The Science of God, page 1

Before I go into the next topic I wanted to expand on that last idea on what god is. More in the lines of what thoughts are made of.

Here is a link to work done by Mr. Emoto. He is the words and water guy. It's worth checking out.

Clicky

Alright on to the next part!

Evolution and Creationism

There has been a long standing battle between creationists and evolutionists. They have fought and given eachother countless examples as to why either side is right.

Now I say unto you dudes, try mixing the two together.

Evolutionists primary source of evidence is fossil records and the like. This is good evidence but not proof of evolution, and certainly not enough to keep the creationists at bay. There is something closer to proof in the world of evolution. The ERV (Endogenous retrovirus)

An ERV is a viral sequence that has become part of the infected animal's genome. Upon entering a cell, a retrovirus copies its RNA genome into DNA, and inserts the DNA copy into one of the host cell's chromosomes. Different retroviruses target different species and types of host cells; the retrovirus only becomes endogenous if it inserts into a cell whose chromosomes will be inherited by the next generation, i.e. an ovum or sperm cell. The offspring of the infected individual will have a copy of the ERV in the same place in the same chromosome in every single one of their cells.

This happens more often than you might think; 8% of the modern human genome is derived from ERVs. Repeated sequences of this kind were formerly considered to be non-functional, or "junk" DNA. However, we're gradually finding more and more examples of viral sequences that appear to have some kind of function in human cells. For example, many ERV sequences play a role in human gene regulation. ERVs contain viral genes, and also sequences - known as promoters - that dictate when those genes should be switched on. When an ERV inserts into the host's chromosome, its promoter can start to interfere with the regulation of any nearby human genes. In the example that I researched, the ERV promoter has become responsible for most of the expression of a particular human gene in the large intestine.

Creationists and intelligent design advocates like to think that because some ERVs have useful functions in the human genome, they must have been deliberately put there by a creator / designer with that particular purpose in mind. Of course, no-one can explicitly prove that that is incorrect - it's not a falsifiable hypothesis, and therefore it's not science. What we can show is that ERVs provide evidence in support of the theory of evolution.

Let's imagine how ERVs would behave within a model of evolution by common descent. An ancient creature, let's call it the common ancestor of all modern mammals, is infected by a retrovirus that becomes endogenous. All of the animal's descendants (i.e. all mammals) would be expected to carry the same ERV insertion (ERV1) in the same chromosomal location.

Fast forward in evolutionary time. Different lineages have evolved and diverged from the original common ancestor and there are now many different types of mammal in existence, all carrying ERV1. A small rodent, let's call it the common ancestor of mice and rats, is again infected by a species-specific retrovirus that becomes endogenous. This is ERV2. In a parallel event in a different lineage, the common ancestor of all great apes acquires a third insertion, ERV3.

Moving forward again, a fourth ERV appears in some of these new-fangled human thingies that are running around in Africa, but not in their hairier relatives who will eventually evolve into modern chimpanzees. The early humans spread out, and a fifth and (don't worry) final ERV arises in a population that is isolated in a discrete geographical location. The infection does not spread to other human populations.

So what would we expect? Humans, chimps, mice and rats should all possess ERV1. The mouse and rat genomes will also contain ERV2, the virus that infected their common ancestor, but not the primate-specific ERV3, 4 or 5 insertions. All great apes will share an identical ERV3 insertion; all humans will also possess an ERV4 insertion that is not found in chimps or other apes. In addition, some, but not all, humans will carry an insertion of ERV5. The rodent-specific ERV2 insertion will not be found in any primate species.

In a nutshell a virus infects a human cell. What if this cell where say an egg or a sperm cell that happened to join with it's counterpart and form a full grown human?

Lets go back a few million years. Lets say this "lemur" common ancestor we just found (no proof that it is. Just using it as a general example.) produced offspring with ERV1 that infected the egg cell. All ancestors of this lemur would contain that same ERV in the same part of thier genome. That is how we can say that apes and us came from a common ancestor. We have several ERVs in common with eachother in the same parts of our genome.

Woa creationists don't jump the gun, you're right too! We talked about how the universe came to be earlier. Well imagine if this god decided to create life to come from a soup of organic molecules that eventually formed replicable RNA molecules. The birthplace of DNA as we know it.

All god had to do was light the fuse on the big bang and BOOM here we are. To a being to which time does not exist what is a few billion years?

As everyone who has ever read any of my other posts already knows, I am a huge fan of Carl Sagan and I am going to post a couple vids now that I have deemed relevant in this discussion.

DNA!!!

YouTube Link

Want to know how god created man? Watch!

YouTube Link

In order to have been created we wouldn't have to have been directly planted into existence. What is 4 billion years to one to whom time does not exist? We all know that nature is the most powerful creator, created by the most intelligent creator. So when you put the two together it really makes sense of what we have seen in science and creationism.

I'll write some more later! This one has stuff to do..

[edit on 21-5-2009 by DaMod]