(This is my revised version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" renamed "The 12 Days of Atheism = Stupidity" -- it's basically the top 12 reasons why atheism is so securely grounded in stupidity -- the song goes like this...)
On the tenth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
Science
It's nice to see Catholics and Fundamentalist Protestants starting to come together on the age of the Earth and how to interpret the Biblical account of Creation written in the book of Genesis.
Pat Robertson of the 700 Club/Christian Broadcasting Network recently remarked "I know people will probably lynch me for this, but Bishop (James) Ussher, God bless him, wasn't inspired by the Lord when he said it all took 6,000 years. It just didn't." Ussher was a 17th century clergyman who first argued that the Earth was created in 4004 BC.
Pope John Paul II put it this way: "The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of the universe and its make-up, not in order to provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationship of man with God and with the universe. Sacred Scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expresses itself in the terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer."
None of this contradicts the fact that the entire Bible (both Old and New testaments) is:
1) Inspired by the Holy Spirit
2) Inerrant in the original manuscripts
3) The infallible and authoritative Word of God
You might ask, "How can the Earth be 4.5 billion years old while at the same time the entire Bible is inerrant and infallible?" It's because the Bible isn't a book about science. The Bible is a book about faith, religion and a relationship with God.
The Bible doesn't contain any mistakes, and the Bible never has to be corrected. The thing is this... scientific data and Sacred Scripture both have to be interpreted by human beings -- and human beings make a lot of mistakes.
There's nothing incompatible between science and the Bible. For example, if the theory of evolution appears to be incompatible with the Bible, then maybe the theory of evolution is wrong (more likely, though, it's not that the theory of evolution is "wrong" but that the theory of evolution is "incomplete" -- and the theory of evolution will remain "incomplete" until it is in perfect alignment with the inerrant and infallible Word of God written in the Bible).
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Top 12 Reasons Atheism = Stupidity (#11)
(This is my revised version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" renamed "The 12 Days of Atheism = Stupidity" -- it's basically the top 12 reasons why atheism is so securely grounded in stupidity -- the song goes like this...)
On the eleventh day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
The Theory of Evolution
Ever since Darwin published his theory of evolution, atheists and others have been using the theory to claim that humans are just "sophisticated animals" -- the claim goes along these lines: because humans evolved from apes, and apes evolved from other animals, humans are just a different species of animal.
What is so funny about this involves a "crisis" of sorts that has been brewing among evolutionary biologists over the last few years. Get this. There is now a big disagreement between two camps of evolutionary biologists:
Camp #1 says evolution has STOPPED since humans arrived on the planet.
Camp #2 says evolution has ACCELERATED since humans arrived on the planet.
In other words (according to the latest understanding of the theory of evolution), a process which has been occurring for 3.8 billion years has suddenly changed since humans arrived on the planet. To me, that sounds like humans are pretty special. To me, that sounds like humans are NOT just a "sophisticated animal." To me, that sounds like the theory of evolution PROVES that humans are NOT just "sophisticated animals."
So, according to the current understanding of the theory of evolution, a process that has been working in the same manner for ALL species for 3.8 billion years all of a sudden works DIFFERENTLY in humans. Hmmm...
You know, some people think that the theory of evolution rules out spiritual things and God. It doesn't. People probably got that idea because they thought the theory of evolution was a threat to religion. It's not.
Also, some people think that science is displacing religion. It isn't. Science isn't displacing religion. Science is actually confirming religion (it's just taking a little longer than a lot of people have the patience to wait for).
On the eleventh day of Christmas my True Love gave to me...
The Theory of Evolution
Ever since Darwin published his theory of evolution, atheists and others have been using the theory to claim that humans are just "sophisticated animals" -- the claim goes along these lines: because humans evolved from apes, and apes evolved from other animals, humans are just a different species of animal.
What is so funny about this involves a "crisis" of sorts that has been brewing among evolutionary biologists over the last few years. Get this. There is now a big disagreement between two camps of evolutionary biologists:
Camp #1 says evolution has STOPPED since humans arrived on the planet.
Camp #2 says evolution has ACCELERATED since humans arrived on the planet.
In other words (according to the latest understanding of the theory of evolution), a process which has been occurring for 3.8 billion years has suddenly changed since humans arrived on the planet. To me, that sounds like humans are pretty special. To me, that sounds like humans are NOT just a "sophisticated animal." To me, that sounds like the theory of evolution PROVES that humans are NOT just "sophisticated animals."
So, according to the current understanding of the theory of evolution, a process that has been working in the same manner for ALL species for 3.8 billion years all of a sudden works DIFFERENTLY in humans. Hmmm...
You know, some people think that the theory of evolution rules out spiritual things and God. It doesn't. People probably got that idea because they thought the theory of evolution was a threat to religion. It's not.
Also, some people think that science is displacing religion. It isn't. Science isn't displacing religion. Science is actually confirming religion (it's just taking a little longer than a lot of people have the patience to wait for).
If you want to learn more about this big brouhaha among evolutionary biologists, here are some links...
Top scholars claiming EVOLUTION HAS STOPPED
since humans arrived on the planet:
Ajit Varki says that with humans (unlike
with animals), behavior is not “encoded in DNA” but is “transmitted within and by
the culture” http://www.nature.com/news/2009/110209/full/457776a.html
Michio Kaku says “mankind has stopped evolving” http://bigthink.com/ideas/26647
Steve Jones says “natural selection, if it
hasn't stopped, has at least slowed down” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12535647
Top scholars claiming EVOLUTION HAS ACCELERATED
since humans arrived on the planet:
Archaeological Institute of America says “Human
evolution has been gathering speed for the past 50,000 years” http://www.archaeology.org/0803/etc/conversation.html
Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending say humans
have been evolving very dramatically for the last 10,000 years: http://the10000yearexplosion.com/
John
Hawks says “our evolution has recently accelerated by around 100-fold” http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/evolution/selection/acceleration/accel_story_2007.html
and http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/evolution/recent/moran-recent-selection-journalism-2009.html
Atheists are Human Too
Just to set the record straight, I'm not saying atheists are sub-human, or that atheists are like animals who should be displayed in zoos or museums like wooly mammoths. What I'm saying is this: humans are the only species able to a) acquire knowledge about God, b) have a personal relationship with God by communicating with God through prayer and c) sometimes literally feel the tangible presence of God while praying. Animals can't do that. So... any human who rejects the reality of God isn't "taking advantage" of all of the easily attainable capabilities of being a human -- therefore, atheists are making a conscious choice -- a willful decision -- to refuse to "rise above" the capabilties of being a sophisticated animal.
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