Help, My Sister's Being Fed Creationist Propaganda At Her Youth Group!

[cogitoergosum]

They're showing her films with a professor who claims that proteins and DNA prove that there is an intelligent designer, and that it's scientifically rovable that amino acids could not have arisen by chance. She believes the videos, it's a PROFESSOR. How do I counter this?

[Guest Valk0010]

I would recommend giving here the christian books

 

Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Millier, and the language of god by Francis Collins. Shows how evolution can work with christianity

 

there are bible problems like how did adam and eve's family avoid incest, that could be answered by the idea that genesis is allegorical

 

Depends on if she is a literalist really

 

But those books will help

 

And after that I would recommend

 

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

 

or

 

Why evolution is true by jerry coyne

 

Also youtube is a great source

 

infact from the same conference that I got the andy thomson stuff I linked ya, Jerry Coyne did a lecture on evolution and why its true

 

there is also

 

Talkorigins.org

[Ouroboros]

They're showing her films with a professor who claims that proteins and DNA prove that there is an intelligent designer, and that it's scientifically rovable that amino acids could not have arisen by chance. She believes the videos, it's a PROFESSOR. How do I counter this?

That's the worst part. So many creationists have worked on getting degrees, and most of them are really worthless cereal-box-back-cutout versions of degrees.

 

But do know, being a professor is not the same as having a degree. A professor is just a fancy name for teacher. What degree they have depends on which school, which department, and the requirements. You can get a degree in culinary arts, be hired by a college, and then receive the title "professor."

 

So you have to ask her, where is he professor? What field is he professor in? And what degrees does he have? And from where did he receive his degrees?

 

All these are valid questions when analyzing authority in a subject. Let's say he got a PhD in paper-mâché and works as an art teacher at Little Rock Community College, it doesn't mean he has the credentials to speak for biochemistry.

[Shyone]

Amino acids could not have origin by chance? Really?

 

Chemicals are just chemicals, and they react in the ways that chemicals react. If you look at a typical organic chemical reaction to delibeately synthesize amino acids (e.g. Strecker amino acid synthesis), you can see that the chemicals are simple. They are also naturally occuring - as are the amino acids resulting from chemical reactions.

 

The "professor" is suggesting that God was playing with atoms to create mollecules of certain shapes to fit with other mollecules and undergo further chemical reactions. He may as well ahve said that God shapes every snowflake and makes every diamond.

 

A good organic chemistry course should disabuse the professor of his preposterous ideas. Nucleic acids, RNA, DNA and protein synthesis are all guided by natural properties of the chemicals. There are things you can imagine that you can't do, but everything that happens naturally follows directly on the chemical properties. Naturally.

[cogitoergosum]

Thank you everyone! My sister deconverted last month after coming to me with a lot of theological questions that were really troubling her. (Never come to an ex-christian with theological questions, haha.) She is now throwing herself into her biology studies in high school and is really excited about each new thing she learns about evolution and natural history - she comes home and teaches us!