Any intellectually honest scientist would have to say, "Concerning the beginning we don't really know and at present there is no way to ever know." No matter which position you take, it is by faith.
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If man evolved from an ape... Why do we still have apes?
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Any intellectually honest scientist would have to say, "Concerning the beginning we don't really know and at present there is no way to ever know." No matter which position you take, it is by faith.
And many scientists confirm the bizzare unlikelihood that the Big Band would have beltched out a Universe so perfectly and intrically tuned for our existence.
The many “constants” necessary for our existence (such as the speed of light) are so precise without any apparent reason for such precision. In fact, statistically, the likelihood of our existence (and that of the observable universe) is about the same as randomly picking up the correct grain of sand from all the grains of sand on the earth.
This fact, or series of facts, has led to many interesting discussions and theories, the most odd of which is that we, in fact, do not exist!?!? [It is clearly a minority position].
Others have proposed an intelligent creator from an alien source, and scans of the observable universe have been performed looking for anomalies that might serve as tell-tail signs of tinkering, and/or other universes belched from the material of our own.
There is a long term study of human DNA, the vast majority of which has been “turned off” through evolution, and is useless, to see if an alien intelligence might have left math codes or symbols in the code of our genes. We have folks literally looking for a messege from millions of years ago in all our bodies.
I guess the observation(s) that most convinced me of the reality of evolution, is that within all of us, there are sections of DNA that (if activated) would cover our entire bodies with hair, or give us a tail.
In fact, it isn’t all that rare for anomalies to pop up reflecting what is supposed to be dormant DNA. What used to land kids/adults into circuses because of their hairy condition (or tail) is recognized as a treatable problems, today.
Some questions just can't be answered. Evolution is as mysterious as magnets.
As an agnostic I've gotta ask, how do you reconcile the two? The bible says the earth is only 6,000 years old but we have proven the earth is way older and dinosaurs existed however many millions of years ago. I'm genuinely curious and respect your beliefs.
The same question I have received from other Christians!
Give me the verse in the Old Testament defining the age of the earth!?
Then give me the verse from the New Testament stating that a belief in a particular age for the earth is necessary for either faith or salvation?!
Even if you try to piece together some chronology from the Old Testament to try and substantiate a clear line of time, there would be so many holes in it with uncertainties that it would satisfy no mathematical or scientific criterion.
And I’m certainly rational enough to know the many Biblical writers saw the earth without the benefit of modern technology and knowledge of geologic time.
So what? Neither the New nor the Old Testament were written as scientific texts.
But even those writers whose work ended up forming the opening passages of Genesis [which are quite poetic, as it was likeliest a spoken sermon, prior to preceding the original creation story, now found later in Genesis] had enough reason and knowledge to roughly define the actual course of creation and evolution!
Was man created in a void and then given a planet to stand on? Was man the predecessor of animals?
No. Those of antiquity did not know the length of events bringing about our Universe, but knew the chronology of the salient events.
My closing argument to Christians who try to deny scientific truth is asking them to quote the most familiar New Testament verse, John 3:16: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son; that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish, but shall have ever lasting life.”
It does not say “that whoever shall believe in a creation story that does not actually exist in the Old Testament, but which some mistaken Christians and some Biblical cynics both think does, shall have ever lasting life.”
My closing argument to agnostics is simply that the highest level of science, today, is admitting the “magic” inherently contained within the founding notion of religion and faith in a higher power.
Post Big Bang, the odds of our Universe expanding slowly enough to allow the concentration of matter into stars and planets was literally one-in-a-million. Post Big Bang, the odds of our Universe expanding rapidly enough to not allow re-collapse from gravitational pull was one-in-a-billion.
Those odds combined with more than 20 scientific constants that must perfectly match (and for which there is no scientific explaination for why they are in the constant, precise state they are), render the odds of our existence post Big Bang, to one in 10, with 58 zeros following it.
Did I learn these odds from a Christian “apologist,” making excuses for religion? No, I learned them from a 25 year subscription to Scientific American, other scientific sources, and a few conversations with the one astrophysicist with whom I have had the pleasure to interact.
In short, those of faith who deny science typically do so more from a greater ignorance of their faith, than an ignorance of science; and ironically those who would use science to deny God do so from a greater ignorance of science than an ignorance of faith.
Many scientist believe in infinite parallel universes. That means there would be a universe where you are having sex with your mother, and she reaches under the bed and grabs your dad's severed penis and slaps you in the face with it. Then Brittney Spears and Danny Devito run in the room singing Fancy by Reba McIntyre. Since it's infinite parallel universes this same scene plays out almost exactly like this one in another universe but in the next one Danny Devito has his finger up Brittney Spears butt while they run in to sing Fancy. On and on and on until every possible thing that could ever possibly happen happens.
Yes.
Under that theory, there are infinite universes where Bama dominates college basketball, and we dominate college football.
Give me 10 seasons in one of those, please!
Let me say I appreciate you answering my questions first.
There is not a verse in the bible that says how old the earth is. Chronogenealogy does. There may be holes in it but even if it didn't it should still be nowhere close to the actual age of the earth.
I never said you have believe in the age of the earth is necessary for faith or salvation. It's just confusing because science says something and the bible says another thing. One of them has to be wrong.
I know the bible isn't and wasn't a scientific text. But it's supposed to be the word of God. The bible says the sun revolves around the earth and its the center of the universe. What I'm saying is how could God be so wrong?
No one knows what created the universe. We really don't know what caused it but that doesn't mean it was a God. And if the universe was created by God, then what created God? I'm agnostic because no one knows. With so many religions claiming that their God is the right one. Hell, look how many different sects of Christianity there are teaching different things.
We don't know the true odds of how we came into existence because we don't know how common life is in the universe. But the shear amount of stars and planets in the universe or even our galaxy suggests there is life elsewhere. But we don't know for sure.
Again thanks for answering and I truly respect what you believe as I'm sure your life is going well by being a Christian. Please don't think that my challenging of your beliefs means I don't respect yours, or anyone else's beliefs. And you could be right. I should mention I had a very bad experience with Christianity and you could probably guess what it was.
Not so on the 6,000 years old. It is a common belief but, proper translation will tell you that there are three earth ages and we are in the second one now. (Something I happen to believe)
http://biblestudyforlife.com/three_world_ages.htm
Because humans have a hard time grasping how long 4.5 billion years actually is.
Here is a quote from Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything
Perhaps an even more effective way of grasping our extreme recentness as a part of this 4. 5 -billion-year-old picture is to stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth.
On this scale, according to John McPhee in Basin and Range, the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian.
All of complex life is in one hand, “and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate human history
Here is a quote from Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything
Perhaps an even more effective way of grasping our extreme recentness as a part of this 4. 5 -billion-year-old picture is to stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth.
On this scale, according to John McPhee in Basin and Range, the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian.
All of complex life is in one hand, “and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate human history
You should be wary of scientism; they tell you they know things for absolute fact truth that they don't in reality.
There are very fundamental reasons why this is so, for example we do not even understand to any degree whatsoever why the universe is expanding at an ever accelerating rate. It is likely that once we did, if ever, it would rewrite what we do actually understand at this point to a very significant degree.
We also make massive assumptions, that are unwarranted, to come to the certainties that we proclaim. We do not know, for example, that the laws of physics are immutable, that they didn't change over time. There's actually no scientific reason that they couldn't, just our day to day experience stops us from wanting to think in those terms since everything in our brief history of time as it were is predictable. There is absolutely no reason that we know of that that has to be true, or even that the laws of physics in some remote part of the universe are the same as the one we have.
Also, from a scientific perspective, it's actually perfectly ok to say the Sun does revolve around the earth. In physics, there is no absolute motion, whatever motion you describe is dependent on the frame of reference of the observer. There is nothing wrong by physics the statement that the Earth is the center of the universe (in reality, every point is the center, at least how we understand physics now).
There are very fundamental reasons why this is so, for example we do not even understand to any degree whatsoever why the universe is expanding at an ever accelerating rate. It is likely that once we did, if ever, it would rewrite what we do actually understand at this point to a very significant degree.
We also make massive assumptions, that are unwarranted, to come to the certainties that we proclaim. We do not know, for example, that the laws of physics are immutable, that they didn't change over time. There's actually no scientific reason that they couldn't, just our day to day experience stops us from wanting to think in those terms since everything in our brief history of time as it were is predictable. There is absolutely no reason that we know of that that has to be true, or even that the laws of physics in some remote part of the universe are the same as the one we have.
Also, from a scientific perspective, it's actually perfectly ok to say the Sun does revolve around the earth. In physics, there is no absolute motion, whatever motion you describe is dependent on the frame of reference of the observer. There is nothing wrong by physics the statement that the Earth is the center of the universe (in reality, every point is the center, at least how we understand physics now).
Is there a universe where Cal doesn't slow down and play like John Thompson in the tournament?
I wasn’t speaking of the odds of life, merely the long odds for a universe to exist that might support life.
As to assertions in the Bible, it was written by man, and inspired by God. The only portions that were directly from God are a few quotes in the Okd T, the Ten C’s, and the words of Christ.
None of the apparent problems you have with dating, etc. exists, therein.
You make an assertion “The Bible” is the “Word of God,” as do many Christians. The Bible makes no such assertion. There are portions that go beyond inspired writing; they do not contain the substance of your argument with regard to chronology or dating.
If we have house cats why do we still have lions?
Btw, we share more dna with apes than the aforementioned do with each other
If we speak american English why do Britain's still sound differently .....perhaps the environment they're in
Btw, we share more dna with apes than the aforementioned do with each other
If we speak american English why do Britain's still sound differently .....perhaps the environment they're in
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Yes. I think it’s the same one where Mark Stoops is a pass happy Coach, but with a defense that is terrible.
Man didn't evolve from apes, though man has evolved. IMO, man was specifically created as a man. He probably looked different with physical appearance and stature changing over the centuries as a way of adapting to environment. Obviously, we continue to evolve. People are getting taller.
As a Christian, I don't know why fellow Christians have a problem with this. God created the concept of and process of evolution.
As a Christian, I don't know why fellow Christians have a problem with this. God created the concept of and process of evolution.
It ultimately comes down to making a decision as to what one chooses to believe. Personally, I choose to believe God is eternal (in both directions). I believe He made everything. As for the Biblical story of creation, my only question that I will ask God one day is "Why did you choose to take so long? Why not just snap your fingers and put everything in place in one day?"
As for how it was done, IMO, too many Christians get hung up on "majoring in the minors". The how, when, etc...does not really matter. The only thing that matters or should matter to a believer is the "Who".
Respectfully
I think the best answer to this is what does an infinite limitless being lack? He lacks, so to speak, limitation, so he creates according to His purpose a universe of limitation which creates the very idea of choice.
The caveat there i guess that is me (us) using finite mind to explain an infinite one using some form of reason, which by the answer I gave necessitates limitation. So to me, it's kind of a "reasonable" or "probable" answer, but not definitive as there are answers we cannot find and questions we don't even know are questions.
Otherwise we snap right into perfection without having to think or choose about anything, so there is some purpose to the imperfection, some reason for the creation of time itself.
Yeah Like the very elementary question: "If God knows what I will do, does that mean I'm predestined to do certain things?" My question: Since God is God, can He choose to NOT know something? Sounds like the kind of stuff my pot smoking college roommate and his buddies used to sit around and talk about. Maybe imperfection and the creation of time go together in some way as a form of God's grace.
If Kentucky evolved from Virginia why do we still have Virginia ???
We also have West Virginia, so not all evolution is good.
But that question implicitly places an eternal God into the space/time continuum of the observable universe. You can’t place omniscience into a 13.5 billion year old box or a 10,000 year old box.
13.5 billion years may well be a snap of the fingers for God.
Tough philosophical questions that frequently, even today, divide some Christians. Ultimately, an all powerful being must also have the power of choice. Has God chosen predestination?
An argument can be made either way, but ultimately, it is up to God.
Interestingly, the same question has arisen in astrophysics. The Big Bang was carefully tuned beyond the likelihood of mere chance, and one can hypothesize that every particle then belched out was belched out at a certain direction and speed. Some of these particles form your mind and body. Are we all living lives if apparent choice and freedom, when in fact everything, and I mean everything, was predestined?
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I'd bet when God said, "It's time to get started", there was a tremendous bang
What we know of space, matter and time all began at once: “And God said “Let there be light . . . .”