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Ironically I belive that things were made perfect, but micro evolutionary changes have made things worse. Every copy of the original perfect copy has flaws. Then when you get copies of the copy you introduce more flaws. If every copy were made from the original it would be different.
Originally posted by Astyanax
For it is undeniable that God, if He exists, is both perfect and eternal.
But then He goes and creates the world.
Originally posted by WatchNLearn
Originally posted by dbates
Ironically I belive that things were made perfect, but micro evolutionary changes have made things worse.
And yes, ironically you just vindicated my whole theory of evolution - thank you!
Originally posted by WatchNLearn
Hocus Pocus
This may come as a surprise to some, but aside from a lively distaste for obscurantism, particularly of the religious variety I don't object to creationism until people try to indoctrinate children in it, presenting it as though it were fact, or at least strongly supported by evidence, which it isn't.
Originally posted by Astyanax
Of course the universe, and life, may have originated in acts of creation by some being, possibly one worthy to be called God. But if life originates in the universe, is not the universe the creator of it, or at least its matrix? God may be a null hypothesis, but it does no harm to invoke a null hypothesis - it simply does no good either, at least in terms of getting at the truth of something; still, it might be of some comfort to the invoker.
For it is undeniable that God, if He exists, is both perfect and eternal.
yeah. you gotta love the way some of these richard-dawkins-types live on a tiny, tiny planet in a tiny, tiny body and then start making grandiose claims purporting to know the "origins of life".
"My dream is that this book may help people come out...the easier it will be for others to join them. There may be a critical mass for the initiation of a chain reaction." Pg. 4 of the Preface....
"If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down." - Pg. 5 - Richard Dawkins
But then He goes and creates the world.
That act nullifies both the eternal nature of God (because what is eternal is changeless, and to act is to change) and His perfection (because in changing, He is no longer perfect; besides, a being that creates an imperfect world is inevitably an imperfect creator).
Therefore God, the perfect Being, could not have created the world.
Who benefits from all the confusion being sowed on our origins?
Who does not want humanity to find out about their origins?
Originally posted by Spiramirabilis
to me this is the most interesting part of this discussion
what are your thoughts?
Well, if we pretend for a moment that we`re actually in some kind of ET-Lab with our ET-Creators playing us without wanting to get revealed, I'd say they try to keep us focussed on small and insignificant aspects of our origins.
I read Dawkins half way and got bored...oh well
The C vs. E Debate is like two ants getting all worked up about "who's right". One ant believes they fell from a tree, the other ant believes the came from across the hill.
I see no basis for this fiercely fought drama at all.
Originally posted by Astyanax
For it is undeniable that God, if He exists, is both perfect and eternal. Indeed, this was one of St. Thomas Aquinas's 'proofs' of the existence of God: imagine a being that was wholly perfect. To be perfect, it must actually exist; ergo, God exists.
But then He goes and creates the world.
That act nullifies both the eternal nature of God (because what is eternal is changeless, and to act is to change) and His perfection (because in changing, He is no longer perfect; besides, a being that creates an imperfect world is inevitably an imperfect creator).
Therefore God, the perfect Being, could not have created the world.
this is the part of any discussion about God that confuses me
why do we (the mortals) insist that he must be perfect?
Deut. 32:4: He is the Rock, his work is perfect
2 Samuel 22:31 and Psalm 18:30 (the same words in both verses): As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psalm 19:7: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Romans 12:2: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2 Corinthians 13:9: For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.
Genesis 6:6: And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
1 Samuel 15:35: The LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
All created perfections are in God. Hence He is spoken of as universally perfect, because He lacks not (says the Commentator, Metaph. v) any excellence which may be found in any genus.
Summa Theologica Part One, Question 4
If you were bored, and wanted a book to read for entertainment, would you want one in which everyone lived idyllic lives from start to finish?
I see this world as god's library. We are each part of him, each a tentacle of that spaghetti monster I've read about; each of our lives one of his books.
Therefore God, the perfect Being, could not have created the world.
False assumptions lead to wasted semantics.
I could theorise that spaghetti doesn't exist too, or I could sit down and eat it.
Bah.
Atheists have this habit of making a box for god, finding he doesn't fit in it, and deciding he can't be god because he's not the right size/shape.