Alright heres the scene,
I was talking to my friend today at lunch, the topic got to god and evolution somehow. I’m and Atheist and my buds a Christian. We both feel strongly about our views. So we were talking and he started telling me why i was wrong. First off he said that dinosaurs were probably killed off by humans. He went on to say that we don’t have proof of god because the first people to see god were to stupid to know how to write. I tried to explain to him that there is a big gap between homo sapiens and dinosaurs. He went on the say that that was because it took 7 days to make the world, but it was never said how long the days were. They could have been 10 million years for each day. Alright I said, what about fossils that are several million years older than the human fossils? I won’t post up what he replied with, because it is mind bogglingly stupid and didn’t even make sense. So anyway,
I want to prove him wrong it the most embarassing way possible. I mean really really show him up. So anyone got any ideas? Oh and this may not be the right board so mods feel free to move it. Ok, lets get started.
Wearia
wait a second. He says the dinasauers were killed off by the humans, then goes on to explain the gap in timing by 'splainin that ‘day’ can be a lots of years??? (I’m ok w/the ‘varying length of day’ thing, seems to me I heard that the specific word doesn’t mean necessarily 24 hours like we have…)
but, um, then, if the humans and the dinos were seperated by a really long time, then how did we manage to kill them???
Um…It sounds like he believes in evolution. Maybe divine evolution.
Anywho a good book about stuff like this is “why people believe wierd things” by shermer.
your friend is stupid, and anything you try to teach him will go in one ear and out the other. i have a friend like this also. he is stupid.
do yourself a favor and dont bother trying. it will just be an excercise in futility.
if you need to reinforce your belief that you are right, or smarter, just ask him/her to some kind of great deal on a sunday morning then laugh histaricly at them when you remind them that they cant go and will need to be in church praying to a god that does not exist for favors that will not come.
Jesus was in a coma.
You could start with:
Dinosaurs: died off 65 million years ago.
Humans: First evolved about 5 million years ago.
Ergo, never the twain shall meet.
Hey gatopescado, you were talking great sense in the intro of your post, (don’t bother arguing, it’s futile etc).
Ahem, what happened with this last bit? What is this ‘great deal’ of which you speak?
(I won’t even bother with histaricly…it is phonetic enough for me to get the gist!) 
Wearia, you will never prove your friend wrong. He probably has faith, which means he will listen to his pastor (or whoever) and not to you or what you see as reason. Even as a Christian, his views will probably develop with time. And it might be more fun to debate him then–and also more challenging. Until then, you, and athiest, will not be one to educate him.
Also until then, try to smother your hysterics. Your friendship will be better for it.
Agreed.
You’ll get nowhere trying to prove your friend wrong. Religion is not something that can be debunked as some sort of urban legend - matters of faith just don’t work that way. You’ll stack up the evidence, and he’ll tell you it’s wrong. And hey, maybe you are wrong, who’s to say?
Moreover, I personally would rather respect my friend’s religion than to try and prove him wrong, regardless of what I think about it.
If you’re trying to argue against someone who is using not scientifically-verified facts but faith-based religious beliefs (i.e. “The Bible Says”), you’re probably not going to get anywhere.
A Quick Bible Rule book:
- the Bible is always right
- when the Bible is wrong, refer to rule number one.
As the others have said, you won’t win this argument, but you certainly can try, since most of
it seems to be a theory type argument. e.g. who was there back then to verify anything?
Until…
[singing]
Marshall, Will, and Holly on a routine expedition
Met the greatest earthquake ever known.
High on the rapids it struck their tiny raft
And plunged them down a thousand feet below.
To the Land of the Lost.
To the Land of the Lost.
To the Land of the Lost.
[/singing]
Zev Steinhardt
Just thought I would put in a good word, so to speak, for religion. The largest Christian denomination in the world, the Roman Catholic church, does not require belief in creationism as described in Genesis, and has no problem with the theory of evolution as long as it’s understood that somewhere in humankind’s evolution humans were endowed by God with a soul that made them unique from all other animals.
Evolution is taught in the biological science departments at every Catholic college and university, and has been for most of the last century.
If you can locate a copy of Isaac Asimov’s short story “Darwinian Pool Room”, you might try and pass that on to him. It does a wonderful job, IMHO of reconciling evolution and the Bible.
Then again, I’m just a renegade Episcopalian who’d also be scratching my head after that conversation.
CJ
“You can’t rationally argue out what wasn’t rationally argued in”. - George Bernard Shaw.
Okay, smartie pants how do you explain Alley Opp, then?
Don’t forget B.C.!
And it sounds like Wearia’s friend has a lot in common with Johnny Hart, too!