A Few Other Questions for Theists (those that believe an external God created the Universe):
1. Did Adam and Eve have navels?
1 a. If you claim that evolution describes reality and that
"God infused immortal souls into Adam and Eve -- souls not possessed by
their apelike ancestors" (as Catholics believe), then the "first
humans were reared and sucked by mothers who were soulless beasts".
From the book, "Did Adam and Eve Have Navels, Debunking Pseudoscience"
by Martin Gardner.
2.Why do men have nipples?
3. A question my evangelical Christian Dad asked me on his death bed at 81. "Why are our bodies so complicated? There is something wrong here." Why did God not construct our bodies much simpler, more efficient, and with better design? The greater the complexity the greater the indication that evolution not some God was the source of the design!
4. An example of poor design. The human (or any mammal's) eye is built backwards compared to the squid's eye -- briefly the light sensors in the human are facing away from the light into the head -- the nerves to these sensors must come through the back of the eyeball, to the front and back to attach to the light sensors that are facing backwards -- a poor design. In a squid the sensors face forward into the light with the nerves attached to them from the back -- a reasonable setup. As a result a human has a blind spot where the optic nerve comes through the back of the eye, a human suffers from detached retinas. The squid's nerves are spread to attach to the sensors from the back keeping the retina from becoming detached. Etc.
5. Another example of poor design Each person has over 3 billion DNA Nucleotides in the nucleus of each of the trillions of cells that make up the person. Each cell's nucleus contains the same DNA. In this DNA there are 30 000 to 40 000 genes that may be used to make more than 500 000 proteins (Introns in genes). In a given cell certain genes are turned on, often depending on the conditions around and in the cell.
Most of our DNA consists of long, useless sequences of nucleotides, interspersed between relatively short bursts of protein synthesizing sections. These large meaningless stretches are called "junk DNA". Only about 2 % of the human genome (DNA) contains useful information that directs protein synthesis. Of all species, humans have one of the lowest % of useful DNA. A large waste of resources.
6. What about Intelligent Design?
There have been 6 major extinctions discovered in the geological record.
The most recent major extinction event occurred 65 million years ago. It
wiped out 70% of the species alive at that time. The one before
that, about 280 million years ago, annihilated upwards of 90% of the existing
species at that time. That means that about 3% of species managed to pass
through those narrow gates. If we now add the previous extinctions, it is
obvious that much less than 1% of the species which have existed on Earth have
disappeared forever. We are the accidental result of an enormous number of
events in geological history, and evolutionary history.
So here we have an example of an "intelligent designer" who deliberately destroyed more than 99% of his "models". I can see not the slightest hint of intelligence here. In fact I agree with the great theologian Woody Allen, who said, "If there is a god, he is an underachiever". R. Thomas Myers
7. What about Parasites?
Approximately 80% of all species are parasites that live off other organisms,
usually to the detriment of the host species.
8. What about the dependency on death?
To live, we and many other species must cause multiple others to die. Life
is based on death (and suffering). Life has always been this way.
9. Why is the Universe so violent and hostile to multi-cellular life and intelligent life especially? We see an immense Universe where very, very little would be life supporting -- too much deadly radiation, violently colliding galaxies, essentially nothing like here on earth anywhere in the Universe. It seems such a waste if it is there just as spectacle for man!
Of course we do have the answer to these questions! An external
Creator God does not exist. Darwinian evolution can explain the first 8 questions. The natural evolution of the contents of the universe explains
the 9th.
Science, being non-supernaturalist, can relatively easily explain many
perplexing questions that would bother a theist.
For more information -- Two of the best and most interesting authors explaining evolution
to the general public are Richard
Dawkins and Carl Zimmer -- check them out in your library or bookstore.
"the universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind , pitiless indifference." ... Richard Dawkins