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« on: September 26, 2006, 03:06:08 PM »
Yes, I'm a John come lately to this thread. Ok so; this is an unusually polite and (mostly) thoughtful group. Here's my 2 cent's worth: From 7 to 10 years of age I had read every book in the local libraries on subjects I liked; such as Goelogy, Paleontology, Anthropology, Archeology, Mythology/ Religion, History and Art along w/ smatterings of others. I maintain the same conclusions as I formulated then: Evolution is is an open ended and flexible developmental model based on observable, logical and reasonable change in form over time , environment and circumstance that is internally cosistant w/ other provable scientifically derived data and conclusions drawn therefrom. Mythology is a way of explaining the nature and origin of the world in simple human biased terms , in this case "as we knew it" at pre bronze age dates thru the development of stable sedentary societies that evolve written versions of various languages and become city/states that can promote their particular cosmology. Thus mythology evolves to becomes religion. History is replete w/ examples of written records and mythic tales from cultures that predate the genesis of Genesis, w/ or w/out flood narratives. For me; there is only reason to follow the ever accumulating evidence in all fields of scientific inquiry which favor the simplest solution: everything alters over time. Evolution is the process by which organisms mutate and modify to survive or not as environmental conditions alter. Myths are fine for a limited cosmologic view born around Pastoralist campfires 4.000+ years ago, but hardly stand up as literal truth under the close scrutiny of cumulative past and current research. I still love all the stories though and all of the art, especially the Cro Magnon cave painting @ 40,000 years ago.