Are these data showing that creationism is hurting Christianity?

Hairy Tic · Jan 15, 2011

shernren said:
How do you know that?

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1Thess 4:16-17, ESV)

Doesn't sound very gravitational to me.

Right. Excellent questions to ask. But first notice that you are presupposing that "particles of matter are attracted to each other", or that "Gravity is a given". What you are doing is to notice that there are regularities in nature, and then asking whether these regularities themselves need an explanation.

So consider the following possible statements:

A. "Gravity makes apples fall to the ground. Um, yeah."
B. "God uses gravity to make apples fall to the ground."
C. "God makes apples fall to the ground."

I've got two questions:

1. Would there be any possible experiment you could perform to distinguish statement A from statement B?

2. Is statement B more accurate than statement C? Why, or why not?

As you answer these questions, you will probably be helping yourself to answer your own questions as well.

If God can be a cause in physics, it is not clear why Baal and other gods cannot be causes in physics. Why is there thunder ? Because Zeus is angry. Why is there a Milky Way ? Because Hera spilt some milk while suckling Herakles.

If God can be the cause of apples moving, it is not clear why angels cannot be the causes of the motions of the planets.

If the scientific method, is to be scientific it can't admit gods and their works. It must be naturalistic. Otherwise it becomes a branch of theology. And that raises the danger of there being religious tests for admission to the body of qualified scientists. The problem is:whose theology ? Which gods ?

Hairy Tic · Jan 15, 2011

mark kennedy said:
You think mocking the blessed hope of the resurrection and reunion of the church with Christ returning in power and glory is funny? Seriously?

## If science & theology are conflated & confused, it is perfectly reasonable to ask questions about the temperature of Hell, the possibility that the Rapture might interfere with the flight-paths of planes, the storage of dinosaur waste on the Ark, & the velocity at which Christ ascended.

That such questions are ridiculous, comes from that confusion - they belong to the same world as questions about how the human race is to be judged, if it is judged in the Vallkey of Jehoshaphat.

shernren · Jan 15, 2011

mark kennedy said:
You think mocking the blessed hope of the resurrection and reunion of the church with Christ returning in power and glory is funny? Seriously?

If our physical bodies are lifted into the air at Christ's return, doesn't that sound exactly like the kind of situation where gravity, contrary to what Servant of Jesus said, is not "a given"?

I was trying to point out that physical regularities are just that - regularities. Figuring out whether they are "a given" or not belongs in the realm of philosophy, not science, and supernatural data does weigh in on such considerations.

But hey, far be it from a TE like me to make a post that isn't heretical in some way. (Unless the TE in question is gluadys, in which case you have no issues with even a completely figurative Adam ... )

Are these data showing that creationism is hurting Christianity?

Hairy Tic

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Hairy Tic

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shernren

you are not reading this.

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Are these data showing that creationism is hurting Christianity?

Hairy Tic

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shernren

you are not reading this.

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