Part 8 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

There are still many scientists who disagree that the rate of evolution increased in magnitude. Our fossil record is ".... is notoriously incomplete, particularly for small and soft-bodied forms. Some researchers argue that the apparent rapid diversification of body plans is an artifact of an increase in the rate of fossilization, due in part to the evolution of skeletons, which fossilize more effectively.5 Many of the early Cambrian animals possessed some type of hard mineralized structures (spines, spicules, plates, etc.). In many cases these, often very tiny, mineralized structures are all that are found as fossils. There were major changes in marine environments and chemistry from the late Precambrian into the Cambrian, and these also may have impacted the rise of mineralized skeletons among previously soft-bodied organisms. 6

Most scientists are persuaded that something significant happened at the dawn of the Cambrian era and view the Cambrian Explosion as an area of exciting and productive research. For example, scientists are now gaining a better understanding of what existed before the Cambrian Explosion as a result of new fossil discoveries. Recent discoveries are filling in the fossil record for the Precambrian fauna with soft-bodied organisms like those in the Ediacaran Assemblages found around the world.7 Late Precambrian fossil discoveries also now include representatives of sponges, cnidarians (the group that includes modern jellyfish, corals and anemones), mollusks and various wormlike groups. Some of the new fossil discoveries, in fact, appear to be more primitive precursors of the later Cambrian body plans. The discovery of such precursors shows that the Cambrian organisms did not appear from thin air.8 Further discoveries will no doubt reveal more clearly the relationship of Precambrian organisms with the creatures found in the Burgess Shale and Chengjiang deposits.9"

http://biologos.org/questions/cambrian-explosion

Regardless, even if the rate of evolution actually changed "five times" in magnitude (Source?), then that's nothing more than an anomaly in the historic evolutionary record. There are other such anomalies. Evolution seems to "quicken in pace" after major extinction events as organisms fall in to fill void niches. So, fascinating topic, but in no way an argument against evolution.

 

Quote Posted by Akhlut on pg. 63 #626 of Part 3 in response to my post

Lastly how could you ever believe in your finite mind in your human perspective that you are more righteous than the Creator. (Post my Mitt Ryan)

Maybe YHWH shouldn't have granted me a rational mind and logic, then, to question why YHWH operates like a gangster engaging in a protection racket. (Post by Akhlut in response to my post above)
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That is just your twisted logic that your twisted mind came up with and so it's highly doubtful that you are operating with a rational mind that is logically sound.

Gangsters who engage in a protection racket are essentially engaging in criminal activity for the unlawful sole purpose of financial monetary gain by extorting money from their clients. If their clients don't payup their client's businesses get destroyed.

How is that anywhere similar to the grace our Lord is extending to all people, who by the way don't deserve this generosity, if they accept His offer of salvation?

The Lord is not gaining anything for Himself. The gain is for the people who are accepting His gracious free gift. Essentially the Lord is giving out freely and not taking anything for Himself.

No...sorry but your mind is definitely flawed in its thought process and so it's not rationally logically sound.

 

And you obviously have a problem understanding English. All 4 groups are classified under 'Great Apes'.

And you have posted little in the way of facts. Just what you have been told or seen written in the Bible. I happen to believe that a man named Jesus, a preacher, existed. The stories in the Bible about him are unproven 'stories' - not facts.

 

Quote Posted by Akhlut on pg. 63 #626 of Part 3 in response to my post

God’s essence or perfections are infinite and beyond the scope of total human understanding. (Post by Mitt Ryan)

Then YHWH's an (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) if it refuses to explain itself.

Assuming, of course, that YHWH exists, which is very unlikely. (Post by Akhlut in response to my post above)
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Our loving, caring, righteous Almighty God has explained Himself, one just has to open up the Holy Bible and start reading it in its entirety. The Scriptures of the Holy Bible is the Word of God.

He has also revealed Himself to us in the flesh. The birth, life, teachings from His ministry, the miracles He performed, His death and His resurrection of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ has been historically recorded in the New Testament of the Holy Bible by first-hand witness accounts.

So it's rather obvious that people like you are just in denial of the truth.

 

Five times faster. Here's your source:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/camb...ed-marked-lightning-fast-evolution-8C11139749

 

Quote Posted by Akhlut on pg. 63 #630 of Part 3

Humans are apes; not all apes are humans, but all humans are apes. It's a matter of taxonomy.
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With that flawed logic then one can say, apes are humans; not all humans are apes, but all apes are humans...lol

A while back you said, humans evolved from apes, meaning that we were once apes then because of evolution we are no longer apes because we turned into humans.

But now, you're saying we are still apes...lol but not all apes are humans...lol but all humans are apes...lol

You evolutionists are so so confused!...lol

Look let me clear things up

Fact: Humans have always been humans

Fact: Apes have always been apes

Fact: Humans are not animals

Fact: Apes are animals

Fact: Humans are not Apes

 

Quote Posted by Akhlut on pg. 64 #632 of Part 3 in response to my post

When the critic says there's no God he's basing this on his own insight, and unless he has insight into 100% of all knowledge he can never be sure he's right. (Post by Mitt Ryan)

The onus of proof is on you, given that you're making a claim for the existence of something. And you've not done anything to provide any evidence. (Post by Akhlut in response to my post above)
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Sorry but I don't have to prove anything to anyone in what I believe. I have my beliefs, you have yours, if they differ so be it.

I am under no obligation whatsoever to prove my beliefs, I have my evidences and that's good enough for me. If they are not good enough for you so be it.

If you want to play the prove game, I can play it too. I could ask you, what evidence do you have that proves the non-existence of God?

Since when you express yourself that you don't believe in the existence of God, you are essentially also making a claim, and so by your logic, The onus of proof is on you, given that you're making a claim for the non-existence of something. And you've not done anything to provide any evidence.

 

Quote Posted by thebrucebeat on pg. 64 #635 of Part 3 in response to WanRen's post

I got it right, nothing can start from nothing = A Creator. (Post by WanRen)


By this definition, God must be nothing (Post by tbb in response to WanRen's post above)
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You have clearly misunderstood what WanRen is expressing in the simplest way possible. I understand fully what he is implying.

In essence he is stating that something cannot come from nothing. So things in existence had to come from something and that something is the Creator Almighty God, who created the universe and everything that exist.

So by WanRen's definition God is something, He is the Creator!

 

Quote Posted by Giftedone on pg. 64 #636 of Part 3

Perhaps there are differences in how the 3 Abrahamic religions worship God, but they all worship the same God of Abraham.

The God of Abraham is the God of the Jews, the God of the Christians, The God of Islam and the God of Jesus.

As far as differences in the way God is worshiped. Even different Christian sects have different beliefs. They still all worship the same God though.
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You say "perhaps there are differences"...right there indicates you don't know what you're talking about because of course there are major differences and that's why my friend WanRen and myself keep saying that they (muslims, jews) are not worshipping the same God as we Christians.

When Jesus came on the scene it was revealed to us that God consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We Christians have accepted this, whereas the muslims and the jews have not, for they don't recognize nor do they accept the deity of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ and so technically they are not serving the same God as we Christians.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him!"---John 14:6-7 NLT

 

Quote Posted by Giftedone on pg. 64 #637 of Part 3 in response to my post

God did not create evil. (Post by Mitt Ryan)

OK ... Full Stop. Tough questions coming and I really look forward to some insightful answers.

1) How do you know God did not create Evil ?
2) If God did not Create Evil then who did
3) Did God not create the world and everything in it ? ? (Post by Giftedone in response to my post above)
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1) Reading Scripture we find verses indicating that God does not do or approve of evil but yes, He does punish evil and rightfully so!

2) We humans create our own evil given the fact that we have free will to choose to do what is right or what is wrong. We see people exercizing their free will daily. Just turn on the evening TV news and we see it through our TV screens.

3) At first it might seem that if God created all things, then evil must have been created by God. However, evil is not a "thing" like a bowl or pudding. You cannot have a bowl of evil but you can most certainly have a bowl of pudding. Evil has no existence of its own, it is really the absence of good.

When God created, it is true that all He created was good. One of the good things God made was creatures who had the freedom to choose good.
In order to have a real choice, God had to allow there to be something besides good to choose. So, God allowed these free angels and humans to choose good or reject good (evil). When a bad relationship exists between two good things we call that evil, but it does not become a "thing" that required God to create it.

Evil is the absence of good, or better yet, evil is the absence of God. God did not create evil, but He does allow evil. If God had not allowed for the possibility of evil, both mankind and angels would be serving God out of obligation, not choice. He did not want "robots" that simply did His will because of their "programming.
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How could God love programmed robots? So He gave us free will and choose whether or not we wanted to serve Him.

Everyone who ends up in heaven, believes in Him, loves Him, worships Him, and praises Him!

The ones who choose not to believe in Him, not to love Him, not to worship Him, and not to praise Him will be separated from God forever.

So in conclusion, God did not create evil, but He allows it, for the reasons I have thoroughly explained above.

 

Quote Posted by Wyrd of Gawd on pg. 64 #638 of Part 3

The God of Abraham demanded human sacrifice. He hardly seems worthy of being worshiped by anyone, especially by modern man in the 21st Century.
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No, you are wrong as usual...what else is new?

For if you really knew the Scriptures you wouldn't have made that statement that He demanded human sacrifice but I could be wrong, knowing the blatant dishonestly that wreaks among atheists, I wouldn't put it past them to not to distort the truth, knowing full well of its dishonestly as a means to discredit and mock our Dear Lord because of their disbelief and deep down hatred of what He represents to believers!

And FYI modern man in the 21st Century has still embraced the belief, love and worship of our Dear Lord, there are approx. close to 3 billion practicing Christians world-wide
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I'd say that He still remains very popular among the masses.

Oh yes, here we all come (believers) to the promised land!

 

Quote Posted by thebrucebeat on pg. 65 #646 of Part 3 in response to WanRen's post

By that definition it mean you just can not understand and insist that anything can start from nothing. As I have said nothing can start from nothing therefore this proof that God is that infinite being no end no beginning the Alpha and Omega that started everything. (Post by WanRen)

You have said nothing can start from nothing.
If I am to believe you, then God can not exist. (Post by tbb in response to WanRen's post above)
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Here again you are misunderstanding my friend WanRen. I understand fully what he is expressing. Here let me help you out once again.

We know that from nothing, nothing comes. So, if there were ever a time when there was absolutely nothing in existence, then nothing would have ever come into existence.

But things do exist. Therefore, since there could never have been absolutely nothing, something had to have always been in existence.
That ever-existing thing is what we call God. God is the uncaused Being that caused everything else to come into existence.

God is the uncreated Creator who created the universe and everything in it.

 

You change you mind? You now flip flop back to claim that humans and apes are the same or humans evolved from chimpanzees so you are back with GraspingForPeace?

 

Because they are pure anti Christian they know that chimpanzees are not humans and humans are not chimpanzees but most of all humans did not evolved from chimpanzees it is their extreme pride that is stopping them to admit it because if they admit it this mean that they have lost to a poor English speaking person like me

 

So where does the Orcs, Elves, Goblins, Dwarfs or Hobbits fit into all of those theories?

 

It is not my English or your English that is the problem it is education it seem you have the lack of it.

As I said YES all four groups are classified under Great Apes and all four are group separately from each other is that a difficult English to understand?
And you will notice that they all clearly separated accordingly humans were not group with chimpanzees or gorillas, humans are in its own grouping.
chimpanzees (Pan) – 2 species
gorillas (Gorilla) – 2 species
humans (Homo) – 1 species
orangutans (Pongo) – 2 species.[1]

Now explain to me who or what this Great Ape is what is the historical background of that term why not Great Primate or Great Human?

View attachment 23570

So which of those diagram is a more accurate theory?

The stories in the Bible about Jesus Christ are not theories compare to science story of human evolution scientist clearly stated it is a theory.
The stories about Jesus Christ in the Bible is so real and true that his enemies have gone to all extreme measures to destroy him bodily, historically and spiritually and they have failed.

 

This is the answer to all your questions, if you could only see it.

Quote Originally Posted by trevorw2539 View Post
And you obviously have a problem understanding English. All 4 groups are classified under 'Great Apes'.

And you have posted little in the way of facts. Just what you have been told or seen written in the Bible. I happen to believe that a man named Jesus, a preacher, existed. The stories in the Bible about him are unproven 'stories' - not facts.

Great apes because that's what they are.

 

LOL. NO. I'm saying we are not starting to agree. We will never ever agree on anything at this time.
I only state we are not chimps or apes, but of the same family/group. Similar origins.

 

He can create good, but not evil.
He didn't do a very good job of good then if evil cropped up.

 

OTHER than the Bible...what proof do you have of that?

 

You have posted total lack of education even though your English is no doubt very good and mine is poor. That is why you contradict yourself you admit that humans are group separately from the other three primates this mean that humans did not evolved from chimps just like what the stereotype graphics are showing and yet you can not seem to educated your self in this elementary matter at the same time we all know and I repeat I know that scientist after grouping the four primates separately from one another they group them under the Great Ape so the elementary question is who or what is this Great Ape? What is the historical back ground why early scientist adapted the term "Great Ape" why not Great Primate, Great Human or Great what ever? What was the political, social, racial and scientifically history behind adapting the "Great Ape" term or theory?

The question is very simple if your English is really that good you will either answer with I don't know or....uhmmm?

 

We did not evolve from chimpanzees, but a shared ancestor. Why wouldn't there be chimpanzees? We did not replace them, we evolved in parallel to them. They are endangered but doing better than gorillas or orangutans.

 

The great ape is to distinguish them from the lesser apes, e.g., gibbons. Your question seems paranoid.

 

Let's try another track. Did you know that horses, tapirs and Rhinocerus have the same very distant ancestor. Down the millenia the decendants of that ancestor separated and due to areas of the world they eventually inhabited, and the flora and fauna of that area, they evolved into what they are today.
Translate that into a Great Ape ancestor and apply the same criteria.
Many species that have been separated by continental shift have done the same. Some branches could not adapt, and died out.