Who ever or what ever is responsible for the existence of the universe could not possibly know of our existence. With the vastness of the universe we are un -important. the proposition that the god of the bible watches every thing we do and is keeping score and has a plan for all of our lives is preposterous. If the universe could be shrunken to the size of he earth. The earth itself would be but a speck of dust drifting in the sunlight. For a creator to find the earth it would be fr worse than looking for a needle in a Texas sized stadium overflowing with straw. And we ourselves nothing but a microbe. When the bible was written it was believed that the earth was flat a platform suspended in space and the sky a big dome that kept all the water out. And if you walked to the ends of the earth you could fall off of it.

Keep trying, Nik, if you live long enough, like maybe 4 or 5 billion years, you might accidentally stumble upon something that actually makes some scientific sense. It is absolutely impossible for rocks and minerals to create life and vice versa. Such a concept is patently absurd. The universe is 13 billion years old, Nik, the earth is 4.5 billion years old, if your ridiculous idea were true, by now the universe and everything in it would be alive. Where, pray tell, did consciousness come from? Self-awareness? The ability to think and make choices?

The subject of this thread is the theory that religion destroys rational thought. The idea you propose is about as irrational as it gets.

Conscience and self awareness comes from 4 billion years or more of evolution. Bottle nosed dolphins poses cognitive ability to recognize them selves in a mirror and are considered to have the second most intelligent animal on earth. Seals California sea lions and dogs are highly intelligent animals that appear to be self aware. Honey bees will scout for a source of nectar return to the hive and direct the rest to the source. Ants do the same. If you believe that rocks and minerals had no roll in the evolution of life on earth then you did not watch the video. I suspected you would not but I tried. It makes perfect sence when one looks at the evidence. Everey thing in the universe would not be alive with life as we know it. A planet musrt be in the habitable zone far enough away from the star and not to far for water co2 to exist in its liquir form. To close and water is a gas. to far and it freezes. Liquid co2 is a prerequsite for organic life to exist. UIf you wach the video the scientist offer evcidence that rocks ,minerals, and organic life have a sumbiotic releationship in the evolution of life. Month after month new evidence is discovered as an army probably 800 to 1000 paleontologists are digging inthe crust of the earth when the history of the planet is stored

Like I said, my mentor for my first two years of college was a Priest but had no problem with evolution or the age of the Universe or the age of the Earth. Next time I’m in a circular argument over the age of the earth I will shoot you a PM.

Well, one can say the purpose of life is to live. That means when we’ve outlived this planet we create the means to move on to the next. The only thing to prevent mankind from gaining eternal life is Man himself. If we destroy the earth before we can create a way off our planet than life with no purpose will be the greatest loss of all…

Well I read a post from someone but when you do a cut and paste I don’t know if it’s you speaking or I should be critiquing someone else. Anyway, I answered the first part. I will meander through the next.

Well I don’t know if Darwin’s theory is correct but just as we did with Newton and gravity I will assume he is correct until someone comes along as Einstein did and disprove him. As for why apes are apes because that’s what the evolved to when we branched from a common ancestor. You are making the false assumption that the common ancestor was an ape when all we could say is that it was a form of primate that evolved into what it is today.

Because all gene mutations are random and only the ones that have beneficial outcomes are able to dominate. Since all mutations are random they create something different in each species. And maybe someday there will be a mutation in man so that he develops wings—that is, if our fellow man isn’t terrified of him and destroy him as a freak of nature and against the will of god.

You may not have noticed but some of us are terrified of change and try to stop it at all costs—even invoking scripture as proof that difference is an abomination and against the will of god…and a clever theist can always find an example of scripture to back up his point of view.

Thank you for your permission to believe as I so choose. I will remember that the next time you attack atheists as the most e-vile creatures to ever walk the earth. And you are welcome to believe that reason and faith are comparable but I challenge you to make your arguments without the use of fallacies because if you can’t then you aren’t using reason and you haven't reconciled the two.

Well, that’s wonderful but if he could convert that easily then he was never an atheist because to become one you have to use reason, not faith, to give up the need and dependence on a god. The proof that he was never an atheist is that he said he had to have faith to be one when the opposite is true; all the accomplished was to stitch one fair-tail for another and he’s as void of a belief system as he was when he was an atheist.

Well, thank you for allowing me to believe as I so choose but it really wasn't necessary. As for Reason and Faith being complimentary if you can't make an argument without the use of fallacies than you haven't connected the two.

This one is simple--if he had to use faith to be an atheist than he never was an atheist because being one requires nothing to have faith in

Those who know the Origin and purpose of free will and the function of an informed conscience, who possess the knowledge of right and wrong and the ability to choose between them, give you a Failing grade on the test. Do not be concerned inasmuch as we are not the final word and are not authorized to interfere with your free will. FYI, my dog does the perfect will of God because she has no free will and cannot do otherwise. Why didn't your 4 billion years of evolution give at least one other animal knowledge of good and evil and the ability to choose between them. It's a rhetorical question. Oh, by the way. When I look in the mirror I wonder who in the blazes that olde phart looking back at me is. Perhaps I need to become one of your dolphins?

Four billion years of evolution has instilled into human beings the difference between right and wrong. By my standards and values I pass the test. When bands of humans worked in cooperation with one anothey they thrived. Men hunted and through a team effort were able to bring dowm large game thay other wise could have never brought down by themselves the women gathered roots, berries, and card for the bands childern cooperatively. A member of the band who persued his self interest, horded nore than his share was soon bannished from the band and it was next to immossible o survive with out a band working in concert and was soon eaten by predators so those who were good survived to propagate and the a**h**es soon became lunch for a predator and failed to propagate and pass his genes, thats how evolution workes

Why did he wait for 4 billion years before he put plants and animals on the land? Why were there were no microbes to break down the leaves and ferns that fell into the swamp witch got covered with sediment sunk into the ground and became coal seams ?. The necessary microbes that do the job today had not yet evolved on land. Why did it take 300 million years after plants migrated from the sea to land for grass to appear in the fossil record ?. It was necessary for the forests to recede first. Why did the forests recede ? It was continental drift and mountain building that cooled the climate that caused the conifer forests to recede and hardwood forest and grasses to evolve. Ect,ect