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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Martini who wrote (17797)	6/20/1998 3:42:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Good morning Don, Sorry, I misread your message. You did say specialization and not speciation. But you are incorrect in your casual observations about human diversity because you are comparing the results of selective breeding in dogs with natural selection in humans. Diversity in a population derived from two breeding individuals is evolution. Apparently you are thinking in terms of adaptive evolution. Here are three examples: Cooley's Anemia, Sickle Cell Anemia, and beta Thallasemia. All three of these allotypes exist in malarial regions (India, sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean), and each of them is an adaptation allowing enhanced survival in the face of that disease. Many other examples exist, but these are interesting because the genetic lesions are different, but the phenotypic results are quite similar: crenation of red blood cells attacked by the plasmodium. As to you biblical observations, they fall into two categories: 1. Myths based on reality as in Nineveh; and 2. Literary imagery. Other examples of lost history also exist For example, Homer's Iliad recounts the Trojan war, which had been thought to be a myth (along with the existence of Troy itself), until rediscovered by archeologists. Homeric texts also use imagery that is more or less correct in describing some world views. However, I would never take that as either proof of or buttressing the arguments in favor of Hellenic religion. But even the use of the literary imagery is seriously flawed. For example, your quote 2. EARTH IS ROUND (In the same sense as the moon is round to an earthly beholder: "It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth, the inhabitants of which are as grasshoppers." Isaiah 40:22 The earth is not round (neither is the moon). They are spheroids. Circles are flat (two-dimensional). So I could just as easily use the same quote to support the flat earth world-view. Also, at least two of the quotes you provided would lead someone to erroneous conclusions. For example, 1. THE EARTH IS UNSUPPORTED IN SPACE: "He stretcheth out the north over empty space, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing." Job 26:7 The earth is supported by the interplay of gravitational force from the sun and centripetal force. 3. THERE ARE FOUNTAINS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA These were just discovered in 1977 and reported in National Geographic Sept. 1979. You've seen them on TV, vents from which issue mineral rich water at 660 degrees F in which thrive living organisms (Why doesn't their DNA polymerize?) 35 centuies ago Moses wrote in Genesis 7: These "fountains" as you put it (I assume you are talking about oceanic and pelagic lava vents), have been known for thousands of years. Just ask Hawaiians or South Sea Islanders. You will find reference to them in Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. Thermophilllic organisms have very high Adenine-Thymine which gives their DNA a much higher melting temperature than other organisms. I am unaware of organisms that live at 660 deg F. This one is quite a push (leap of faith): how you see this as describing DNA is beyond me: 4. "Thou did'st cover me in my mother's womb. Thine eyes did see my unformed substance, And in thy book they (my parts) were all written". Sounds more like an argument against free will to me. I believe that the Bible represents a compendium of early man's search for his origins. Similar accounts exist with all other major religions. The one exception that immediately comes to mind is the Book of Mormon, which I believe was manufactured out of whole cloth. But I do not believe that that search should have ended 2,000 years ago. Don, my religious beliefs (such as they are) are straightforward. I believe in helping others, I believe in finding the truth, and I believe in leaving the world a better place than when I entered it. I cannot believe in any creator theory that requires punishing people for honest disagreements, nor can I believe in any religion that closes its eyes to knowledge and attempts to hold back the tides of history. Where did you find that poem? It's great! It seems to summarize every religion's attitude towards competing religions. Or as Mel Brooks put it in his caveman's national anthem, "Let em all go to hell except cave 17".