The other day, a creationist from Scotland showed me a picture of a Red-bellied turtle and asked if I think (and I quote) "do you think this evolved from nothing?"
My answer to your question if I think the turtle evolved from nothing is this: I absolutely do not.
The
turtle obviously cannot evolve from "nothing" because nothing does not
have the properties of being. Anyone who thinks that a small turtle can
evolve from nothing is ridiculous.
Therefore, it must have been done by magic.
I
think this turtle is the product of the magical incantation of the
great eternal time-transcending Sky Genie. The Sky Genie said "let there
be....a species of orange bellied turtles" and POOF the turtles were
made from nothing, others were brought forth from the Earth. Those who
think that the turtle "evolved" from nothing are decieved by the
mischevious Horned Pixie.
The Sky Genie has many multicolored
faces and forms, but one voice. All concepts and images of gods derive
from him. His Word, the very first and only Word, was and always is. He
has no beginning, middle, or end; his Glory is endless. Everything seen
and unseen is evidence of his glory, it is axiomatic and none are
without excuse. The legions of universe pixies serve him all across the
spreads of existence.
Every plan is made by the Almighty and
all-knowing Sky Genie, but He is so rich in kindness and mercy towards
His devotees that He wants to give eternal credit and immeasurable
reward to those who carry out his will and desires. Be bestowed free
will throughout all creation, and many organisms across the galaxies
have heard his message.
Turn towards the Sky Genie. A pixie in the
form of a man died for you, but was resurrected with magic dust, and he
used his brilliant bright pixie wings and flew back to the heavens.
Turn to him, you will be rewarded, given wings, and go fly around
playing a harp in the clouds for all eternity (billions of people with
crosses on their necks tell kids this story everyday)
....
Yeah,
makes a lot more sense. Can't possibly be a fable. A bunch of people
all across the world have witnessed countless instances of pixies in the
form of humans performing miracles.
Ever read that book by Dan Brown
Angels vs. Demons? be sure to pay attention to the angels at
Castle St. Angelo. What you and everyone else do not realize, the images of angels, which are just MEN WITH WINGS, are actually pixies disguised as humans. The wings are actually their pixie wings so they can fly and look angelic. One
famous pixie told a young teenager she was pregnant, that is a favorite
story everyone talks about around the holidays.
....
C'mon, can you take a joke!?!?
What's so ridiculous of thinking that angels are pixies? Ever seen that movie Alien vs. Predator, where the Native American's worshiped the Predators as gods? If man can mistake an alien for a god, cant these superstitious old people mistaken galactic pixies for angels?
All kidding aside - but the above can seriously be used for a legitimate argument - I do not think anything "evolved" from nothing. As I mentioned earlier, "nothing" do not have any properties of being, and nothing cannot be caused to exist because nothing can not exist. nothing is that which does not exist.
Therefore, I do not think any creature evolved from nothing. Every organism and creature are machines of this planet. They all are made of the elements contained on this planet, that is where I think life came from.
How those elements came into formation to create life is one thing, but it does not matter at all to the theory of evolution. Evolution only kicks in AFTER life has begun. Re-read that last sentence again. Evolution
explains how life diversifies, not how it began. Since evolution at
every level is -by definition- limited to the variation of allele
frequencies inherited over generations of living organisms, then it
obviously can’t operate where no genomes yet exist. The
evolutionary process starts with genetics and can’t start before
it. So how the first genes came about may seem similar to evolution,
and may even involve a form of natural selection in some way, but it
is in fact a very different chemical process called 'abiogenesis'.
What this means is this: that turtle did not "evolve" from nothing, it evolved from its ancestors (which is something, not nothing).
The final answer to the question "do you think this turtle evolved from nothing?" is still the same answer I gave before: NO. Anyone who thinks that this turtle evolved from nothing is ridiculous.