Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

YES, EVOLUTION STILL HAS UNANSWERED QUESTIONS; THAT'S HOW SCIENCE IS
WSJ ^ | June 3, 2005 | Sharon Begley

Posted on 08/21/2005 1:18:04 AM PDT by MRMEAN

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 401-420421-440441-460 ... 501-511 next last
To: GoLightly
We do it all the time -- it's called "war."

Does the killing of the outsider benefit your society by wiping out a threat to it, or endanger it by bringing the force of the other society to bear against your's? In this we see that societies exist in "super" societies (societies of societies), and an individual's actions on this scale will affect whole societies.

421 posted on 08/22/2005 8:11:15 AM PDT by Junior (Just because the voices in your head tell you to do things doesn't mean you have to listen to them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 418 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
"Looks like you didn't read what I said. God knows everything and can do anything. He made us imperfect knowing that he would be sending a large number of us to Hell.

I read what you said perfectly. That's why I made the post. Your statement is an illogical construction, that portrays falsehood. Seems you have a problem understanding Free will. God is not an authoritarian as you seem to prefer, or would you just prefer puppets and robots?

" As for Man being in God's image, does God have a tail bone for a tail he no longer has too? :)

Yes.

422 posted on 08/22/2005 8:45:44 AM PDT by spunkets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 419 | View Replies]

To: Junior
We do it all the time -- it's called "war."

Indeed. I was talking about killing one individual occasionally. Someone hunts for pleasure & crosses over the border to recreate.

Does the killing of the outsider benefit your society by wiping out a threat to it, or endanger it by bringing the force of the other society to bear against your's?

My recreation hunter only targets the other society's useless eaters, people like unattached bums or the overly greedy, those who have amassed an unfair share of a societies resources. The other society ascribes to the same morality & benefits your society in the same way...

In this we see that societies exist in "super" societies (societies of societies), and an individual's actions on this scale will affect whole societies.

No doubt.

423 posted on 08/22/2005 8:47:32 AM PDT by GoLightly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 421 | View Replies]

Placemarker
424 posted on 08/22/2005 8:48:52 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. The List-O-Links is at my homepage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 422 | View Replies]

To: spunkets
Seems you have a problem understanding Free will. God is not an authoritarian as you seem to prefer

Only people with no imagination find Free Will to be a trouble free concept. As for God being a totalitarian, this is an irrelevant concept when applied to an entitity capable of creating an existence of which he knows everything, past, present and future. The concept of time for such an entity would not be in any way equivalent to ours. And having created the past, present and future, it is all his.

425 posted on 08/22/2005 8:55:25 AM PDT by js1138 (Science has it all: the fun of being still, paying attention, writing down numbers...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 422 | View Replies]

To: spunkets

"I read what you said perfectly. That's why I made the post. Your statement is an illogical construction, that portrays falsehood."

Show how it's false; saying so doesn't cut it. God is omnipotent and omniscient. God created us imperfect, knowing that many would go to hell BECAUSE he made us imperfect. That is evil.

"" As for Man being in God's image, does God have a tail bone for a tail he no longer has too? :)"



"Yes."


He does? LOL He descended from an ape like us?


426 posted on 08/22/2005 8:56:56 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 422 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
God created us imperfect, knowing that many would go to hell BECAUSE he made us imperfect. That is evil.

Why is that evil? Most instances of hell in the Bible can better be translated as "grave", the big ol' eternal dirt nap.

427 posted on 08/22/2005 9:06:25 AM PDT by GoLightly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 426 | View Replies]

To: GoLightly
" Why is that evil?"

Because according to the Bible, we are getting punished for God's mistakes. He was the one who made us susceptible to sin, even though he knew what would happen to each of us and he could have done something about it. That is the epitome of evil.
428 posted on 08/22/2005 9:18:55 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 427 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
Romans 9: 17“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

God gets to do what He wants. He's just awesome that way.

429 posted on 08/22/2005 9:22:50 AM PDT by biblewonk (A house of cards built on Matt 16:18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 428 | View Replies]

To: Cvengr
"Portrait... I'm not sure of your meaning.

The word was chosen by someone else, but it refers to portrayal.

"The garden of Eden has been allegorized by some in order to avoid controversy between evolution and creation, although other problems arise with this tactic."

The figures are not fictional, but the events of the parable are. The garden itself is simply the stage of the parable, the tree of life represents the possibility of a fast track to eternal life in paradise, by theft.

The fast track itself to eternal life was never to be given. There was no physical tree of life, the garden was not in Iraq and neither is the cherubim waving the flaming sword barring the way back to the garden.

Matt 13:10-17
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"

1He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:

"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'[Isaiah 6:9-10]
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Matthew 13:34
"Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable."

Jesus is the God of the OT. He is the One in the garden.

430 posted on 08/22/2005 9:38:56 AM PDT by spunkets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 413 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
Placemarker

Boring, eh?

431 posted on 08/22/2005 9:41:49 AM PDT by balrog666 (A myth by any other name is still inane.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 424 | View Replies]

To: Abogado
Trying to hide behind "rules" when you post nothing of value in an attempt to attack evolution doesn't make you right. You posted nonsense. It looked like you were grasping at straws to attack evolution from any angle you could find, except that everything you offered was incoherent nonsense. Suggesting that time dilation poses a problem for evolution makes you look desperate, not insightful, and now that you try to hide behind some artifical rules to make it look like we are being unreasonable for not giving your nonsense the time of day only further establishes you as a crackpot.

Come up with something of substance and we will address it. Trying to throw out a load of pseudoscience babble disguised as a legitimate critique, however, won't fool anyone.

"Where to begin? First, how about if you stop trying to re frame the issue: From the original post:"

Where is anyone trying to re-frame an issue? If anyone is trying to use redirection it is you; instead of supplying an argument of any substance you insist on using your 'rules' in an obvious attempt to link communism, as a representative of extremism, to those on the evo side of the debate. The link you are attempting to make is irrelevant to the subject of evolution.

"There is generally not a problem with evolution as offered to explain a mechanism for adaption within a specific biologic range. However,the problem with the "evolution" you push is that it is not evolution, it is evothiesm; which is a political-based agenda indistinguishable in effect from an extremist religion.

This is simply an assertion. Let's see some concrete evidence of this.

As far as your 'rules' go, you will have to prove that their use is limited to extremists. You will also have to prove the existence of an extremist philosophy of evotheism. Once you've done that, then it is up to you show where, when and by whom this extremism is being invoked.

"Second, was this premise which proved true:

"It is anticipated that the evotheisits who do respond will attempt misdirection, straw man, ad homin attacks and will attempt to re-frame the issue.

This 'premise' can also be applied to you original post, as it can to many creationist posts, and many ID posts. I hope you are not trying to use this as proof of extremism.

"Third, the issue was stated as:

"The issue here, however, is the fact that certain aspects of astrophysics and quantum mechanics conflict with major premises of the "science" of evotheisim.Astrophysics and quantum mechanics are by their nature more credible then evothiesm and its proponents.

Your response?

My response is that this is an assertion and has no substance. If you want a response, back you assertion up with specifics and evidence. So far you have done neither. Where and how does Astrophics and quantum mechanics conflict with evotheism (which still needs to be proved, btw).

"Fourth, in a classic rope-a-dope tactic, the original post intentionally baited those trained in the Marxist political sciences to respond:

In other words you are trying to minimise the impact of your own use of the 'rules'.

"The major problem with evothiesm is that both its message and many of its messengers lack credibility. The message source appears to be originally from Marxists, communists, atheists, civilization parasites, nihilists, politicians with agendas, the lawyers representing them, etc.

An attempt to poison the well. Nice debate tactic, too bad it's so transparent.

"The original 25 rules of disinformation were - coincidently - authored and distributed by Marxists for Marxists. Also coincidentally, all of the "we" responses to the original post here appear to be have been and continue to be merely knee-jerk Marxist political science debate tactics. Thus, at least circumstantially, the anticipated responses have shown at minimum a Marxist influence involved in the arguments related to the expansion of the evolution into the political agenda driven evothiesm.

Since you've shown that you have the ability to and do use those 'rules' this same argument can be applied to you, as well as the creationists and IDers. Either the 'rules' are used by everybody during arguments, therebye making your use of them as proof of 'Communist extremeism' invalid, or virtually everyone on the forum is a Marxist trained in the use of the '25 rules of disinformation. This is unprovable without your 'rules' and a tautological argument, therefore your argument is invalid.

"Fifth, your response here was nothing more than misdirection, straw man, ad homin attacks and [an] attempt to re-frame the issue.

There has to be an issue to be re-framed. You made an assertion with nothing to back it up, making your issue into a non-issue. Had you been specific, and at least shown some examples with definitions, the responders would have had something to respond to.

"When you can provide a response sufficient to survive a Daubert challenge, then you can claim some authority and credibility.

Why is that a necessity, other than your demand for it to be so?

You are aware that there are many posters here who are experts in one or more related fields of evolution?

432 posted on 08/22/2005 9:45:06 AM PDT by b_sharp (Science adjusts theories to fit evidence, creationism distorts evidence to fit the Bible.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 324 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
Because according to the Bible, we are getting punished for God's mistakes.

Cite the chapter & verse where it says we are punished for God's mistakes.

He was the one who made us susceptible to sin, even though he knew what would happen to each of us and he could have done something about it.

He forgives us for our sins if we repent. It is up to each of us to choose to repent & experience the reward of eternal life with Him. If we had no choice in it, what would justify giving us that reward?

That is the epitome of evil.

Your complaint seems to be that of a child, "I didn't ask to be born".

433 posted on 08/22/2005 9:45:32 AM PDT by GoLightly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 428 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
"Show how it's false; saying so doesn't cut it. God is omnipotent and omniscient. God created us imperfect.

I told you htat your construction was illogical.

Gen 1:26-27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

John 10:33-39
"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'[Psalm 82:6]? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

"LOL He descended from an ape like us?"

He peed in the bushes too.

Your problem still lies in comprehending Free will, having to work at your choices and responsibility. Folks were given the powers of God to make these decisions.

434 posted on 08/22/2005 10:03:19 AM PDT by spunkets
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 426 | View Replies]

To: GoLightly
" Cite the chapter & verse where it says we are punished for God's mistakes."

God knows everything and can do anything. Before he made Man, he knew that Man would not be able to do what he commanded, that he would be weak. If this is denied, then God is not omniscient. God, knowing that Man was destined for sin, made him that way anyway. If God had no choice, then he is not omnipotent.

God choose to make us imperfect and had the nerve to judge us for the mistakes we made because God screwed up our nature. That is evil. The concept of original sin is evil. The idea that a baby is born with sin is evil.

" He forgives us for our sins if we repent."

When does he get to repent for his sins?

" Your complaint seems to be that of a child, "I didn't ask to be born"."

I am in agreement with Einstein, who said it better than I could have,

""I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms."
-- Albert Einstein, quoted in The New York Times obituary, April 19, 1955; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Thoughts, New York: Ballantine Books, 1996, p. 134.
435 posted on 08/22/2005 10:07:13 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 433 | View Replies]

To: biblewonk
" God gets to do what He wants. He's just awesome that way."

What a very anthropomorphic image of God. Very quaint.
436 posted on 08/22/2005 10:09:43 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 429 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman

Childlike even.


437 posted on 08/22/2005 10:16:24 AM PDT by biblewonk (A house of cards built on Matt 16:18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 436 | View Replies]

To: biblewonk

"Childlike even."

More childish than childlike.


438 posted on 08/22/2005 10:20:18 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is a grandeur in this view of life...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 437 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman

There's no such thing. You have to atleast understand the words.


439 posted on 08/22/2005 10:22:47 AM PDT by biblewonk (A house of cards built on Matt 16:18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 438 | View Replies]

To: CarolinaGuitarman
God knows everything and can do anything.

He can.

Before he made Man, he knew that Man would not be able to do what he commanded, that he would be weak.

He knew man wouldn't, not that he couldn't. God trusts man more than you do.

If this is denied, then God is not omniscient.

You see anyone denying it?

God, knowing that Man was destined for sin, made him that way anyway.

Yes, He did. Again, "I didn't ask to be born".

If God had no choice, then he is not omnipotent.

He had a choice. You have a choice too & you don't need to be omnipotent to have it.

God choose to make us imperfect and had the nerve to judge us for the mistakes we made because God screwed up our nature.

He made us perfect. We had other ideas about it, because we thought it would make us His equal.

That is evil.

By who's measure, yours?

The concept of original sin is evil. The idea that a baby is born with sin is evil.

We all sinned before we were born into this life.

When does he get to repent for his sins?

He hasn't sinned & has nothing for which to repent.

I am in agreement with Einstein, who said it better than I could have,

""I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism."

That is it in a nutshell. You can't imagine God in any way, other than the way in which you make Him. Talk about a ridiculous egotism.

440 posted on 08/22/2005 10:43:23 AM PDT by GoLightly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 435 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 401-420421-440441-460 ... 501-511 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson