Attitude of Gratitude-Always Have a Thankful Heart Day 5

I am thankful for:

• Tae Kwon Do! 
• Biology! I am learning so much in my Biology class and I love it! 
• Dishes. (Plates, forks, knives, spoons, pots, pans, etc. ) 

I am doing DIVE Biology and David Shormann has a lecture about the lessons, which I watch on the computer. My lesson today was on origins, and I learned some things about Charles Darwin which I didn't know. 

Who was Charles Darwin?

- He entered Cambridge University in 1828 and graduated with a degree in theology. (which is the study of God.) 

-In 1831, he embarked on a 5-year journey aboard the HMS Beagle as a head naturalist. 

-He was influenced by William Pale and other "design theologians", (which look at creation and look at the design and realize there is a designer, God.)  Darwin shared their view of special creation by God until at least 1834. 

-His grandfather and Jean Lamarck influenced his ideas on evolutionary theory. (Jean Lamarck thought animals evolved different characteristics just because they wanted to. For example: Giraffes wanted to have a longer neck so they could reach into the trees to eat the leaves. So they evolved a neck that was just the right length.) 

-He married Annie Wedgewood in 1839.

- They had 9 children. Three of his children died, and his 9 year old daughter Annie suffered a particularly slow, painful death in 1850. It had a negative impact on his faith. This may have been a turning point in his life. 

-The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life was published in 1859. 

-Darwin eventually lost faith in God: He said "Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete."

-In The Origin of Species he wrote "The Old Testament, from its manifestly false history of the earth, was no more to be true than the sacred books of the Hindus, or the beliefs of any barbarian. The New Testament is a damnable doctrine. I can hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true." 

-Charles Darwin rejected God during his adult life, and soon after developed the theory of natural selection as a way to explain the origin of life without the need for God.

You can see how Charles Darwin was influenced by wrong thinking. We need to be careful who our friends are, and who we listen to and obey, because they could influence our lives for good or bad. 

Have a godly evening, friends. :) 

~Ashley