Scientists find evolution of life

EurekAlert ^ | 10/30/03

[Dales]

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- A trio of scientists including a researcher from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has found that humans may owe the relatively mild climate in which their ancestors evolved to tiny marine organisms with shells and skeletons made out of calcium carbonate.

In a paper titled "Carbonate Deposition, Climate Stability and Neoproterozoic Ice Ages" in the Oct. 31 edition of Science, UC Riverside researchers Andy Ridgwell and Martin Kennedy along with LLNL climate scientist Ken Caldeira, discovered that the increased stability in modern climate may be due in part to the evolution of marine plankton living in the open ocean with shells and skeletal material made out of calcium carbonate. They conclude that these marine organisms helped prevent the ice ages of the past few hundred thousand years from turning into a severe global deep freeze.

"The most recent ice ages were mild enough to allow and possibly even promote the evolution of modern humans," Caldeira said. "Without these tiny marine organisms, the ice sheets may have grown to cover the earth, like in the snowball glaciations of the ancient past, and our ancestors might not have survived."

The researchers used a computer model describing the ocean, atmosphere and land surface to look at how atmospheric carbon dioxide would change as a result of glacier growth. They found that, in the distant past, as glaciers started to grow, the oceans would suck the greenhouse gas -- carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere -- making the Earth colder, promoting an even deeper ice age. When marine plankton with carbonate shells and skeletons are added to the model, ocean chemistry is buffered and glacial growth does not cause the ocean to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

But in Precambrian times (which lasted up until 544 million years ago), marine organisms in the open ocean did not produce carbonate skeletons -- and ancient rocks from the end of the Precambrian geological age indicate that huge glaciers deposited layers of crushed rock debris thousands of meters thick near the equator. If the land was frozen near the equator, then most of the surface of the planet was likely covered in ice, making Earth look like a giant snowball, the researchers said.

Around 200 million years ago, calcium carbonate organisms became critical to helping prevent the earth from freezing over. When the organisms die, their carbonate shells and skeletons settle to the ocean floor, where some dissolve and some are buried in sediments. These deposits help regulate the chemistry of the ocean and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, in a related study published in Nature on Sept. 25, 2003, Caldeira and LLNL physicist Michael Wickett found that unrestrained release of fossil-fuel carbon dioxide to the atmosphere could threaten extinction for these climate-stabilizing marine organisms.

[f.Christian]

Aren't these liberal republicans really ...

anti conservatives ---

moles - sleepers - plants - satan spawn - spores !

[RightWingNilla]

"Why cant we be friends?" placemarker

[Dimensio]

But, I suppose mono-theism is not.

Monotheism is not what?

Monotheism simply means "belief in one god". It is also not, in and of itself, religion (neither is polytheism -- belief in more than one god).

[f.Christian]

Wicky wiccans ... dabbling in the occult ?

To: Aquinasfan

My oldest son had a rather extraordinary experience just about a year ago.

He was travelling back and forth with a group of other high school kids between our town and another town to practice with a regional singing group. Seven kids from our town were in this group so they would caravan over in two cars.

One night, one of the kids pulled out an amulet and began talking about the powers it possessed and gave to him. Turned out all the other kids had amulets as well. After awhile, the first kid sort of fell into a trance and began chanting and talking. One other kid in the car began to do the same.

Now you have to know my son. Nothing phases him.

Anyway, the first kid had been in a trance for about fifteen minutes -the longest, according to the group, any of them had ever been under a spell of this 'spirit'.

The other kids became very concerned and pulled over. The second car also pulled over. All the kids got out and were watching this one kid in the back seat. They were all freaking out. They couldn't couldn't get this first kid out of the trance and they all started talking about how they needed to get this kid to another kid's house because that kid would know what to do -how to break the spell and stop the channelling.

As my son describes it, at that point he calmly pulled out his rosary, and began praying it. The first kid, speaking in a gutteral voice, grabbed my son by the throat (the finger markings were clearly visible the next day) and shouted, "Shut up, creep, your prayers won't help you now."

My son says at that point he had never in his life felt so at peace. He smiled at the first kid and said, "Liar." Slowly, as my son prayed the rosary, the first kid calmed down and then gradually returned to normal.

The kids got back in their cars and came home.

My son quit the singing group the next day. He also contacted our parish priest, talked about it with him(our priest is convinced this was a true encounter with the demonic) and informed both the priest and his mother and I that he had been thinking and praying for some time about his vocation and now believes he has a calling to the priesthood.

Of the kids there that night, two have graduated and gone into the military. Three swear to my son they have thrown their amulets away and attend their respective churches regularly, now. One is in jail on a drug possession charge. And the first kid, the one in the scariest trance, has moved to California to live with an aunt.

After the ... incident --- I informed all the parents of what their kids were involved in.

I needn't have bothered. All showed little concern. Convinced this was just a bit of teenage knavery.

31 posted on 07/07/2003 12:34 PM PDT by AlguyA

[f.Christian]

To: Chancellor Palpatine

Check out these product reviews of Parker Brothers' Ouija board. A sample:

The board told us it was a good spirit so we were okay. The next day it said strange things and creepy things so we decided to put it away and not use it for a while. It's really fun though but you just have to be careful with it...
This bored is an exelent way to comunicate with the spirts. This bored is not a game but a way to use your sixth sence. Once you start the spirits are forever with you. So make sure that you want to be forever untied with the deadly spirits before you uae it. NOT PLAY! SOme spirits are harmful while some are gentle. Make sure that you are friends with some gentle ones so that if you come in contact with a disturbed one they can drive it out. This is the best thing ever. It's fun and spooky....

ouija board is a wonderfull way to contact spirits. it might not work the first time your using it.. but be patient... there will be an answer soon... please dont play it alone...( to dangerous...) and its always better to burn some protection incense.. cast a circle or even wear a pentalce for protection....if you got the feeling the beeing isnt nice... then send him away by simply saying: thanks you for beeing our guest. now im sending you back to your world........ then wait a little put the board away and start again..... while playing try not to cross your legs because it might block the flow of energy.. its also always good to have a white candle lit. keep unwanted noises away such as tv. doorbell ect. play this game with respect of the otherworld.... always ask for the name first....( for the name in his her last incarnation on earth.. if you dont ask specific it might show you a name wich doesnt make sense in our world......).

God help these lost souls.

33 posted on 07/07/2003 12:40 PM PDT by Aquinasfan

[Alamo-Girl]

Er, if I may, I’d like to make a comment on your comment, bondserv. You said:

No one who has study the Bible to the point that they are literate in both the Old and New Testaments can say that the Bible leaves room for the Theory of Evolution to be true.

I would modify your statement slightly as follows:

No one who has studied and believed the Bible to the point that they are literate in both the Old and New Testaments would say that the Bible leaves room for the theory of evolution to be the entire truth of the matter concerning how biological life arose.

(I realize that the evolutionist posters will be quick to mention that the theory doesn’t extend to include either biogenesis or abiogenesis and thus is not the entire truth anyway.)

There are those of us Christians who believe that Adam was the first ensouled man, that the Genesis story is played out in both heaven and earth, that Adam was banished to mortality, that “the death” speaks not just to physical death but the second death as well. (Revelation 20 and 21)

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory? The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - I Corinthians 15:54-57

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. - Revelation 2:11

You have a testimony based on your interpretation of the Scriptures under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. So do I.

Since our difference does not deny the deity of Christ or the authority of the Word and the Scriptures, I presume the difference is according to God’s will in the matter and thus wish you well. I pray that you will feel the same towards me.

[f.Christian]

wow ... amazing !

To: Aquinasfan

I was in D.C. one summer and read that there was going to be a "street fair" in Adams-Morgan. I went to it. About 4 blocks were blocked from traffic. There was a double row of tables, with people selling things, etc. At one table were two women with a sign "Palm Reading." I foolishly sat down - and one of the women told me things most of my friends don't know. Profound, deep stuff. Three years after that I became a Christian. Demons know things about us, but the good news is, they can't do anything without Our Lord authorizing it. BTW demons are hierarchical and territorial.


89 posted on 11/02/2003 2:24 AM PST by 185JHP ( Not much quag. Even less mire.)

[CobaltBlue]

I hope this post won't come across as disrespectful, because it is not intended to be.

It seems to me, as a believer, that it is presumptuous to assume that I can ever know *HOW* God did what He did.

Now, here comes the part that may be offensive. Lately, I've been wondering what mental image people have of creation. And for some reason, I keep thinking of that transporter thingie in Star Trek, that beams people down to planets. Seriously, do some people imagine that God beamed Adam and Eve down to Planet Earth? Or, like a magician, waved His hands, and *poof!*, Adam appeared, and later *poof!* Eve appeared, in a microsecond?

The mental image I use sometimes of creation is of a really great pool player (Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats) hitting a cluster of tightly bunched up matter with a pool cue, and it then all bangs into each other and spins, and goes hurtling off into space.

My husband likes a Gary Larsen cartoon, where an old man with a beard is pulling a cake shaped like Earth out of an oven, and the tag line is, "something tells me this thing is only half baked."

I mean, we really don't know, do we? Nobody but God was there at the beginning.

Even if He sat us down and explained it in detail, no matter how hard we tried, we probably couldn't understand it anyway.

So, it seems to me that the real argument between us believers is about whether there are more things in Heaven, Earth, and the Universe than are mentioned specifically in the Bible.

There is a side argument between believers and non-believers. My belief is that non-believers who keep arguing are trying to convince themselves, but secretly cannot convince themselves, that God doesn't exist. So they really are asking for enlightenment, and should not be treated disrespectfully.

And there is a third problem, which is that some believers want Genesis to be taught as if it were scientific proof of that which it contains, and it is not.

Oh, and maybe the last issue, which isn't really a problem, which is that some people just love to argue.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

[f.Christian]

Is satan in the eye of the beholder ... scary --- whattayahthink !

To: Aquinasfan

Catholics and the New Age: How Good People Are Being Drawn into Jungian Psychology, the Enneagram, and the Age of Aquarius, by Fr. Mitch Pacwa.

I'm kind of a natural skeptic of paranormal stuff and tend to err on the side of disbelief... but that may be because I tend to ignore it out of abject fear although it does fascinate me. I purchased "Beware the Night" by Ralph Sarchie a couple of years ago and started reading it one night when I got home from work. I got to about page 17 and put it away and could never touch it again. I can barely look at it - even the cover! I have Fr. Amorth's two books and I also have Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil" - all of them untouched although I am dying to read them. I do have St. Benedict medals with me at all times.

A few times as a youth I went to tarot card readers... I never felt comfortable with them although I didn't at that time know that Catholics are not supposed to have truck with them. I have to admit that both times the reader (two separate ones) told me things that had happened and things did come to pass - and scared the hell out of me although I didn't know why at the time. I would never, ever go to a tarot card reader again and I tell people to stay away from them.

The closest I have come to seeing evil (I believe) is one time I went to this seminar at my parish with a priest and nun teaching about centering prayer and enneagrams. When I was leaving, the nun turned towards me and held out her hand and I looked into her eyes and the hairs on my body felt like they were standing on end... she had these eyes that you could fall into and get lost - they were eternity is the best way I can describe them... it was weird and very scary. I had to look away and I did not shake her hand. It was one of those moments that you just knew something and I was unnerved for the rest of the day. I can still see her eyes - kind of like the eyes that some cats have.


71 posted on 10/31/2003 7:45 AM PST by american colleen

[CobaltBlue]

Skill at fortune-telling is the result of intuition, not demons. Some people have incredible intuition, which is a gift from God.

For example, most people can detect lies maybe half the time, no better than chance, but there are some, especially old, seasoned law enforcement officers, who can detect lies as often as 80% of the time.

[Aracelis]

Since our difference does not deny the deity of Christ or the authority of the Word and the Scriptures, I presume the difference is according to God’s will in the matter and thus wish you well. I pray that you will feel the same towards me.

Very, very well said! The unique gifts each of us have been given in accordance with God's plan for each of our lives are tools to be used in the realization of that plan. Some of us are born to be theologians, scientists and engineers, doctors, lawyers, and even some to be garbage men or politicians. Each is given the skills and understanding required to fulfill those duties.

[CobaltBlue]

For the most part, what we call Satan is no more real than Zeus or Horus or Wotan. Baal is a pagan sun god. I don't believe in pagan sun gods, I don't believe they are actual deities or sub-deities or beings.

There is only One God.

Superstitious people used to be afraid of pagan idols. I am not superstitious, nor am I afraid of idols.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for your wonderful post! It is very thought provoking, CobaltBlue!

My belief is that non-believers who keep arguing are trying to convince themselves, but secretly cannot convince themselves, that God doesn't exist. So they really are asking for enlightenment, and should not be treated disrespectfully.

Oh yes! I couldn't agree with you more. When anyone is seeking, it is a good thing and an opportunity for those who have a testimony to share.

So, it seems to me that the real argument between us believers is about whether there are more things in Heaven, Earth, and the Universe than are mentioned specifically in the Bible.

IMHO, it gets sticky because - concerning spiritual matters - when one wanders beyond the teachings of Christ one may leave God's will behind. It is much better and safer to abide in Him. (John 15:4)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so very much for your post and the excellent examples! And thank you for the encouragement!

Each is given the skills and understanding required to fulfill those duties.

So true, so very true. We seem to understand and accept this in business and sports, but it is true in spiritual matters as well.

[f.Christian]

I've read some amazing accounts of the occult and their power over people ... like jim jones !

I read one from a guy who had an experience with the teenager jeffrey dahmer ... he was in a seance with him --- when jeffrey was invoking satan the flame on the candle started snapping real hard - loud and he ran out of there !


The Bible does say we will not be tempted above our rank - ability ... if you do see truth - love 1st you will see power and evil too--- the righteous will run to one and flee - eschew the other !

[CobaltBlue]

when one wanders beyond the teachings of Christ one may leave God's will behind. It is much better and safer to abide in Him.

Just so. But Jesus did not teach about Genesis. He taught about healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted, turning the other cheek, not stoning women taken in adultery, behaving righteously, and so on.

[CobaltBlue]

You may be right. Perhaps I have never been tempted because I am too weak. If so, blessed are the weak. ;^)

[CobaltBlue]

I should clarify that by not being tempted, I mean that I do not believe that I have personally had any contact with Satan, or not much to speak of. I am a sinner, but not due to any great temptations, just human frailty.

I do dream of wrestling with demons, unseen forces that are stronger than I am, but they always leave me when I start reciting the Lord's Prayer.

[f.Christian]

Really nothing to make light of ... God wills that none will perish --- be lost or deceived !

I believe evolution is definitely a satanic conspiracy --- war with God - truth !

Look how good christians are demonized - banned ... all through society - media --- intelligensia !


Main Entry: in·tel·li·gent·sia
Pronunciation: in-"te-l&-'jen(t)-sE-&, -'gen(t)-
Function: noun
Etymology: Russian intelligentsiya, from Latin intelligentia intelligence
Date: 1907
: intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite

[CobaltBlue]

I believe evolution is definitely a satanic conspiracy --- war with God - truth !

I've mentioned before the petroleum geologist I once knew who felt the same way, but still used the fossil record in order to hunt for petroleum deposits.

So, regardless of how you believe, it can still be useful in advancing worthwhile knowledge.