JWeinCom said:
1. I wasn't accusing you of anything. I was addressing your use of god as an explanation for creation. 2. In that case, you're just not using the right terminology, and it's going to get confusing. Evolution means something really specific in science. There is a word for how the universe itself changes, and that word is cosmology. If you're using the terms interchangeably, you're not going to be understood. 3. I don't know why they need any kind of purpose to exist. But as for why there are genes (this is called abiogenesis), we have a decent idea. Genes are made of amino acids, and we have been able to produce these in a lab without any pre-existing life. So when you get certain molecules together in certain places, it is likely possible for life to exist. See the Miller Urey experiments. As for why genes do what they do, there is a really long explanation, but the much shorter one is that they're chemicals. And chemicals act in certain ways according to the laws of chemistry. In nature we see even non-living things such as crystals (which some people actually think may have something to do with the origin of life) that replicate themselves. So, yeah. When you get certain molecules together, they replicate. And, when those molecules have an imperfect method of replicating, they changes. If you're really and genuinely interested in this topic, there are a lot of books and lectures that can explain it better than me. These aren't unanswerable questions, and we've got some pretty strong ideas. 4. It resolves the issue in the same way that flipping over a chess board resolves a game of chess. It's an answer that doesn't have any evidence to support it, and it raises more questions than it answers. You're asking a lot of questions when it comes to scientific explanation, which is a good thing. But, you don't seem to be applying the same scrutiny to the idea of a creator. Where did this creator come from? What purpose was behind his creation? Why did he want to create the universe? What mechanisms can he use to create the universe? If you want an answer that actually answers the questions, then an intelligence does not help. We simply don't have a compelling answer yet, and we need to keep looking. Maybe that search will turn up an intelligence of some sort, but we have no evidence for one now. |
3. Then why are there molecules? And why do they function the way they do? It's just an endless lists of questions. Whatever you or someone else may come up with as an explanation of molecules, I'll just ask what the origin behind that is. When it comes down to it, it's incomprehensible. We have no ability to understand it because things get infintetly smaller and smaller and the "building blocks" become made up of other things. People once thought cells were the smallest things, then atoms, then bases, on and on.
4. The difference here is that, and you can look at the scripture I referenced, I accept the fact that I will not understand everything and I am trusting in God to have the answers (faith). Science dictates that we try to solve everything and figure out the reason. I believe, based on my previous comments, that we, as humans, are incapable of fully (or even remotely) understanding why things are in existence instead of there being nothing. Faith allows me to say to myself, "hey, I don't fully get this and I have a lot of questions, but I can rest assured that God is in control." That is why I don't apply the same scrutiny to the idea of creator.
And as far as evidence goes, that is something you see a lot more after you become a believer. I have experienced things in my life that I know to be evidence, but attempting to explain those things to people (particularly non believers) can be incredibly difficult. Miracles happen all the time, but there is one that I can look at on a grand scale and it affirms my belief. My own comprehension of my own existence. I am not an instinctual creature like every other organism. I can do things counter to what my instrincts tell me to do. I can think on my own above survival mode. People love dogs and cats and other organisms and think they are part of their family and that they smile and love them, but they don't smile (just the way they look) and they only do things for you (tricks, don't run away, etc) because they know you have the food and you provide comfort to them. If that comfort left or the food ran out, they would leave or try to eat you (depending on what we are talking about). Humans don't do that necessarily. I can choose to starve to death rather than eat something. I can choose to kill myself if I wanted to. I can choose to wait to eat until I decide to, not when my stomach gets hungry. I can choose an infinite amount of options that no other species can do, because they are controlled by instinct and survival mode. That is amazing. The fact that I am self aware is astounding and illogical. Why and how could the universe (if there is no God) have organisms come from matter that can become self aware when the universe itself isn't self aware? How did self awareness even come into being if there is no divine contribution?
