At 11:24 AM 7/7/98 +1000, Donald Howes wrote:
>Will the real question please stand up?!
>
>I don't think it really matters if you believe evolution was God's tool for
>creation, I think the only thing that matters at all in the whole world, is
>how are you going to respond to Jesus and his claims.
One can hardly disagree that responding to Jesus is the most important
thing one can do in life.
>
>In terms of evolution though, I think the question is "did it happen on a
>macro scale?".
>
>I have doubts about how and why an organism would change from asexual
>reprodution to sexual reprodution.
Here is how it happened in one lineage:
In Volvox, almost all the cells are somatic, and very few of the cells
are able to produce new individuals. In some species of Volvox,
reproductive cells, as in Pleodorina, are derived from cells that
originally look and function like somatic cells before the enlarge and
divide to form new progeny. However, in other members of the genus, such
as V. carteri, there is a complete division of labor; the reproductive
cells that will create the next generation are set aside during the
division of the reproductive cells that are forming the new individual.
The reproductive cells never develop functional flagella and never
contribute to motility or other somatic functions of the individual; they
are entirely specialized for reproduction. Thus, although the simpler
Volvocaceans may be thought of as colonial organisms (because each cell is
capable of independent existence and of perpetuating the species), in V.
carteri we have a truly multicellular organism with two distinct and
independent cell types (somatic and reproductive), both of which are
required for the perpetuation of the species. Although not all animals set
aside the reproductive cells from the somatic cells (plants hardly ever
do), this separation of germ (reproductive) cells from somatic cells early
in development is characteristic of many animal phyla and will be discussed
in more detail in Chapter 7."~Scott F. Gilbert, Developmental Biology
(Sunderland: Sinauer Assoc. Inc., 1991), p. 18
**
"What happens to the somatic cells of the 'parent ' Volvox now that its
young have 'left home'? Having produced offspring and being incapable of
further reproduction, these somatic cells die. Actually, they commit
suicide, synthesizing a set of proteins that cause the death and
dissolution of the cells that make these proteins. Moreover, in this
death, the cells release for the use of others-including their own
offspring- the nutrients that they had stored during life. 'Thus emerges,'
notes David Kirk,'one of the great themes of life on Planet Earth: 'Some
die that others may live.'"~Scott F. Gilbert, Developmental Biology
(Sunderland: Sinauer Assoc. Inc., 1991), p. 20-21
And how something would evolve from
>laying eggs in water to laying eggs on land, to not laying eggs at all!
Each form of reproduction works in the peculiar environment to aid in the
survival of the species.
>
>And why do bird have pretty colors? This is attractive to other birds, but
>it would also make them obvious to preditors.
Not necessarily. Sometimes what we see as pretty colors are not the same
frequencies that the eyes of other species see.
Wouldn't natural selection
>have made animals attracted to each other for qualities like camoflage,
>strength and speed, not things like a huge stupid peacock tail that slows
>you down?
Then why did God create the stupid peacock tail feathers?
>
>All these things are only secondary of course, and someone probably has
>thought of an answer, but I'm not really concerned about how it happened,
>the only thing I am concerned about is the fact that every day people are
>dying without know about Jesus. I think that stinks.
I agree that people dying without Jesus stinks. But so does Christians
becoming atheists because other Christians decide that they won't pay any
attention to science! And if you aren't concerned with HOW it happened,
what are you doing on this list?
glenn
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
Foundation, Fall and Flood
& lots of creation/evolution information
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm