Well, evolution and the theory of the origin of life are two different things, though often paired together. The theory of evolution just concerns what happens after the first stuff. And evolution has been observed both in the lab and the field, in real-time. It actually only takes a couple generations for some species to diverge.
Anyway, I never understood why the two are mutually exclusive, unless you're talking about a literal interpretation of a specific creation belief, and not just the general idea of intelligent design.
To be honest, learning about the brilliant complexity of minute cell processes, I find it very difficult to believe that all of it arose by selection through chance events. I believe in the natural selection element of evolution, but not necessarily the idea of random, directionless changes that enabled that selection. I think God exists in all that tiny cell machinery. That's actually where my main interest in biology is coming from these days.
"I think God exists in all that tiny cell machinery"
Yes. And it's one of the reasons that I do wish I had the gumption to take a bio class here, because though I find it a lot easier to just ignore Darwin (natural selection seems like it makes much sense, though is it implying that God made a mistake, or just that we're jumping to Ecclesiastes (here-ish: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=3&version=31 ) and that there's a time to live and a time to be naturally-selected-away? No, I don't know if I should be throwing the Bible in here quite so literally... probably not a good idea. Sorry)) I find genetics, mutations, the entire field of cell bio, to be wondrous.
See, if your idea of God is someone who has a plan for the world, who is omniscient and omnipotent, then natural selection makes it seem like He made a mistake, or like He intends for some creatures to fail for some reason. I don't believe in an anthropomorphic God -- to me, God isn't an entity that thinks the way we do, that could have a plan or consciously intend things the way we do, by thinking as a humanoid entity. To me, God isn't omniscient or omnipotent because knowledge and power don't even apply to my idea of God; those are human concepts. To me, God is just a force at work in all things -- more like the idea of a universal consciousness that connects all beings. So that conceptualization doesn't really conflict with natural selection. God isn't planning selection so much as He is selection
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Anyway, I never understood why the two are mutually exclusive, unless you're talking about a literal interpretation of a specific creation belief, and not just the general idea of intelligent design.
To be honest, learning about the brilliant complexity of minute cell processes, I find it very difficult to believe that all of it arose by selection through chance events. I believe in the natural selection element of evolution, but not necessarily the idea of random, directionless changes that enabled that selection. I think God exists in all that tiny cell machinery. That's actually where my main interest in biology is coming from these days.
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Yes. And it's one of the reasons that I do wish I had the gumption to take a bio class here, because though I find it a lot easier to just ignore Darwin (natural selection seems like it makes much sense, though is it implying that God made a mistake, or just that we're jumping to Ecclesiastes (here-ish: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=3&version=31 ) and that there's a time to live and a time to be naturally-selected-away? No, I don't know if I should be throwing the Bible in here quite so literally... probably not a good idea. Sorry)) I find genetics, mutations, the entire field of cell bio, to be wondrous.
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