I asked:
> >> >So were we all amphibians?
I don't think I got an answer so asked again:
> >Is that a yes or a no? I believe that the scriptures are very clear that
> >Adam was formed from the dust of the earth. It is the evolutionists who
> >are not only talking back to God but rather ignoring Him.
> >
You responded:
> We christians are no better than them. They talk back to God and ignore Him
> in their way, we in ours. If God had wanted to he could have made us a
> separate phylum with no link to the primates. He could have made us the only
> photosynthetic animal if he had wanted to. This would have marked us separate
> from the apes. But he didn't. We share 98% of our DNA with the Chimpanzee and
> lots of pseudogenes.
>
> I have no problem with our bodies having evolved. The epsilon globin pseudo
> gene is found in the same genomic location in Chimp, gorilla, man and gibbon.
> This is worse than asking 4 of your friends to go to separate rooms and copy
> the encyclopedia britannica. At some point, chosen at random, they are to
> stop, randomly choose one paragraph out of the entire britannica and write it
> into their copy. If you believe that it is likely for these four people to
> chose the very same paragraph and insert it at the very same letter, then you
> can believe that the pseudogene has happened by accident (i.e. not due to
> descent.)
>
> The pseudogene is broken and will not produce a protein because the
> control section of the gene is lost in all four species. Thus, one cannot say
> that this gene is necessary for life. Besides, part of the pseudogene has
> been cut out of the chimpanzee's genome so if it was needed for life, the
> chimp would be dead.
>
>
> >Name one mutation which resulted in something improved, perfected or
> >better than what it was mutated from.
>
> This was pointed out by Chris Colby on Talk Origins.
>
> "One example of a beneficial mutation comes from the mosquito
> _Culex_ _pipiens_. In this organism, a gene that was involved with
> breaking down organophosphates - common insecticide ingredients -
> became duplicated. Progeny of the organism with this mutation quickly
> swept across the worldwide mosquito population."
>
Mutations accumulate by being added through time and passed from offspring
to offspring. Most mutations remain buried within the genes, or are
corrected by DNA repair systems. When mutations do show (phenotypically
expressed), they are almost always harmful and are selected against. The
more mutations do accumulate in populations, the greater the probabliity
they will show up phenotypically and jeopardize the organisms. But plants
and animals are thriving and are not in jeopardy from mutation loads.
Therefore, it is reasoned, the biological world could not have vast
antiquity.
> or
>
> "Similar to ornamental plants are the varieties of fruit. The red
> Gravenstein, for instance, arose as a sport from the yellow Gravenstein early
> in the nineteenth century. The fact that nearly 400 apple bud mutations were
> found up to 1936 in the United States alone shows the frequency with which
> this kind of mutation occurs. The economic value of forms originating in
> this fashion is shown by the fact that about a third of the patented fruit
> varieties in the United States have arisen by somatic mutation."Franz
> Schwanitz, The Origin of Cultivated Plants, (Cambridge: Harvard University
> Press, 1967), p. 83
>
It is common knowledge that apple tree's can be grafted but is this
mutation or selective breeding? There is an intelligence at work here not
a random chance mutation.
> >
> As I have said many times, when a transitional form is found, the number of
> gaps in the fossil record increases by two. The legs of acanthostega are
> half-evolved feet. They have more digits on the end of their arms than we do
> and fewer than a fish has fin bones. While there is not a pure homology
> between the fin bones and the digits, none-the-less, there is an intermediacy
> here.
>
> >Yes what? We all came from amphibians?
>
> Yes. A long time ago.
>
Thanks for the answer, if this is so then why are there still amphibians?
And why is the cycle not broken by mutation?
All the examples of mutation you mentioned are very questionable. Do
mutations occur yes. Are there examples of selective breeding between say
dogs to dogs or horses to horses yes but isn't that micro not macro
evolution? I thought we were talking about fins to feet? The most
questionable comments you gave as evidence of mutation resulting in
something good may just as well be inherent in the DNA structure from the
begining of its creation.
The man who has probably devoted more study than any other man to
experimental observation of mutations, said:
"But mutations are found to be of a random nature, so far as their utility
is concerned. Accordingly, the great majority of mutations, certainly well
over 99%, are harmful in some way, as is to be expected of the effects of
accidnetal occurrences."
H.J. Muller, "Radiation Damage to the Genetic Material"
-Randy