We've all probably seen some variation of this graphic before:
Personally, I've seen many different versions of it, containing a varying numbers of questions, always with the overall purpose being to provide evidence for the existence of God.
While my friend, who posted it on my Facebook page, meant it as a joke (one which I definitely laughed at), the actual points that it contains are all representative of real questions I've had Theists ask me. Since I'm 99.999% sure that the same questions will be asked of me again at some point; I figured why not just write down the answers instead of restating them time-and-time again?
So here goes, very quick answers to the above questions:
Monkey: Because we didn't come from monkeys, and certainly
not modern monkeys. We share a common ancestor with modern chimpanzees and
bonobos. This common ancestor, to the best of our scientific knowledge, has
been extinct for approximately 5 to 7 million years. While that common ancestor no longer exists, it did result in divergent evolutionary paths; which is why humans and chimpanzees exist within the same taxonomic tribe (biological grouping between family and genus) but are of different genus.
Mountain: Yes, although it happens on such a slow scale that seeing more than a few inches take place over a single person's life time is highly unlikely. Luckily the earth has been around for about 4.6 billion years, so there was plenty of time for it to take place. Also, we know that mountains do form over millions and billions of years, based on "mountains" of scientific evidence which all point to the same conclusion.
Cat-o-shark: There is no evidence to support species-to-species transitional forms. Belief in such a thing shows a complete lack of understanding of modern evolutionary theory (or even basic Darwinian evolutionary theory).
Peanut Butter Life: the truly spontaneous appearance of life, regardless of conditions, is something theists may believe in but there is absolutely no scientific evidence for it. Most modern scientific hypothesis and theories lay out a requirement of very specific conditions, which can no longer be found on earth, as being necessary for the appearance of a living organism. As a side note, there are multiple reasons why peanut butter can last, without refrigeration, for about a year. Two of the main ones are, extremely low moisture content (around 2%) and very high oil content.
Calendar vs Geological Age: The year, 2012, is actually the year 2012 CE (or AD according to some Christians). CE refers to the "Common Era". The Gregorian calendar (which is the calendar used by the majority of western society) beaks the recording of time into two halves, CE (Christian AD) and BCE (Christian BC). The point at which these two halves meet can be imagined as a "zero" point on a timeline. Both CE and BCE continue indefinitely in either direction, increasing as they move further from the "zero" point. So, while we are only at 2012 to the CE side of the zero point, the earth's geological age actually extends out past 4 billion on the BCE side of the zero point.
Making Man out of Dirt: It might happen but the odds are so exceptionally small that you are far more likely to be struck by lighting, bitten by a shark, and hit by a meteorite at the same. However, even if it did occur, there is no scientific evidence that links modern humans as having come from a pile of sand. Evolutionary theory on the other hand, does an outstanding job of explaining how modern humans came to be and is supported by huge sums of scientific evidence.
Banana-to-Hand Ratio: While the common, super market banana certainly has an intelligent designer, it isn't a mythical being at all. The "common" banana has been selectively bred by humans through artificial selection. Wild bananas look drastically different and lack many of the "perfect" qualities that the banana found in a super market possess.
Big Bang: Nothing about the "big bang" cosmological model claims that the universe arose from nothing. Again, belief that it does shows a basic misunderstanding of modern science.
Grass-o-Minnow: See "Cat-o-Shark" above.
Monkey-Mom: See "Monkey" above.
As a side note, these explanations are all relatively brief and, if holes can be found in them, it shouldn't be too surprising. Each of these answers could easily be expanded to take up several pages of explanation and entire books are dedicated to a few of them. That being said, they should be fairly sufficient as quick answers to relatively simple and uninformed questions.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions you have below; especially if you found a mistake in one of my answers up above.
Mountain: Yes, although it happens on such a slow scale that seeing more than a few inches take place over a single person's life time is highly unlikely. Luckily the earth has been around for about 4.6 billion years, so there was plenty of time for it to take place. Also, we know that mountains do form over millions and billions of years, based on "mountains" of scientific evidence which all point to the same conclusion.
Cat-o-shark: There is no evidence to support species-to-species transitional forms. Belief in such a thing shows a complete lack of understanding of modern evolutionary theory (or even basic Darwinian evolutionary theory).
Peanut Butter Life: the truly spontaneous appearance of life, regardless of conditions, is something theists may believe in but there is absolutely no scientific evidence for it. Most modern scientific hypothesis and theories lay out a requirement of very specific conditions, which can no longer be found on earth, as being necessary for the appearance of a living organism. As a side note, there are multiple reasons why peanut butter can last, without refrigeration, for about a year. Two of the main ones are, extremely low moisture content (around 2%) and very high oil content.
Calendar vs Geological Age: The year, 2012, is actually the year 2012 CE (or AD according to some Christians). CE refers to the "Common Era". The Gregorian calendar (which is the calendar used by the majority of western society) beaks the recording of time into two halves, CE (Christian AD) and BCE (Christian BC). The point at which these two halves meet can be imagined as a "zero" point on a timeline. Both CE and BCE continue indefinitely in either direction, increasing as they move further from the "zero" point. So, while we are only at 2012 to the CE side of the zero point, the earth's geological age actually extends out past 4 billion on the BCE side of the zero point.
Making Man out of Dirt: It might happen but the odds are so exceptionally small that you are far more likely to be struck by lighting, bitten by a shark, and hit by a meteorite at the same. However, even if it did occur, there is no scientific evidence that links modern humans as having come from a pile of sand. Evolutionary theory on the other hand, does an outstanding job of explaining how modern humans came to be and is supported by huge sums of scientific evidence.
Banana-to-Hand Ratio: While the common, super market banana certainly has an intelligent designer, it isn't a mythical being at all. The "common" banana has been selectively bred by humans through artificial selection. Wild bananas look drastically different and lack many of the "perfect" qualities that the banana found in a super market possess.
Big Bang: Nothing about the "big bang" cosmological model claims that the universe arose from nothing. Again, belief that it does shows a basic misunderstanding of modern science.
Grass-o-Minnow: See "Cat-o-Shark" above.
Monkey-Mom: See "Monkey" above.
As a side note, these explanations are all relatively brief and, if holes can be found in them, it shouldn't be too surprising. Each of these answers could easily be expanded to take up several pages of explanation and entire books are dedicated to a few of them. That being said, they should be fairly sufficient as quick answers to relatively simple and uninformed questions.
As always, feel free to post any comments or questions you have below; especially if you found a mistake in one of my answers up above.
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