Friday, December 10, 2010

Evolution and religion

Dear M.,

I have little fear of offending D. because ...

1.  I am friends with him.  I have interacted with him.  I know how he takes things and I know that he likes to debate.

2.  You can't be in a room with D. more than 3 minutes without him taking shots at evolution (which he calls "evilution") or dominating the discussion with his views.

3.  D. thinks that the Earth does not rotate or move (because the Bible tells him so), so I regard his beliefs as a bit irrational.  He also believes in conspiracy theories.  So I don't mind if I push his buttons a little bit.  He certainly tries to push mine.  I pointed out to D. that some people think that the Earth is flat because they think that the Bible tells them so:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth_Society

Since this is a sensitive topic that people get emotional about (and I understand your reason for writing a lengthy email), I want to broach this topic by making the point that I don't want to offend you in any way.  I still value your friendship.    I feel that I should respond to your email nevertheless.

I read "Evidence That Demands a Verdict" quite some time ago.  I thought that it was weak.

I have heard preachers say that once you are "saved" that you cannot be unsaved.  This is possibly supported by ... http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_the_Christian_Church_teach_once_saved_always_saved, but clearly people like me once believed and  turned away.

I see repeatedly a notion that "intellectuals" or "smart people" are non believers in Christianity only because the property of being smart has made them too smart for their own good.  In reality, someone like myself (who claims to be an intellectual of sorts) has studied all the facts and come to a rather obvious conclusion.  

I have no problem in believing in a God that cares about us.  I don't know if it is true, but I have no problem with believing in the concept.  Nevertheless, I am certain that the God of the Bible is not that God.  (I am somewhere between Agnostic and Pantheist.  I am comfortable with not knowing for sure, because I don't think that the answers are handed to us on a silver platter.)

Here is the point:  Do you think that the children that biblical-God supposedly murdered or had murdered at his behest deserved to die?

I sent D. some links that you did not see.  I am sure that he did not watch the videos, because he refuses to watch anything counter to his view.   These videos accurately reflect things that I have thought about for decades...





If you watch these videos, then I assume that you will have some doubts about your beliefs.  I find it absurd that anyone would try to provide "evidence" to support this version of a God.

Best wishes,


John Coffey





Dearest John,
How do you reconcile evolution with one of the only 2 laws of physics that have NO KNOWN EXCEPTIONS:
Entropy.  (Gravity being the other one).
If things are evolving they should be evolving toward simpler organisms, according to evolution.  Believing otherwise is like believing anvils occasionally fly up of their own accord and smash into the sun.

M.


To M:

I get asked the entropy question quite a bit.


Entropy is the tendency of a closed system to move toward disorder.  The Earth is not a closed system because it gets energy from the sun.  You also would move toward disorder if you could not get energy from food. If what you claimed were true, you would not be able to go from child to adult. 

John Coffey

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Has any man seen God?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl_GKgx2QUE&feature=related

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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

changes in the makeup of church population

From: larry.r.trout

The American Sociological review says in past decades the less educated and poor attended church most regularly.

It says in the last decade the numbers of less educated and poor attending has dropped alot, but college educated attendance has risen dramatically.

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Monday, December 6, 2010

Evolution

Brother Dean,

Your entire life is based on the notion that the Bible is the word of God.  What if it is not true?   Since this is absolute truth to you, anything to the contrary is obviously false, but you dismiss things that are obviously fact.

I see no reason to believe in the Bible.  There is no shred of evidence that offers proof of the Bible.  The Bible itself describes God and his acts in such a bad way that it disproves that the Bible as the word of God.

It is possible to believe in any religion and evolution, but I can see why people of many religions would want to disprove evolution.  If we could not explain how we got here, then some people would assume that our existence is the result of a miracle.  However, this is poor logic;  Lack of explanation does not mean that the explanation is supernatural.  

There are two basic facts that are irrefutable ...

1.  The earth is very old.
2.  Simpler life forms came before more complex ones.

The evidence for these facts is overwhelming.  Some creationists have tried to disprove these two things, but their arguments are very weak.  These two facts alone mean that evolution occurred. Despite this, creationists try to nitpick specific beliefs about evolution in an effort to disprove evolution as a whole.  However, even if creationists could find a flaw in our modern understanding of evolution, it would not change these two basic facts, nor it would change the fact that evolution occurred.  Only the mechanism would be different.

If some people want to assume that evolution was caused by God, then that is fine with me.  We know that evolution occurred.  How or why it occurred is a matter of debate.




Best wishes,

John Coffey

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