My Brother Deconverted, But Is Still An Id Yec - How Do I Explain Evolution To Him?

[cogitoergosum]

My brother and I deconverted on the same day through a long discussion where I basically came bawling my eyes out to him that I was doomed to hell because I could not MAKE myself believe in the Bible and Jesus Christ in the face of the evidence and logic and rational reasoning. I ended up bringing up a lot of points which he'd never thought of before, and by the end of the night we were both deists, rejecting Christianity and the Bible but still believing in a benevolent being 'out there'. I was already an evolutionist by this point and after a few days I came to see the logical fallacies of Deism (do NOT mean to offend any deists, and I'm not looking for this to turn into a deism vs athiesm thread) and am now atheist.

 

However my brother cannot comprehend evolution, having been propagandized against it his whole life. He still believes in young earth creationism by an intelligent designer. He can't fathom of how we could have come about by 'chance'. He says 'look at the oceans, look at our skin, look at our minds, how could that all have just happened? It doesn't make sense to me, I can't believe it. It doesn't make SENSE how I could have come from a monkey. How could intelligence and reason just happen? Nope, nope, nope.'

 

His schedule doesn't permit him the time to do the kind of extensive reading that I'm currently engaged in. Entire books, or long, complex articles aren't something he's got the time to read. I think he just needs some simple, straightforward explanations of how evolution works, and how intelligent design is not possible/necessary, so that it will click and make sense for him. He knows NOTHING about evolution. What are some Youtube videos, or very simple non-lengthy articles I can show him or even some arguments I can bring up with him (I already plan on bringing the Flying Spaghetti Monster into the conversation, lol)? I'm no expert myself, having just started learning about evolution after 23 years as a fundamental YEC-er, but it makes utter and perfect sense to me for the most part, whereas in my mind ID defies logic, reason, and science. I'm not sure how to bridge this disconnect for him. I was at the stage he's at once, but overcame it through massive amounts of reading and hours of watching Richard Dawkins and others.

 

How can it be explained to him simply?

[Ouroboros]

How does he explain the age of the universe and the age of Earth? That all the evidence was created like that by this god? Why would a god do that? Why would a god create evidence for an old universe and an old Earth on purpose? Wouldn't that mean this god is intentionally deceptive? And if this god is intentionally tricking us, how can we trust it at all? Is that really the god he wants to believe in?

[Loren]

Most of those arguments he's been indoctrinated with are based on the disingenuous inference that scientists are claiming that order comes from complete randomness. How many times have you heard that in an outraged diatribe from some damned pulpit?

 

No real scientist actually makes this claim: What's really happening is that Christian apologists are making the false claim that that's what the scientists say. No competent teacher of evolutionary principles tells kids that they, "came from a monkey." Yes, there's randomness involved, but the Christian apologists infer that that's all that's involved in these theories they find so scary. That's where the lie is. It's hard to defend against if the listener isn't acquainted with basic scientific principles.

 

What the scientists actually claim is that randomness + (Some mitigating factor such as nuclear bonding or natural selection.) + the consistency of natural laws = a process which produces order.

 

In order to demonstrate this to your brother, try this:

 

Take a good-sized handful of pennies to your brother and explain to him something like what I wrote above.

 

Take your pennies and dump them on the floor. Completely random, right? You have a mess of coins, some showing heads, some tails.

 

Now tell him that the coins showing heads are successes (Such as chemical bonds that stuck, or animals that survived to breed.), and move all of the coins showing heads to one side.

 

Gather up the remaining tails coins and toss them again.

 

Of these, separate the heads and set them aside with the other heads coins.

 

Toss the remaining coins. Separate and toss again.

 

At some point, you will have a bunch of coins all showing heads.

 

Thus, randomness plus a mitigating factor, plus time and repetition produce order.

 

And no magical deity had to get involved at all. Just randomness, repetition and rules.

[florduh]

The only reason to ignore the mountains of scientific evidence for evolution on a very old planet is to maintain the idea of the fall of Adam and subsequent redemption provided of necessity by Jesus.

 

If not a Bible literalist, why deny the true age of our planet?

[cogitoergosum]

Thanks everyone. My brother now understands evolution and has completely discarded creationism. He's finding learning about the true history of the natural world fascinating and awe-inspiring.