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Bill Nye calls Pope Francis' comments on evolution 'helpful'
Tech Times ^ | November 11, 2014 | Robin Burks

Posted on 11/11/2014 7:11:38 PM PST by Gamecock

Earlier this year, Nye took on creationist Ken Hamm in a debate pitting evolution against the idea that God created the Earth and everything in it without any outside scientific influence.

Nye speaks often about educating the U.S. on evolution, especially since nearly half of Americans believe, to some extent, in creationism. In his interview on CBS, Nye spoke about the fact that everyone believes in something, but that religion and science must remain separate.

"I mean, we all believe in something that we can't prove, I should hope, "" Nye says. So if you get the feeling and you have this community, that's great. But whatever you feel, the Earth is not 6,000 years old and there was not a flood with every tree on Earth underwater 4,000 years ago."

Nye also responded to Pope Francis' recent comments about God not being a magician and how evolution does not conflict with existing Christian belief systems. Nye called these statements "helpful."

"There are so many people comforted and get so much out of being in the community of Catholics," says Nye. "To have their head guy say we're going to join the mainstream of scientific thinking is good."

Finally, Nye also points out that creationists also deny climate change. He points out the headlines of the day, including a snowstorm in the Midwest.

Nye touched upon cloning, explaining that the key thing to remember is that "you don't want to clone yourself" because that would create a situation where you don't have a mix of genes going into the future.

Nye's next project might be a movie, something he hinted at during a recent Reddit AMA. The movie is about a "historical figure who changed the world by teaching himself mathematics." Speculation about that figure is underway, but whoever Nye is talking about, we're sure his fans will line up for movie tickets.


TOPICS: Current Events; General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: billnye; francis; godisnotmocked
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To: Gamecock

Bill who?.....


21 posted on 11/11/2014 8:57:46 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Gamecock
Earlier this year, Nye took on creationist Ken Hamm in a debate pitting evolution against the idea that God created the Earth and everything in it without any outside scientific influence.

To me, "... without any outside scientific influence" is a strange locution, in reference to God, Whom we may assume, from a conceptual standpoint, to be all encompassing.

My view is that Scientific Creationism, so called, is entirely unbiblical, and that an unbiased, not to say literal, reading of Genesis reveals a naturalistic process of creation mandated by the Will of God, as epitomized by the commandment of God to "let the earth bring forth grass". This seems to me very far from an intelligent designer contriving the creation of grass, considering that it is the earth that is said to bring it forth.

More generally, and from a personal standpoint, I would like to say that Science is in no way disconsonant with the tenor of Genesis when we consider the very tentative command that science presumes over nature.

I'm thinking in particular of my recent readings on the Dirac Equation, inspired by the reports on this forum of various ideas and theorems relating to Quantum Theory. I just felt like I should brush up, you know.

Basically, Dirac pulled his equation out of a hat, to speak euphemistically, and it stands not as a result, but as a source of results under various applications and manipulations, these results being so fruitful that the significance of the equation cannot be gainsayed.

Yet, the situation is such that we cannot but stand in marvel. We cannot make any claim to ultimate understanding, and so we must still stand in awe at God's Creation.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

22 posted on 11/11/2014 9:00:43 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: Viennacon

pretty much


23 posted on 11/11/2014 9:24:14 PM PST by Nifster
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To: Army Air Corps

I much prefer Bozo and Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob and Mr. Greenjeans and Captain Kangaroom


24 posted on 11/11/2014 9:25:50 PM PST by Nifster
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To: ScottfromNJ
The earth was ruined by the fall of Satan. The remaining verses after Genesis 1:2 describes God fixing and replenishing the earth and making things right again.

Not true! After 6 days, God saw that his creation was VERY GOOD meaning perfect in Gen 1:31. There is absolutely no break between Gen 1:1 and 1:20, to insinuate that evil or sin existed in 1:1 and that some form of creation and sin existed, and than was restored back to perfection in 1:2-31. Gen 1:1 describes the creation of matter created ex nihilo or out of nothing, and Gen 1:2-31 describes the sequence of creation following the creation of matter. Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven along with 1/3 of the angels, following the original creation.

25 posted on 11/11/2014 10:09:36 PM PST by rcrngroup
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To: Gamecock

This is why I really miss Mr. Wizzard. He would never act like this towards people of faith.

Nye is nothing but a bitter douche that hosted a cheap “science” show for kids in the 90s that depended on MTV style effects to fill for the lack of content.

So now all of the kids from then see him as some sort of science authority!

The moment Popular Science put him on the cover saying that he was on a mission to “save science”, they officially went on my lifetime ban list.


26 posted on 11/12/2014 3:38:48 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: dr_lew
The compatibility of science and scripture has been the orthodox view for a lot longer than Galileo. No one has quoted St. Augustine yet, which is obligatory in this discussion:

"Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field in which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although "they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion."

The orthodox view has always been that faith, reason, and science all seek truth, and that truth leads to God. There can be no real conflict among "truths" produced by different disciplines. If apparent conflicts arise, as they often do, this indicates that our understanding is imperfect and that one, both, or several of the disciplines involved need to recalibrate.

Assuming the unity of the good, or truth, every intellectual discipline serves to cross-check the others. This is why Christianity meshed so easily with Neo-Platonism. It is also why a broad-based liberal education is valuable. Narrow specialists can take wrong turns and burrow deep into error. It is desirable to surface regularly and take bearings from other disciplines offering insights into the same subjects.

Reconciliation of different disciplines and methodologies is not always easy, and a group of 16th century churchmen got in wrong for a time on Galileo. But contingent and transitory error doesn't change the underlying commitment to an open mind committed to right reason embracing all of the evidence.

27 posted on 11/12/2014 4:08:44 AM PST by sphinx
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To: WhistlingPastTheGraveyard
Not a scientist. A "science guy".

Bill Nye, the Science Guy...... LOL. I almost spit my coffee all over my computer screen.

28 posted on 11/12/2014 5:22:25 AM PST by piusv
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To: Gamecock

bill nye says we evolved from monkeys? OK science guy, where did the monkeys come from?


29 posted on 11/12/2014 5:45:08 AM PST by weezel
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To: rcrngroup

Incorrect. The Earth was not created by God in vain without form and void: Chaos followed when Lucifer was cast out of heaven with a third of the Angels.

Isaiah 45:18 -

“For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”

Jeremiah 4:23

“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light”


30 posted on 11/12/2014 6:39:06 AM PST by ScottfromNJ
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To: ScottfromNJ

I agree with all 3 of the passages you quoted. But the fall of Lucifer occurred AFTER the creation in Gen 1 & 2, and Satan then tempted Eve & seduced her to sin, and Adam followed by sinning & eating of the fruit as well. There is no break between Gen 1:1 & 1:2 that would indicate 2 separate creations.


31 posted on 11/12/2014 10:41:42 AM PST by rcrngroup
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To: rcrngroup

Jeremiah 4:23-28 describs the chaos and destruction that occurred sometime before Genesis 1:2. Note that as a result of this event there was no life remaining, unlike the Noah flood where Noah, his family and the animals on the Arc survived:

“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.”


32 posted on 11/12/2014 7:31:33 PM PST by ScottfromNJ
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