Hello Phospho
When you said Middle-Earth Creation, I thought you were talking about Lord of The Rings, LOL. I do not think there was an actual Adam and Eve or Garden of Eden. I believe that Genesis is a mythical creation story and that chapters 1-11 were not ever intended to be taken literally. The theological truths are separate from the literal history, IMO.
Hello Stumpjumper...
Unfortunately for some, what they believe is in error...not that I am trying to be rude or anything. I once believed in monsters, then when I grew up and grew in accurate knowledge between what is fact and what is not fact, the monsters disapeared. The first 11 chapters of Genesis were written as quite literal, which was never seriously doubted until the advent of secular theologians...(secular theologians...what a thought!) and their efforts at disclaiming Scripture. No, hermenuetical study demonstrates, along with peripheral evidence from the Ebla Tablets and others, that the Genesis account is quite historical. Check out BAR on line for a plethora of historical evidence.
Well even many evolutionary theologians will state that it is Gods action that has created and allowed complexity and purpose that we find in nature.
Is this a new religion? What is an "evolutionary theologian?"
God is as much Creator today as he was at the time of the Big Bang but the method of creation is insignificant it is our source that truly matters.
I agree to a certain extent. The historical veracity of scripture has been unearthed and attested to now for the last hundred years, it is quite trustworthy. In other words, the attacks by so-called liberal theologians on scripture that it has been messed with by man, things have been added or subtracted, are all false claims. Either God can write holy writ through the hands of men and then preserve that Word by His power, or He isn't God.This means that when God says He spoke things into existence, He literally spoke things into existence.
The Big Bang is not really scientifically doubted anymore. But our investigation of the universe suggests that the Big Bang happened about 13 billion years ago not 10,000 or 20,000.
While I understand the physics part of cosmology, which is where most (if not all) the evidence of the Anthropic Principle hails from, I do not see the forth right evidences for the age of the universe. I am not saying that I believe that it is 10 - 20 thousand years...or even 50 thousand, again, we don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden, and our concept of generational time cannot begin until they left the garden because they had not children until after they were kicked out.
Saying that, I need to follow up with this: most of the cosmological "evidences" for the age of the universe I find wanting big-time, as they are based upon speculations and mechanics that we cannot possibly know FOR SURE that they are correct. For example, how do we know how far away a galaxy is from us? It was explained to me by a cosmologist that they take a photo of the galaxy in question from one point in our orbit, then six months later they take another photo and use these to triangulate the distance...the only flaw with this is the fact that the galaxy we are photographing is also in motion. How many millions of miles has that galaxy moved while we were in our six month travels?
I find that scientists many times get caught up in the sway of things and believe that they can know anything or do anything, forgetting that they are finite and our methods of scientific discovery are sometimes anything but accurate. Unless we are there, or can be there to measure for sure and be able to measure things for a certainty (I can measure for a certainty an inch with my ruler - can we ACTUALLY and with CERTAINTY measure the so-called speed of light? I don't think so, how can you measure something that is almost instantaneous to our finite perception?), we have no way of knowing IN TRUTH what the answer to the question is.
Also, extinct hominins and transitional fossils disprove a recent, unique special creation.
Extinct humans...like Piltdown Man, or Nebraska Man? Or how about Lucy, a few scanty bones that did not even add up to 1/8 of the creature? Or how about the various remains that have been found that were thought to be great ages but instead discovered to be diseased, and so gave illusions of great age (I must admit, I cannot for the life of me remember the name they were given, I can't even remember where they were found). All such "extinct human" forms where originally claimed to be one thing or another in an attitude of scientific racing games (to discover some great thing and get your name in the scientific lime light) only to be later dubbed either full ape or full human with physical ailments of one kind or another under closer scrutiny. Of course, these blatent blunders are never reported in the news or in other public means, and is sometimes even hard to find in scientific journals.
As for "transitional fossils" I have heard of none that can not be placed in either all ready existing specie families (because they are not transitional, they are sister species just not yet discovered), or they belong to mosaic species, such as the platypus or feathered dinosaurs.
You seem like you have done a great deal of research unfortunately there is plenty of information that contradicts your above claims. Every transitional fossil we find opens up a new gap so therefore it is unique. In terms of scientists throwing out fossils that do not fit that is an unsupported and unsupportable assertion.
Unfortunately, I have come across a lot of information that was false information...and false information abounds within evolutionary theory beginning with the Synthetic Theory's not-so-humble beginning. Ever wonder why Darwinism gave way to Neo-Darwinism? Its because Darwinism was a legitimate effort by some scientists to validate evolutionary theory, but with the advent of genetics the theory was effectively destroyed. But certain of the evolutionary faith, one in particular (Mayr) could not give up on the dream of the false philosophy he espoused, and so the symposium he and others arranged began couching terms and definitions of words in an evolutionary symbiotic format so as to give the illusion that evolution is a reality - when in fact, it had just died...wallah!!! Neo-Darwinism was born, like a phoenix, from the ashes of its mother, Darwinism. And where did the foundation for Neo-Darwinism come from? Ironically from the very place that signed its death-certificate...also the subject of your next post...
This is false. That mutations are only deleterious is a blatantly false claim. Mutations can splice genes together and replicate entire sections of the genome elsewhere.
Go back and read the history of genetics, and you will find that the true definition of the word "mutation" is this: "a copying error made during cell replication." Any other genetic change, whether it be chromosomal rearrangements or whatever, are NOT mutations, they are simply genetic changes (a great many now classified as being induced by mechanisms of the cell, especially in connection with adaptation). All mutations are inherently deleterious if the expression damages in any way, shape, or form the protein or developmental specificity (I suppose gene duplication MAY not have deleterious side affects, but the ones I have heard of did), and before you claim that it is false, I challenge you to study the subject with a fresh eye (in other words, do not assume that evolution is true when examining these mechanisms - examine them for what you can see and know, NOT for what you have to assume). Yes, mutations can splice genes together and replicate entire sections of genes elsewhere...to what end? Be honest in your assessment.
Unfortunately, there is plenty of evidence from fossils, genetics, and homology to name a few.
Fossil evidence demonstrates only two things: the fossilized remains of organisms from earth's past and some idea of what they looked like (or in the case of imprints, exactly what they looked like), and that the poor creatures died violent, catastrophic deaths. Nothing more.
Genetics tells us a great deal...and none of it outside of evolutionary surmisings gives any credence to evolutionary theory, not one shred. In fact, all of the genetic evidence that touches upon TOE demonstrates that it is a false theory when you remove the evolutionary second hand definitions from key words. See Remine's "The Biotic Message" where he thoroughly thwarts all efforts within genetics for evidence in TOE's favor. As for homology, when used in evolutionary texts it is strictly circular, and therefore is dismissed and cannot be used by any legitimate individual as evidence for evolution.
Yes lets. There is no factual evidence for a literal reading of genesis.... Creation is a method of Gods revelation and it shows us that a literal reading of Genesis 1-11 is not correct.
you are incorrect, sir, and I would challenge you to learn how to correctly interpret historical documents (Hermenuetics) and then study the peripheral evidences that document from other ancient cultures the same historicity of those first 11 chapters. Also from a theological standpoint, if all men did not descend from one parental stock (Adam and Eve), then Christ would have had to come and die one time for each individual family represented in the human race...as it stands, there is only one, and we all belong to it.
There is evidence of intelligence in nature. Our investigation of our natural world has shown that our current universe had a beginning, has a purpose, is rational, and is comprehensible. The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. (Albert Einstein) If we can infer God from the rationality of the universe then we must also listen and accept what we find from the world.
Are you then unaware of certain statements by "the grand old man of evolution" Ernst Mayr? And I quote, "
It must be admitted that it would be impossible to believe in evolution by descent from common ancestors if one were convinced of the complete rationality of the world..." E. Mayr, Evolution and the Diversity of LifeSelected Essays, 1997, p. 265
According to Mayr, if you believe the world is a rational place, you can't believe in evolution by descent from common ancestors, yet you claim that you can see rationality in nature...are you sure that you know what you are believing in? Just asking.
Thats because abiogenesis has nothing to do with the ToE.
Ahh, another lie that you have bought into, or haven't you read any evolutionary history books? Abiogenesis most certainly is a part of evolutionary theory, for if you cannot begin life by random chance happenings, then you most certainly cannot expect the intelligent public to believe in building up of organisms from a single cell by random chance happenings. Abiogenesis was only recently demarkated from TOE in the early 60's when it becam painfully obvious that life can only come from life...THEN, and only then, did placing "Abiogenesis" and evolutionary theory in the same sentence become heretical and strictess taboo in TOEist circles.
Blessings...and good dialogue! I hope that I did not offend, if so, I apologize. I did not mean to sound..."mean" or rude or anything of the sort.
