theory he had heard in school somewhere. I felt sad, for him, for me, for the world. What has happened to science? Why, when I asked my friend for scientific evidence, did he start telling me a story? Did he even realize that he was doing so?

As gently as I could, I apologized for my rudeness, and told him that I had believed in evolution for a long time, but as I studied it, I began to see that science had left the room when evolution had walked in. I searched everywhere for scientific data on the theory of evolution. All I found was circular arguments, and suppositions. To date, I have not found even one piece of evidence that was scientifically gathered in the field or in the laboratory that proves that even a shred of the “theory” is true. Honestly, it takes less faith for me to believe in the creation story than it does in evolution, for good reason. A God who loves can certainly do what is written in the bible. But nothing that feels nothing and knows nothing could ever create the order that we see amongst us.

My friend and I discuss things often; politics, love, children, work, and I can see that his belief in evolution affects nearly everything he knows, just as my belief in Jesus affects nearly everything I know.

We are friends, but we are on opposite sides of the aisle when it comes to what drives what in this world. How have we come to this? When I think of evolution, I think of LaMarck and Darwin, Freud and Hitler, even Stalin to an extent, certainly Lenin and Marx. I see the devaluation of life, as if life is random, unordered, and unworthy of love, hope, and protection. When I think of evolution, of randomness and natural selection, I think of the ludicrous idea that such a contradiction could even be thought to be true. Here’s my point, if all this is random, if everything we see is random, how does the theory of natural selection fit into randomness? The strongest survive? That’s not random, that’s design, even when evolution isn’t true, “selection” is design.

Do you see the trouble with these theories? There is no science behind them, and what our children are being taught is that people don’t matter, only randomness matters. They are being taught that the strongest survive. Can you see this theory being lived out? We better open our eyes; it is being lived out, right now, right here, in America.

Individualism is the bastard child of evolution. And sooner or later, whether it be random or not, so long as evolution is taught as fact, people will hate each other, devalue each other, and step on each other, because they have the power to prove they are the strongest, and we all know, only the strong survive. Yet even that “fact” is disproven day by day not only in our civilizations, but in the jungle of Africa. When the draught comes, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, no rain means no water, and no water means death, and death is not random, it selects everybody, no one escapes.

How have we come to the point where life means so little? How can a man who I consider to be a friend become so blind that he would consider other races inferior?

This is not the last time I will write about evolution and it’s affects on our world. I think there are many untruths floating around on this planet of ours, and they affect us, whether we know it or not. One simple fairy tale has proven this, the fairy tale of evolution, of which to date, there isn’t even one shred of scientific evidence to support it.

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