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What are the Weaknesses of Evolution?

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FishFace

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I know, but that doesn't make one a relative to a butter bean, because their DNA happens to be close. It is not the closness that matters but the minute difference in the DNA that makes humans, human & chimps nothing more than chimps.

Did you read my explanation of the patterns in human chromosome 2? They prove as nearly as possible in science that humans are descended from apes. There is no other explanation.
 
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Inan3

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If the bible is the literal word of god, what do you make of these passages:

For one to understand the meaning of these passages one would have to also understand the history and relationship God had with the Israelites. I won't get into that but it is important to bring some of it out to explain the scriptures that you have pointed out. I am going to try to keep it as brief as possible.

It needs to be understood that God wanted a people who would serve Him willingly and trust in Him and He would provide all their needs. He wanted to have a relationship with them. But Israel wanted to do things their own way, they wanted to do things the way others did them. They wanted a king to rule over them and they wanted the rules to go by rather than knowing God. There were times God wanted nothing more to do with them but because of the promises that He had made with Abraham and David He stood by them and kept them but gave them the Law and what was required of them. They agreed to abide by these things.

These passages were guidelines for them to follow not because He wanted slaves and captive marriages but because He wanted them (when they did these things) to treat the slaves and women right.




A little more background the Israelites were in covenant with God and they were NOT supposed to mix with the other nations and peoples of the land because these people lived contrary to the covenant that was between God and Israel. Others were free to join the Israelites and serve their God but not the other way around.

In the following passage the Lord commanded Moses to show hostility to the Midianites, and smite them, because of the stratagem which they had practised upon the Israelites by tempting them to idolatry. See Numbers 25. The women were involved in this scheme. They were as wicked as the men. Israel was also punished for taking part in this sin.

Num 25:17 Vex the Midianites, and smite them:
Num 25:18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.




So, slavery and forced amrriage of captured women is acceptable.

As is the murder of women and children becaused god said so.

Literal truth guys - something must be wrong here.

What is wrong is the way we perceive things. When seen for what it was it is more clear and understandable.
 
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Inan3

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I know, but that doesn't make one a relative to a butter bean, because their DNA happens to be close. It is not the closness that matters but the minute difference in the DNA that makes humans, human & chimps nothing more than chimps.

 
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The Bellman

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Here you misunderstand the difference between simile and metaphor. Likening something to something else is simile; saying something is something else (which it obviuosly isn't) is metaphor.

For example:

"Jesus is like a door" - simile.

"Jesus is a door" - metaphor.

In your example above, if something is likened to the fall of Lucifer, that would be simile. For example (a hypothetical one) "He will fall as Lucifer fell!" is a simile.

So statements that Jesus is a door or a vine are metaphor, not simile. They are not taken literally by anyone - there are no absolute biblical literalists. There are just people who disagree about which bits of the bible are metaphorical, symbolic, or literal.
 
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BigDug

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I have some notes about your referenced thread, which was well presented and thoughtful. Also it was very clear, showed an overall tendency to avoid subjectivity, and steer clear of all the normal rhetoric associated with these types of discussions.

So I'm going to quote pieces of that document first. In case anyone wants to read the original, it is located HERE

Your are right about "detailed" creationist explanations being on the scarce to nil side.

A.C.E. (A Creationists' Explanation)
The basic model is that a shorter period of mutation exists. Creationists believe that there were major environmental changes which occured after mankinds' expulsion from the garden. According to the Bible, not only would there be a huge environmental difference from Eden to non-Eden, but God's resultant curse upon the earth produced major changes also.The further cataclysmic event of the flood would also account for some major environmental changes which would seriously shake up a gradual continuum.

Basically the creationist explanation would be that all living things started in a place of genomic perfection(The garden of Eden) and became mutated through the process of time and cataclysmic events.



The scientific question then is this: Do genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees look like they are the result of lots of accumulated mutations?
Both the A.C.E. above and a period of millions of years would show results of accumulated mutation, the only question that remains is how to determine how much time actually has passed.

What predictions about the differences can one make, based on the hypothesis that they are all the result of mutation?
One prediction you would be able to make is that genetic mutations along certain strands of dna in chimps should appear in the same exact places of humans. That seems like a very observable experiment. I haven't yet heard any evidence supporting this seemingly obvious point.

For starters, we should be able to predict how different the genomes should be. The seven million years of evolution in each lineage represents about 350,000 generations in each (assuming 20 years per generation).]
Alright, this brings up a whole bevy of questions Ill just have to supress right now as being irrelevant to your paper but I nevertheless would be interested in starting another seperate line of inquiry at some other time.

By studying new cases of genetic diseases, individuals whose parents' do not have the disease, however, it is possible to identify and count new mutations, at least in a small number of genes.--Thats interesting
This is a clever method, very interesting.

I assume this is the Kondrashov work? Are you aware that he has indicated this number to be closer to 300 new mutations in personal conversations?(beside the point I suppose)

OK. I admit that this shows a correlation, but only that these two species have had similar genetic pressures against them over the course of time, an as yet unproven amount of time.

This doesn't take into account any other creatures that might have the same type of mutational patterns found within their own genomes.

It also stands to reason that their could have been global pressures resulting in similar mutational patterns among creatures with similar genomes.

It also fails to associate a lineage of creatures which would have alleged predated the chimp. Take your same rate of mutation and follow it back 100 million years to whatever creature was directly in our alleged evolutionary line at the time, that same creature should have demonstratable, observable amounts of mutations which obey your given rate of mutation.

The simple point is that there should be a widespread connection between the numbers of mutations among not just many creatures, but all creatures, and a crocidile, which has survived so long, should have many more mutations.

I am digressing, but only because this data really seems to ask more questions than it answers, which is a trend I am finding all throughout evolutionary theory.

I dont see what this as strong evidence, I definitely see it as supporting evidence though...feel free to correct what you think may be some misunderstanding of mine, Im well aware that a lot of educated people spent and are spending their lives coming up with this data and its foundations, I am certainly not trying to discredit any of that work or any of those people, and I trust the data itself, Im just haveing trouble with the interpretation of that data.

So I hope you understand my point, I think the data is good, I appreciate the document you wrote, I appreciate the amount of work that went into the findings, ...however I interpret them differently.

OK. Ill go Back to my post...

Probably the existence of good genes that resulted from mutation gave him the idea.
Probably the word "good" should be replaced by "creative" because as far as I know, no gene has been found to unambiguously have created information.

Scientists have been looking for information creating mutations for decades, if one had been found it would be absolutely filling all the pages of literature.


There have certainly been mutations which were regarded as "good", so I probably should have used a better word there, but "good" in the sense that broken things can be sometimes. Like a broken car alarm can be "good" because it produces a "desirable" result(for some of us)--but yet they still represent a breakdown.





I can accept the number 200. I have heard other data from a variety of sources, but I don't have a need or desire to be definite about something so vague. I'd rather be safe than sorry, but I am still learning all I can so until I have better references I'll just tentatively accept 200.

For the last point I want to reference an earlier point you had glossed over in your other thread, and thereby begin to make my case for genetic entropy.

Population geneticists know that mutations are strongly skewed towards neutral, I have a lot of points about this but since i am a new linux user(real new), Im still trying to figure out how to get graphics up on my website, because Id like to start out my own points with some pictures, specifically Kimura's gamma distribution curve for mutation distribution.

So Ill figure it out tonight and be back some time within the next 24 hours.
 
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Inan3

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Well it wouldn't be the first time that the courts ruled wrongly. I watched about half of this but without Professor Behe there to counter explain one couldn't really make an impartial judgement.

As stated before being a theist makes no difference either way now does it? Thesists have been wrong before haven't they.
 
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Skaloop

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You really don't get that? It's pretty simple. Creationism doesn't rule it out genetic similarities, but it doesn't say they should be there, either. In which case, its predictive ability on this is essentially zero.
 
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Inan3

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But as said before it really doesn't matter. You can't take it away from the scriptures whether it is a metaphor a simile or literal. You can't add to it or take from it. So for some so-called-Christians to agree to do that is proof that they are not Christians because a Christian follows Christ who would never do that.

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
 
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Skaloop

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But if something is not to be taken literally, then as a metaphor it is open to interpretation. Which means everyone reading the Bible with even a hint of non-literality (including you) is adding their own perceptions to it.
 
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Inan3

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You really don't get that? It's pretty simple. Creationism doesn't rule it out genetic similarities, but it doesn't say they should be there, either. In which case, its predictive ability on this is essentially zero.

All that there is to Life is not science. It is only one small part.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Indian folktale retold in poetic form by Godfrey Saxe

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant,
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! But the elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho! What have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis very clear,
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is might plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree."

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most:
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan."

The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a rope."

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong.
Though each was partly right,
All were in the wrong.
 
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Inan3

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But if something is not to be taken literally, then as a metaphor it is open to interpretation. Which means everyone reading the Bible with even a hint of non-literality (including you) is adding their own perceptions to it.

Okay, Skaloop, What's your perception?

Joh 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Joh 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
 
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Skaloop

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Yeah, that doesn't address anything. And doesn't have anything to do with my point.
 
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The Bellman

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None of that is even at issue, since accepting that something is a metaphor doesn't add to or take away from it. You accept that the bible contains metaphor; you thus do not take it all literally (like every other so-called 'literalist'). The only issue, then, is what parts are metaphor and what parts are literal. Most christians hold that the opening chapters of Genesis are metaphorical; you disagree. That does not make them wrong and you right; it means you disagree.
 
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Inan3

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Creationism: God created the earth 6000 years ago.

You can not make any predicts from that. You can put just about anything under that one statement though.

I don't know if this is what "creationism" teaches or not. But I do know that it is what God teaches. God has given us the way it happened. I am sure there was much more to it than just these words but it is what God wanted us to know about it. I also know that beyond these words are much deeper meanings. It is the search of their meanings that brings life. Ask and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Seek and you shall find.

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Gen 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which [were] under the firmament from the waters which [were] above the firmament: and it was so.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry [land] Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Gen 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
 
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Inan3

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Knowing the definition of Metaphor show me the metaphoric language in Gen 1-11
 
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Skaloop

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Yeah, except it didn't happen the way God says it did. Not by any measure.
 
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