neil_

Because you’re using the big bang theory to exclude God, that’s why. I didn’t say otherwise. So you’re the one setting up “false dichotomy”. Yes it does. Your entire set is this and this alone: chemical evolution, cosmic evolution, geological evolution, biological evolution. If you wouldn’t have those, you wouldn’t be an atheist – because you claim “science” to be an atheist. But if it’s not “science” the reason for your atheism, then what is it? Let’s do that. What are they? Because you didn’t tell me what they are… When have I ever said that? I think that you now showed repeatedly that you don’t reply to what I actually say, but to what you imagine that I say. Therefore are not science, as defined by YOU, atheists. No, but I just proved they are not science. If we use reason we can easily exclude improbable explanations. Such as yours. I think that refers to you, not to me – as shown above. Indeed, you don’t read what I actually write, but instead you imagine all sorts of things and then wrongly attribute them to me. Therefore, the Quran is wrong (severe contradiction; moreover internal). No, that’s the point: it just proved itself wrong. By the single fact that Muslims accept Jesus as a prophet, the Quran falls. Those “falss dichotomie” are entirely yours, as shown. As for “changes of subject”, how could you possibly acuse me of that since you DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I WAS ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT? As for “incorrect boolean algebra”, I leave abstract conditions to you, and instead focus on reality. But as I already said, I’m looking forward for you to identify those conditions, in order for me to prove them wrong. However, make sure you claim only things by which your atheism stands or falls. I don’t talk for the sake of talking.

I didn’t say that. All I said is that there is a reason for that. And not an easy reason, because: No, buddy, that’s the point. I didn’t say that. Let’s settle this once and for all: who or what made the universe? And if you assume no god exists then suddenly all evidence points to that… Well, we’ve had our laugh, now let’s get serious again: you still haven’t explained how is it that cosmic expansion is mentioned in the Bible… Yes, you are. Only that you’re not willing to admit it. There are even several sentences written by you that clearly support that idea. But if you’re not willing to admit it now, you won’t be willing to admit it then, so let’s drop this. And no, I’m not dismissing your point of view. I’m only saying WHY you have that point of view (which I don’t contest).

That’s the point: that you don’t interpret any words. You simply add up numbers… Of course he does. How else to claim an old Earth?

Indeed. Instead, The Bible makes a claim about the age of the whole Creation…

I completely agree. I agree yet again. So true… Indeed it is. Now you’ll have to find a cosmology matching that description…

Indeed. Very intelligent remark by the way. Well, I disproved big bang based on science alone – so I guess the answer is that it depends on each person. And yet, that’s exactly what evolutionists are trying to do…

No, Gerald, that’s your “hangup”, not mine. No, it doesn’t. Simply because we both agree that time had a beginning. And we both agree that there will be an ending. Therefore no eternity. The only eternity we can speak of must therefore reside outside time. And you know what that means, don’t you? Far from it. Indeed, I believe the Bible. In other words, I believe God, while you believe Hawking. I guess this says it all, don’t you agree? Because of 2 things: - atheism runs against theism - all the science that I referred to was built by people who wanted to find out how God created the universe, not to exclude God from it. See above. I already know the endless evolutionary ability to make empty claims. So I’m not interested in that. Looking forward for the “how”. So if you have any scientific arguments (not empty claims), post them. And don’t worry, you’ll get your Nobel prize if you’ll manage to do that… I already somewhat answered it, only that you didn’t like the answer. I implied that you most likely understand by “scientific community” only evolutionists. That’s why I asked you and I’m asking you once again: is Robert Gentry a part of the “scientific community” or not, is he a scientist or not? But I understand WHY you keep avoiding that question: because once you answer it, you can’t go back… And actually the situation is even worse for you: no matter which way you answer (yes or no), that would constitute evidence against your worldview. Very nice thought indeed ! Robby, my previous replies (two consecutive posts) were inserted mid-page (among answers actually posted afterwards). Please don’t miss them.

It was not about that – how many times to tell you so? And I have never ever referred to those passages… Indeed. No, my friend, that was my whole point: the Quran is wrong because the Quran says so… (your next comments are thus mute) I think your confusion is this: you mistake internal authority for external authority. Now, the Quran saying that Jesus was a prophet means accepting that what Jesus said was true, and thus what Jesus said becomes (willingly or not) part of the Quran (and therefore obtains the status of internal authority). So the contradiction of Quran is at all times internal. On the other hand, the Bible does NOT accept ANY external authority (and it shouldn’t, as it’s the Word of God). So what Muhammad, Confucius etcetera say, and what Einstein, Hawking etcetera say, mean NOTHING for the Bible: the Bible stands by its own. And please don’t appeal to theistic evolutionists, because they are proof not of the Bible being wrong, but of them being wrong. Moreover, you personally called their situation as satirical, so no argument here. Meanwhile, while the Bible does not NEED external authority to stand, that doesn’t mean external authority does not prove the Bible right. For example, you still have to explain how can it be possible that cosmic expansion is mentioned in a book old by several millennia… Now, since I already showed that you ARE wrong multiple times in this post alone, would you agree that your main paradigm (an exclusively naturalistic worldview) COULD BE wrong? Yes: Moses, Matthew, John and others. Even David and Solomon, although that wouldn’t be so much about events. Actually, that was my whole point: the real eternity can only exist OUTSIDE time. Like it or not, that can only mean God… And yes time is limited, even you claim that. Either that or you quit believing the big bang theory – take your pick.

I only gave you an example. One that you obviously didn’t like… ALL OF WHICH are copies – as you yourself just said… No, that was not what I was saying. You obviously didn’t take enough time to think about all that. See below. No. Just as millions copies MORE of Harry Potter than of ANY scientific book doesn’t mean that Harry Potter events were true (or more true than those in the scientific book). Now, the Bible is the most circulated book EVER. But the reason for that is NOT that it speaks about things people want to hear (that’s the reason only for crime books, mystery books, science fiction books etcetera). On the contrary, the Bible is actually the ONLY book in the world talking about things that people DON’T WANT to hear. People of the world want to hear how smart they are. How beautiful they are. How rich they are – and so on. The Bible actually teaches them to say how fool they are. How ugly they are. How poor they are – in other words, how humble they SHOULD be. And how they should give their entire fortune to the poor, how they should love their enemies, and many other things that nobody wants to hear about, let alone actually do them. So I’m letting you to find an explanation for why the Bible is most read book ever (many orders of magnitude more than any other book in mankind history), while all the time containing things that nobody wants to hear about… Let me guess: your source of information is talkorigins or wikipedia. Well, they will always tell you what you want to hear, won’t they? How exactly what you said excludes John of being the actual author? Because this is what you previously said: If you exclude God, you obviously exclude the Son of God, so there’s no reason for you to state: “I'm not even saying he's not the son of God”. Despite the fact that I said that the entire universe is actual evidence for God... The irony is that even you are evidence for God (and I mean that beyond matter, although the material you is yet again evidence for God): because you’re not engaging in these discussions to convince others that you are right, instead you at all times try to actually convince yourself that you are right… Oh, dear… No, I’m not. I’m personally AT ALL TIMES talking about God. Even when proving big bang wrong. Simply because atheists embrace the big bang theory (and all other mainstream theories) purposefully to exclude God… Already done. Why don’t you? Let me guess: because at this point you don’t have another theory that purposefully excludes God… I mean, you wouldn’t switch to steady state after mainstream claiming for decades that steady state is a stupid teory, would you? Absolutely not. You seem to consistently miss the main point of everything that we’re talking about. In the largest frame (viewing things at the largest scale possible), it doesn’t matter HOW the universe got here, it only matters that it’s here. You atheists don’t have a logical explanation for the universe existing by itself – that’s the point. Now, me going against big bang is another story. I do that because many atheists ingurgitate the big bang story in order to exclude God. In other words, they claim a continuously naturalistic explanation of things. So me taking away their big bang universe is meant to make them aware that their entire paradigm of viewing the world and therefore understanding things can be wrong (it is wrong, but I would settle for them admitting that it can be wrong). Absolutely not. That was only a COMPARISON. Here it is again, perhaps this time more plainly: you believe Josephus as an account of historical events (mostly the Jewish-Roman war). Despite the fact that that account IS NOT consistently reinforced by other reports. And yet you exclude the veracity of Biblical accounts of Jesus, despite the fact that they ARE reinforced by other reports (including from ADVERSARIES of Christianity…). Hopefully, now you’ll understand.

This is for Robby, but I’d also like D-9’s and Gerald McGrew's input, as well as (why not) JDavis’ and others. Thanks. Once was a group of people that started to study a certain something. And then developed a theory. And they looked happy and congratulated each other, and gave each other diplomas and other recognitions. But then they started to study things closely. And it turned out that that certain something doesn’t actually work according to the theory – until they multiply that particular something by 19. But it’s not only a simple multiplication. The reality is what it is. So they were forced to claim that the reality is itself multiplied by 19 – the only way their theory would work. So they did that and, yet again, they looked happy and congratulated each other, and gave each other new diplomas and new recognitions. My question is this: is their theory scientific (can it be)? Now on to another group of people. They went into a trip of understanding a particular something – or so they claimed. But they had to formulate, from the start, the basis for such a trip. They reviewed all the evidence available, and then concluded that they have no evidence for that basis (in other words, it’s only faith). But they nevertheless kept on with their (baseless) theory. My question is the same: is their theory scientific (can it be)? I’m waiting for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to both questions – and then you can expand if you want. And it doesn’t matter what that “particular something” was in either case – not for now. I’m looking for a rule here, a criterion. But that goes both ways, doesn’t it, Robby? In order to postulate an exclusively naturalistic view of the universe, you must have FAITH in nature, don’t you? And that’s not all: you must also have faith in yourself. Because I still didn’t receive any answer to one of my old questions in this forum: why does any atheist think (s)he will EVER understand the universe (let alone now)? What’s the basis for such an expectation? Until you have an answer to that question, please don’t claim you DO understand the universe: because you have no basis for that. You must reasonably conclude if the universe is understandable in the first place.

Robby, I asked you to take your time to think about all that. And you didn’t. You didn’t even take an hour… (and make sure you understand it took me several hours to wrote all that – verify things etcetera) So if you’re not even willing to consider, I think I will stop talking to you – at least on this. Now you tell me if I should do that or not. What I wrote is correct. So the oldest is a manuscript from about year 70 – meaning that some of the Apostles were still alive. John for certain, for example. Of course you would say that. But the fact remains that books from New Testament were the most circulated documents in those times – by far… And if we are to adjust numbers, then let’s adjust that number upward (not downward). How about that… ALL the manuscripts that we have are COPIES “of the original manuscripts”. Do you think we have any Gospel in its original (as written by John’s hand, for example)? I would be very surprised if that’s true. What exactly do you mean by “original manuscripts”? And source, please. Now this is funny. Because I’m not sure how many complete fossils there are in the world, and yet you claim what you claim in regard to those… You have no doubt that Homer wrote it (regardless of content). That was my point… How about John and Matthew? I told you didn’t take the time to think about all that I wrote – not even read it entirely actually… Are you aware you’re contradicting yourself? As for evidence for God, sure, how about this: the entire universe… Now you tell me: is the universe compelling or not? If it’s not, why exactly would you make a theory about it (big bang) and then believe it? Indeed, you didn’t take the time to think about what I wrote. Because I didn’t mention Josephus in regard to Jesus, I mentioned Josephus in regard to his accounts of worldly historical events. You mean, you doubt his account of the war between the Jews and the Romans? Surely he would lean in favor of the Jews (being one himself), but that doesn’t mean that his work isn’t the most important historical account of that war. Don’t you already know that we rarely (if at all) have unbiased reports of events throughout the history? You tell me: if we remove all Greek historian accounts from history, how much of the history of those times we’d lose? And surely you’d admit that the Greek historians, just like all the others in the world, were more or less biased, wouldn’t you? Of course not. What are you talking about? I really don’t understand.

No. That’s the very point: if time is limited, then you can’t have eternity. Your persistent try to claim eternity is naive. The only eternity can be outside time (because we both agree that time had a beginning). So if you want to know about eternity, stop reading Hawking’s books, and instead read the Bible… No, I didn’t. That’s the very point, actually. I’m not sure how you could NOT see the point: all those people claim God. Now, what god they claim that’s a different question, and it doesn’t concern you, since you’re an atheist. The “current data” claims an accelerated expansion. So could you possibly reach the conclusion that big bang theory is true? No, I’m not. It is actually you dodging it. So, again, is Robert Gentry part of “scientific community” or not? We can’t move forward until you answer this.

RobbyPants, this is for you (and all the other atheists here, but especially for you): I’m sorry but I would have to disagree. Let me address that in multiple ways. I will start from something else (for a good reason), but I will eventually get there. In the late 1960s or early 1970s, in his book “Science Speaks”, Peter Stoner showed that for one single man to fulfill only 8 of more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old testament is a chance of only 1 in 1017 (10 to the 17th power). Later, the prophecies have been considered to actually more than 450, which further decreased even those tiny odds. Moreover, when later Stoner used 48 prophecies (instead of just 8) he arrived to this number, as a chance of one single man fulfilling all those 48 selected: one in 10157 (ten to the 157th power). Let me remind you that the number of all the atoms in the universe is considered to be only aprox. 1080 (ten to the 80th power)… [And that’s the formal universe, in which all numbers are exaggerated; in a universe much closer to the real one, for example in a universe with both positive and negative stellar parallaxes, such as actual observations show, that number will be orders of magnitude smaller, thus furthermore stressing the even lower chance of one man fulfilling all those 48 prophecies, let alone all 456…] Confronted with these odds, skeptics have claimed that the prophecies were redacted after the events (i.e. after Jesus). Only that there’s a problem: the Old Testament was already translated into Greek about 200 years prior to Jesus. Confronted with that fact, skeptics have then claimed that Jesus was instead “redacted” to fit those prophecies. Well, there have been found many copies of the New Testament. Examples of the oldest: Chester Beatty Papyri (apparently written before year 300 after Christ), Diatessaron (apparently written before year 170 after Christ), the Magdalen papyrus (apparently written before the war of year 70). Compared to that, earliest copy we have of Caesar’s Gallic Wars dates apparently from year 950 – that’s a full millennium from the actual events. But who doubts the veracity of “Commentarii de Bello Gallico”? Nobody… How about Aristotle works? Well, the earliest manuscript we have as a copy of his writings is 1400 years from when Aristotle actually wrote his works. Now you tell me, have you ever doubted that what you read was actually written by Aristotle? Buddha’s teachings didn’t appear in written form until half of millennium after his death, while Confucius’s teachings about 4 centuries after his death. Also please note that both those fellows are DEAD. All the other religion-starters of the world are also dead – with one major exception (Christ). Moreover, neither Buddha nor Confucius (nor Lao Tse, Zarathustra, Muhammad, etcetera) did ever claim divine origin, let alone to be The Son of God. The irony is that people like Confucius and Lao Tse had nothing to do with religion (but instead with morals, philosophy), but they were deified after their death, by their followers. The irony is even more extreme: Lao Tse didn’t even believe in a personal god, so how can he be one? But, contrary to his teachings, that’s exactly what his later followers made of him: a god… The total number of copies (manuscripts) of (books from) the New Testament (Gospels and Letters) we have found until now is more than 22000. Compare that with the number of copies (manuscripts) of The Gallic Wars (10), with the number of copies (manuscripts) of Aristotle‘s works (5), or the number of copies (manuscripts) for the chronicles of Cornelius Tacitus (2). There must have been a reason for the New Testament to have been that much circulated… Its importance is orders of magnitude greater than any other manuscripts we have from those times. Moreover, 2 of the Gospel writers (Matthew and John) were direct witnesses of the events they wrote about. Another (Mark) was in the company of Peter (direct witness of the events), and the last one (Luke, the only non-Jewish writer from the Bible) accompanied Paul in his travels and talked personally with direct witnesses of the events he wrote about. Now, nobody doubts the authenticity of Josephus Flavius’ writings, isn’t it so? Regardless that they (mostly if not fully) AREN’T reinforced by other historians – while Jesus WAS historically reinforced by early historians having nothing to do with the belief in Him (and other historical figures, even during His time on Earth). So those early reports cannot be accused of being biased - some, if not most, even came from enemies of Christianity… Now, if you’ll take the time to take a look into the religions of the world, you would find out that not a single one stands - except for the Christian belief. For example let’s take a look at what the Hindus believe. They believe in reincarnation. But there’s more to it: all the animals and plants in the world are actually people being punished for their bad deeds in their previous life, and thus now incarnated as a flower, or as a cow. Now, you tell me: how can a flower or a cow do any good deeds, in order to return in the next life back as a human? Moreover, the Hindus claim the cow is holy. But how can it be holy, if it’s only a (wo)man punished for his (her) bad deeds from previous life? Moreover, if man is the highest form of (material) life, why is there suffering in the world? Why is there death? No explanation. The Hindu gods seem to keep to their own “business”, and not care much about humanity. I once spoke with a Buddhist. I asked him to state briefly his religion. He said that his religion is two things. The first: actions have consequences. I told him that one mustn’t be a Buddhist to know or believe that. The second: do good, meditate. I told him that people used to do that long before Buddha. Moreover, Buddhism claims that humans following (the) Buddha (way) would RETURN to the initial spiritual condition. But why to put all those spiritual beings (now people, or animals or plants) to such a terrible ordeal as in this world? Why not keep them spiritual? To my knowledge, Buddhists don’t have an answer. Moreover, since they also believe in reincarnation, Buddhists inherit the problems from the Hindus (some mentioned in the above paragraph). They also claim there were several Buddhas (or several incarnations of Buddha), and they say the more the better: thus they could do more good to the world. Well, Jesus was (is) only one – and enough for the entire mankind… Now on to the Islam. They claim Jesus was a prophet. That means He spoke the Word of God. That means he couldn’t possibly lie. But Jesus said that only He is the way to salvation – there is no other. That simply means no Muhammad (therefore no Baha'i either). Therefore, no Quran (part of it was taken from the Old Testament anyway). Therefore, no Allah either. I think I gave enough examples. Bottom line: there is only one religion that stands: the Christian belief. Moreover, that one is in fact the only religion in the world (re-ligare: to tie back, to bind again - Latin), since it’s the only one in which there is a severe (deadly) separation between man and God (because of sin). And since there is about REligare, it’s all about Jesus: the only way to bring man back into the presence of God. Referred to above. I hope you’ll take time to seriously think about all that.

I’m sorry, George, but that’s not what Gerald Schroeder says in that film (by the way, it’s about the age of universe, not of the Bible). He instead says that Creation took 6 days, but the universe is billions (not millions, but billions) years old. Moreover, all that Schroeder does in that movie is playing Hebrew semantics – it’s not a scientific theory in any amount. Now, I’m a YEC, so I’m sorry too, but that’s how it is. But there is a scientific theory that says pretty much the same basic thing as Schroeder (different perception of time). It’s the galactocentric cosmology of Russell Humphreys. It’s heavily relativistic (it makes heavy use of general relativity). Now that you could say is a scientific theory – Schroeder’s isn’t. Humpreys’ theory was obviously much criticized by mainstream, but the sad part is that one of the most fierce critics was Hugh Ross, who claims to be a Christian. But don’t take Ross’ critics too seriously, because I caught Ross saying very stupid things, so… But don’t buy too much into Humpreys’ theory either, because that’s wrong too. Simply because Einstein’s relativity is wrong (multiple evidence: the non-existence of gravitational waves, the GPS operation, the non-obedience of celestial bodies, like the Moon, to the theory, the existence of ether, etc.). Moreover, Schroeder’s view is very old. Many times before theistic evolutionists have tried to fit the claimed billions of years of evolution before Adam (and many more times others have tried to read the 6 Creation days as billions of years). So really nothing new here. As for the only scientific part in the movie, the one with the ratio of 0.015, well there’s a huge problem with that: the big bang universe is not 15 billions old, as Schroeder claims. It’s more than a billion years less old than that. So this doesn’t work either. But I admit I didn’t watch the second movie, only the first. Now don’t be sad that this didn’t work. Because the universe is not billions of years old, so you, just like me, don’t have a problem with that. The universe is ONLY billions of years old if the big bang theory is right. And by now we know that it is actually wrong (I addressed this in multiple threads in “Faith vs. science” section of the forum). Moreover, in one of those threads I also presented my personal way to match a billions of light years universe (that is radius, not age) with a thousands of years timeframe. So we YECs are on solid ground, while they OECs aren’t.

Actually, in my opinion it’s not clear at all. To the contrary, it’s clear that many don’t know what they believe in. For example, I doubt there is a single one among all the big bang supporters on this forum who can present the actual theory of big bang. Been there, done that. Evolutionists are also taken by surprise when asked what is it exactly that they believe in: gradualism or p.e. And many other things. That’s indeed clear. If that would be true, in my opinion the world wouldn’t be full of evolutionists. Instead it would be full of Creationists - and in general exactly the opposite of what’s taught in schools (for example you would have a hard time finding a fan of Einstein). As for “rationalWiki”as a source, well, why don’t you see what “rationalWiki” has to say about Jesus: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jesus So next time you rush to see what “rationalWiki” thinks about a topic (or even use their definitions), think about that… Cool. Well, you met me. And in my opinion you quickly dismissed me (not specifically regarding geocentrism, but instead my questioning of the big bang) with words that sounded pretty much like this: "Who on earth do you think you are, to put under question what most people say?" But I believe the problem is not me. It doesn’t matter in my opinion who believes in geocentrism, me or another. It only matters how could you possibly dismiss (not on philosophical grounds, but exclusively scientifically) all the evidence in that regard. That’s indeed the only question I have. That was not my intent, at any given time. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t true – I can only apologize yet again. But try to look at it my way (not to excuse me, but to understand me). So here I am, putting under close scrutiny each and every claim mainstream has ever made (especially those currently in classrooms). And I'm finding them to be false. And then trying to say that to the others, and find them disconsidering me.