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Why does my God allow children to die? Is he evil?

viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
P.S. did the Greeks credit Zeus? Come on, you know Greek, give me the good stuff.

Of course not. But I could do that if I were a pagan. My point is that you can guess things which are actually found to be true thousand years after without any divine inspiration. And if you guess a lot, you increase the probability of hitting on something.

Divine inspiration is an extraordinary claim. I do not see proportionally extraordinary evidence that it had ever taken place, anywhere. Not even close.


There were big spheres laying all over Israel. Maybe even some of the Israelites were big spheres. Of course they knew what they were. They just maybe were not exact enough in cryptic language use as you arbitrarily wished.

It is not arbitrary. If I see a sphere, I call it a sphere. If I called it a circle I will probably attract some ridicule or advices to contact an eye doctor. What is weird is that those allegedely divinely inspired people did not call things with their name, especially such obvious things. Of course, the alternative, is much more plausible. They did not know it was a sphere.

They just saw the horizon from one of their hills and confused it with the whole world. You can also easily confuse local floods with global ones by doing that.

I did not say necessarily they did, (I have no way to know), I said the verses leave only that options if true. I will just throw a few from memory at you. There are plenty more.

New International Version
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.


They believed God held all perspective. He wasn't over juts New Jersey or Tokyo. From any view point the world was a circle. Disks do not meet this criteria. BTW many get an expanding universe from that verse.

Yes. But it is easy to evaluate at what altitude God must sit so that humans look like grasshopers . It is a simple triangulation. Not very high. If that was true, God's throne should be considered a hazard for all commercial airlines.

Again, projection from some guy who brought his goats on a hill and spent time looking around. Isn't that more likely?

Another really neat story is about the MOMENT Christ returns both those asleep and awake will be taken. for Luke tells us (17:34), "There will be two men in one bed; one will be taken, and the other left." While men work in their fields on one side of the earth, others will be asleep in their beds on the other side. But simultaneously, both in the day and in the night, the great removal will occur.

Two men in one bed? And this proves that the earth was a sphere, right? it really looks like those guys liked cryptical language to express the obvious. I can understand that for some bronze age men, bit it is amazing at the time of Christ. They remind me a bit of Nostradamus. When you are cryptic enough, finding truth on what you say is just an exercise of imagination, indipendently of what you say.

But let's forget for a moment that Luke might have meant dead, when talking of sleeping. What makes you think that this entails a sphere? i can imagine day and night on a flat circle easily.

Not even a disk model allows for people on both sides rotating relative to the sun. The point here being that at one instant every time related event will be occurring simultaneously and be intervened upon.

Of course not. But do you have evidence that they knew that the earth was rotating about its axis? I doubt it. But maybe I missed it with all this cryptic language and stuff.

That is possible I guess. Islam retained Greek learning even while the Catholics shunned it but that was from a letter time. Muhammad had little to no Greek historical knowledge. He had plenty distorted biblical tales to draw from. How do you know what you claim? If I quoted the Quran the odds are heavily on my side.

How do I know what I claim? LOL. I don't. I am just left with two alternatives:

1) They talk of atoms because they heard it from the Greek who predate them
2) they have been insipred by Jesus or Allah, or both

I let the reader decide what is more likely.

Ciao

- vioe
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
Of course not. But I could do that if I were a pagan. My point is that you can guess things which are actually found to be true thousand years after without any divine inspiration. And if you guess a lot, you increase the probability of hitting on something.
My question was about what the Greeks actually claimed. You said they claimed it was from Zeus which did not ring a bell with my history. You were probably kidding. I have two choices on a source for a thing once it is reliably certain it was known. Natural experience, or divine revelation. In many cases those involved claimed it was revelation and natural explanations are a not a rational alternative. In others it is debatable, and others probably experiential.

Divine inspiration is an extraordinary claim. I do not see proportionally extraordinary evidence that it had ever taken place, anywhere. Not even close.
I do, but lets say I am wrong. That is a rule about persuasiveness, not fact. It is also subjective for any individual. I deduce from the shocking ability where verifiable to embarrass scholarship so I am justified it taking it at it's word even where not.




It is not arbitrary. If I see a sphere, I call it a sphere. If I called it a circle I will probably attract some ridicule or advices to contact an eye doctor. What is weird is that those allegedely divinely inspired people did not call things with their name, especially such obvious things. Of course, the alternative, is much more plausible. They did not know it was a sphere.
No one called a sphere until modern times. It only matters what they described not what language they chose. No tree ever said it was a tree, no whale ever claimed to be one, no rock ever declared what type it is. We know things by their descriptions. Label are arbitrary tools which have no effect on what they are applied to. They described a sphere no matter what label they chose.




They just saw the horizon from one of their hills and confused it with the whole world. You can also easily confuse local floods with global ones by doing that.
That is pure speculation but would be no less correct if accurate. Is this an argument against revelation or accuracy? I saw the horizon a thousand times and never gave it any universal meaning and a flat earth was still assumed long after this. In fact it still has it's adherents.



Yes. But it is easy to evaluate at what altitude God must sit so that humans look like grasshopers . It is a simple triangulation. Not very high. If that was true, God's throne should be considered a hazard for all commercial airlines.
Depends on what species. I take it you were kidding here.

Again, projection from some guy who brought his goats on a hill and spent time looking around. Isn't that more likely?
I don't think this was among the claims I stated were probably divine. I think you brought this up as a wrong conclusion and I clarified it.



Two men in one bed? And this proves that the earth was a sphere, right? it really looks like those guys liked cryptical language to express the obvious. I can understand that for some bronze age men, bit it is amazing at the time of Christ. They remind me a bit of Nostradamus. When you are cryptic enough, finding truth on what you say is just an exercise of imagination, indipendently of what you say.
I am not sure what two men in one bed signifies in this new age we live in. Since I did not use it as the foundation for my point I see little need to clarify it. It also seems to be another part of a subject from that which I mentioned. I mentioned it being dark and light on this single planet at one instance as support for something you deny, not for proof of anything except accuracy.

But let's forget for a moment that Luke might have meant dead, when talking of sleeping. What makes you think that this entails a sphere? i can imagine day and night on a flat circle easily.

1. It is talking about the rapture.
2. It is infinitely more associated with a globe. Certainly better evidence for one.
3. I can't even picture what your talking about in this context.

Let's back up here because I think we are off track.

1. I said something's in the bible defy good natural explanations.
2. I said that it's scientific claims are accurate whether or not they are divine.
3. The spherical earth may be both but I believe I was stating it was the latter in response to your saying it wasn't.



Of course not. But do you have evidence that they knew that the earth was rotating about its axis? I doubt it. But maybe I missed it with all this cryptic language and stuff.
My only position here is that their claims are more consistent or at least consistent with a spherical earth. I used germ theory and oceanographic currents for revelation not the earth's shape I believe. I think your taking the circle I gave you and trying to stuff it in a triangle and calling foul.



How do I know what I claim? LOL. I don't. I am just left with two alternatives:

1) They talk of atoms because they heard it from the Greek who predate them
2) they have been insipred by Jesus or Allah, or both
That is not the choice I gave. I said he got it from his uncle who is known to historians as probably the most influential trencher he ever had. Now we can theorize about where his uncle got it I guess.

I let the reader decide what is more likely.
I read it and decided I give it two thumbs sideways.
 

viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
I did not even glance at the source. However it was the Scientific American not answers in genesis. At least the one I tried and failed to copy several times. Try this one, it even has secular in the title.
Secular Perspectives: Evolution Version 3.01 and The Forest of Life

I really wished you read what you post. I mean, the title says it all. Secular perspectives, lol. Are there other scientific perspectives?

Anyway, all this, independently from its relevance, assumes pre-existing life. So, where do you see evidence in the article of life being born independently many times?

But it says that Newton has been superseded by Quantum Mechanics. Do you agree?

Dang-it. I had assumed it was a creation site from your comments and closed it out.

Well, maybe it was. Crationists are even ready to invoke evolution driven by viruses to firnd holes in Darwin. As if the enemy of their enemy were their friend. Punctuated equilibrioum is another example.

Despite my inability to type in relevant words and not get stuff only about actual tree evolution I am not going back.

Why not?

It however is quite a leap from the original model and in a less materialistically satisfying direction. That was the specific reason it was hidden for so long. Facts and perception many times don't mix, unfortunately facts are what gives many times.

Robin. Even if punctuated equilibrium was true, it is still a naturalistic theory based on common descent. Probably, if that was the orthodoxy today, you would use pure darwinian gradualism to show that it is wrong. I don't see how that helps your case. Again, an enemy of your enemy is not necessariliy your friend.

Oh I am very confident. I have seen most of the over 100 evolutionists' I mistakenly bore myself insane watching claim it. I however am getting frustrated in my attempts to look it up. Even if wrong it should be easily found. I have even looked up model building software. All I get is literal trees. Even typing in "images" for just plain evolutionary models returns anything but. No trees, no bushes, no forests. Just mathematics, partial diagrams, and set theory, photographs of debates, things that are none of these. Who would have thought. Let me think on this a bit, as to how to go about justifying it.

Yes, and the article you posted also mentions mathematical models to prove a point. So, i am not sure why you posted it. You seem to apply confirming bias, again.

Truth is: there is no evidence of life to have developed independently on this planet. There is no forest with many roots, and even if there was, it was extinct leaving no evidence of its existence. Some are looking, but have found nothing. It would be cool if there was. It would increase the probability that life arises easily. Alas, there is no evidence of it.

THIS IS SPARTAFRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. It is SPARTAFUNNY!!!!! Lol


Ciao

- viole
 
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1robin

Christian/Baptist
I really wished you read what you post. I mean, the title says it all. Secular perspectives, lol. Are there other scientific perspectives?
I chose it specifically because it contained secular in the title. I did not do so for any other reason. You seem to apply my claims to other purposes and declare they failed.

Anyway, all this, independently from its relevance, assumes pre-existing life. So, where do you see evidence in the article of life being born independently many times?
That was not my claim. It was that the models have shifted from Darwin's tree and in a direction that is less explainable by natural means. I am just pointing out a trajectory I believe will eventually (actually it currently does) have holes materialism can't fill.

But it says that Newton has been superseded by Quantum Mechanics. Do you agree?
Not in general but it may be true in certain situations.
At one time Newtonian physics was force fitted where it does not operate consistently. There, yes it has been superseded, or more accurately, found unsuitable.


Well, maybe it was. Crationists are even ready to invoke evolution driven by viruses to firnd holes in Darwin. As if the enemy of their enemy were their friend. Punctuated equilibrioum is another example.
No virus ever motivated me. Do virus have a lobby? I do not think I ever heard a Christian use the term punctuated equilibrium. I know I got it from secular scholars. Maybe virus' are less influential on Christians than facts on an evolutionists. That might be a bridge too far though.



Because at the last propaganda meeting I was told I could not do so. I specifically requested that reality be dictated by my ability to surf the net. I was over ruled.



Robin. Even if punctuated equilibrium was true, it is still a naturalistic theory based on common descent. Probably, if that was the orthodoxy today, you would use pure darwinian gradualism to show that it is wrong. I don't see how that helps your case. Again, an enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.
My point was Darwin's model was far less consistent with creation (though not evidence against it), and history demonstrates countless claims that went from incompatible with the bible, to inconsistent with it, to consistent with it, to confirmatory of it. We are not there yet with evolution be we are headed the same direction. Evolution being an adolescent science need maturity.



Yes, and the article you posted also uses mathematical models to prove a point. So, i am not sure why you posted it. You seem to apply confirming bias, again.
At that point I was happy to find a picture to show I was not insane. I have decades worth of hearing about the advance and changes in the model but was surprised when I had trouble finding a pictorial example. I saw one or two and went blind. I did not read past the picture. I can listen to debates on evolution all day but find it boring to read about. I have actually gotten where I dislike any one sided discussion for either camp. I wish we had an atheist to follow the preacher. I always get more from contention than a single sided source.

Truth is: there is no evidence of life to have developed independently on this planet. There is no forest with many roots, and even if there was, it was extinct leaving no evidence of its existence. Some are looking, but have found nothing. It would be cool if there was. Alas, there is no evidence of it.
This reminds of something. Here lately every show on the universe I see suggests life could have come from anywhere except the one place it is found. Why is that? Two things I find in every secular science show about space I can never get.

1. Life could have come from anywhere but earth.
2. There is hope for us now in thinking our descendants may get off earth before it gets ugly here.

It is so predictable I used to warn (comically) that they would be appealed to before watching documentaries with others. It never failed yet.



Nope. It is SPARTAFUNNY!!!!! Lol
You live in Sweden I believe but speak Greek? Am I remembering correctly? Sparta fascinates me possibly more than Jerusalem but for the opposite reasons.
 

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
He don't hang around with losers, so that makes him a winner..:)
You hung with the crackpot losers of organised religion and they messed you up!
No offence mate but you come across as a bit of a wimp, overawed by organised religion and what they say, as if they're important.
Me, I don't give a rats a** about them..:)

Christianity wants DAREDEVILS who are not afraid to go against the grain of the world-

"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Pet 1:18 )
"Don't conform to the pattern of this world" (Rom 12:2)
"Set your mind on things above,not on things on the earth" (Col 3:2)
"You were bought at a price,don't serve men" (1 Cor 7:23)
"A friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4)
"You were dead when you followed the ways of the world" (Eph 2:1/2)
"You died with Christ from this world, so don't keep submitting to its rules" (Col 2:20)
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.." (Eph 6:12).
Who does Donald hang around with? If he ain't hang out with Jesus, isn't he lost even though he's gained pretty much the whole world?

If you and the other Christians here are not part of the body of Christ, The Church, then what are you part of? And aren't "crackpot losers" exactly the type of people Jesus came to save? And if Christianity isn't organized, then what is it? And what messed me up is the typical protestant/fundamentalist/evangelistic interpretation of Scripture. If you take the Bible too literal you got problems. If you start compromising and saying some things are figurative, then where do you stop? I don't think the trinity, the virgin birth, the flood and many other things are literal. Do you? Where do you draw the line between a literal interpretation and a figurative one? And if I you follow too closely some "organized" denominations interpretation, then what does that mean? You're no longer a rebel? A daredevil?

Actually, I think in a lot of ways following Jesus is the opposite of being a daredevil? God, supposedly, is telling you to believe in his Son or else. If all that is true, then that's a smart move, but not very daring. Now once you believe, and stand up to the "evils" of society, stand up to "wimpy" churches, and stand up to lukewarm/nominal Christians and tell them to get up off their pew sitting backsides, then that is daring. That is putting your beliefs into action. If you're doing that, I am impressed. You'd be my Christian hero. But only if you had the private life to back it.

That's what me and my fellow "crackpots" lacked. We couldn't live up to the Christian rules. Especially the one about not looking at a woman with lust. The best I could do was get it down to liking an awful lot, but it would eventually move into Wow, she's hot! I'm not sure, but I think that's when it crossed into lust. But anyway, I can't live by Christian rules. And I don't mean "church" rules. I mean those things that supposedly Jesus said... the things on how we should live and act. You know really, I don't know a single Christian who can. Can you do it? The best I could do was about three months of pure living in body and mind, then I started slipping into what the Bible says is sin. What was I to do? Continue, like so many others, as a hypocrite? Pray to keep my thoughts "pure"? Sorry, couldn't do it.

But anyway, take care. It's been fun talking with you. Those other Christians here are way too "organized" for me.
 

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
...it is easy to evaluate at what altitude God must sit so that humans look like grasshopers . It is a simple triangulation. Not very high. If that was true, God's throne should be considered a hazard for all commercial airlines.

...When you are cryptic enough, finding truth on what you say is just an exercise of imagination, indipendently of what you say.

Ciao

- vioe
First of all, as if any of what is said in the Bible is real, but with a little imagination it can say anything. But, if literal, then God was worried about a brick tower reaching to where he was? Forget about airplanes crashing into his throne, skyscrapers are probably bumping into it.

So why all the fuss? What's so wrong with it being religious mythology? Why are they so threatened? Why do they need babies to be born morally depraved? Why do they need God to be three in one? Because Christians have built a "reality" around cryptic verses, written from cryptic languages and need to prove, that somehow, that is really how things are.
 

viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
My question was about what the Greeks actually claimed. You said they claimed it was from Zeus which did not ring a bell with my history. You were probably kidding. I have two choices on a source for a thing once it is reliably certain it was known. Natural experience, or divine revelation. In many cases those involved claimed it was revelation and natural explanations are a not a rational alternative. In others it is debatable, and others probably experiential.

I think that clearly defining and imagining atoms several millenia before their discoveries put serious limits on any other claim in antiquity that claims to have been revealed. This stands up as amazing especially if not revealed by any deity. I would say they outperformed God, if the other (cryptic) claims have really been revealed.

I do, but lets say I am wrong. That is a rule about persuasiveness, not fact. It is also subjective for any individual. I deduce from the shocking ability where verifiable to embarrass scholarship so I am justified it taking it at it's word even where not.

I find the postulation of atoms much more shocking. The strained association of germ theory with hand hygiene pales in comparison.

Not to speak of all other nice things they discovered, including that the earth is a sphere. Medicine, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, you name it. They even postulated the block universe, :).


No one called a sphere until modern times. It only matters what they described not what language they chose. No tree ever said it was a tree, no whale ever claimed to be one, no rock ever declared what type it is. We know things by their descriptions. Label are arbitrary tools which have no effect on what they are applied to. They described a sphere no matter what label they chose.

Well, I would say the Greeks outperformed them, again. Spheria comes from ancient Greece. Probably borrowed from ancient Persian. Also a indo-european language.

They could have called it ball, though. I am sure they had a special word for balls, I hope. Or were they playing foot-circle? :)

That is pure speculation but would be no less correct if accurate. Is this an argument against revelation or accuracy? I saw the horizon a thousand times and never gave it any universal meaning and a flat earth was still assumed long after this. In fact it still has it's adherents.

Extraordinary claims of revelation require extraordinary precision. Cryptic language would not do.

Depends on what species. I take it you were kidding here.

Not really. Pick your species and find the maximum altitude the throne must be located.

I don't think this was among the claims I stated were probably divine. I think you brought this up as a wrong conclusion and I clarified it.

It was in the link you posted.

I am not sure what two men in one bed signifies in this new age we live in. Since I did not use it as the foundation for my point I see little need to clarify it. It also seems to be another part of a subject from that which I mentioned. I mentioned it being dark and light on this single planet at one instance as support for something you deny, not for proof of anything except accuracy.

Again, if you are insufficiently accurate, then anything goes. Like Nostradamus.


1. It is talking about the rapture.
2. It is infinitely more associated with a globe. Certainly better evidence for one.
3. I can't even picture what your talking about in this context.

Let's back up here because I think we are off track.

1. I said something's in the bible defy good natural explanations.
2. I said that it's scientific claims are accurate whether or not they are divine.
3. The spherical earth may be both but I believe I was stating it was the latter in response to your saying it wasn't.

First you say that there is a possible problem of accuracy (and not necessarily of revelation) and now you say they are accurate. What are they?


My only position here is that their claims are more consistent or at least consistent with a spherical earth. I used germ theory and oceanographic currents for revelation not the earth's shape I believe. I think your taking the circle I gave you and trying to stuff it in a triangle and calling foul.

The link between washing hands and germ theory seems weak. We know that now. But that does not entail that they went beyond simple cause/effect relationships. You need much stronger evidence before you can make this strong claim, I am afraid. I guess, they did not have a word for germs, either, who knows?

That is not the choice I gave. I said he got it from his uncle who is known to historians as probably the most influential trencher he ever had. Now we can theorize about where his uncle got it I guess.

I read it and decided I give it two thumbs sideways.

Good grief. I guess most of my knowledge must also be divine inspired then. I claim to have been inspired by God about the law of gravitation.

Do I deserve a thumb up, as well? If not, why not?

Ciao

- viole
 
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viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
I chose it specifically because it contained secular in the title. I did not do so for any other reason. You seem to apply my claims to other purposes and declare they failed.

Sorry, but that was a bad choice. i was asking for scientific papers showing evidence that life does not come from a common ancestor. Scientific papers on biology do not use words like "secular", usually.

That was not my claim. It was that the models have shifted from Darwin's tree and in a direction that is less explainable by natural means. I am just pointing out a trajectory I believe will eventually (actually it currently does) have holes materialism can't fill.

Could be, but I might have missed the note. Where is it? What you posted is just the opinion of a journalist.

Not in general but it may be true in certain situations.
At one time Newtonian physics was force fitted where it does not operate consistently. There, yes it has been superseded, or more accurately, found unsuitable.

What you mean with "not in general"? If theory X explains everything that theory Y explains plus what theory Y does not explain, what rational reasons do you have to say "not in general"?


No virus ever motivated me. Do virus have a lobby? I do not think I ever heard a Christian use the term punctuated equilibrium. I know I got it from secular scholars. Maybe virus' are less influential on Christians than facts on an evolutionists. That might be a bridge too far though.

You might have never heard the word "punctuated equilibrium" from a Christian, but I have. From you. And you are still a Christian, I presume. So, unless you like to type things without a reason, I make the assumption that you intended to show that punctuated equilibrium jeopardizes naturalism somehow.

My question is: how?


My point was Darwin's model was far less consistent with creation (though not evidence against it), and history demonstrates countless claims that went from incompatible with the bible, to inconsistent with it, to consistent with it, to confirmatory of it. We are not there yet with evolution be we are headed the same direction. Evolution being an adolescent science need maturity.

Well, could be adoloscent but it is older than quantum mechanics which supplanted Newton, at least according to the link you posted. I think it is as old as electromagnetims. Is that immature too?

But this is wishful thinking. Evidence for Darwinian evolution and common descent is accumulating, not reducing.

Hope springs eternal.

At that point I was happy to find a picture to show I was not insane. I have decades worth of hearing about the advance and changes in the model but was surprised when I had trouble finding a pictorial example. I saw one or two and went blind. I did not read past the picture. I can listen to debates on evolution all day but find it boring to read about. I have actually gotten where I dislike any one sided discussion for either camp. I wish we had an atheist to follow the preacher. I always get more from contention than a single sided source.

Well, I am happy that a picture is all you need to prove you are not insane. If you ever have doubts of insanity again, let me know. I can draw some pictures for you. And they will come from a certfied secular person.

This reminds of something. Here lately every show on the universe I see suggests life could have come from anywhere except the one place it is found. Why is that? Two things I find in every secular science show about space I can never get.

1. Life could have come from anywhere but earth.
2. There is hope for us now in thinking our descendants may get off earth before it gets ugly here.

It is so predictable I used to warn (comically) that they would be appealed to before watching documentaries with others. It never failed yet.

Well, nonsense is not the monopoly of religion. I laugh at most secular documentaries I watch.

But you know. Most people don't like cold facts and reason. They starve for hope. They just cannot tolerate that the world consists of only what they see. They crave for something beyond. Call it God, UFOs, talking with the deceased, reading minds, spirits, visions of heaven, near death experiences, fate written in the stars or on the palm of your hands, divinations, homeopathy, body positive vs. negative energies, fen shui, cosmical consciousness, etc.

Hope springs eternal. If you are cynic enough, you can make a living out of it. For instance, by making documentaries about those things.

You live in Sweden I believe but speak Greek? Am I remembering correctly? Sparta fascinates me possibly more than Jerusalem but for the opposite reasons.

Almost. I come from Sweden but live in central Switzerland. Namely, near Lucerne. I am a citizen of both countries, which makes me very neutral, lol.

And I have no clue of Greek. But maybe God inspired me to acquire knowledge I did not possess and to evangelize it, who knows? Or was the holy spirit that made me write in tongues?

It seems to have worked with you, though :)

Ciao

- viole
 
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1robin

Christian/Baptist
I think that clearly defining and imagining atoms several millenia before their discoveries put serious limits on any other claim in antiquity that claims to have been revealed. This stands up as amazing especially if not revealed by any deity. I would say they outperformed God, if the other (cryptic) claims have really been revealed.
I did not realize this was the intent of what you claimed. I would be satisfied in this context to resolve that the claim was not apparent or easily deduced. I need to go back and see what my list of unknowable divine revelation contained. I think at least some of these were not on it, but given by others for the purpose of dismissal. I will see if I can find the original post where I listed them. Also keep in mind that it is the volume of knowable things they got right without any missteps that is so impressive, not any single one.



I find the postulation of atoms much more shocking. The strained association of germ theory with hand hygiene pales in comparison.
I do not agree. Simply pondering the fact that no matter what we break a thing down into has parts that can be subdivided would be at least a hint that parts smaller than can be seen exist. Positing life forms we can't say that cause disease isn't so intuitive. That may be why science was still getting it so wrong so much later.

Not to speak of all other nice things they discovered, including that the earth is a sphere. Medicine, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, you name it. They even postulated the block universe, :).
I assume this was a defense of the Greeks which I did not challenge. Let me add the Greeks were far better at asking the right questions than getting the right answers.




Well, I would say the Greeks outperformed them, again. Spheria comes from ancient Greece. Probably borrowed from ancient Persian. Also a indo-european language.
The Greeks need no defenders because I am not their critic. The issue was that the Hebrews made a mountain of unknowable or hard to deduce claims that turned out to be correct and what best explains it.

They could have called it ball, though. I am sure they had a special word for balls, I hope. Or were they playing foot-circle? :)
I am not sure how to criticize the lack of having a word or to dictate what language "should" have been.



Extraordinary claims of revelation require extraordinary precision. Cryptic language would not do.
No they don't. That is some arbitrary modern wish list. It is not a property fantastic claims must have to be true. The bible was not intended to be a science text book. It supplies an amount of evidence appropriate with it's purpose. Extraordinary is also a subjective guess. I also think it unjustifiable to cut the bible up into hundreds of thousands of individual claims without underpinning the whole with a general accuracy factor.



Not really. Pick your species and find the maximum altitude the throne must be located.
This was lost on me. What throne?



It was in the link you posted.
The link's title was not the source of my original statement. I am having to go from memory as that was a few days back.



Again, if you are insufficiently accurate, then anything goes. Like Nostradamus.
There is no comparison between Nostradamus and at least hundreds of biblical prophecy. Hundreds have specific names and specific places. It is remarkable how many specific cities in their time as magnificently as New York. Some imminently more defensible the bible predicted the demise of, even in some cases their continued unpopulated futures. The verse in question are not really part of classic prophecy and are kind of generalized but they are still far more consistent with a globe than anything else. Verses all have differing degrees of specificity but I think must non-theists like to put them in two camps using arbitrary standards. My claims are about best conclusions not about certainties in most cases. The best conclusion from that verse is a spinning sphere.




First you say that there is a possible problem of accuracy (and not necessarily of revelation) and now you say they are accurate. What are they?
I don't think so. I think I pointed out two independent types of contentions. I was pointing out accuracy and sourcing are two different issues. Saying it was intuitive is not to say it was inaccurate. Not that I was admitting either one.




The link between washing hands and germ theory seems weak. We know that now. But that does not entail that they went beyond simple cause/effect relationships. You need much stronger evidence before you can make this strong claim, I am afraid. I guess, they did not have a word for germs, either, who knows?
There was far far more to the Bibles sanitary guidelines than washing hands. You can find quarantine instructions, ways that bronze age men could determine cleanliness, and waste management, etc.. I mentioned leprosy in another debate and even I was stunned how detailed the association and instructions. The bible was way more advanced and detailed hand washing. Many times I can at least see the motivation behind the direction you are headed but not here. The level of detail in sanitary instructions is mindboggling for the era.



Good grief. I guess most of my knowledge must also be divine inspired then. I claim to have been inspired by God about the law of gravitation.
What? I said the chances Muhammad got his information from his uncle is better that for the Greeks. That does not suggest he got it from God.

Do I deserve a thumb up, as well? If not, why not?
I would have thought it the height of non-necessity for me to point out I don't think Muhammad was inspired directly or deserved any thumbs up except from a military viewpoint, and barely there. This was only a clarification about a word's likely origin given for information's sake. It was not a foundation for anything.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
Sorry, but that was a bad choice. i was asking for scientific papers showing evidence that life does not come from a common ancestor. Scientific papers on biology do not use words like "secular", usually.
I was in the desert, even a mud puddle was tempting. I was looking for a model in a forest of articles about forests plus I had to make sure it was secular because only secular sources are valid for some. The title and the picture sold me. I am not abandoning my years of hearing this model every time I turned around but trying to prove it is apparently going to be far beyond the time



Could be, but I might have missed the note. Where is it? What you posted is just the opinion of a journalist.
It appears that it would require more time than I have to find it. The problem is that any key words lead to a thousand pages on actual forest evolution. Apparently forest evolution is a prolific subject. I can acknowledge the persuasiveness of my claim will not be supported unless I get a break in the time demands of my job. You can place my claims on hold if you desire for this issue.



What you mean with "not in general"? If theory X explains everything that theory Y explains plus what theory Y does not explain, what rational reasons do you have to say "not in general"?
In my understanding of physics the Quantum does not generally replace Newtonian physics. It is generally applicable where Newton is not. The name it's self is exclusionary. In three semesters of Physics, dynamics, statics, and even light physics no mention of the Quantum was heard, thank God because light is vexing enough using traditional physics.



You might have never heard the word "punctuated equilibrium" from a Christian, but I have. From you. And you are still a Christian, I presume. So, unless you like to type things without a reason, I make the assumption that you intended to show that punctuated equilibrium jeopardizes naturalism somehow.
Maybe challenges it is a better word. Things as prized as evolution, I even showed that specifically in the case on simply a model of evolution, do not just get abandoned. Even after archeological evidence turns up in piles historical models are begrudgingly parted with. Evolution is still young, my point was that even this soon the trajectory is in a similar direction as countless other models. Steady state gone, flat earth gone, earth centric universe gone, I do not imagine evolution will ever go away but it's form will probably change dramatically.

My question is: how?
The earliest form of evolution was a very slow and gradual change over eons. That was it's essential essence. It is as if one of it's pillars has been removed. The thing still but it does not appear the same. I think in the end it will be radically different.




Well, could be adoloscent but it is older than quantum mechanics which supplanted Newton, at least according to the link you posted. I think it is as old as electromagnetims. Is that immature too?
Even if it could (and I have never heard a hint it could) the quantum has not supplanted Newton. Go to engineering schools sand you will get Newton-ed to death without having the Quantum be mentioned in any class. It is not even understood in large measure how could it have replaced anything. I have always heard the exact same thing. Newtonian physics does not explain the atomic level and the Quantum is useful there. I have never heard even a hint that any replacement has occurred or will.

But this is wishful thinking. Evidence for Darwinian evolution and common descent is accumulating, not reducing.
I don't think any evolutionary model contradicts the bible, at best it contradicts one interpretation of a few verses out of many. However let's pretend it does in it's oldest formulation. Since the older formulation doe snot seem to be accurate then it's potency is becoming diluted. The bible says God created life but that life can change within limits. the newer models are far more consistent with that than Darwin's original ideas. I do not imagine evolution of some amount will ever go away because it appears in genesis. If all life forms are static that would be a better argument against the bible than evolution.

Hope springs eternal.
So do bills.



Well, I am happy that a picture is all you need to prove you are not insane. If you ever have doubts of insanity again, let me know. I can draw some pictures for you. And they will come from a certfied secular person.
How do you get certified as secular. Is there a test you must flunk first? Just kidding.



Well, nonsense is not the monopoly of religion. I laugh at most secular documentaries I watch.
It was the particular kind of nonsense I was drawing attention to here. It is so prolific it is like a compulsion and I can't even invent a bad explanation for it.

But you know. Most people don't like cold facts and reason. They starve for hope. They just cannot tolerate that the world consists of only what they see. They crave for something beyond. Call it God, UFOs, talking with the deceased, reading minds, spirits, visions of heaven, near death experiences, fate written in the stars or on the palm of your hands, divinations, homeopathy, body positive vs. negative energies, fen shui, cosmical consciousness, etc.
I get false hope, I even think it is a reasonable application of a version of Pascal's wager. That is what makes these so strange because even if true they of any use to anyone who is claiming them. Mr. Baldwin's great great great grandson going to live on Mars won't help Alec Baldwin, so where is the hope. Dawkins answering that aliens may have ceded life on earth doe snot even change the problem.

You mentioned some areas where I expect to find preference like philosophy and generic spirituality. However when those that lecture us on what is "scientific" tell me that the only place can't be from is the one place it is known to exist it is another matter. Neither my religion nor any outside influence caused me to get overtly suspicious of science, scientists did that long before I had faith. I think college stripped away all the mesmirization I viewed science with. The worst place was faculty speeches after hours.

Hope springs eternal. If you are cynic enough, you can make a living out of it. For instance, by making documentaries about those things.
I think cynicism would produce a lack of hope.

Almost. I come from Sweden but live in central Switzerland. Namely, near Lucerne. I am a citizen of both countries, which makes me very neutral, lol.
Good humor.

And I have no clue of Greek. But maybe God inspired me to acquire knowledge I did not possess and to evangelize it, who knows? Or was the holy spirit that made me write in tongues?
Someone here kept typing in Greek. Thought it was you.

It seems to have worked with you, though :)
Actually I have heard people speaking in tongues and thought they were all faking. You might not believe it but I am very skeptical of miracle claims in general. I also think any occasion where God allows speaking in tongues for an interpreter to also be inspired. There is no point otherwise. I do not get the what worked with me joke. I hate it when I don't get jokes. Good neutrality joke above, though. I have some favorite neutrality quotes from the great sages of Rush.


1. There is no hero in neutrality.
2. If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
 

SkepticThinker

Veteran Member
I don't think any evolutionary model contradicts the bible, at best it contradicts one interpretation of a few verses out of many. However let's pretend it does in it's oldest formulation. Since the older formulation doe snot seem to be accurate then it's potency is becoming diluted. The bible says God created life but that life can change within limits. the newer models are far more consistent with that than Darwin's original ideas. I do not imagine evolution of some amount will ever go away because it appears in genesis. If all life forms are static that would be a better argument against the bible than evolution.

.

Forgive me for butting in but I'm curious where you're coming up with that. Because it appears to me to be the opposite, especially when taking genetics into consideration.
 

CG Didymus

Veteran Member
...I have some favorite neutrality quotes from the great sages of Rush.
Here is my favorite Rush quote:
All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
[FONT=&quot]I think it fits well with this thread. God, the writer of this play, has created a magnificent drama... pain, sorrow, love, joy, birth, death, heroes, and villains. 6000 years of betrayal, fighting, arguing, falling short of the mark. But a chosen few will make it to the end. Evil will be destroyed, and the Evil One will be cast into hell. We've all read the script and are now acting it out. It's brilliant how God made himself as an invisible force that can't fulling be understood. And since he can't be seen, then for many, he is too easily misunderstood or even thought not to exist at all.

But wait, did I say script? No, it's like we're put here on this stage with various clues of what reality is, and [/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]then [/FONT]we're forced to improvise. The clues can be strange and mysterious. They can be so vague as to make it seem [FONT=&quot]God's not even real[/FONT]. Some clues give people a totally different perspective [/FONT]on who God is and how they should act out their parts. This creates epic battles of will and determination. Whose God is the right God? Each side believes they are right. One side conquers the another and dominates for awhile. But, inevitably, if they aren't conquered by another greater power, they crumble from within, Because in this play, no one is perfect, all the players are flawed. They never get anything right.

And that is what makes this play so perfect... everybody has something wrong with them. All those who think they're right, eventually something happens and they end up being wrong. Even those that say they know God. Them too. They end up falling somehow. But, not to worry, another group arises and takes over. They claim that they have the right knowledge. That they know how the play goes and how we should be acting it out. But they don't, because the writer has some twist and turn, and the play goes on for another thousand years of the same thing. Why? I don't know. I guess for the writer's amusement? Since, even though, it seems like we are improvising and making our own decisions, he knows all the parts and knows who is going to do what. So what then... is the purpose?
 

viole

Ontological Naturalist
Premium Member
I was in the desert, even a mud puddle was tempting. I was looking for a model in a forest of articles about forests plus I had to make sure it was secular because only secular sources are valid for some. The title and the picture sold me. I am not abandoning my years of hearing this model every time I turned around but trying to prove it is apparently going to be far beyond the time

Robin. A real forest entails independent arising of life on earth several time. That is, independent development of the same mechanisms, DNA structure, etc. Such a discovery would rattle science at its foundation and would appear on all papers in the world, including USA today. That is why I am pretty confident that you will have problems to find evidence of it that goes beyond second rate journalism.

My advice is to check such scientific evidence in organizations with a clear agenda, like Answers in Genesis. If they don't have it, it does not exist.

It appears that it would require more time than I have to find it. The problem is that any key words lead to a thousand pages on actual forest evolution. Apparently forest evolution is a prolific subject. I can acknowledge the persuasiveness of my claim will not be supported unless I get a break in the time demands of my job. You can place my claims on hold if you desire for this issue.
I would suggest you do not waste time looking for something that does not exist. At least until now.

In my understanding of physics the Quantum does not generally replace Newtonian physics. It is generally applicable where Newton is not. The name it's self is exclusionary. In three semesters of Physics, dynamics, statics, and even light physics no mention of the Quantum was heard, thank God because light is vexing enough using traditional physics.
Well, it does. It is just that they closely match for classical objects like buildings, bridges and the Space Shuttle. So, we still use Newton because it is simpler in that range of applications. Newton is a good-enough approximation in certain applications, especially mechanical and civil engineering.

Maybe challenges it is a better word. Things as prized as evolution, I even showed that specifically in the case on simply a model of evolution, do not just get abandoned. Even after archeological evidence turns up in piles historical models are begrudgingly parted with. Evolution is still young, my point was that even this soon the trajectory is in a similar direction as countless other models. Steady state gone, flat earth gone, earth centric universe gone, I do not imagine evolution will ever go away but it's form will probably change dramatically.
Well, then let's discuss about it when it changed in directions that question naturalism. I will not hold my breath, though.

The earliest form of evolution was a very slow and gradual change over eons. That was it's essential essence. It is as if one of it's pillars has been removed. The thing still but it does not appear the same. I think in the end it will be radically different.
Yes, I understand why you have this opinion. But what evidence do you have that this will be the case? Just a hunch?


Even if it could (and I have never heard a hint it could) the quantum has not supplanted Newton. Go to engineering schools sand you will get Newton-ed to death without having the Quantum be mentioned in any class. It is not even understood in large measure how could it have replaced anything. I have always heard the exact same thing. Newtonian physics does not explain the atomic level and the Quantum is useful there. I have never heard even a hint that any replacement has occurred or will.
No one is crazy enough to teach relativity or quantum physics to future mechanical or civil engineers. But this is not because quantum mechanics would not cover that, but because it would be the equivalent of killing a mosquito with a laser gun. Newton is much simpler and matches well enough with more accurate and comprehensive theories within our classical world, which is what classical primates like us need to deal with.

I don't think any evolutionary model contradicts the bible, at best it contradicts one interpretation of a few verses out of many.
Obviously. Whenever you have such a power of interpretations, nothing can contradict the Bible. This is how it survived until now, actually.

However let's pretend it does in it's oldest formulation. Since the older formulation doe snot seem to be accurate then it's potency is becoming diluted. The bible says God created life but that life can change within limits. the newer models are far more consistent with that than Darwin's original ideas. I do not imagine evolution of some amount will ever go away because it appears in genesis. If all life forms are static that would be a better argument against the bible than evolution.
The problem is that I am still missing these newer models. Where are they?

How do you get certified as secular. Is there a test you must flunk first? Just kidding.
I was thinking of starting a certification program and sell insurances to believers in the rapture. For a modest $100 a month, we will take care of the pets that will be inevitably left behind together with certified secular people in case of raptures, second comings and similar events.

It was the particular kind of nonsense I was drawing attention to here. It is so prolific it is like a compulsion and I can't even invent a bad explanation for it.
I understand. That is why I prefer to call myself as a naturalist, which is very small subset of secularism. I know very secular people who believe that water molecules have memory of the things they had contact with and that this fact can help to fight diseases. Forgetting, thereby, that there is almost 100% certainty that the water contained in any container has molecules that were in contact with Julius Caesar's urine, as well.

I get false hope, I even think it is a reasonable application of a version of Pascal's wager. That is what makes these so strange because even if true they of any use to anyone who is claiming them. Mr. Baldwin's great great great grandson going to live on Mars won't help Alec Baldwin, so where is the hope. Dawkins answering that aliens may have ceded life on earth doe snot even change the problem.
Agree. No use. Postulating that life comes from Mars, even if it were true, would simply postpone the problem.

You mentioned some areas where I expect to find preference like philosophy and generic spirituality. However when those that lecture us on what is "scientific" tell me that the only place can't be from is the one place it is known to exist it is another matter. Neither my religion nor any outside influence caused me to get overtly suspicious of science, scientists did that long before I had faith. I think college stripped away all the mesmirization I viewed science with. The worst place was faculty speeches after hours.
I wonder why. You seem to be proud of the conquests of the human intellect. Call it the Space Shuttle or rubidium oscillators. But it is true that scientists are humans who can err. But its big advantage is that scientists are also ambitious and like to prove their colleagues wrong. At the end, is evidence that decides.

I think cynicism would produce a lack of hope.
Nope. It is flat honesty that would. If you expose the tricks used by some so-called mediums who claim to set people in contact with the deceased love ones, you will be the bad guy that kills hope.

I also would not be surprised if some would buy my post-rapture pet insurance.

Someone here kept typing in Greek. Thought it was you.
I have the possibly childish habit of stimulating healthy skepticism. Writing a Greek sentence on a forum, does not entail knowing Greek. You need much more evidence before coming to this conclusion. First principle: simplicity. I simply asked my friend with a classical education to send me a quote of Democritus about atoms.

I know the Greek alphabet, though. For professional reasons.

Actually I have heard people speaking in tongues and thought they were all faking. You might not believe it but I am very skeptical of miracle claims in general. I also think any occasion where God allows speaking in tongues for an interpreter to also be inspired. There is no point otherwise. I do not get the what worked with me joke. I hate it when I don't get jokes. Good neutrality joke above, though. I have some favorite neutrality quotes from the great sages of Rush.
First principle, again. Whether speaking in tongues is true or not, it is a falsifiable claim. All you have to do is ask the subject to translate something in tongues. For instance "elephants have good memory". Record the angelic translation and ask another episcopalian what it says.

I used that method with media (plural of medium I guess) that claimed to get in contact with the deceased. I always ask to get in contact with A. Einstein. Once communication has been established, I asked Einstein what he thinks of his pseudo-Riemannian metric tensor of time space acquiring a fully positive metric in some parts of the Universe.

Connection lost. Always.

1. There is no hero in neutrality.
2. If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
I love heroes. Especially if they are ready to take the job instead of me. lol.

Ciao

- viole
 
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1robin

Christian/Baptist
Here is my favorite Rush quote:
All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Rush is the most cerebral rock band ever.






I think it fits well with this thread. God, the writer of this play, has created a magnificent drama... pain, sorrow, love, joy, birth, death, heroes, and villains. 6000 years of betrayal, fighting, arguing, falling short of the mark. But a chosen few will make it to the end. Evil will be destroyed, and the Evil One will be cast into hell. We've all read the script and are now acting it out. It's brilliant how God made himself as an invisible force that can't fulling be understood. And since he can't be seen, then for many, he is too easily misunderstood or even thought not to exist at all.
It is the greatest story ever told true or false and without a single peer.

Let me not that the lack of a finite being not being able to comprehend fully an infinite one is a necessity.

But wait, did I say script? No, it's like we're put here on this stage with various clues of what reality is, and [/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]then [/FONT]we're forced to improvise. The clues can be strange and mysterious. They can be so vague as to make it seem [FONT=&quot]God's not even real[/FONT]. Some clues give people a totally different perspective [/FONT]on who God is and how they should act out their parts. This creates epic battles of will and determination. Whose God is the right God? Each side believes they are right. One side conquers the another and dominates for awhile. But, inevitably, if they aren't conquered by another greater power, they crumble from within, Because in this play, no one is perfect, all the players are flawed. They never get anything right.
I think we all have more clues than necessary. I think the arbiter is our hearts. Some of the greatest believers had little evidence and some of the most virulent atheists had mountains of it.

And that is what makes this play so perfect... everybody has something wrong with them. All those who think they're right, eventually something happens and they end up being wrong. Even those that say they know God. Them too. They end up falling somehow. But, not to worry, another group arises and takes over. They claim that they have the right knowledge. That they know how the play goes and how we should be acting it out. But they don't, because the writer has some twist and turn, and the play goes on for another thousand years of the same thing. Why? I don't know. I guess for the writer's amusement? Since, even though, it seems like we are improvising and making our own decisions, he knows all the parts and knows who is going to do what. So what then... is the purpose?
It is not being right that is the answer. It is knowing we aren't right and knowing who is. Christianity's most central claims are simply an agreement with the obvious facts. There is virtually a universal apprehension of a ultimate moral responsibility we fail to meet. Just about every denomination disagrees on details but insists Christ is the answer. It is the acme of foolishness to deny Christ because of a squabble over whether music belongs in church or what the wafer and juice is theoretically composed of.


The purpose is relationship. The mechanism is freewill. The dram is necessitated by each.
 

idav

Being
Premium Member
Which part? The biblical claim or the model issue?

The opening of the can of worms is that it makes genetics diversity that much more likely, so you add to the amounts of evidence instead of taking from it.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
Robin. A real forest entails independent arising of life on earth several time. That is, independent development of the same mechanisms, DNA structure, etc. Such a discovery would rattle science at its foundation and would appear on all papers in the world, including USA today. That is why I am pretty confident that you will have problems to find evidence of it that goes beyond second rate journalism.
A model is (or should be) a pictorial representation of the data. That is independent of the theory that overlays the data. I do not think the newest "forest like" models are sufficient to undermine a very valuable and cherished over arching theory. I gave the best possible example of this occurring at the highest level. The shale fossils simply challenged a model and were buried for decades based on preference. As virulent as the example or any one of hundreds like it is evidence of a massive undercurrent or preference. I don't that model has been held long enough yet to overturn assumptions.

My advice is to check such scientific evidence in organizations with a clear agenda, like Answers in Genesis. If they don't have it, it does not exist.
This sounds like the opposite of the advice I would have expected. I must have misunderstood.

I would suggest you do not waste time looking for something that does not exist. At least until now.
I know it exists. I am surprised to have difficulty in providing it. Most of my experience comes from decades of debates. Maybe thousands of them. It is impossible to reference 30 seconds from 7 years ago or 1 minute from 3 years ago. I think it would be the work of a few minutes to find what I said if forest evolution was not such a mountains area of study. I am hung up with lab problems again. I will try and get back to this post soon.
 
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