Hi Michael, I'm glad you are feeling chipper.
Just for you I'll make an effort here.
Your copied article appears to have been written by a Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff, who seems to be a radio talk show host, evangelical Christian and who is also known as the "Bible Answer Man". IOW he is an evangelical apologist who looks for ways to support the Bible whatever science may say.
Dear alwight,
There is nothing wrong with supporting the Bible irregardless of whether it includes science or not. The Bible stands on it's own, despite science. The History of the Bible is often proven by different discoveries, etc.
He makes unsupported statements and claims which have almost nothing to do with scientific conclusions or evidence. If there were anything of substance in his words then I can presume to assure you that probably both Davis and myself would be more than delighted to to tackle anything interesting, that wasn't simply the usual bald evidence free assertions.
The claims he makes don't have to be provable by science. They are bona fide facts of the Bible. They don't have to be proven by science, just like Creation vs. Evolution. Do you think that just because you can't assert that the Bible is true, has any reflections on science. His statements are also not unsupported. The Bible supports them. The science books you use don't?? The Bible is us believers' science and history book. The report is interesting to Christians and Bible-believers. So there are things in it worth tackling. And the bald assertions is getting old. Alwight, you are going to get proof that the whole Bible is true, soon enough. You will be in shock then. What will you tell Jesus when He returns?? I know you don't believe He will, but just think about that scenario. What will you SAY??
Firstly he asserts that because the universe seems to have had a beginning that "Of course, this implies that someone or something brought the universe into existence". So what? Maybe that was true or maybe it wasn't, but he doesn't know.
Oh, he knows. And so do I. The Universe was brought into existence. I know it for a fact. And I don't need to prove it to anybody else, because I only have to be concerned with my life, even though I try to steer others into the safe zone. You think it all just happened by itself.
Secondly [he says], "the universe bears all the marks of having been “finely tuned” to make life possible".
Just another baseless assertion that other apologists like to trot out periodically as if based in scientific fact. The truth is we have no idea if any other kind of universe is even possible or if countless universes have already come and gone without life. We are here in this minute speck of this overwhelmingly hostile universe because we can be, not because this universe is somehow amenable to life, it isn't.
The Universe is finely orchestrated by God. Do you see any other Earths around?? Do you know how overwhelmingly improbable that all that exists just happened by itself?? C'mon!
Thirdly, [he goes on] "the evidence is mounting that life on earth simply could not and did not come into existence through natural processes in a primordial “soup.” For example, the experiments to prove that it could have happened are suspect because little progress has been made possible due to the ingenious designs on the part of experimenters."
Not ingenious that I remember. The word is ingenuous. He speaks my language and I don't even need my science book to prove it.
Hogwash, the building blocks of life and organic molecules are known to exist or at least have recently been confirmed to exist by the Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and therefore must have been present on an early Earth. It just isn't reasonable to conclude that life could not have started naturally on Earth. Of course an evangelical apologist wants to jump to the conclusion that it required something supernatural, when in all probability no it didn't.
So you think a comet started life on Earth?? And what started the comet's life?? And Earth's life?? Give me a break. The life on Earth and Earth are supernaturally created. In other words, when in all probability it did.
Fourthly [according to Hank], "the genetic code of all biological life on earth contains evidence of intelligent design. This is because the genetic code contains information comparable to the information in complex computer programs as well as information in books."
Just a baseless assertion and argument from personal incredulity.
In any case infinite complexity can be derived from something fairly simple, see Mandelbrot set.
Al, Life is too complex for it all to have happened on it's own. Don't you think so?? Level with me on this!
Fifthly, [and finally] "the fossil record continues to be an embarrassment to the Darwinian theory of evolution. The many transitional forms which Darwin predicted would be found simply have not surfaced."
The old "no transitional fossils" canard again. Every time a new transitional fossil emerges that means that creationists now claim two missing transitional fossils either side where before there was only one. :yawn:
You might want to yawn, but that is just a devised tic. Alwight, it is an embarrassment to Darwin's theory that there isn't more evidence of his beliefs. From what I understand, even Darwin wanted to back out of the claims he made, but was egged on by another scientist. Right??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transitional_fossils
You can't say I dodged anything here Michael, but trust me that your copied post has nothing but the usual creationist nonsense that has been gone over many times before.
Alwight, I don't know what you dodged. I don't have the report in front of me, word for word. I'm sure then I could do some damage indeed. Alwight, it is too hard for me to have to debate you, seeing we are such close friends. I'm leaving TOL after I address these posts. You are all ten different people and I am one guy who has to do all of the work. I guess, if I weren't rushing to respond to your post here, I could have done better. But I want to get to bed. It's almost 3 a.m. here. Will chat with you later!!
Warmest Regards & Cheerio, Matey!!
Michael
