Do you accept evolution as fact? Yes/No?

[Pliablemoose]

1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes
6. yes
7. yes
8. yes
9. yes
10. yes
11. yes
12. yes
13. yes
14. yes
15. yes

I think the whole argument (creationism vs evolution) is pretty fvcked, it excludes many other possibilities.

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

10 karma points for who guesses the author, 20 if you don't use google.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

10 karma points for who guesses the author, 20 if you don't use google.

All I could think of was Albert Einstein, but I knew that was wrong. In googling the answer though (which I'll leave to others to guess), I came upon a pretty fair summation of my particular "perception of the divine":

What is God? Is God a giant man who once incarnated as his own son 2,000 years ago through the womb of a woman in the Middle East? Certainly not. Is God a man who created everything we see? Wrong again. These stories are just perceptions filtered through the limited human mind. They are not ultimate truths. Is God male? No way. This is an erroneous interpretation by the male ego.

"God" is the Life Force
One can think of God as the life force or sentience that permeates the cosmos, gravity or levity, it matters not. As an example of such an energy, one can take a plug and stick it into an electrical outlet - this is what becoming spiritual is all about. One becomes plugged into "God." But think about that electrical life force: It has no form. In other words, it's not a human being. It has no gender; it's not a male. It has no color; it's not white. It has no size and no container. That life force, or "God," is not a giant white man, as we have been told, who can mysteriously incarnate himself through the womb of a virgin of any particular ethnicity. Rather than being historical, these are myths that are merely symbolic for the creation of matter out of spirit.

In the Far East, this life force has been discerned as and termed "the Tao." The Tao is the "thing" that makes birds chirp, cats purr and the sap of the trees run. We can also call it cosmic consciousness. It is simply an energy, sentience or spirit that pervades all things. Far from having gender, as we have been led to believe, it is the magnetic principle between the male and female potencies. It is also the male and female polarities themselves. This Great Spirit, Tao, or God, encompasses all things. If it is not all-encompassing, it is not God. Anything less than the total is not God. The definition of "God" is omnipresence itself. Nothing is outside of "God."

Anybody with me on this?

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: ntdz
Yes to all. I voted for Bush too (and I'm not religious). I must throw your view of Republicans off huh.

there's hope for you yet

 

[Infohawk]

Originally posted by: ntdz

Originally posted by: Infohawk

Originally posted by: ntdz
Yes to all.

Good for you.

What do you think about religious nuts?

I don't think all religious people are nuts, I think Christianity is generally good for our country. A small percentage are nuts, sure, but 95% of religious people are just normal people IMO. I don't have a problem with someone being religious at all.

I didn't ask you about religious people.

I asked you about religious nuts.

 

[miketheidiot]

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

Math is god

 

[Pliablemoose]

I like your definition too Perknose.

I can't look at a picture of an atom without marveling at it's complexity, or gaze into the night sky without coming away with a sense of wonder, to 100% dismiss any concept of a god or something, anything is just too simple...

God is in the details

 

[dgevert]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I like your definition too Perknose.

I can't look at a picture of an atom without marveling at it's complexity, or gaze into the night sky without coming away with a sense of wonder, to 100% dismiss any concept of a god or something, anything is just too simple...

God is in the details

Similiarly, I can't read about the Holocaust, the bombings in Dresden, Germany, or the tsunami in the pacific and think there could possibly be a loving, omnipotent entity watching over humanity.

 

[Blastomyces]

<religious nuts argument> God wanted it that way to test man's faith. </religious nuts argument>

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: dgevert

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I like your definition too Perknose.

I can't look at a picture of an atom without marveling at it's complexity, or gaze into the night sky without coming away with a sense of wonder, to 100% dismiss any concept of a god or something, anything is just too simple...

God is in the details

Similiarly, I can't read about the Holocaust, the bombings in Dresden, Germany, or the tsunami in the pacific and think there could possibly be a loving, omnipotent entity watching over humanity.

Agreed.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

evolution exists, but it doesnt explain where life and consciousness came from (not that I subscribe any religious explanation either)

 

[Tommunist]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
evolution exists, but it doesnt explain where life and consciousness came from (not that I subscribe any religious explanation either)

it doesn't explain those things b/c it makes no attempt to.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: Tommunist

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
evolution exists, but it doesnt explain where life and consciousness came from (not that I subscribe any religious explanation either)

it doesn't explain those things b/c it makes no attempt to.

Some people really have troble with evolution not explaining anything and everything. It is like complaining that the theory of gravitation doesn't explain fire.

 

[biostud]

It's the best theory out there.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: dgevert

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I like your definition too Perknose.

I can't look at a picture of an atom without marveling at it's complexity, or gaze into the night sky without coming away with a sense of wonder, to 100% dismiss any concept of a god or something, anything is just too simple...

God is in the details

Similiarly, I can't read about the Holocaust, the bombings in Dresden, Germany, or the tsunami in the pacific and think there could possibly be a loving, omnipotent entity watching over humanity.

Your statement simply does not gainsay my perception of the divine. Please read what I quoted several posts above.

For me, God is NOT a corporeal other, an entity, an omnipotent father figure, a cosmic sovereign, King Joe God the First. The reality of divinity is much more subtle, it is woven into our very existence.

This pervasive but elusive concept of divinity exists beyond the petty power of our crude understanding of power hierarchies -- God > Man > Dog > Used condom > Islamic terrorist -- to apprehend. Our archaic and primitive written allegories/passion plays for the masses insist that we were made in the image of God. The truth is that we constructed our "God" in the image of man, only bigger and more powerful.

This was a failure of our collective imagination to fully apprehend the quicksilver truth that we are all an indistinguishable part ot the cosmic divine -- hence, love thy neighbor as thyself.

There is no Joe God to either blame for the bad stuff nor praise or cravenly propritiate for the good. There is only the central vibration of the cosmic oneness with which to resonate.

We are all part of the indivisible divinity of existence. But we are, as Moonbeam would say, asleep and therefore oblivious to that fact. Our journey, the long journal of human existence, is that of coming hesitantly and falteringly back home to this realization.

 

[kylebisme]

I have always been fond of this passage, not as historical fact like many claim but simply as Isaiah metaphorically explaining his perception of God:

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Or, in other words; Buddha is a shit-stick.

 

[Gravity]

Let's see you make someone then.

LOL.

Until I see one human actually create another, and I don't mean a clone, then I would be more likely to believe in evolution.

I believe in the biblical account of creation, by the Creator.

I also believe that life begins at conception and that our role in pro-creation is small at best. The amazing process of ovulation, conception and gestation are miracles that we understand better but nowhere near fully.

FWIW, my .02

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: Gravity
Let's see you make someone then.

LOL.

Until I see one human actually create another, and I don't mean a clone, then I would be more likely to believe in evolution.

I believe in the biblical account of creation, by the Creator.

I also believe that life begins at conception and that our role in pro-creation is small at best. The amazing process of ovulation, conception and gestation are miracles that we understand better but nowhere near fully.

FWIW, my .02

Might I suggest downloading some porn?

 

[glenn1]

We've observed it happening, which is the very definition of a fact.

The "theory" of Abiogenesis on the other hand, while constantly (and IMHO purposely) aggregated with evolution as part of a seeming package deal, is a scientific sham and SWAG (scientific wild-ass guess). It makes a mockery of the scientific method in creating a "theory" for an event which was never observed.

 

[Tommunist]

Originally posted by: glenn1
We've observed it happening, which is the very definition of a fact.

The "theory" of Abiogenesis on the other hand, while constantly (and IMHO purposely) aggregated with evolution as part of a seeming package deal, is a scientific sham and SWAG (scientific wild-ass guess). It makes a mockery of the scientific method in creating a "theory" for an event which was never observed.

I wouldn't call it a SWAG but it is def not at the same level as evolution. It is however based on some coherent ideas and research.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: Gravity
Let's see you make someone then.

LOL.

Until I see one human actually create another, and I don't mean a clone, then I would be more likely to believe in evolution.

I believe in the biblical account of creation, by the Creator.

I also believe that life begins at conception and that our role in pro-creation is small at best. The amazing process of ovulation, conception and gestation are miracles that we understand better but nowhere near fully.

FWIW, my .02

Way to answer the questions :roll:

We don't need this thread to turn into a flame fest (which you just did).

 

[gutharius]

Originally posted by: Tommunist
1. yes
2. yes
3. yes
4. yes
5. yes
6. yes
7. yes
8. yes
9. yes
10. yes
11. yes
12. yes
13. yes
14. yes
15. yes

yay - I win!!!

 

[Bowfinger]

Yes to all. Evolution is Good Science.

 

[cwjerome]

This is one issue where I've never understood the fierce polarization. The religious people seem to think it contradicts everything they hold dear, although I don't exactly see why religion and the theory of evolution can't coexist nicely. (then again, I'm not a real religious scholar). Then you have the extremist Darwin-heads to try to secularizingly ram it down religious people's throat as if to antagonize them and use it for the purpose of attacking religioun/religious people in general.

Why are they so mutually exclusive? Both sides need to chill.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: cwjerome
This is one issue where I've never understood the fierce polarization. The religious people seem to think it contradicts everything they hold dear, although I don't exactly see why religion and the theory of evolution can't coexist nicely. (then again, I'm not a real religious scholar). Then you have the extremist Darwin-heads to try to secularizingly ram it down religious people's throat as if to antagonize them and use it for the purpose of attacking religioun/religious people in general.

Why are they so mutually exclusive? Both sides need to chill.

Science by nature is full of fierce fighting. If someone came and proposed a new theory of gravity, there's gonna be arguing and debating among scientists until a conclusion is met. I'm assuming the religious people who push for creationism vs evolutionism didn't realize this and stuck their head into the wrong game. Creationism is hardly even close to a scientific theory and it's insulting to claim that evolution is at the same level of science.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: cwjerome
This is one issue where I've never understood the fierce polarization. The religious people seem to think it contradicts everything they hold dear, although I don't exactly see why religion and the theory of evolution can't coexist nicely. (then again, I'm not a real religious scholar). Then you have the extremist Darwin-heads to try to secularizingly ram it down religious people's throat as if to antagonize them and use it for the purpose of attacking religioun/religious people in general.

Why are they so mutually exclusive? Both sides need to chill.

Damn straight, just like that fvcking elitist liberal prick Gailileo!