I pointed out your statement because it summed up, quite nicely, the intractability of modern discourse. Yes, this is a message board and the running joke is that nobody, in years of D&D activity, has been persuaded to take a different viewpoint. But, your statement belittling discourse, not just persuasion, shows one reason why we're at our current place in society.
If we find species of aliens that are far more advanced than humans, would that mean we are not god's children anymore? What if we find Q?
My bad RR. To your questions: 1. Statistical evidently speaking . . . Is there is other intelligent life out there? YES or NO NO. Statistically, we only know of one planet that has intelligent life. 2. Statistical evidently speaking . . . Is it possible that there are some that are AT LEAST as smart as we are? YES or NO YES. On our planet alone, we have already seen some monkey species (binobos) starting to use tools (sticks) for food and defense. It's not solely a human trait. This was one of the biggest evolutionary leaps that mankind made to make us distinct from other forms of life. Hence, we have proclaimed ourselves as 'smart'. Based on that, we have historical evidence that shows that primitive life forms can evolve into intelligent beings. 3. Statistical evidently speaking . . . Is it possible that a life form of our level of intelligence has existed in time before . . say 1000000 year ago? YES or NO YES. If the calculations are accurate that the universe is 14.5 billion years old and the earth is 4.5, mathematically it is possible.
Please clarify what you mean by dominance as other folks might have a different definition of it based on the context at hand.
If nothing was intended, then we are not sinners. We are just doing what nature created us to do. The whole idea behind sinning, is that we were created in God's image and we fell short of that. If we weren't created to be in God's imag and instead are just whatever biology randomly created, then the whole premise falls apart.
Sure - but all you're really saying here is that having faith doesn't follow the laws of science. But I don't think this is particularly surprising or irrational - it's just the definiton of faith: belief in things unseen and unproven. People have faith in all sorts of things that don't have evidence or rational basis.
Just seems since the Bible says God created Adam and then he created Eve, and that he made us in his image and blah blah blah, that is something pretty universally accepted in the Christian faith. I am not religous myself. Just seems like they have to believe God created man in some form or fashion. Unless we are addressing non-religous Christians who are simply Christian because that is what their parents are.
We just have to disagree on this Major. Not following logic = irrational. To quote a famous statement... "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" - is not a rational one. I agree that people use faith (not to be confused with trust) all the time but how much of these faith based decisions are constructive? Compare that with the list of destructive.
Hmmm, so if one doesn't believe God created us, or created and guided a process to create us...then they aren't Christians? I believe there are people that think if you simply believe in evolution you aren't a Christian either, correct? So, you don't believe there are people that call themselves Christians yet believe that God did not guide evolution (for those that do actually believe in evolution)? Again, you're asking me questions about what other people think...I don't know what or why they think the way they do, but people have thought stranger things and will debate you to death on them (see dinosaurs).
That's taking the bible literally...if that's what they believe that's cool...how many verse, passages, whatever have a pretty straight forward wording, but is somehow just a symbol for something else? Again, genesis is a great example...how much in there is real and just symbolic? People will interpret it how they see fit, hell look at past discussions in this forum alone to see how many different ways people interpret different readings. People believe we were instantly created like the bible says...ok. Some believe the bible was merely symbolic (after the theory of evolution) and changed their minds that God created evolution now...some didn't and claim those folks are forsaking the bible and its teachings...ok. I don't think it's a stretch for someone to believe God created the universe and everything available for life and just let set the wheels in motion.
Meaning our domain over all other animals. We eat, live, and kill whatever creatures we want to put it bluntly. Top of the food chain...more intelligent and adaptable by far...all that jazz...
I can't tell if this comment was tongue-in-cheek, but as a matter of fact, I'm sure Nate Silver or any other statistician would agree with me.
If I may share my point of view.. If anybody can believe anything they want and claim to be Christians, then it dilutes the meaning of what it is to be such. The most common thing that Christians agree on is that they claim that the bible is the word of god. The accurateness of this claim can only be only be answered by either true or false. There is no in between answers there. If you claim that this is true, then you have to accept that every word in the bible came from god. If there are factual claims in the bible that does not match your perception of reality (especially when it is the first part of the book - genesis), what would be a logical conclusion? - god made a mistake of making that statement - the bible was create by man alone - bible is not really that accurate Are you still able to label yourself as Christian if you assert any of the above?
We are, it takes time and many generations. One person doesn't evolve, it's a population over time that changes according to the conditions they live in. Of course with more jobs requiring less physical work and more mental, who knows what genes will survive and proliferate better in say 500 or 1000 years...
Sure - but people are not inherently rational and being irrational is not necessarily bad. Love and happiness or emotion in general are not rational things. Risking your life for a person or a cause is not necessarily a rational thing - especially if you don't believe there is a larger purpose to life. Most business owners, inventors, artists, musicians, etc are not making rational choices - the risk/reward is not remotely in their favor and most will fail. Many people have taken irrational risks which resulted in great things for themselves or the world. I think the number of people who always act and think rationally in the world is zero. I don't think it makes sense to criticize people who believe in God despite evidence when other people use that philosophy in all areas of life all the time.
