Posted on 07/30/2006 12:56:40 PM PDT by infoguy
Living things are designed by the same nature that builds snowflakes. If you choose to believe God set it up this way I have no problem with that belief.
But the history of the building of the living snowflake is as described by science, regardless of the ultimate cause.
People did not always live on the surface of the earth. At one time people and animals lived underneath the earth with Kaang, the Great Master and Lord of All Life. In this place people and animals lived together peacefully. They understood each other. No one ever wanted for anything and it was always light even though there wasn't any sun. During this time of bliss Kaang began to plan the wonders he would put in the world above.
First Kaang created a wondrous tree, with branches stretching over the entire country. At the base of the tree he dug a hole that reached all the way down into the world where the people and animals lived. After he had finished furnishing the world as he pleased he led the first man up the hole. He sat down on the edge of the hole and soon the first woman came up out of it. Soon all the people were gathered at the foot of the tree, awed by the world they had just entered. Next, Kaang began helping the animals climb out of the hole. In their eagerness some of the animals found a way to climb up through the tree's roots and come out of the branches. They continued racing out of the world beneath until all of the animals were out.
Kaang gathered all the people and animals about him. He instructed them to live together peacefully. Then he turned to the men and women and warned them not to build any fires or a great evil would befall them. They gave their word and Kaang left to where he could watch his world secretly.
As evening approached the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. The people and animals stood watching this phenomenon, but when the sun disappeared fear entered the hearts of the people. They could no longer see each other as they lacked the eyes of the animals which were capable of seeing in the dark. They lacked the warm fur of the animals also and soon grew cold. In desperation one man suggested that they build a fire to keep warm. Forgetting Kaang's warning they disobeyed him. They soon grew warm and were once again able to see each other.
However the fire frightened the animals. They fled to the caves and mountains and ever since the people broke Kaang's command people have not been able to communicate with animals. Now fear has replaced the seat friendship once held between the two groups.
"Bad" is relative, but it's clearly suboptimal, especially for an allegedly omnipotent and omniescent creator. Positing a non-omnipotent creator gets around some of these issues, but that doesn't seem to be popular.
Flip a coin 1000 times and count the number of heads. Repeat this million times and plot the distribution of the number of heads. Each flip is random; the bell curve you end up with isn't.
Get it through your defense mechanisms, Dave. Evolution doesn't address the history of pre-cellular life. Darwin explicitly left this mystery to religion.
There are biologists studying this, but it isn't part of TOE.
Nothing random except the source. Is that kind of like "nothing is holding up my house except the foundation"?
No Dave. The games at Las Vegas are very carefully crafted to be as random as it is possible for physical systems to be, and yet the outcome is always the same. The house makes a profit at the end of the day.
Mutations may or may not be purely random, but it doesn't matter. Some variations are more successful at reproduction than others. Selection shapes.
Interestingly, yesterday someone sent me an article making the exact opposite criticism of "naturalists."
See http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v1/n2/God-natural-law#fnMark3_1
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