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"The Creation Story!"

 
 
theantibuddha
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 06:57 am
snood wrote:
Then Jesus is a myth? Or, what is the book of history which holds for you the truth about him?


Jesus is IMHO a true person. However there are no books that wrote about him that we can find which haven't been heavily compromised by religious people wanting to validate their own beliefs.

In order to find the true historical fact we must read between the lines.
0 Replies
 
theantibuddha
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 07:12 am
Gungasnake. Lol.

I obviously understand christianity better than you. Because I know it's bull****.

For the record, I don't seriously think that. But perhaps that little counterpoint demonstration shows you just how stupid, ignorant and arrogant your attitude is. Your attitude not only demeans you, but reflects poorly upon the others who believe as you do.

Before I debated against christianity or creationism I at least had the balls, brains and intellectual honesty to learn what the christian position is. I've not only read the bible but also various christian websites, books by christian authors and also the holy texts of most of the other main religions of our time. I also familiarised myself with the concepts of religion in general, learned about common themes in mythology and about the development of religion over time.

Had I obtained all my knowledge of christianity from various atheist or skeptical sites then I might expect that my knowledge on the topic would be equal to yours on evolution.

I'm dissapointed that I can not expect equal character from you.

gungasnake wrote:
I obviously understand evolution a lot better than you do.


You don't even know what it is. But that's okay. Continue to delude yourself that your ignorance is relevant or useful to any discussion on the topic. Your stupidity on the matter is so clear and easy to demonstrate that it is of no threat to anyone.
0 Replies
 
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 08:23 am
Sorry but I find Rex way more interesting. Rex is more 1st string. However, his posts seem scripted by ICR(Institute of Creation Research)
PS Im quite familiar with Humphries and Gish and Austin and a few others who "toil in the fields of Creationism". They have advanced degrees from accredited universities and Ive actually used some of Austins work on Radionuclide birefringence. The thing I find interesting is that any time they publish in journals, (and this includes their dissertations) they dont expose their Creationist leanings in writing unless its under the rubric of Self published Creationist print houses. Their articles in juried pubs are usually standard science with no mentions of their ICR connections. Is this just to "save their career credibility?" or some other reason.
Even Morrisons rheology papers accept standard models of subduction and tectonics. (Maybe hes gotta go out of the faculty because for a young earth and active plate tectonics wed see continents moving at about 7 mi per hour) (Wises calculation, not mine)

How does ICR see the suits being brought against the Intelligent Design proponents> Do you keep arms length so as not to make it appear that the organizations are not aligned.?
IMHO, standard "Young Earth" Creationism is a mere diversion tactic since ICR clearly states that its a Bible centered organization and Intelligent Design is trying to distance itself until the whole court cases are over.
0 Replies
 
rosborne979
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 08:32 am
val wrote:
Another thing. I know serpents that don't eat dust.


Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

So basically, "everything" eats dust because everything is dust.

It's wonderful, there are so many ways to rationalize your viewpoint when you believe in magic and use the shifting sands of ancient written allegory and metaphore as your foundation of knowledge.
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paul andrew bourne
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 11:38 am
"Jesus?"
By Paul Andrew Bourne, MSc. (candidate); BSc. (Hons); Dip. Edu.


One of my passion in life is unearth as much of life's truth or ontology if any such things are.

With the number of secrets that are labelled truths, I am always puzzled by the terminology, Jesus.


Jesus was an Hebrew and as such that fact would certainly dictates that his name reflect that nationality. However, the word Jesus is spanish and within this construct adds more mystery to the truths of the Bible.

Why was the Hebrew child who was born in a manger called Jesus? In addition, why was Mary M. the first one to be cognizant of the ? ascension?
0 Replies
 
theantibuddha
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 12:46 pm
Re: "Jesus?"
paul andrew bourne wrote:
Jesus was an Hebrew and as such that fact would certainly dictates that his name reflect that nationality. However, the word Jesus is spanish and within this construct adds more mystery to the truths of the Bible.

Why was the Hebrew child who was born in a manger called Jesus? In addition, why was Mary M. the first one to be cognizant of the ? ascension?


Dude, Jesus is the latinised form of Yeshua, a hebrew name meaning "god saves"....

It's really not that mysterious.
0 Replies
 
theantibuddha
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 12:52 pm
He was actually born as Yeshua, and as such would have been called that name his entire life. However when people wrote the new testament they didn't write it in Aramaic. Much of it was written in either greek or latin (the languages of the educated at the time) thus in order to write down his name in those languages the spelling/pronounciation had to be changed to Jesus.

Since Spanish is one of the closest languages to Latin, it too uses the spelling Jesus.

Guess a science degree isn't very helpful with linguistics Wink

As for why Mary Magdalene was the first person to arrive at his tomb, most scholars who aren't blinded by christian preconception are of the opinion that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife. A conclusion apparently lent credence by the dead sea scrolls. It's not entirely surprising that a man's wife would be the first person to visit his tomb.
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paul andrew bourne
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 01:18 pm
"Yeshua"
By Paul Andrew Bourne, MSc. (candidate); BSc. (Hons); Dip. Edu.



Based on your conceptualization forwarded, if Jesus is spanish, the question arises why was his name "Spanishized" during the period of Spain dominance ?. Furthermore, in translation of terminologies oftentimes if not most times peoples' identification in the form of their names are left as is except where the word had existed before. Therefore, are you suggesting that "Yeshua" had existed prior to Yeshua? Furthermore, Jesus in spanish does not denote "god" or none such supreme title. Based on those proposition, why was the child called Jesus?

In concluding, "lan-guage", I am requesting that you forward a position on it origin.
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farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 02:47 pm
the latinized for would actually have been JESVS, remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?
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akaMechsmith
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 07:01 pm
Most serpents that I am familiar with eat crickets, spiders and mice. If I couild raise one on dirt I suspect that I would be selling very long tenderloins.

And probably losing money at it also :wink:
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paul andrew bourne
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 07:13 pm
"The Bible!"
By Paul Andrew Bourne, msc. (candidates); bsc. (Hons); Dip. edu.

Numerous myths have been taught by generations. Those have germinated in various cultures. The Bible is a book that epitomizes myths. Firstly, "Jesus" history was recorded many centuries afterwards depicting language and other interpretative barriers. Secondly, if we argue that other life forms existed outside of the garden of "Eden", "why was Cain marked by 'God'. Is 'God', man's replica a racist, and by "God's" actions, was he the first discriminator?
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farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Mon 31 Jan, 2005 09:01 pm
Paul, may I call you Paul? you should attempt to connect your thoughts so they dont just fly out at once. If you have a thesis requirement, you want your first draft, at least, to lead your committee to follow your train of thought.
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Wolf ODonnell
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 05:52 am
gungasnake wrote:
Snakes are one more disproof of evolution. The very first step in becoming a snake (given the standard idea that snakes had to have evolved from lizards) is to be mutated and born as a quadraplegic.


Seeing as current thought in evolution is that all life originated from the sesa, where most beings didn't have legs, I think it would be reasonable to state that snakes just didn't evolve legs.

However, if you look carefully snakes live pretty well without limbs. Basically, natural selection has one rule that is very simple. If it doesn't work, it doesn't happen. Simple as that. (I know that's not the actual rule, but it can be summed up by that phrase).

Legs are extremities. They require extra energy. If you're an animal that sneaks through the undergrowth, which is better? To have clumsy legs that make it difficult to move, or to be able to slither along your belly? What is the need for legs if you can slide along the ground?

You may argue, if it was so beneficial, why don't we have no legs and arms?

May I remind you that the purpose of evolution is to evolve so that you occupy a different ecological niche from other species. That is what a species is, animals that occupy the same ecological niche. If we were all to follow the snake, we'd all be occupying the same ecological niche, creating unnecessary competition for the same resources.


gungasnake wrote:

I obviously understand evolution a lot better than you do.

There are four things the average person needs to know about evolution:

1. It's junk science, which has been massively disproven over the last century.


Massively disproven? Prove it.

Quote:
2. As junk science goes, it's dangerous junk science. It was the major philosophical corner stone of naziism, communism, and the various eugenics programs in western countries.


I hate to say it, but you are talking absolute BS.

Communism completely goes against evolution. Communism states that everyone is equal, when everyone isn't, and that everyone should be given the same. In Natural Selection, the weak are removed and killed. In Communism (theoretically), the weak are treated as equals and are not removed.

Let us not forget the Spanish Inquisition. The witch burnings and all the other atrocities that were committed in the name of Christianity. If you accuse evolution as being the "philosphical cornerstone" of Nazism and Eugenics, then I can equally state that Christianity was the cornerstone of all those atrocities.

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3. It is utterly incompatible with Christianity or any other meaningful religion.


Once again, you are talking absolute rubbish.

Genesis states that God made Adam in his image. Who is to say that Adam looked anything like we do now?

It may also have stated that God created the world in six days, but how long was a day? What is a day? How can you say what a day is when the official definition of a day is one rotation of the Earth on its axis?

How long is a day to God? How long is a day on Jupiter? How long is a day on Mars?

If you read it literally, sure, Genesis is incompatible. But if you read all the Bible literally, then when Jesus was talking in parables, maybe he was talking about actual real events instead of parables. Maybe you shouldn't eat pork and you shouldn't eat shellfish and maybe you should praise the people who would viciously slaughter God's enemies.

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4. It is part and parcel of certain agendas which may or may not be of any use to you; individual mileage may vary.


I'm afraid I cannot comment on that statement.

Oh, and don't let me hear any of that "Evolution is just a theory" argument. That just stinks of not understanding the meaning of what a scientific theory actually is.
0 Replies
 
g day
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 06:35 am
I have a few troubles with the bible and creation stories:

1. They fly against observable scientific data, like the Universe is 13.8 billion years old not 5,000 years old

2. They presume science is wrong in its measurements - but in reality they should say God short circuited the system, but went to incredibly elaborate and exhaustive lengths to make it look like evolution and scientific processes guided creation to cover his 6 day working week. And by no strech of the imagination is a day 2 billion years long!

3. They don't touch on why space is over 100 billion light years wide and populated with over 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 suns and planets when really God only needed 1 sun and one planet. That is a lot of filler! Space is so big that under the laws of relativity its casually disconnected - hubble spheres - you can only every see or reach or be influenced by less than about 2% of creation even if you could travel at lightspeed forever.

4. The Global flood is a hugh cock up. The force alone to simply move enough water to flood the Earth would be the equivalent of an large atomic bomb going off on every sqare mile of the Earth's surface, every 14 minutes for 40 days. The energy release of such movement of water in the alotted time would raise the surface temperature above 6,000 celcius - far higher than that required to boil steel! And don't even bother to ask where the water went, the energy to move the water underground or into the sky is in the trillions of trillions of joules - it dwarfs the source of the water problem.

The problems with ancient faith systems trying to get it right are exhaustive. You could pick on any of the 5,000 active faith systems followed today and find castrophic errors in any.

PS

God is all powerful!!! - Big Whoopsie!

God is all powerful means God has unlimited energy.

E = mc^2

So God has unlimited mass.

Unlimited is another way of saying infinite.

So any portion - any finite portion of God also has infinite mass and energy.

A Big amount of energy or mass in a finite area is fun to study - in science speak its called a black hole - cause it warps the curvature of spacetime itself until it closes.

So is God stuck inside a black hole of his own making? How will we get him out?

Better hope that he has infinite patience or else infinite size to avoid a divide by zero error sticking him into that black hole?

Every wonder how an infinite being observes a finite Universe - given his presence in the Universe would have such gravitational impact its would crush it in an instance - or if he uses spirtual eyes you encounter the hidden variable condrumn and the uncertainity principle - which sinks that ship - leaving God with meta science - quantum gravity or string theory to observe us using science to avoid warping and undoing the consistency of the reality he created.
0 Replies
 
theantibuddha
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 08:09 am
There are four things the average person needs to know about creationism:

1. It's junk science, which has been massively disproven over the last century.

2. As junk science goes, it's dangerous junk science. It was the major philosophical corner stone of the spanish inquisition and the crusades.

3. It is utterly incompatible with Science or any other meaningful field of study.

4. It is part and parcel of certain agendas which may or may not be of any use to you; individual mileage may vary.

Turn about is fair play. Very Happy

Evolution is continously used in science in agriculture, epidemiology and genetic research. Its use is responsible for much of the food that is on your shelf, the medicines you are given and the decoding of the human genome. That you don't personally believe in it is meaningless, it is part and parcel of scientific research. Not using it in biology is like ignoring air resistance in physics, it creates answers that are close to correct but not capable of working in the real world.

Whether or not morons believe in evolution or not, it is an acknowledged part of science and without it modern biology is impossible. However attitudes like this is why America continually scores as one of the lowest countries in comparitive tests of scientific literacy and why more cutting edge science is beginning to emerge from other countries whose brains are not so destroyed by religious dogma.
0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 08:18 am
g__day wrote:
I have a few troubles with the bible and creation stories:

1. They fly against observable scientific data, like the Universe is 13.8 billion years old not 5,000 years old



The Universe in all likelihood is eternal; the big bang idea has been disproven.
0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 09:07 am
Wolf_ODonnell wrote:
gungasnake wrote:
Snakes are one more disproof of evolution. The very first step in becoming a snake (given the standard idea that snakes had to have evolved from lizards) is to be mutated and born as a quadraplegic.


Seeing as current thought in evolution is that all life originated from the sesa [seas], where most beings didn't have legs, I think it would be reasonable to state that snakes just didn't evolve legs.
[


Snake are too close to lizzards for anybody to think they evolved separately and simply resemble lizards by chance.

Quote:

gungasnake wrote:

I obviously understand evolution a lot better than you do.

There are four things the average person needs to know about evolution:

1. It's junk science, which has been massively disproven over the last century.


Massively disproven? Prove it.


The fruit fly experiments I mentioned were the first thing that fell apart. That freaked a number of the scientists out so bad that they dropped out of evolutionism, most particularly the famous case of Goldschmidt and his "hopeful monster theory". All of that was back in the teens and twenties of the last century. Many web resources on that one, the one I recommend:

http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/10mut10.htm

Then there was piltdown man, Haekel's faked drawings, and a number of famous frauds which had always been viewed as support for evolution. The fact that it took the dufes several decades to figure the thing with piltdown out does not speak well for them.

Then there's the thing about the fossil record. Darwinism demands that the vast bulk of ALL fossils be intermediate types, and the fossil record does not show any at all. For that reason Gould, Eldredge, and a number of leading paleontologists got tired of having their papers vetoed by evolutionists and devised a new version of the thing called "punctuated equilibrium", or "punk eek", which is supposed to jive with the fossil record, but the new version turns out to be even more fubar than the old version for a number of reasons.

Then there's the problem of population genetics and the Haldane dilemma, and the multi-quadrillion and quintillion year time frames which spreading evolutionary changes through the populations of animals on the Earth would take even in theory. A sizeable number of scientists have dropped out of evolution on account of that.

Then there's the problem of life itself arising from inanimate matter, or "abiogenesis". Mathematicians claim it's impossible from a purely probabilistic and statics point of view. Evolutionists claim evolution is not related to abiogenesis, but that's a sort of a copout.

Then there's the problem of human evolution. The neanderthal has been ruled out as a possible ancestor for modern man since his dna shows him to be a glorified chimpanzee, and all other hominids are much further removed from us than the neanderthal. That leaves no other plausible ancestor for modern man at all.

That's aside from the fact that the standard thing you see on PBS (Pinko Broadcasting System) showing homo erectus coming down from the trees to live on the savannas is basically ludicrous. All monkeys, apes, and humans are too slow and too NOISY to live on the savannas. What's gonna happen the first time some human infant starts screaming his head off out on the African savannas with 500-lb predators walking around all over the place??

Get yourself a copy of Michael Behe's "Darwin's Black Box" and/or Wells' "Icons of Evolution" and catch up a bit.


Quote:

Quote:
2. As junk science goes, it's dangerous junk science. It was the major philosophical corner stone of naziism, communism, and the various eugenics programs in western countries.


I hate to say it, but you are talking absolute BS.


Fraid not.

http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number12/Darwinpapers12HTML.htm
http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number13/number13.html
http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/number14/Darwin14.htm

http://emporium.turnpike.net/C/cs/hscom.htm

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Evolution and Communism

Another interesting facet of history is the connection between evolution and communism. With communism the struggle of "race" is replaced by the struggle of "class" as history is viewed as an evolutionary struggle.

Both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were evolutionists before they encountered Darwin's "The Origin of Species" - (Dec 12, 1859) Engels wrote to Marx: "Darwin who I am now reading, is splendid" (Morris 1989, 83 quoting Zirkle). Like Darwin, "Marx thought he had discovered the law of development. He saw history in stages, as the Darwinists saw geological strata and successive forms of life... In keeping with the feelings of the age, both Marx and Darwin made struggle the means of development" (Morris 1989, 83 quoting Borzin). "There was truth in Engel's eulogy on Marx: 'Just as Darwin had discovered the law of evolution in organic nature so Marx discovered the law of evolution in human history'" (Morris 1989, 83 quoting Himmelfarb).

"It is commonplace that Marx felt his own work to be the exact parallel of Darwin's. He even wished to dedicate a portion of Das Kapital to the author of The Origin of Species" (Morris 1989, 83 quoting Barzum). Indeed, Marx wished to dedicate parts of his famous book to Darwin but "Darwin 'declined the honor' because, he wrote to Marx, he did not know the work, he did not believe that direct attacks on religion advanced the cause of free thought, and finally because he did not want to upset 'some members of my family'" (Morris 1989, 83 quoting Jorafsky).

Other Soviet Communist leaders are evolutionists as well. Lenin, Trostsky, and Stalin were all atheistic evolutionists. A soviet think tank founded in 1963 developed a one-semester course in "Scientific Atheism" which was introduced in 1964. Also, a case can be made that Darwinism was influential in propagating communism in China.

Interestingly, according to Morris, Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University, the co-founder of the punctuated equilibrium theory of evolution is a Marxist in philosophy, along with other distinguished Harvard evolutionary scientists and university professors across the country. One has to ask - could a person espouse the Marxist view and tolerate creationism?





Quote:


Let us not forget the Spanish Inquisition. The witch burnings and all the other atrocities that were committed in the name of Christianity. If you accuse evolution as being the "philosphical cornerstone" of Nazism and Eugenics, then I can equally state that Christianity was the cornerstone of all those atrocities.

Quote:
3. It is utterly incompatible with Christianity or any other meaningful religion.


Once again, you are talking absolute rubbish.


Not hardly. Sir Arthur Keith (Evolution and Ethics) said it best:

http://www.designeduniverse.com/evolutionandethics.htm

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Chapter 3

The Behavior of Germany Considered from an Evolutionary Point of View in 1942

VISITORS TO GERMANY IN 1934 FOUND AN emotional storm sweeping through masses of the people, particularly the more educated. The movement had much in common with a religious revival. The preacher in this case was Adolf Hitler; his doctrine was, and is, tribalism; he had stirred in the emotional depths of the German people those long-dormant tribal feelings which find release and relief in mutual service; men and women who had been leading selfish lives or were drifting aimlessly were given a new purpose in life: service to their country the Third Reich. It is worth noting that Hitler uses a double designation for his tribal doctrine National Socialism: Socialism standing for the good side of the tribal spirit (that which works within the Reich); aud Nationalism for the ethically vicious part, which dominates policy at and outside the German frontiers.

The leader of Germany is an evolutionist not only in theory, but, as millions know to their cost, in the rigor of its practice. [/color]For him the national "front" of Europe is also the evolutionary "front"; he regards himself, and is regarded, as the incarnation of the will of Germany, the purpose of that will being to guide the evolutionary destiny of its people. He has brought into

10.

modern life the tribal and evolutionary mentality of prehistoric times. Hitler has confronted the statesmen of the world with an evolutionary problem of an unprecedented magnitude. What is the world to do with a united aggressive tribe numbering eighty millions!

We must not lose sight of the purpose of our visit to Germany; it was to see how far modern evolutionary practice can provide us with a scientific basis for ethical or moral behavior. As a source of information concerning Hitler's evolutionary and ethical doctrines I have before me Mein Kampf, extracts from The Times covering German affairs during the last twenty years, and the monthly journal R.F.C. (Racio Political Foreign Correspondenee), published by the German Bureau for Human Betterment and Eugenics and circulated by that bureau for the enlightenment of anthropologists living abroad. In the number of that journal for July 1937, there appears in English the text of a speech given by the German Fuhrer on January 30, 1937, in reply to a statement made by Mr. Anthony Eden that "the German race theory" stood in the way of a common discussion of European problems. Hitler maintained his theory would have an opposite effect; "it will bring about a real understanding for the first time." "It is not for men," said the Fuhrer, "to discuss the question of why Providence created different races, but rather to recognize that it punishes those who disregard its work of creation." I may remark incidentally that in this passage, as in many others, the German Fuhrer, like Bishop Barnes and many of our more intellectual clergy, regards evolution as God's mode of creation. God having created races, it is therefore "the noblest and most sacred duty for each racial species of mankind to preserve the purity of the blood which God has given it." Here we have expounded the perfectly sound doctrine of evolutionary isolation; even as an ethical doctrine it should not be condemned. No German must be guilty of the "greatest racial sin" that of bringing the fruits of hybridity into the world. The reproductive "genes" which circulate within the frontiers of Germany must be kept uncontaminated, so that they may work out the racial destiny of the German people without impediment. Hitler is also a eugenist. Germans who suffer from

11.

hereditable imperfections of mind or of body must be rendered infertile, so that "the strong may not be plagued by the weak." Sir Francis Galton, the founder of eugenics, taught a somewhat similar evolutionary doctrine namely, that if our nation was to prosper we must give encouragement to the strong rather than to the weak; a saving which may be justified by evolution, but not by ethics as recognized and practiced by civilized peoples. The liberties of German women are to be sacrificed; they must devote their activities to their households, especially to the sacred duty of raising succeeding generations. The birth rate was stimulated by bounties and subsidies so that the German tribe might grow in numbers and in strength. In all these matters the Nazi doctrine is evolutionist.

Hitler has sought on every occasion and in every way to heighten the national consciousness of the German people or, what is the same thing, to make them racially conscious; to give them unity of spirit and unity of purpose. Neighborly approaches of adjacent nations are and were repelled; the German people were deliberately isolated. Cosmopolitanism, liberality of opinion, affectation of foreign manners and dress were unsparingly condemned. The old tribal bonds (love of the Fatherland, feeling of mutual kinship), the bonds of "soil and blood," became "the main plank in the National Social program." "Germany was for the Germans" was another plank. Foreign policy was "good or bad according to its beneficial or harmful effects on the German folk now or hereafter." "Charity and humility are only for home consumption" a statement in which Hitler gives an exact expression of the law which limits sympathy to its tribe. "Humanitarianism is an evil . . . a creeping poison." "The most cruel methods are humane if they give a speedy victory" is Hitler's echo of a maxim attributed to Moltke. Such are the ways of evolution when applied to human affairs.

I have said nothing about the methods employed by the Nazi leaders to secure tribal unity in Germany methods of brutal compulsion, bloody force, and the concentration camp. Such methods cannot be brought within even a Machiavellian system of ethics, and yet may be justified by their evolutionary result.

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Even in that result we may harbor a doubt: can unity obtained by such methods be relied on to endure?

There are other aspects of Nazi policy which raise points which may be legitimate subjects of ethical debate. In recent years British men of science have debated this ethical problem: an important discovery having been made a new poison gas, for example is it not the duty of the discoverer to suppress it if there is a possibility of its being used for an evil purpose? My personal conviction is that science is concerned wholly with truth, not with ethics. A man of science is responsible for the accuracy of his observations and of his inferences, not for the results which may follow therefrom. Under no circumstances should the truth be suppressed; yet suppression and distortion of the truth is a deliberate part of Nazi policy. Every anthropologist in Germany, be he German or Jew, was and is silenced in Nazi Germany unless the Hitlerian racial doctrine is accepted without any reservation whatsoever. Authors, artists, preachers, and editors are undone if they stray beyond the limits of the National Socialist tether. Individual liberty of thought and of its expression is completely suppressed. An effective tribal unity is thus attained at the expense of truth. And yet has not the Church in past times persecuted science just in this Hitlerian way? There was a time, and not so long ago, when it was dangerous for a biologist to harbor a thought that clashed in any way with the Mosaic theory of creation.

No aspect of Hitler's policy proclaims the antagonism between evolution and ethics so forcibly as his treatment of the Jewish people in Germany. So strong are the feelings roused that it is difficult for even science to approach the issues so raised with an unclouded judgment. Ethically the Hitlerian treatment of the Jews stands condemned out of hand. Hitler is cruel, but I do not think that his policy can be explained by attributing it to a mere satisfaction of a lust, or to a search for a scapegoat on which Germany can wreak her wrath for the ills which followed her defeat of 1918. The Church in Spain subjected the Jews to the cruelty of the Inquisition, but no one ever sought to explain the Church's behavior by suggesting that she had a

13.

lust for cruelty which had to be satisfied. The Church adopted the Inquisition as a policy; it was a means of securing unity of mind in her flock. Hitler is an uncompromising evolutionist, and we must seek for an evolutionary explanation if we are to understand his actions. When the Huguenots fled to Germany they mingled their "genes" with those of their host and disappeared as an entity. The Jews are made of other stuff: for two thousand years, living amid European communities, they have maintained their identity; it is an article of their creed, as it is of Hitler's, to breed true. They, too, practice an evolutionary doctrine. Is it possible for two peoples living within the same frontiers, dwelling side by side, to work out harmoniously their separate evolutionary destinies? Apparently Hitler believes this to be impossible; we in Britain and in America believe it to be not only possible, but also profitable.

It must not be thought that in seeking to explain Hitler's actions I am seeking to justify them. The opposite is the case. I have made this brief survey of public policy in modern Germany with a definite object: to show that Dr. Waddington is in error when he seeks to place ethics on a scientific basis by a knowledge of evolutionary tendencies and practice.

Chapter 4

Human Life: Its Purpose or Ultimate End

IN THE COURSE OF GATHERING INFORMATION concerning man's morality and the part it has played and is playing in his evolution, I found it necessary to provide space for slips which were labeled "Life: Its Ultimate and Proximate Purposes." Only those who have devoted some special attention to this matter are aware of the multitude of reasons given for the appearance of man on earth. Here I shall touch on only a few of them; to deal with all would require a big book. The reader may exclaim: Why deal with any of them! What has ultimate purpose got to do with ethics and evolution! Let a man with a clearer head and a nimbler pen than mine reply. He is Edward Carpenter, who wrote Civilization: Its Cause and Cure (1889).

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It is from the sixteenth edition (1923) I am to quote, p. 249:

If we have decided what the final purpose or Life of Man is, then we may say that what is good for that purpose is finally "good" and what is bad for that purpose is finally "evil."

If the final purpose of our existence is that which has been and is being worked out under the discipline of evolutionary law, then, although we are quite unconscious of the end result, we ought, as Dr. Waddington has urged, to help on "that which tends to promote the ultimate course of evolution." If we do so, then we have to abandon the hope of ever attaining a universal system of ethics; for, as we have just seen, the ways of national evolution, both in the past and in the present, are cruel, brutal, ruthless, and without mercy. Dr. Waddington has not grasped the implications of Nature's method of evolution, for in his summing up (Nature, 1941, 150, p. 535) he writes "that the ethical principles formulated by Christ . . . are those which have tended towards the further evolution of mankind, and that they will continue to do so." Here a question of the highest interest is raised: the relationship which exists between evolution and Christianity; so important, it seems to me, that I shall devote to it a separate chapter. Meantime let me say that the conclusion I have come to is this: the law of Christ is incompatible with the law of evolution as far as the law of evolution has worked hitherto. Nay, the two laws are at war with each other; the law of Christ can never prevail until the law of evolution is destroyed. [/color] Clearly the form of evolution which Dr. Waddington has in mind is not that which has hitherto prevailed; what he has in mind is a man made system of evolution. In brief, instead of seeking ethical guidance from evolution, he now proposes to impose a system of ethics on evolution and so bring humanity ultimately to a safe and final anchorage in a Christian haven.






Quote:



Quote:
4. It is part and parcel of certain agendas which may or may not be of any use to you; individual mileage may vary.


I'm afraid I cannot comment on that statement.

Oh, and don't let me hear any of that "Evolution is just a theory" argument. That just stinks of not understanding the meaning of what a scientific theory actually is.


That's right: a theory has to be falsifiable; the standard term for something (like evolution) which is NOT falsifiable is "pseudoscience".
0 Replies
 
rosborne979
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 09:40 am
gungasnake wrote:
g__day wrote:
I have a few troubles with the bible and creation stories:

1. They fly against observable scientific data, like the Universe is 13.8 billion years old not 5,000 years old


The Universe in all likelihood is eternal; the big bang idea has been disproven.


You're up to your old tricks again aren't you Snake. First it was "eat this apple", and now it's "let's see how much foolishness the modern pimates will swallow".

Nice try, but most of us aren't gonna bite this time (though I'm sure you'll get a few). Wink
0 Replies
 
gungasnake
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 09:49 am
http://www.cosmologystatement.org
0 Replies
 
El-Diablo
 
  1  
Reply Tue 1 Feb, 2005 02:52 pm
Gunga it started off ok but Ive noticed you never really post evidence FOR creationism but AGAINST evolution. This is fine and dandy except you overlook one aspect: evolution being a part of science is not fixed but is transient and only strives to find the truth about nature. If it is wronged it will be reformed. Creationists think they are high and mighty pricks every time they provide "counter-evidence". You are just helping science as your stupidity helps fuel the ever progressive search of the truth. Gunga it is YOUR theory that needs proof. For it is rigid and can't really change and also has the most holes. so please stop constantly refuting evoution and big bang. They can change; creationism can't. Prove it and we'll see whos right. And also prove the Ark the flood the partiong of the Red Sea any of those. Because if one part is wrong, it all must be wrong being that's supposedly "from the heavens".
0 Replies
 
 

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