DontRunMeOver

Yay for religious debates.

One of my friends described Christianity as "A very long wait for a train the doesn't come". Discuss.

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DontRunMeOver

Mutations of DNA, followed by continuation of the strain if the organism survives and reproduces and spread of the new mutation if it gives the organism a survival benefit.

Evolution = Continuation of beneficial mutations.

Modern knowledge of evolution is not to be confused with Darwinism, which is like confusing modern quantum physics with Newton's work. Newton and Darwin were both geniuses (Newton much more so) but there were still a LOT of flaws in their work - they were only individual people after all and access to scientific literature, computers and other electronic research aids was a bit thin on the ground, so they had to make do with levers, pulleys and drawing pictures of finches. Which is kind of limiting.

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MHDTV

Exactly, and I'm certainly not saying I believe this, but many would say that that is proof of intelligent design. Once again, I don't believe that but I'm just making the point that that isn't proof that God doesn't exist, as you implyed.

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Quoted for untruth.

Finally, a signature that's chewy not chalky!

Let's agree to disagree.

Son of JayJamJah

If a Tree Falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it make a sound or does it evolve into a log?

Son of JayJamJah

Lennon said God is a concept by which we measure our pain (then he said it again)

I have always felt fairly certain that less then 1 tenth of 1% of religious folk actually "believe" it. They like the idea, and if allowed to make their own revisions and interpretations to religious doctrines and texts can find a Church whose principals and morality they share and that gives them comfort not only in their lives but in death.

Imagine the overwhelming confusion and fear humans must have felt when they realized their own mortality. That everyone dies. Obviously this would blow your effing mind, so since the dawn of time, Man has created various religions either by the passing down of stories, the continuation of traditions or whatever manner.

No as time has gone on and our understanding of the world around has grown thanks to Science and Philosophy (and most of all experience) we have ironically evolved our religions to be more aprapo of the times. Of course no right minded person believes the bible as a historical text, far too many of it's stories have been disproved by archeology. But this does not make faith crumble, or even flinch. You see the absence of reason to believe is not comforting at all to most. We still need answers or at least feel like we do. Science in time will bring us closer and closer to understanding where we truly came from.

But we are still humans are our natural instincts to carry on traditions and find solace in the lose of friends are still as strong as they were in the days of the Flintstones. So a lot of people choose to follow. Most of them live good lives in the name of the Lord, though all are hell-bound hypocrites if their beliefs are taken literally, this is the evolution of religion which fun-house mirrors the evolution of Science and logic.

In addition it is human instinct, in times of great personal despair, trepidation and loss to search for solace, and the unknown offers very little. This is why more then 1/3 of those who describe themselves as "deeply religious" in prison became so once they got there. Or why, while not entirely true, we have the phrase "there are no atheists in foxholes" Undoubtedly when there are no more answers to be found for suffering it is easy to just have "faith".

What do people do when there team is down in the fourth quarter or bottom of the ninth? What about when a family member is bed-ridden or ill? They have faith, and don't feel the need to complicate it with possible explanations from doctors or experts, they want to know the truth, and if the truth is unknown, they almost exclusively choose faith in the best outcome. Faith is what's left when nothing else is going your way. Personal Faith is often equal to personal pain and a in many cases a welcome antidote. A sort of philosophical Oxycontin if you will.

So maybe John Lennon was right, God is a concept or if not certainly is a measuring stick for and of human pain.

DontRunMeOver

It's a good thing you're not saying you believe it's proof of intelligent design because I can't see how it would be. Evolution isn't really proof of anything much. All the current scientific knowledge tells us is that mutatation and the following 'natural selection' is one process that happens. There are lots of other possible processes which could happen, from the extremes of randomness to intelligent design and everything in between, and it could have been any combination of these unknowns which brought things to where they are today.

I think that evolution theories are currently focussed on the effects of DNA mutation because Crick and Watson happened to crack the structure of DNA in the 1950's (I think) so it's given scientists a better grip on that piece of the puzzle than they might have on other aspects of evolution theory. As with many things in science, until you have the 'paradigm shift' necessary to jump to another level of research then comparitively little progress gets made and I'm pretty sure that were a good few paradigm shifts away from even understanding evolution to a decent extent let alone having any explanation for the history of evolution beyond invoking some god/gods that people made up rather than admit they didn't know why anything was happening.

Also because they realise it'll win them brownie points with the prison authorities and being 're-born' helps them in trying to distance themselves from whatever crime they committed (almost like a metaphysical cry of "It wasn't me!")

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i get high sometimes

Are you that thick? I didn't imply anything. I specifically stated that NOTHING disproves the existance of God. Clearly stating that nothing disproves the existance of God is the complete opposite of 'implying' that evolution disproves the existance of God. Opposite in every possible way.

Frances

Intelligent design? That's the Eiffel Tower.

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Yup.

Voice_of_the_Soul12,13,01

OH MY GOD! Don't we already have a thread for religious debate that erupted from the subject of jacking off? DO YOU SEE HOW MESSED UP THAT QUESTION WAS?!


I'm saying one thing now, and this is kind of in reference to right-track's supposed drunken post, and what I believe; God gives nothing to humanity because we have to work for it. If he has to give us something, we certainly don't need the gift of life to obtain it. In other words, he's give us life; the challenges, the victories, the defeats, good days and bad days, and that is more than enough. Some people are just ungrateful.

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I don't mean to dwell
But I can't help myself
When I feel the vibe
And taste a memory
Of a time in life
When years seemed to stand still

i get high sometimes

Your mother and father gave you that life. Not the magic man in the sky. Or the stork for that matter.