Posted on 09/13/2005 4:20:14 PM PDT by rob777
Sooner or later everyone asks the question, Where do we come from? The answer carries profound, life-molding implications. Until this question is answered we cannot solve another fundamental question that is key to ethics, religion, and the meaning of life (if any): Are we here for a purpose? There are two possible answers: the universe and life and its diversitynatural phenomenaare the product of 1) a combination of only natural laws and chance (the naturalistic hypothesis); or 2) a combination of law, chance, and designthe activity of a mind or some form of intelligence that has the power to manipulate matter and energy (the design hypothesis). The latter produces purpose, the former does not.
The naturalistic hypothesis is supported by theories of chemical evolution (with respect to the origin of the universe and of life) and by Darwinian evolution (with respect to the origin of the diversity of life). The design hypothesis is supported by the purposeful characteristics of exceedingly complex natural systems that are frequently described as fine tuned. Each hypothesis is densely laden with philosophical and religious baggage, and clear thinking is required in order to separate the
science from the philosophy, the evidence from the implications, and reality from imagination.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at intelligentdesignnetwork.org ...
How does a couple of passages from an old book make the creationists' position more "logical" than the atheists'?
And they are...?
It's that sort of thinking that would have eliminated the need to discover microscopic life. Ever heard of the (long discredited) "active principle" concept? It was an ideological cul-de-sac just like Intelligent Design. Fortunately, logical men like Louis Pasteur refused to accept that concept as a be-all, end-all answer for difficult questions and looked closer at the matter. It was from his Pasteur's refusal to accept pseudoscience as an answer that we now understand how microscopic organisms play a role in the world.
That's what scientists do. They don't accept nebulous answers. They keep looking, even when others insist there is no need to look further.
Leave science to answer "how" and theology to answer "why." Do not mix.
Animals don't eat rocks!
So when life first began...it required other life at the same time....and that life required life...
So did a whole ECOSYSTEM evolve all at once?
Unlikely
Please reply without insult.
Nice try. Circular reasoning. See: reasoning, circular.
You ask, what did first life live off of? Don't know. Evidence suggests that early (not necessarily the first) life did live and reproduce and evolve. We're here, aren't we? Whether I know how it happened or not is not relevant.
You say, animals don't eat rocks. When did animals first emerge? Plants essentially eat rocks, so could the first life have resembled plants more than animals?
I doubt it. The fossil record indicates that 99% of all life of this planet has long since been rendered extinct.
This is a pretty busy planet in terms of life. That speaks to a significantly long wind-up.
How did a living being live off nonliving matter?
Everything is non-living by the time it's ingested. When you get down to it, it's all a conversion of matter into energy through the breaking down of molecular matter. That's why, no matter what you eat, it all winds up in your bloodstream as glucose.
Heck, we even discovered a type of bacterium that lives in sulphurous water and eats the minerals out of rocks. We wouldn't have found it had it not been for Mount St. Helens blowing its stack and leaving a mess of those critters strewn about the mountainside.
If science hasn't taught you how it happened...maybe science needs help Designing an Intelligent explanationThat's not science. More like witchcraft.
Just because we do not understand a process does not make it "God did it."
But that is the argument we are getting. "Its too complex for our little pea brains so God did it."
This is a faith-based solution. No problem with that. Just don't use a lack of scientific evidence as proof of something in science, and then suggest that it be taught in schools.
I've asked this on previous threads, but never received an answer. What would an ID curriculum be in a science class? What would you include in your lesson plan? I've asked this but never received an answer.
In a science class what would you teach? Remember, you have to stick to facts and theories, with no faith-based solutions, shamans, revelation, divine intervention, tarot cards, astrology, black magic, biblical passages, aching bunions, or what the neighbors think.
And sniveling about what you think evolution does not explain does not constitute evidence. You're designing the lesson plan, what evidence do you have?
Science does not provide quick answers like faith does. It has taken us a few milinium to get this far in science.
I'm sorry, but I do not believe that an honest man could possibly draw your conclusions from the words in my post.
I would be happy to discuss your take on what I actually said. Unless and until you can do so, I see no point in wasting my time on your blather.
good arguments -you have them on the ropes... LOL
The designer is outside the box. It is in the box of time, space and material that it is obvious that a design requires a designer. The designer lives in the realm of eternity. He is a pure spirit, pure intellect, wisdom and energy. His reality and existence is different than ours is. It looks like we and everything consist because He says we do. The LORD said let there be light and there was light. Jesus is The Word and The Word became flesh. Everything is apparently made up of perfectly encoded information and He is the source of that information.
So God did make humans separate from other creatures! But that isn't what evolution says.
The answer is yes. Haven't you figured this out yet? Are you home schooled?
or Intelligent design, a powerful rationalization to soothe the minds.
And yet variation and selection continue to happen, right before our eyes.
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.