Origins TheologyForum for the discussion of Creation Science (Young/Old) vs Theistic Evolution. Discussion of Atheistic Evolution should be taken to the Discussion and Debate forums.
Sure, providing you do what all other scientists have done who have had their findings published in childrens text books. Please, come up with a hypothesis, research your hypothesis, publish your findings in a peer reviewed journal, allow your fellow scientists to critique your views, perform their own experiments on it to see if they come up with the same results, if not then I would advise you to go back to the lab, keep trying until you get something that other scientists can reproduce in their own labs, after that please take part in conferences and scientific conventions to present your ideas, this may take some time as in order to have information published in a text book it needs to be accepted by the majority of scientists - patience is a virtue here.
That this happens as you infer is pretty much a lie. See Expelled. That is not how Darwinism is studied and written about. Its not how creationism is evaluated. Unless you want to admit that Darwinism doesn't work in several fundamental areas, as Altenburg proves. But, the TEs are all too chicken to just face it.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
That this happens as you infer is pretty much a lie. See Expelled. That is not how Darwinism is studied and written about. Its not how creationism is evaluated. Unless you want to admit that Darwinism doesn't work in several fundamental areas, as Altenburg proves. But, the TEs are all too chicken to just face it.
What's "Darwinism"? Do you mean "evolution" or "neoDarwinism"? Because no one subscribes to Darwinism anymore. There's a difference, believe it or not.
And with all these recent appeals to the movie Expelled (which no one here has even seen yet, to my knowledge), I'm starting to wonder if the YECs here are aware that the door swings both ways:
Not to mention many of the evolutionary creationists who have been dismissed from the communion table for their beliefs. I make no bones about the fact that I was dismissed last year. I no longer held to the tenets of my church. If those martyred professors don't hold to the tenets of science, why should they expect to be kept on (and given tenure, for that matter)?
__________________ We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act.
That this happens as you infer is pretty much a lie. See Expelled. That is not how Darwinism is studied and written about. Its not how creationism is evaluated. Unless you want to admit that Darwinism doesn't work in several fundamental areas, as Altenburg proves. But, the TEs are all too chicken to just face it.
From a trailer of a film that hasn't been released you can with full authority state that the scientific process is a lie, well that's remarkable.
You do not know how Evolution is studied or wrote about, if you did then you would know that Evolutionary Biologists do not spend day after day confirming what is already known, you would know that they spend their time revising and improving our knowledge of Evolution and their findings get published and critiqued, and other scientists will do their own research and gradually, over time they win over the majority of scientists to get a consensus. This is how the scientific process works in all fields, geography, chemistry, biology and physics.
From a trailer of a film that hasn't been released you can with full authority state that the scientific process is a lie, well that's remarkable.
Eeeek! Good thing that's not what I did!
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Nonsense. Your books are cooked from the start. See Altenburg.
You go first and explain why your math rules out the "common designer" as the reason for the snow flake, the spin or quarks or your cilia. That is, show that your predictive model arises from a particular cause, not just that the calculation works from a given point of beginning.
Oh you can't or won't or don't like my question? Well, then i guess I win. (That is how we play this game, right? I am learning from you after all.)
Snowflakes are hexagonal because they were designed to be hexagonal, and because the tetrahedral arrangement of electron groups in a water molecule lends itself during hydrogen bonding to hexagonal arrangements far better than any other.
Electrons in atoms have spins because they were designed to have spins, and because applying the boundary conditions of a harmonic oscillator well on the wavefunction of an electron causes quantization of the z-magnetic moment.
Hadrons are made of quarks because they were designed to be made of quarks, and because quark triplets are one stable arrangement of quark-gluon combinations.
Cilia have variable filamentary structure because they were designed to have variable filamentary structure, and because they were diversified via evolution from their initial TSTS-like precursor.
See, the reason we take offense with ID is not because it has an intelligent design. It is not as if we want to look at the world and scour clean any trace possible of God. No, certainly not! God be praised in all ways for all things. Rather, we take offense with ID precisely because it prevents us from praising God in all ways for all things. For again, take a look at the way you posed that question:
Originally Posted by busterdog
You go first and explain why your math rules out the "common designer" as the reason for the snow flake, the spin or quarks or your cilia.
And take a look at the way I posed my question:
Originally Posted by busterdog
For example, given that an aquatic creature has scales and fins, and assuming that it is Intelligently Designed (and nothing else), what is the probability that it has gills?
Intelligent Design is scientifically useless even if the universe is intelligently designed for the simple reason that it doesn't predict anything, doesn't exclude anything, doesn't support anything, doesn't refute anything. The universe could be Intelligently Designed and be devoid of life (certainly seems intelligent considering all the damage humans have wrought), could be Intelligently Designed and have a biota that looks exactly like it evolved, could be Intelligently Designed and chock-full of hippogryphs, centaurs, unicorns and lightning-scarred wizards running around waving wands, could be Intelligently Designed and filled with swarms of nanomachines intent on remaking the universe into more copies of themselves, could be Intelligently Designed and ... whereas our biosphere, if indeed it evolved, can only look the way it is, with respect to the twin nested hierarchy and the observable characteristics of allele distribution and its change over time.
Furthermore, Intelligent Design believes that natural hypotheses and mechanistic explanations rule out an Intelligent Designer. Anything that evolved can't possibly be designed; therefore evolution tells us that there is no God and this materialistic nihilism must be countered with anything, even if it is with pseudo-scientific hogwash that has been admitted by its own founders to be on par with astrology. But see? They have prevented us from praising God in all ways for all things; it is no coincidence that ID publicly distances itself from Christianity and uses the offend-nobody term "Intelligent Designer" instead of "God". How can anything so ashamed of His name and His gospel ever help us praise Him? By contrast we see God as much in the mystery of evolution and an evolved biota as we would if we were surrounded by centaurs and mermaids; we are able to praise God under the microscope as we praise Him anywhere else - something that the ID people will never be able to do if their wedge is broken and they are proved wrong.
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And who that has understanding will suppose that the first, and second, and third day, and the evening and the morning, existed without a sun, and moon, and stars? - Origen, 215AD [De Principiis 4.1.16]
I don't think you are deluded, just mislead and on the wrong horse. I don't really know why you pursue this so zealously, nor do I care.
"Deluded" or "misled", you are really just playing with words and finding the most socially-acceptable way to tell me that I'm dead wrong and I don't know it.
I have a career ahead of me as a scientist; I am passionate to make it known that science and Christianity both intersect and do not want anyone to be turned away just because they got the impression from creationists that to be a Christian you must throw away everything of the empirical method and the advances it has brought us. In contrast, you write a lot for someone who doesn't care ...
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
In a word, 'Darwinism'.
It's you attack on Creationism that I think is ill founded. You say that you believe in this and that but I don't see you all the interested. I don't think the theistic evolution even qualifys as a heresy because it has no marks of theology of any kind. I don't know what you believe about God but I have often seen God defined in very different terms then I would recognized as traditional Christian theism. My problems are either Scriptural or Scientific, I don't blend the two.
That's right, I've often seen God defined in very different terms than I would have recognized as traditional Christian theism too! For example ClearSky has been spending half a thread telling me that God changes - wait, she's a creationist, no?
Clearly creationism is no guarantee of good theology, nor is theistic evolution any guarantee of bad theology. Why should my attack on creationism be ill-founded if I can be a Calvinist, Bible-believing Christian without it? If I can be all that without creationism then what good is it? Go ahead, ask me what you will about God. I am not convinced that you will find anything different from what you believe about God. As I have said before and will say again, I believe that I am inherently sinful as a human, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that His atoning sacrifice avails for the propitiation of my transgressions before God's righteous judgment because He has imputed His righteousness to me. What more can you ask from a Christian?
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
That's great that you survived the Darwinian attack on religious conviction which leads me to wonder why you attack fellow Christians with such a passion.
The only reason I survived the Darwinian attack on my religious conviction is because I was not convinced by Christians like you who would tell me that Darwin and Christ are incompatible. If I had taken the bait creationists set out I would not be a Christian today. Why do I fight creationism? So that more people will take the path I took.
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
That's right and I stand by that statement. I don't think you are as friendly to Christian theism as you pretend to be. There are just no many conflicts that arise when you just say, I believe it, so what? I have known people who believe the serpent in the garden was a literal snake. I generally listen politely to their thoughts and share what insights I can about it being a proper name. I certainly don't dog their steps and join the crowd in attacking them on nit picky points like you have done me in the past.
And yet, what are you doing right now? Not dogging my steps? Not attacking me on nit-picky points? I have already made clear my entire view of salvation and my approach towards reading the Bible; it doesn't sound half a bit different from what you do, really, and yet you insist that I am not as friendly to Christian theism as I pretend to be. If I am pretending to be a friend to Christian theism what can I actually be but an atheist wolf in sheepskin? Really, for someone who calls me a relentless attacker you ought to take a look at what you're saying about me ...
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
By the way, still think an uncorrected transcript error is not a mutation?
Sure, and if you can correct me, go ahead!
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
What you attack or reject in the privacy of your own thoughts is your buisness. What you do on these boards is simply to attack people and never without a group of supporters. I'm really not impressed with your statement of what you believe because I know how semantics work. If you really are as fundamentalist (Calvanists are die hard fundamentalists by the way) then you should understand that a literal understanding of Genesis is the most common interpretation.
Firstly - never without a group of supporters? Really. Just look back over this thread and tell me that I replied to your statement with "a group of supporters". MinervaMac and mallon only came later. If we're talking about genetics, sure, I don't want to be there without sfs or gluadys, since my area simply isn't biology and definitely not the intricacies of evolutionary population genetics. And hey, if people want to join in, I see no problem with it.
And who died and allowed you to define what a Calvinist is? Why can't a Calvinist accept evolution? Don't forget that many of Darwin's defenders were themselves Reformed theologians, including Bavinck and today John C. Collins.
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
Darwin certainly thought it was possible. The man was an agnostic his whole life and considered his view as not having any affect on a persons religion whatsoever. Still it is the seemingly benign aspects of Darwinism that makes it so dangerous and apparently you don't see the danger.
Then tell me what is wrong with my Christian worldview. Tell me what evolution has done to my beliefs other than, well, allowing me to accept evolution. Slippery slope arguments don't work on people who aren't falling.
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
First of all the burden of proof is on evolutionists, not me. I ask fundamental questions about the genetic mechanism for the most highly conserved genes affecting vital functions like the brain and there is no substantive response. The logical course would be to look at known genetic mechanisms for adaptive evolution but you guys can't even do that. Darwinians just keep chanting the mantra of 'mutations with beneficial affect' and it's absurd when looking at something as highly conserved as the human brain.
One other thing that has raised my incredulity to critical levels, you do the same thing to the Scriptures. When the text doesn't line up with your worldview you simply ignore it or distort the clear meaning. These generality neither confront me nor impress me, you forget, this isn't my first rodeo.
"High conservation" is simply the historical serendipity of not having had mutations; you've never shown us any "mechanisms" for genetic conservation either, so your case doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. Meanwhile, creationist baraminologists who try to use genetic criteria to separate out the various "created kinds" find that they can never biologically differentiate between apes and humans, and have to invoke a priori theological reasoning to make the cut. If you won't listen to us, perhaps you'll listen to them?
Originally Posted by mark kennedy
That is not special creation, there you go again.
Why not? God establishes a relationship with His creatures; that's the most special thing I could ever imagine.
__________________
And who that has understanding will suppose that the first, and second, and third day, and the evening and the morning, existed without a sun, and moon, and stars? - Origen, 215AD [De Principiis 4.1.16]
Snowflakes are hexagonal because they were designed to be hexagonal, and because the tetrahedral arrangement of electron groups in a water molecule lends itself during hydrogen bonding to hexagonal arrangements far better than any other.
Electrons in atoms have spins because they were designed to have spins, and because applying the boundary conditions of a harmonic oscillator well on the wavefunction of an electron causes quantization of the z-magnetic moment.
Hadrons are made of quarks because they were designed to be made of quarks, and because quark triplets are one stable arrangement of quark-gluon combinations.
Cilia have variable filamentary structure because they were designed to have variable filamentary structure, and because they were diversified via evolution from their initial TSTS-like precursor.
See, the reason we take offense with ID is not because it has an intelligent design. It is not as if we want to look at the world and scour clean any trace possible of God. No, certainly not! God be praised in all ways for all things. Rather, we take offense with ID precisely because it prevents us from praising God in all ways for all things. For again, take a look at the way you posed that question:
And take a look at the way I posed my question:
Intelligent Design is scientifically useless even if the universe is intelligently designed for the simple reason that it doesn't predict anything, doesn't exclude anything, doesn't support anything, doesn't refute anything. The universe could be Intelligently Designed and be devoid of life (certainly seems intelligent considering all the damage humans have wrought), could be Intelligently Designed and have a biota that looks exactly like it evolved, could be Intelligently Designed and chock-full of hippogryphs, centaurs, unicorns and lightning-scarred wizards running around waving wands, could be Intelligently Designed and filled with swarms of nanomachines intent on remaking the universe into more copies of themselves, could be Intelligently Designed and ... whereas our biosphere, if indeed it evolved, can only look the way it is, with respect to the twin nested hierarchy and the observable characteristics of allele distribution and its change over time.
Furthermore, Intelligent Design believes that natural hypotheses and mechanistic explanations rule out an Intelligent Designer. Anything that evolved can't possibly be designed; therefore evolution tells us that there is no God and this materialistic nihilism must be countered with anything, even if it is with pseudo-scientific hogwash that has been admitted by its own founders to be on par with astrology. But see? They have prevented us from praising God in all ways for all things; it is no coincidence that ID publicly distances itself from Christianity and uses the offend-nobody term "Intelligent Designer" instead of "God". How can anything so ashamed of His name and His gospel ever help us praise Him? By contrast we see God as much in the mystery of evolution and an evolved biota as we would if we were surrounded by centaurs and mermaids; we are able to praise God under the microscope as we praise Him anywhere else - something that the ID people will never be able to do if their wedge is broken and they are proved wrong.
Interesting. Going to take some thought to respond.
The underlying assumptions about where one is going and what one is resisting require much sifting.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Last edited by busterdog; 2nd April 2008 at 02:00 PM.
Interesting. Going to take some thought to respond.
The underlying assumptions about where one is going and what one is resisting require much sifting.
Oh, take your time. It's probably going to end up being placed two posts above mine or something anyway so it will look like you responded to me even before you saw what I wrote. ^^
__________________
And who that has understanding will suppose that the first, and second, and third day, and the evening and the morning, existed without a sun, and moon, and stars? - Origen, 215AD [De Principiis 4.1.16]
Oh, take your time. It's probably going to end up being placed two posts above mine or something anyway so it will look like you responded to me even before you saw what I wrote. ^^
The thread is "self-organizing."
I am working on a reply with Mark Kennedy.
We are back to a familiar, bedrock debate. It is the philosophical position one takes on Bayesian logic and just-because-it-is-ism.
Maybe time for a new thread.
Assuming that you are still with us at that time, that will mean that you were not crushed by an asteroid. Does that mean you were lucky, that your relationship to space is one that self-organizes, or that God loves you? Or that God would prefer to subject you to a slower and more horrible death at a later time?
Dawkins uses Bertrand Russell's teapot atheism, which I think is the same problematic logic.
We are talking about causes and relationships as remote and unknown as Russell's teapot. I think Dawkins and Russell betray genuine intellectual inferiority on this point, quite frankly. There is some elegance to it, but I think the Bible rightly calls this just plain foolish.
And let's put it this way: before we get to the question of whether the logical problem supports Darwinism or the exclusion of ID, let's see if we can't get a handle on the logical problems of atheism.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Last edited by busterdog; 4th April 2008 at 10:13 AM.