My topic for a persuasive essay : Good yes? Discuss^^

[Moochie]

First thing first, we will keep this civil. There will be no rude words, no putting down others, nothing of the sort. Don't like my essay topic? Discuss it it elsewhere please. Let's be mature about this.
My topic is on the Adam and Eve theory, to be more specific.. How things do not add up to one another and how we (the class and I) can put science (history really) into the theory and have things add up. Looking at it from a different point of view. There will be opinions and facts.
Not only do I have to write an essay but I have to give a speech about it aswell. The speech will be my mid-term exam. I shake ALOT when I speak to a class so during the two weeks I have to do this I'll be working on my little twirks. I love doing things that I'm passionate about. I won't be persuading my fellow peers to believe "adam and eve is bologna dont believe it blah blah" I want them to be simply open minded on the theory.

(All the things I'm gonna have to site. Gosh.)
I'm agnostic if anyone is wondering.

First : Understand the Adam and Eve story. Read the bible. Look out for key words and sentences. From what I remember, in the bible it says God created the earth in 6 days. Although this would be an entirely different (and possibly more difficult) subject to write and speak about I am going to include it. It will kind of branch off a bit but it has to do with some things. I'll be discussing the behaviours of Adam and Eve, how they came to be, what the Bible states they look like, and what not. Understanding the story!

Second : Drift off from biblical tales and into the world of fossils and DNA research. Yes, look into our ancestry. This is about the first humans right? Well, then let's look into what our bone diggers have found! I will talk about Lucy, our ancestor! I will also include ANY findings that scientists have made on a common ancestor. I saw a doc about it.
Third: I will be talking about the migration of early humans. I find this part very important. Eve and Adam (see what I did there?

), according to the bible, were the very first humans. The very first humans in that area? What was it, Mesopotamia? That is now Iraq right? Surely there were other newly evolved humans elsewhere on our earth right? My paper will answer these questions. Unfortunately, I have to include something most debatable with the bible and science ; proof.
This is really all I got at the moment. I will be doing alot in the next two weeks though.

So what do you guys think?

 

[geepy]

I think your doing a great job, so far.
I wonder how long those six days were.

 

[Moochie]

Quote:
I read about that. The bible didn't say that the six days were 24 hour days. Well.. I think it didn't clarify anyways.. Back in that time, who knew what hours or days were anyways? Intrestingly enough, the way how God created everything does indeed follow earth's evolution and it's inhabitants. Maybe not everything, but pretty darn close. Perhaps God put us here to unravel the words in the bible? The more we learn with science, the more everything makes sense.
I would love to find the remains of Adam and Eve if they really exsisted though. Or read upon someone's findings on what they believe are the remains of Adam and Eve. Early humans still sort of looked more primatey though. Neanderthals did wear clothes, it's very possible Adam and Eve could have been an even earlier species. Or it's very possible they were just a couple of the many new modern humans adapting and thriving. I'm trying to find a free online bible to see if the bible says they were the first to wear clothing. If so, then like my other sentence said, it's highly likely that they could have been an earlier species. Not quite sure if neanderthals were the first to wear clothes though. Neanderthals went extinct too. If the bible doesn't clarify these points then I'll have to debate with myself whether I want to go with modern humans or hominids.

 

[TrystInn]

For the sake of your paper, I'd highly recommend that you read an English translation of the Torah vs the Old Testament. There are differences in both the words and the interpretation of events. Then read Jewish interpretation of the Creation story, Rabbi Shmuley has a very good essay on it.

The first time I heard the Christian Creation story while visiting a friend's church, I was completely confused so I re-read nonsense/Genesis and realized that Jews and Christians have a very different perspective of what happened. i.e. In Judaism, the snake is not the Devil or Satan, that the world WAS created in 6 days, that G-d created the world three times (we were created in the last world), etc. Lilith isn't mention in either written version, but she is in Jewish lore.

I'd be happy to chat backchannel with you on this, as I truly do not wish to offend anyone.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm not sure what you are asking? What do we think about your topic or about what you will cover in your speech? Can you clarify just what you mean by "what do you think?"

A good persuasive essay needs to be concise in its phrasing, so the questions above are a sample of what your teacher may mark on your essay if you write it like you did in this post and then ask a question like the one at the end.

Your topic will be difficult to support with only theory and conjecture, so persuading someone of your viewpoint on the matter will be very difficult. Do you feel strongly about it? Do you have strong facts, not theory, about why you feel the way that you do? Are you aware that the opposing view may feel that the theory of evolution and carbon dating are faulty to the max, so may disregard any evidence from those sources?

In order to get past shaky voice and nervous public speaking, I've always found it easier to speak about something you know very well, have strong opinions on and have sound and reasonable information with which to back up your opinion....if this subject isn't a strong one for you, it may be to your advantage to pick something that you've really studied and for which you have a passion. If it is, then it shouldn't be too hard to communicate it well and with confidence.

 

[Royd]

Just a thought. What is the probability/possibility that evolution transformed/created several creatures resembling humans, at the same time, on several different contenients? I would say, that probability is as likely as having 6 perfect duplicates of Earth within a few lightyears of each other.

Take into account that at one time, according to evolution, the land masses were much closer together, so once a single population was established, migration wouldn't be nearly as difficult as it is now.

Something else to consider. How much of Biblical history is verifiable? The Roman Empire, Egypt, Pharoahs, Euphrates, etc.?

At what point, because we haven't uncovered evidence, do we consider it a fairy tale?

Just for you, Moochie, the kinder, gentler Royd.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

I shake ALOT when I speak to a class so during the two weeks I have to do this I'll be working on my little twirks.

I used to shake so much, I'd have to put any papers on a flat surface, or I'd look like I was fanning myself. XD

What class specifically is this for, and what is the assignment? Basically, I would write this paper very differently for different classes, such as debate, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, etc. Are you looking at the story purely in a literal sense, or including the symbolic context? Sounds very interesting. This topic may be beneficial to your paper as well:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0514_030514_neandertalDNA.html
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020449
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/news.php?id=37​

 

[goochgirl]

Normally I wouldn't reply to topics that could "get ugly", but hoping all here would respect the OP's request to keep things nice, and feeling bad that 80 people have read and only 6 responces, I'll throw in a couple of points that may help (or make things more vague)

A day was not 24 hours. I wish I remember the name of the course I took so that you could look up this information. There was a scientist (Orthodox) who worked for NASA that presented the info on how science, carbon dating, etc. correlates with Talmudic interpretation.

Also, Adam and Eve were not the first humans; they were the first humans G-d created with souls.

You might be able to call your local Chabad, or take a look on Chabad.com or Aish.org to get more information or clarification; I'm hardly a scholar. They are. Good luck with your presentation!

 

[Moochie]

My teacher gave the class over 30 topics. She doesn't allow abortion, legalizing marijuana and something else (I forgot) because they're over-used topics and she's tried of reading/hearing them. I'm asking if my idea for the persuasive sounds stupid or not. The class and my teacher sounded intrigued by it. So I guess to them it's good. As for the 6 days thing, it's only gonna be a wee part. Right now I'm trying to create the introduction paragraph and I'm researching for myself what hominid type Adam and Eve were. They started wearing clothes so probably not sahelanthropus tchadensis. <<<Probably the earliest of the hominid species. Also the events that occured after Adam and Eve are important. It will help the timeline.
I'm just persuading my peers to re-think the whole Adam and Eve concept. I want them to know that there is much more to our ancestry and background. To be honest, I'm probably one of the few (if not only) person at my school that's intrested in this stuff. Maybe a teacher or two, but student? I'm not totally sure.
So if my peers aren't that knowledgeable of our ancestry, and if they are only known to believe that we came from just Adam and Eve, then there should be atleast some debating. It's an understandable topic for most of you but my peers... They know sports and drama.

 

[Moochie]

Quote:
Thank you!