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Evolution, Atheism, and Religious Beliefs

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It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
our consciousness and how it arose doesn't fit with darwinian evolution in the slightest.

Disagree. Darwin's theory predicts that if consciousness is possible, and if naturalistic genetic variation subjected to natural selection can produce, it will be selected for if it confers a competitive advantage in conscious agents

Nothing in that quote "predicts consciousness." It just presumes that if something exists it's explainable by darwinian evolution, fallacious reasoning.

I don't understand that first sentence. The quote isn't trying to predict anything. Nor am I, its author. It's Darwin's theory that makes predictions, and as has already been said, it predicts that if something such as consciousness is possible, and if arises and confers a competitive advantage, it will be selected for. Did you want to address that? Is that incorrect to you, or correct? If incorrect, why?

The hard problems regarding consciousness include what is its essential nature or substance, and how it relates to matter - not how evolution discovered it or how nature incorporated it into living organisms.

I also don't understand the second sentence. Are you saying that if something exists, that false reasoning some how applies to it? What false reasoning?

My comment was a claim of fact about Darwin's theory, not a reasoned argument. THe former are judged true or false, the latter sound or unsound.

Contrary to your original comment, consciousness in living things is perfectly compatible with evolutionary science. After all, here we sit conscious agents, and the theory is alive and well.

Did you want to argue that God created consciousness? If so, was He conscious while doing it?

I don't believe Set or whatever form we use created consciousness, consciousness was always separate from material world, and Set added consciousness to matter. This is why we call it the gift of Set.

If Set didn't create consciousness, how it it his gift?

If consciousness can exist outside of matter (and be added to it), why bother with matter at all?

If it's a gift to add consciousness to matter, why not add it to all matter, like rocks and the ocean? Why is your body and mine more entitled to consciousness than say, a cloud?
 

1137

Here until I storm off again
Premium Member
I don't understand that first sentence. The quote isn't trying to predict anything. Nor am I, its author. It's Darwin's theory that makes predictions, and as has already been said, it predicts that if something such as consciousness is possible, and if arises and confers a competitive advantage, it will be selected for. Did you want to address that? Is that incorrect to you, or correct? If incorrect, why?

Well consciousness is a major disadvantage, which I had thought I discussed. Wasting time, energy, and supplies on art, star gazing, ritual, and so forth is a huge disadvantage for a weak species trying to survive among many strong ones. Evolution is also a natural process whereas consciousness is something that questions, manipulates, and goes against it. Just the fact that we observe and experience times shows that consciousness is outside of the material world. Not to mention the way higher consciousness occured was completely contrary to darwinian evolution. It came on extraordinarily fast, into an already evolved species, across the entire species at once, and continues to evolve uniquely in each individual.

The hard problems regarding consciousness include what is its essential nature or substance, and how it relates to matter - not how evolution discovered it or how nature incorporated it into living organisms.

Since the essential nature is something separate from and capable of going against nature, how it is incorporated into organisms is precisely the question.

I also don't understand the second sentence. Are you saying that if something exists, that false reasoning some how applies to it? What false reasoning?

... What in the world are you talking about?

Con to your original comment, consciousness in living things is perfectly compatible with evolutionary science. After all, here we sit conscious agents, and the theory is alive and well.

I hope those watching take note of which side provides supporting evidence, and which side just makes claims.

If Set didn't create consciousness, how it it his gift?

Set and consciousness are identical. Set gifted us of his own essence.

If consciousness can exist outside of matter (and be added to it), why bother with matter at all?

To individuate.

If it's a gift to add consciousness to matter, why not add it to all matter, like rocks and the ocean? Why is your body and mine more entitled to consciousness than say, a cloud?

We don't know if everything's conscious on some level or not. It's likely that it requires certain complex forms of matter. There's always radio waves around you while driving, but they only come through a radio, they aren't picked up by everything in existence.
 

Axe Elf

Prophet
As I have said, repeatedly, I'm OK with the commonly accepted definition and fully accept all-powerful.

You say it repeatedly, and then you repeatedly turn around and act as if things that cannot be done with any amount of power can be done by an all-powerful being. That may work in politics, but in logic, two mutually exclusive claims cannot both be true--even for the Almighty--and they are not true for you, either.

The word god doesn't bother me at all. Without the concept of god(s) there would be no OMNI words.

Uh huh. So the words "all" and "power" would not have existed in the Latin language without the concept of god(s)? Pretty sure that the "omni" words would still exist even if not applied to deities. You're trying to reason above your pay grade here.

You say you accept the meaning of a word and then hedge by saying it means something less.

Only if you think that "all-powerful" is something less than "omnipotent"--but you claim they are the same thing, so... :shrug:

I accept the meaning of "omnipotent" as "all-powerful" and I have never hedged on it being anything less than that--but it would also be intellectually dishonest of me to suggest that it meant anything MORE than that. Welcome to Yourtown, population you.

Only an omniscient entity can know the capabilities of an omni-all entity.
Do you consider yourself to be an omniscient entity?
If not, then you should stop pretending you have any way of knowing the capabilities of an omni-all entity.

Correction: Only an omniscient entity can know ALL the capabilities of an omni-all entity, exhaustively.

The fact that we are able to talk about God in the first place means that we can at least grasp SOME basic concepts about Him, and if you're NOT able to do so (since you're not omniscient and all), then I suggest you politely recuse yourself from any further discussion concerning something about which you can't grasp even the most basic concepts.

No, I don't consider myself to be an omniscient entity, but I don't consider myself to be an entirely ignorant entity, either (your mileage may vary). You don't have to know EVERYTHING about something to know SOMETHING about something.
 

Hockeycowboy

Witness for Jehovah
Premium Member
No hate at all! @Subduction Zone got it right in #224.

I do not have much patience with those that abuse and misrepresent science. You also are at the top of the list of those who abuse and misrepresent science.
That's a strawman. CD evolution does not represent all of science! Descent with modification supporters do not follow the scientific method. If they did, through tests and observation they would recognize that since specified and complex information systems always have an intelligence source, so must DNA, the most complex of all!
If it had a purely undirected and materialistic source, all life would appear like the Mucinex Mucus Man, i.e., devoid of design.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
That's a strawman. CD evolution does not represent all of science! Descent with modification supporters do not follow the scientific method. If they did, through tests and observation they would recognize that since specified and complex information systems always have an intelligence source, so must DNA, the most complex of all!
If it had a purely undirected and materialistic source, all life would appear like the Mucinex Mucus Man, i.e., devoid of design.

You do not seem to understand that one has to deny all of science to deny the theory of evolution. The support for the theory of evolution comes from all sciences. You have to deny physics to deny radiometric dating. You have to deny geology to ignore the fossil record, The record that no creationist can explain. Biology is heavily dependent upon chemistry as well, but it is out of my comfort area. I will let others explain that to you.
 

Hockeycowboy

Witness for Jehovah
Premium Member
No hate at all! @Subduction Zone got it right in #224.

I do not have much patience with those that abuse and misrepresent science. You also are at the top of the list of those who abuse and misrepresent science.
(Some posters I ignore, )

It wasn’t a lack of “patience”, as much as it was anger, that led to your denigration. Threepwood presents sound arguments against CD, that you would prefer to go away. That ires you so, you attack the individual.

What would Bahá’u’lláh say, I wonder?

And you even promote abiogenesis, trying so hard to remove God completely from His creation. Would Bahá’u’lláh agree?

Excerpt From Do the Baha'i Writings on evolution allow for mutation of species within kingdoms but not across kingdoms?:

Evolution as discussed in Bahá'í Writings

As one reads Bahá'í writings on evolution, one comes across a specific line of argument presented by Abdu'l-Bahá that indicates that man from the beginning of its existence has been a distinct species. Adbu'l-Baha uses the analogy of a child growing at womb of mother repeatedly in presenting his arguments. For example we read in the following passage,

"But from the beginning of man's existence he is a distinct species. In the same way, the embryo of man in the womb of the mother was at first in a strange form; then this body passes from shape to shape, from state to state, from form to form, until it appears in utmost beauty and perfection. But even when in the womb of the mother and in this strange form, entirely different from his present form and figure, he is the embryo of the superior species, and not of the animal; his species and essence undergo no change. Now, admitting that the traces of organs which have disappeared actually exist, this is not a proof of the impermanence and the non-originality of the species. At the most it proves that the form, and fashion, and the organs of man have progressed. Man was always a distinct species, a man, not an animal. So, if the embryo of man in the womb of the mother passes from one form to another so that the second form in no way resembles the first, is this a proof that the species has changed? that it was at first an animal, and that its organs progressed and developed until it became a man? No, indeed! How puerile and unfounded is this idea and this thought! For the proof of the originality of the human species, and of the permanency of the nature of man, is clear and evident" [4]
........

(The) tree analogy has been used in discussions by materialists on evolution. Neo-Darwinism visualizes a tree-like structure, where it is stipulated that human species and other animal species are branches within its model. It is by using this model that they come to the conclusion that humans evolved from the animal. What Bahá'í writings seem to indicate is that each kingdom has its own separate tree. Within each kingdom one can assume that mutations happened, but mutations between kingdoms is deemed an impossibility.

The impossibility of mutation between kingdoms is specifically mentioned in the Bahá'í scripture.....
............

Conclusion

The Bahá'í writings on evolution seem to indicate separate paths of evolution between the mineral, vegetable, animal and human kingdoms. These teachings do not negate the possibility of mutation or transformation within each kingdom. But it seems to state the impossibility of mutation or evolution between kingdoms. This has important implications for study of human development. First one cannot use examples of mutation in animal kingdom to infer a mutation from animal kingdom to human kingdom. Hence this model would be in conformity with most scientific evidence, since most of the proofs cited for evolution involves the mutation paths with animal and vegetable kingdoms. Secondly it puts emphasis in spiritual evolution of humanity. In regards to human's physical attributes it stipulates that we are the same species, thus providing a scientific and moral grounds for elimination of prejudice. Here the different types, or "species" of humankind are its spiritual attributes. The evolution and differences in physical attributes of humans are deemed non-essential and irrelevant to the development of human race. Also to the individual human, it places the emphasis on development to spiritual development where the responsibility of transforming or mutating to a higher form is within the reach of all individuals irrespective of race sex or national origin. Thirdly it provides a holistic prospective for humanity. By looking at whole of humanity as one tree, as Abdu'l-Bahá reminds us in the following passage, one needs to acquires spiritual morals and values that requires us to spend our focus in assisting and regenerating whole of human race.
.........

[4] Some Answered Questions P. 184

Interesting...the animal kingdom is described as distinct and separate from the “human kingdom”. (Never heard of the human kingdom.)
 

ImmortalFlame

Woke gremlin
That's a strawman. CD evolution does not represent all of science! Descent with modification supporters do not follow the scientific method. If they did, through tests and observation they would recognize that since specified and complex information systems always have an intelligence source, so must DNA, the most complex of all!
Affirming the consequent.

If it had a purely undirected and materialistic source, all life would appear like the Mucinex Mucus Man, i.e., devoid of design.
Baseless assertion. We already know, and have directly observed, functional changes come about through mutations and selective pressures. You're talking nonsense.
 

ecco

Veteran Member
... but in logic, two mutually exclusive claims cannot both be true--even for the Almighty--
That's your concept of logic. That's the concept of logic of a puny human brain. For some reason, you believe that you can grasp the abilities of a god. EGO!


Uh huh. So the words "all" and "power" would not have existed in the Latin language without the concept of god(s)? Pretty sure that the "omni" words would still exist even if not applied to deities. You're trying to reason above your pay grade here.
Do you think it was a couple of guys in a bar talking about themselves?
I'm powerful.
I'm more powerful.
I'm the most powerful person who ever lived.
I'm so powerful I can do anything.
Oh, you mean your are omnipotent. You are so powerful you can make a rock you can't lift.
No, I mean I'm so powerful I can lift any rock.
That doesn't make any sense.
I Know. Let's have another round and maybe we can figure it out.

Every definition that I have seen for omnipotence / omniscience has references to gods, deities, religions.​



Only if you think that "all-powerful" is something less than "omnipotent"--but you claim they are the same thing, so... :shrug:
I'm OK with all-powerful equaling omnipotent. You are the one who keeps hedging on the meaning. You are the one who keeps insisting that an all-powerful onmnipotent god is not all-powerful and omnipotent.

I accept the meaning of "omnipotent" as "all-powerful"...
No you don't. Read what you write.

...and I have never hedged on it being anything less than that
Sure you have. Read what you write.



--but it would also be intellectually dishonest of me to suggest that it meant anything MORE than that.
There isn't anything more than that. That you can even suggest that proves you do not understanding the meanings of all-powerful onmnipotent. There is nothing more than infinity.

All-powerful onmnipotent means all-powerful onmnipotent. It does not mean all-powerful onmnipotent except as limited by Axe Elf's (or any other human's) concept of logic


The fact that we are able to talk about God in the first place means that we can at least grasp SOME basic concepts about Him, and if you're NOT able to do so (since you're not omniscient and all), then I suggest you politely recuse yourself from any further discussion concerning something about which you can't grasp even the most basic concepts.

I can talk about Micky Mouse, That doesn't make Micky Mouse real.

I do understand your problem. Man invented gods. The men who invented your god decided to make him better than all other gods. They decided he was the only god. They decided they would attribute things like omnipotence and omniscience to him.

They didn't think about consequences of what they were doing. Maybe they just figured no one would ever question it. I'm not the first person in the world to do so. Many others have written about the conflict between omnipotence and big rocks and between omniscience and free will.

Here- Omnipotence (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) -is a good read.





No, I don't consider myself to be an omniscient entity, but I don't consider myself to be an entirely ignorant entity, either (your mileage may vary). You don't have to know EVERYTHING about something to know SOMETHING about something.

You admit you know SOMETHING about your omniscience / omnipotent god.
You admit you don't know EVERYTHING about your omniscience / omnipotent god.
What you obviously don't know, but refuse to admit, is the true capabilities of your omniscience / omnipotent god.
 

Thermos aquaticus

Well-Known Member
Well consciousness is a major disadvantage, which I had thought I discussed. Wasting time, energy, and supplies on art, star gazing, ritual, and so forth is a huge disadvantage for a weak species trying to survive among many strong ones.

Those are spandrels.

Spandrel (biology) - Wikipedia

What was selected for was reasoning, tool making, and social behavior.

Evolution is also a natural process whereas consciousness is something that questions, manipulates, and goes against it.

What humans do is no less natural than what birds or ants do. Humans obey all natural laws just like all other species.

Just the fact that we observe and experience times shows that consciousness is outside of the material world.

Bare assertion with no evidence to back it.

I hope those watching take note of which side provides supporting evidence, and which side just makes claims.

10 irony meters just exploded from being overloaded.

Set and consciousness are identical. Set gifted us of his own essence.

"I hope those watching take note of which side provides supporting evidence, and which side just makes claims"--1137
 

ecco

Veteran Member
The impossibility of mutation between kingdoms is specifically mentioned in the Bahá'í scripture.....
............

Conclusion...
Conclusion: Bahá'í scripture is just as unreliable and rooted in ancient myths as any other religious scripture.

Same old, same old.
 

1137

Here until I storm off again
Premium Member
Those are spandrels.

Spandrel (biology) - Wikipedia

What was selected for was reasoning, tool making, and social behavior.



What humans do is no less natural than what birds or ants do. Humans obey all natural laws just like all other species.



Bare assertion with no evidence to back it.



10 irony meters just exploded from being overloaded.



"I hope those watching take note of which side provides supporting evidence, and which side just makes claims"--1137

Again,take note everyone at who made claims and who provided support nobody bothered to refute! Let's take the supportable positions guys huh? Also, here's a fun pic for your enjoyment showing just how identical we are to other animals :)

Imgur
 
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