Random Gadfly

A gadfly with a point of view. Writing about the questions of life involving theology, science, and apologetics to inspire thought. Interested in the surprising and the inspiring world.

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Last Notes

2024-04-28 15:27:14 GMT

We assume that everybody wants to be with God.
Some don’t…
The problem is that ALL good things come from God.
So they are removing themselves from EVERYTHING good.
That is hell…
#grownostr #Christianity #God

2023-10-11 22:42:23 GMT

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I guess thats right given the definition of extra-terrestrials.

2023-09-24 16:19:30 GMT

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and a very high fee to have the privilege of being there! Cheers!

2023-09-20 01:40:09 GMT

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From my other nostr channel:
#note1tpa…ux7h

2023-09-15 13:12:20 GMT

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Who's definition of evil do they go by? Nobody asks that question.

2023-09-15 13:11:18 GMT

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Apple? What company is that? They look like they promote freedom of thought... Hmmm...

2023-09-15 13:00:02 GMT

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What if the conditions that sustain life are so finely tuned that Earth is the only place that life can exist?

2023-09-15 12:57:00 GMT

First Life Must Have Had a Minimally Reliable Replication System — A Conundrum for Materialists
#apologetics #evolution #grownostr
https://evolutionnews.org/2023/09/first-life-must-have-had-a-minimally-reliable-replication-system-a-conundrum-for-materialists/

2023-09-15 12:38:06 GMT

The design complexity of the cell, points away from Darwinian evolution.
#apologetics #evolution #science #plebchain
https://youtu.be/pMzqA4XNxtw?si=VkA5siVaBZjiyQPS

2023-09-15 01:50:00 GMT

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A NEW PAPYRUS WITH SAYINGS OF JESUS? _______________
“If the proposed date is right, then 5575 would be … one of the earliest witnesses to any Christian document.”
#Christianity #Jesus #history #apologetics #grownostr
https://textandcanon.org/whats-the-big-deal-about-a-new-papyrus-with-sayings-of-jesus/

2023-09-13 23:00:35 GMT

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Play fiat games, win fiat prizes!
#note1rem…shek

2023-09-12 00:41:34 GMT

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Dang, I was already hungry. Then I scroll to see this!

2023-09-12 00:34:45 GMT

The Shop Rat!
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Check out my other nostr channel named “The Shop Rat”. In it, I write about and showcase my other love in life of making things of value. I will be covering all things related to the craftsman and their trade. Join me in the art of creation!
The Shop Rat:
@npub1sd3wwlvl6f58yzs4ss90x07e4dwd7yl6h3n0pygpz9vqjcxd99aq90vwne
#grownostr #plebchain #nostr #woodworking #DIY
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/61fb8902d0d183f8565c581abb3672451754fb17951c143b8fc9b2043cb3082e.png

2023-09-10 16:11:47 GMT

Good Sunday morning, nostr!
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (verses 4–5)
~ Psalm 25 – David’s Prayer for Help, Guidance, and Forgiveness
#God #Christianity #Jesus #coffeechain
https://image.nostr.build/03cf313c16b9f342c445f23ca2a4f2b65916671918fd6e8b32ad3349dba0d266.jpg

2023-09-10 16:04:03 GMT

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It is quite possible that the pencil sketch left on our hearts can be heard in the still quiet voice in our soul.
#grownostr #Christainity #Jesus
#note1du0…tq0s

2023-09-10 15:40:28 GMT

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Lewis is making the observation that most people that have become Christians in their adult years and not as children were persuaded by arguments that affirmed the existence of God (or theism).
This means that as adults we sometimes require more substantial proof in order to believe in God. As children we can become Christians through upbringing (like myself), songs, or experience, etc. However, if a nonbeliever comes to Christian faith as an adult it may be through logical or philosophical arguments for the existence of God, something that a child would not care about.
Lewis' writings were all about providing "adult" arguments for the existence of God, as in his book "Mere Christianity."
Did that help you understand better?

2023-09-10 02:33:33 GMT

C.S. LEWIS QUOTE
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“Nearly everyone I know who has embraced Christianity in adult life has been influenced by what seemed to him to be at least a probable argument for theism.”
~ C. S. Lewis
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#grownostr #Christianity #Bible #apologetics
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_4a48afbd213d20c2aaf7c1f919b95e7f647f9c967af565b7d4e31a033c50963a.jpg

2023-09-10 02:31:47 GMT

JORDAN PETERSON’S UNDERSTANDING OFJESUS CHRIST
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“What you have in the figure of Christ is an actual person who actually lived, plus a myth, and, in some sense, Christ is the union of those two things. The problem is I probably believe that, but I’m amazed at my own belief and I don’t understand it.”
“It’s too terrifying a reality to fully believe. I don’t even know what would happen to you if you fully believed it.”
~Jordan Peterson in an interview with Jonathan Pageau
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If you enjoy my posts, please like, boost or give me a follow! Zaps are always great too!
#grownostr #Christianity #Bible #apologetics
https://youtu.be/Lysz7RvfTVc

2023-09-09 02:51:02 GMT

#God #evolution #science #grownostr #naturallaw
https://image.nostr.build/1f8de257016dc9d1177c9b7c07df2d2b53ef8702e6ccd1b1607f8c654c42ce13.jpg

2023-09-09 02:29:14 GMT

Just a friendly reminder!
Fairytales come in all forms!
#evolution #darwin #naturallaw #science #grownostr
https://image.nostr.build/e0e7071df4e2b62a80fffed2cda3f3f273f737b72dcccf30e188edcc82c1ce70.png

2023-09-09 01:50:41 GMT

THE COMPLEXITY THAT IS SEEN IN BIOLOGY IMPLIES A DESIGNER
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In a series of essays titled “The Deniable Darwin”, David Berlinski has an imaginary conversation with Jorge Luis Borges an Argentinian writer of short stories. In this conversation, Borges recounts the fantastic series of events in which all literary novels, in fact owe their existence and are descended from one ancestor novel “the Quixote”, the novel written by Miguel de Cervantes.
Borges recalls to Berlinski over a cup of coffee, “As you know,” he continues, “the original handwritten text of “the Quixote” was given to an order of French Cistercians in the autumn of 1576.”
The Cistercians were given the charge of making copies of the manuscript of “the Quixote”, but were not adept in the Spanish language and made many errors in their copying. Over the years, the singular errors made during the coping finally culminated in the first edition of Fernando Lor’s “Los Hombres d’Estado” in the year 1585. Then in 1654, still by singular coping errors Juan Luis Samorza’s novel “Por Favor” was created. The errors eventually lead to language changes from Spanish to French and then from French to English and throughout the years new novels that would become the literary masterpieces of the world were created. This chain of remarkable errors finally culminates in the novel “Ulysses”.
Borges then proclaims, “Although every novel is derived directly from another novel, there is really only one novel, the “Quixote.” [1]
Evolution’s growing issues
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As fantastic as this made-up discussion of the transformation of the novel Don Quixote into the novel Ulysses, it pales in comparison to the evolution that was created by Charles Darwin. One that implies that singular mutations can over time develop highly specialized structures in organisms and even new species. The mutations are completely random and when they are subjected to the harsh reality of their environment, they are tested by what evolution calls natural selection. The good mutations are passed down to future generations and the bad mutations ones, that are of no benefit or are detrimental to the organism, are killed off. This process was coined the ‘survival of the fittest’.
At the time of Darwin, DNA, and the magnificently complicated structure of the cell were not yet discovered. Mutations were thought to be a simpler process that did not involve the encoded information contained in DNA. What evolutionists in Darwin’s day thought of as a single mutation would have contained thousands or millions of individual DNA mutations. An example would be the bud of a primeval leg forming on an organism. Then, the bud would have been thought as single mutation, but over a hundred years later it is known to be a vastly more complex situation. Mutations are disqualifying themselves as a driver of evolutionary change as time progresses, and more is known about DNA and the complexity of life.
Evolutionary Paradoxes
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Evolution relies on random mutations and natural selection to be a viable theory for the diversity of life. However, there are issues with mutations causing changes in organisms. We can call these issues, evolutionary paradoxes. When the paradoxes are fully examined, they unveil the absurdity of evolutionary theory. Below are a few of the examples of evolutionary paradoxes.
DNA — Protein Paradox: DNA is the information carrier for the construction of proteins that are in turn the building blocks of cells. Without DNA, the only way to build a protein would be the chance assembly from a primeval goo. So, for life to exist and to replicate in an environment you must have the blueprint of a protein’s assembly that is contained in DNA. However, DNA is itself made of proteins and assembled in cells. DNA and proteins rely on the other for their assembly. This establishes a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” situation. It is inconceivable that one component can assemble itself spontaneously enough to form the other. The creation of a protein is extremely complicated and further complicated by the proper folding of the protein. The protein folds are what allows it to function properly. According to Cyrus Levinthal, there are 10³⁰⁰ different ways that a protein can fold after a peptide chain is produced [2]. Only one of the folds is the correct one for the function of the protein. This is just one of numerous issues that either the protein or DNA would have to survive in order to spontaneously create.
The Butterfly Paradox: As children, most of us become familiar with the life cycle of the butterfly. We learn that the butterfly starts out life as an egg laid by an adult. The egg hatches and a larval caterpillar is born. The caterpillar feeds and grows until it sheds its skin and starts the pupal stage of its life. In this stage the larva undergoes radical changes to its body. The legs, wings, and the body of an adult butterfly are formed and after a certain amount of time it emerges. Here is the paradox, the life cycle of the butterfly is only perpetuated by the adult mating and then laying its eggs. Consequently, the larva is not the same body configuration as the adult and cannot reproduce. It is separated from the reproductive phase of its life by a massive rearranging of its body in the pupal stage.
How does this rearranging of major body parts happen in an evolutionary paradigm, where changes happen with individual random mutations in DNA?
For the life cycle of the butterfly to exist in evolutionary terms the first larva of the species must make the transition to adult in one clean mutational jump. The pupal stage requires the DNA information to be clear and contain the many changes to form into an adult… to then reproduce. If this process was due to a series of singular random mutations, a vast amount would be detrimental to the larva and would kill it.
How does this change happen via singular random mutations of DNA? This seems to be an all or nothing conundrum.
The Male-Female Paradox: This is one of the greatest problems for the evolutionist, how did sexual reproduction evolve from single DNA mutations? This suffers from the same basic problem as the Butterfly Paradox. Mainly, a great leap in single mutational changes required to have the correct body types needed with the mechanism for successful procreation of the species at the end of the process. You could say this paradox even complicates the butterfly paradox further by adding another layer of complication to that issue. Evolutionists will say that organisms evolved into sexual reproduction as it is vastly more complicated than asexual reproduction. Basically, going from simple one celled organism that reproduces asexually and mutating into a more complicated multicell organism that reproduces sexually.
So, how did that happen?
To make the jump you must go from an asexual organism to a fully functioning male and female organism. Moreover, the process to procreate must work the first time or the species will not survive as either the male or female cannot asexually procreate on their own. This again is an all or nothing process that must happen successfully the first time via the process of random mutation and natural selection, otherwise the species dies out. 
In Darwin’s day, the paradoxes may have been easier to envision working out, but what we now know about DNA and cellular biology it vastly complicates the random mutations that are required. It is much like adding random errors to a computer’s operating system and expecting to get a revolutionary new computer at the end, it does not happen that way. Errors in turn cause more errors, much like the entropy in a thermodynamic system. To expect otherwise is frankly wishful thinking.
Irreducible Complexity Points to Design
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Engineers know the importance of design. One needs to know how the individual parts of a machine interact together. Great care must be taken with the design, material selection, and manufacturing for even the simplest machine to operate well. If one part is not in the design that is crucial for the overall function, then the machine is junk. Would you fly in an airplane that does not have one of its engines? How about no fuel nozzles in the engine? Or missing just one of the compressor blades? The answer is most likely a resounding “No!” Because in each scenario the engine is not functional or won’t be in very short order.
Life is very much the same as the aircraft engine. There are structures in organisms that must have all their parts intact or the structure ceases to function. This is known as irreducible complexity. The engine must have all its major parts intact or it does not function, it is irreducibly complex. There are many irreducibly complex structures in life a few of which are the circulatory system, the eye, blood clotting, or the ear.
The bacterial flagellum is one of many irreducibly complex structures in biology. It is truly a remarkable organelle that provides propulsion for certain types of bacteria. The flagellum is a complex molecular motor made of proteins that runs on the flow of hydrogen ions. The flagellum has the same classical parts as an electrical motor such as the rotor, stator, and bushings, and can operate at thousands of rotations per minute. The motor then turns a whip like structure called the filament. This is what gives propulsion to the bacteria much like a propeller. It is a beautifully engineered nano-machine that is remarkably efficient. Its structure is much like the engine referenced above; it is irreducibly complex. If you remove any of the major components, the flagellum will not work and is useless.
So, the question is how does this kind of complex machine evolve by singular DNA mutations?
When the loss of a major component renders the flagellum useless and fodder for the evolutionary scrap yard via natural selection. A bacterium is at a disadvantage with a useless motor hanging off its backside for a million or so years waiting on the improbable molecular rotor to mutate into existence. Wouldn’t the useless appendage just disappear like the legs of the “primeval” whale that is hanging out on the water’s edge waiting for flippers? I’m just asking.
One of the explanations for the evolution of the flagellum is given by the similarity in structure to the Type Three Secretion System (TTSS) in bacterium. They both share similar shape and proteins as each other. However, their functions are completely different, the TTSS is used to export proteins across the cell envelope not as a mode of propulsion. Just because there is a similarity of shape does not imply evolutionary lineage. Even if they were linked in evolution, there is very little attention given to the “nuts and bolts” of the coding changes needed in the DNA and the not so trivial statistical challenges of the creation of the winning design.
Evolutionists must adhere to their own theory’s guidelines when discussing the complicated matters of “chance” design and those guidelines have only become more stringent with the discovery of DNA. The code for changing life is contained within the mutations made in DNA; and with that the chance miraculous coding for all the proteins and the design of the flagellum runs afoul. This mathematical challenge is not addressed in evolutionary theory.
The explanation for the evolution of the TTSS into the flagellum is oversimplified into the rearrangement of the proteins thru the “right” mutations and natural selection and… voila! You have a sophisticated propulsion system. You don’t need to explain the real challenges. Engineers wish redesign was that easy because their job would be less stressful. If you don’t manage every single detail in a new product design, it will run off the rails fast. We should, expect life to be a little more complicated than man made items.
Design implies a designer, and life has many designs that are improbable given the limitations of evolution. There are the singular mutation and natural selection limitations that are self-imposed in evolutionary theory. But there are the materialistic limitations that are arbitrarily placed on it as well. With random mutation and natural selection as the driving factor behind evolution, the metaphysical is vehemently avoided and along with it any mention of design.
The concept of design in life is avoided as nonscientific. But why?
There is clear evidence of design in every aspect of life. I don’t look at the airplane engine and say, “Look what natural selection and wind erosion has brought me!” That would be foolish and unscientific. It would be scientific of me to use the evidence that I observe from the engine and imply an intelligent designer that ushered that design from imagination to reality. The designs that we see in life are no different and harder to avoid implying a designer because of the exponential complexity over the engine.
Science cannot be held hostage by dogma, a dogma that was birthed with Darwin and limits exploration of life only to the materialistic realm. That would have been sufficient for some in that era, but we now have the language of DNA and sophisticated instruments that have revealed the complex world of cellular biology. With those two things we can observe the blueprints of life along with the overwhelmingly complex design itself.
In viewing this design, it implies that there is a Designer… some might call God.
 _______________
End Notes
[1] David Berlinski June 1, 1994 Intelligent Design. “The Deniable Darwin.” Discovery Institute, 14 July 2020.
[2] Levinthal, Cyrus (1969). “How to Fold Graciously”. Mossbauer Spectroscopy in Biological Systems: Proceedings of a Meeting Held at Allerton House, Monticello, Illinois: 22–24.
#grownostr #apologetics #philosophy #God #science #naturallaw #evolution
https://image.nostr.build/88a385350a7fa58110304abe9cecadd52bd4b577e0f74ac324b77fe92f4b6f20.jpg

2023-09-08 13:02:32 GMT

Good morning nostr!
Remember that most things in life are a distraction from what is truly important.
They turn your attention away from God, family and each other.
They turn you attention away from your miraculous creation and thus any purpose that God has granted you.
Don't let yourself be distracted by what the world has in front of you. Look for the quiet and peaceful that is in your life.
#God #grownostr #coffeechain

2023-09-04 02:52:16 GMT

BISHOP BELLS DINOSAURS
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Carlisle Cathedral in the United Kingdom is the final resting place of Bishop Richard Bell. Bell who was laid to rest around the year 1496 AD was buried within the stone floor of the cathedral. Brass strips are inlaid in the floor as a border for his tomb.
The strips have various contemporary animals skillfully engraved on them. The animals are easily identified as a bird , a pig, a dog, and even an eel. All of the animals would have easily been identified within the medieval period in which they were engraved.
However, there are animals that are curiously out of place and resemble sauropod dinosaurs. The animals are of such detail that they can be identified as possibly vulcanodon and shunosaurus due to the spikes on its tail.
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#grownostr #plebchain #science #dinosaurs #evolution #creation #youngearth
If you find value in my notes, please like, boost or follow! Zaps are always great too!
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https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1427375/dinosaur-carving-richard-bell-tomb-middle-ages-proves-evolution-wrong-bible-evg

2023-08-31 01:56:49 GMT

Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul, c. 1600-1601
#grownostr #plebchain #Christianity #paintings
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_56c69e22bfe1d8933c6599a43199343e84a6a71bea2e8bbf5dc3bd431f25a620.jpg

2023-08-31 01:55:35 GMT

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE FROM THE FOUNDER OF NASA’S GODDARD INSTITUTE
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“Scientists have no proof that life was not the result of an act of creation, but they are driven by the nature of their profession to seek explanations for the origin of life that lie within the boundaries of natural law.”
~ Robert Jastrow, The Enchanted Loom (founding director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies)
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#grownostr #plebchain #God #philosophy #quotes
If you find value in my notes, please like, boost or follow! Zaps are always great too!
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2023-08-30 02:39:45 GMT

THE INCREDIBLE PRECISION OF INCA STONEWORK
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Name the modern stonework that rivals the precision and closeness of fit that ancient Inca walls have in places like Cuzco, Peru.
Such closeness of fit where you cannot place a business card in-between the stones. The ancient Inca had more skill and technology than we think to be able to accomplish such mastery.
Their level of craftsmanship is very hard to duplicate with todays machinery and I have not seen a modern example that rivals it.
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Crossposted on both my channels:
The Shop Rat: npub1sd3wwlvl6f58yzs4ss90x07e4dwd7yl6h3n0pygpz9vqjcxd99aq90vwne
Random Gadfly: npub1eeyruzdhp74qnmm7fp0968zf3xrygcd28h3jwdz88td0kz6sevrs7x8m52
#grownostr #archaeology #history #technology
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/ecc8d8822df43aa0da68019156fedb0a2e0b011b8ec641162ef315a652bf2fd1.jpg
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/f0f5a2b6b67b292e0b45b3705c5e2c160a5806362245d1ee7a797168cf9fde9f.jpg

2023-08-29 01:26:23 GMT

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When you are in the middle of historical events, sometimes it is hard to see the history.
#note1zjv…zjd9

2023-08-29 01:11:26 GMT

TRICERATOPS HORN UNFOSSILIZED SOFT TISSUE
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A video showing the examination of soft tissue from a triceratops horn collected in Montana by Mark Armitage.
The tissue in not fossilized and is still very flexible. Unfossilized tissue is not that uncommon among fossils and is being found more often.
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#grownostr #apologetics #science #dinosaurs #creation #youngearth #evolution
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_db2da8550a508d7066f8cad5347470e75565f0ff4a4e921fa93b8a6332c7b1ed.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eStVzZP9zk&t=11s

2023-08-29 00:48:39 GMT

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Welcome to nostr!

2023-08-28 00:51:16 GMT

THE ABSURD MAKE BELIEVE OF EVOLUTION
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So this is all it takes to establish an evolutionary link between chickens and dinosaurs? You glue feathers onto a velociraptor?
This is make believe.
It totally glosses over the multiple billions, trillions or more of genetic changes that have to happen in order to get a working chicken-dinosaur. All of the changes are by shear chance, as the is no Creator in evolution.
But hey, glue them feathers on that dinosaur… It’s SCIENCE!
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If you find value in my notes and articles please like, boost or follow! Zaps are always appreciated!
#grownostr #nostr #naturallaw #evolution #science
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2023-08-27 03:10:26 GMT

THE UNIVERSE CREATED FROM NOTHING IS ABSURD
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When looking back into our universe’s history just after the Big Bang, t = 10⁻⁴³ seconds is as far back as we can go and still be able to rely on physics and mathematics to describe the conditions of our universe. This is the point in time when the equations that are known to govern our universe begin to function; before this point there are no viable mathematical equations to model the universe.
At this moment, our universe was infinitesimal, extremely hot, and all energy and matter where combined. Scientists have very little to say about the universe before this point including what caused the Big Bang.
What initiated the Big Bang? This is the most important and fundamental question that can be asked; that is, what caused the universe and everything in it to exist? The answer to this will answer our most basic question, is there a God?
This question has only two basic options for an answer. Either, the universe arose from nothing and therefore no God or it was created by something with sufficient power to create everything in our universe.
The first option, whereas the universe arose from nothing is a fiercely debated topic. This is because the definition of nothing cannot be settled upon and physicists have many definitions of what that nothing would contain.
Yes, it is that absurd.
In this discussion, we will divide the meaning of nothing into two distinctions.
First, the meaning of nothing that is truly nothing, no matter, space, time, energy, or laws of physics, absolutely nothing. This nothing would be a complete void that is beyond anything that we can conceive of in our existence. It is a state that physics can’t even begin to describe and is best described in terms of philosophy.
This state of existence is the best explanation of the physical conditions that the universe expanded out from after the Big Bang. This is because the universe contains all matter, space, and time that we know of and when extrapolated back using the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem [1] the universe has a beginning and thus a point in which all matter, space, and time did not exist. Without those attributes, we are left with truly nothing before the big bang and the philosophical paradox of something arising out of absolute nothing.
One of the first times the paradox of something coming from nothing was addressed by Parmenides of Elea and first written down in Aristotle’s Physics [2]:
“τί δ᾽ ἄν μιν καὶ χρέος ὦρσεν ὕστερον ἢ πρόσθεν, τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀρξάμενον, φῦν; οὕτως ἢ πάμπαν πελέναι χρεών ἐστιν ἢ οὐχί.”
Translation by John Burnet:
“Yet why would it be created later rather than sooner, if it came from nothing; so, it must either be created altogether or not [created at all].”
This literature sets up the philosophical principle of “ex nihilo nihil fit” or Latin for “nothing comes from nothing”. Very few scientists even attempt to argue that the universe sprang forth from absolute nothing. Even the Scottish skeptic, David Hume, wrote [3]:
“But allow me to tell you that I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause.”
Usually, this problem of ex nihilo nihil fit is circumvented by inserting a causal agent into the absolute nothing.
Second, is a definition of nothing that includes a something, like the laws of physics. This definition of nothing reveals the true philosophical problem of something (our universe) arising from truly nothing. It necessitates the need for a causal agent of some sort with sufficient power to bring forth the Big Bang. This is illustrated famously by what physicist Stephen Hawking wrote in his book with Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, Hawking states [4]:
“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”
Hawking in this quote gives causal power to the Law of Gravity; this power is what would be traditionally ascribed to the classical ideal of God. The problem with this approach is that it makes the mistake of transferring the causal power of God for what would be an attribute of God that has no causal power in it apart from God. This amounts to their definition of God being too small. Any causal agent of the universe will have unfathomable attributes that are His alone and these attributes cannot be separated from the causal power of God.
To illustrate this point, the Law of Gravity by itself cannot create anything, just like the law of thermodynamics cannot create the internal combustion engine; laws in of themselves cannot create anything they need causal power. It seems physicists trivialize the immense power that brought forth our universe by ascribing that power to a physical law. By giving causal power to any physical law sounds exceedingly close to what God would be like without the baggage of traditional religion for the scientist.
This is a rhetorical sleight of hand to wiggle out of the concept of God and place the creation of the universe firmly into the materialist worldview.
They are playing a shell game.
A further problem with this approach of laws having causal power is that when the universe was before its singularity, where or when did the laws reside? There was nothing physical that would have the imprint of such physical laws upon it.
If the laws could not have any base in the physical universe they would have to reside in a metaphysical mind of some sort. This mind would have to reside outside of our space-time and have the causal attributes to bring forth the whole universe. This still sounds exceedingly close to God.
Whether you ascribe the causal power of the Big Bang to a physical law or to the classical ideal of God, the result is the same for both. To be able to create time, space, and all matter and energy; the cause must be timeless, beyond the constraints of space, and immensely powerful. This again sounds exceedingly close to God whether you call it a law or God, it doesn’t matter.
Richard Lewontin, in his review of Carl Sagan’s last book, The Demon-haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, acknowledges the clash between scientific materialism and common sense. Speaking of scientists, he says [5]:
“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
A Divine Foot in the door indeed…
REFERENCES:
[1] Borde, Arvind, et al. “Inflationary Spacetimes Are Incomplete in Past Directions.” Physical Review Letters, vol. 90, no. 15, 2003, https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.90.151301.
[2] Parmenides, Fragments 1–19, https://lexundria.com/parm_frag/1-19/b.
[3] Hume, David, and Greig J Y T. “David Hume to John Stewart, February 1754.” The Letters of David Hume, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1932.
[4] Hawking, Stephen, and Leonard Mlodinow. The Grand Design. Bantam Books, 2010.
[5] Lewontin, R. Review of Billions and Billions of Demons, The New York Review of Books, 9 Jan. 1997, pp. 7.
 _______________
#grownostr #apologetics #philosophy #God #science #naturallaw
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2023-08-27 01:33:53 GMT

ANGKOR WAT STEGOSAUR
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Many cultures around the world have stories involving dragons and large serpents. This stone carving at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Ta Prohm bares a remarkable resemblance to a stegosaur. It was carved around 1200 AD.
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2023-08-26 23:17:24 GMT

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I have only returned one rare steak in my life for being undercooked. It came to the table looking like it was sprayed with a light gray Krylon paint... It was lost somewhere in steak cooking limbo.

2023-08-26 23:14:00 GMT

#grownostr #uncomfortabletruth
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2023-08-26 23:11:53 GMT

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With onions, reminds me of my childhood!

2023-08-26 22:58:19 GMT

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Rare or it is overcooked!

2023-08-26 18:00:51 GMT

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At this point in Clown World... I am open to just about anything! Cheers!

2023-08-26 17:44:06 GMT

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Welcome and thanks for the follow!

2023-08-26 17:41:32 GMT

YOUR THOUGHTS HAVE BEEN SHAPED
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The term “conspiracy theorist” is one of the greatest psychological operations ever perpetrated on the American people.
Its only purpose was to silence and marginalize free thinking individuals and to bring us into a herd mentality.
Rendering us unable to think for ourselves.
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#grownostr #nostr #uncomfortabletruth #5thGenerationalWarfare
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2023-08-26 17:32:41 GMT

NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY IS NOT AS BLACK AND WHITE AS YOU WERE LEAD TO BELIEVE
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A common fallacy is that the Native American population was peaceful and pristine up until the Europeans showed up and destroyed their civilizations.
It is possible that sometimes this may have been a good thing.
The Aztecs before the Europeans, were sacrificing enough innocent people that they build monumental towers made from their skulls.
To those innocents, destined to be slaughtered, the Spanish would have been seen as rescuers.
“The tower is believed to be one of seven similar structure that once stood in the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City). The skull towers are mentioned in contemporary accounts of the city’s capture by Hernan Cortes in 1521, and were razed by the Spanish conquistadores shortly thereafter.”
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#grownostr #archaeology #nostr #uncomfortabletruth
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https://news.artnet.com/art-world/aztec-skull-tower-archaeological-discovery-1931944

2023-08-26 02:07:43 GMT

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#grownostr #foodstr

2023-08-26 02:03:43 GMT

#grownostr
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2023-08-26 02:02:14 GMT

“Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God.”
~ Rembrandt van Rijn
#grownostr #plebchain #apologetics #quotes
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2023-08-25 01:42:57 GMT

[27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27
#grownostr #Bible #Jesus #PeaceBeWithYou

2023-08-25 01:19:33 GMT

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Followed!

2023-08-25 01:19:01 GMT

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That may have been why I had to read your post twice. Lol! You may be interested in St. Aquinas' Five Ways. They are the arguments for a creator from an original mover perspective.
Thank you! and Peace be with you!
Here is an article on Aquinas's Second Way
note10jg35ggcyj28glyp8lxxf5y0h5k5aj40c7scrckys75tg7lup6msvyp7ex

2023-08-25 00:16:28 GMT

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On second read of your reply, I might have misread your premise. Yes, science can never answer the why or how. Cheers!

2023-08-25 00:12:40 GMT

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The article's premise that a Creator exists is not from what we don't know.
It makes the argument for a Creator from what we do know of the mathematics.
This is not a "God of the Gaps" premise. Thank you for your lively reply!
It looks like that agitated clown needs to read a book about them magnets!

2023-08-24 22:47:40 GMT

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Goodnight!

2023-08-24 22:46:28 GMT

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Yeah... that's the ticket! Lol, Cheers!

2023-08-24 22:36:54 GMT

Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, c. 1602
#grownostr #plebchain #Jesus #Christianity #paintings #art
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2023-08-24 22:35:38 GMT

THE MOST GOLDILOCKS IN ALL OF PHYSICS
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The fine-tuning of the universe is one of the most compelling arguments for the existence of God. Fine-tuning refers to the “just right” initial conditions that were set into the equations that govern physics and how they effect life.
One of the most finely tuned parameters in physics is the entropy of the universe. It refers to the initial low entropy state of the universe, which was necessary for the existence of life. If the Big Bang Theory is correct and the universe started with a massive expansion, our newly formed universe was not a chaotic soup of energy and matter. It was quite the opposite, it was orderly. This is because of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law states that there is a natural tendency of any isolated system to degenerate into a more disordered state. This direction towards disorder is called entropy.
The entropy of the universe was fine-tuned to such an exquisite degree. Physicist Roger Penrose estimated that the odds of the initial low entropy orderly state of our universe occurring by chance are on the order of 1 in 10 raised to the 10th power then raised to the 123rd power. [1] This number is absolutely unfathomable odds, even in the world of physics and mathematics. Basically, there would be a VERY large number of universes in which the entropy would be so chaotic in the beginning that it would be uninhabitable for life; before one is formed that could sustain life.
This leads to the view that the equations that govern physics and in turn life were designed to be just right for life to exist.
[1] Penrose, Roger. (1989). Emperor’s New Mind. Penguin Books. 339-345.
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2023-08-23 00:42:53 GMT

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I am glad you enjoyed the article. Thank you very much for the zap! Cheers!

2023-08-19 01:27:38 GMT

FISHERMEN FIND FISHING BOAT ON THE SEA OF GALILEE
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The Gennesaret Boat, also known as the "Jesus Boat" is an ancient fishing boat discovered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. It is an archaeological find of significant historical and cultural importance. The boat provides valuable insights into the maritime and fishing practices of the region during the time of Jesus.
The boat was found in 1986 by two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, who were amateur archaeologists and fishermen. Due to a severe drought, the water level of the Sea of Galilee had dropped dramatically, revealing the remains of the boat embedded in the mud. Excavation efforts were undertaken by a team of experts to carefully extract and preserve the boat.
Dating analysis of the boat's construction techniques, pottery fragments, and radiocarbon dating of organic materials found within the vessel placed its origins in the first century AD, during the time of Jesus. This discovery sparked widespread interest and led to its association with Jesus and his disciples.
The Gennesaret Boat is a relatively small fishing boat, measuring about 8.2 meters (27 feet) long and 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) wide. It is constructed using a method known as "shell-first" boatbuilding, wherein the boat's frames and hull planks were attached before the interior was completed. The boat was primarily made of cedar and oak, which were commonly used in the region during that era.
The design of the Gennesaret Boat is typical of the fishing vessels used by local fishermen on the Sea of Galilee at the time. It has a flat bottom and a shallow draft, allowing it to navigate the shallower areas of the lake. The boat is equipped with a mast and a single square sail, enabling it to take advantage of wind currents for propulsion. It is estimated that the boat could have accommodated a crew of up to 15 people.
The boat's association with Jesus is speculative, as there is no direct evidence linking it to him or his disciples. However, it offers a glimpse into the maritime context of Jesus' ministry, as several of his disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. The boat provides a tangible connection to the New Testament times that they lived in.
After preservation efforts, the Gennesaret Boat is now displayed at the Yigal Allon Museum, located at Kibbutz Ginosar on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The museum showcases the boat and provides insights into its historical and cultural significance, allowing visitors to appreciate this remarkable archaeological find.
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2023-08-17 01:23:31 GMT

The podcast "Cultish" has released a new series called "Alien Encounters". It explores the connections between the occult and the alien phenomenon. I have made it to episode 2. It has been an eye opener!
#grownostr #spirituality #UFO #nostr
https://thecultishshow.com/alien-revelations/alien-revelations-ep-1-day-of-disclosure

2023-08-17 01:12:06 GMT

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The podcast "Cultish" has a series out now about alien encounters that explores this topic. There is a strong connection between the occult and "aliens".

2023-08-17 01:02:43 GMT

ALEISTER CROWLEY’S ALIEN
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Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) was an English occultist, writer, and ceremonial magician who played a significant role in the development of modern Western esotericism. He gained notoriety for his involvement in various mystical practices and his influence on occult and spiritual movements.
One of Crowley's lesser-known aspects of his work involves his encounters with an entity he referred to as "Lam." In the later years of his life, Crowley was known to have engaged in a series of visionary and trance-like states, during which he claimed to have communicated with a being he depicted in a drawing as a somewhat androgynous figure with a large, bald head and slit-like eyes. Lam bears a remarkable resemblance to the speculated alien grays in popular UFO lore.
This resemblance does bring up an interesting possibility. Crowley was called by the tabloids of the day the “Wickedest Man In The World,” and a “Master Of Darkness.” He was defiantly trying to communicate with beings from other dimensions, what we could call demons. It is very possible that the aliens that are encountered are in fact demons and not visitors from another planet. This would have profound and even biblical implications if true. It would mean that we are most defiantly alone in the universe, unique and miraculous creations. It would also mean that the UFO phenomenon is an encounter with a spiritual realm that we know little about.
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#grownostr #spirituality #UFO #nostr
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2023-08-17 00:15:32 GMT

THE BIG BANG WAS JUST A SLANDER
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Fred Hoyle a prominent physicist was giving an interview on a BBC radio broadcast in 1947. During the interview he gave Father Georges Lemaître’s theory of “The Primeval Atom” the name of “The Big Bang” in order to belittle the new theory…
The name stuck in popular culture.
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2023-08-12 00:46:59 GMT

ARISTOTLE’S UNMOVED MOVER
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The Greek philosopher Aristotle was one of the first philosophers to address the issue of the causation of the universe. According to Aristotle everything had a cause that brought it into existence. In turn that cause had a cause that created it. This chain of causation extends back into the past. However, that chain couldn’t be past eternal as one first cause was necessary to initiate the chain of causes. This, he named the unmoved mover, “ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ” translated into “that which moves without being moved”. [1]
[1] Aristotle, Metaphysics XII, 1072a.
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2023-08-12 00:46:00 GMT

“The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.”
~ Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and theologian
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2023-08-11 19:48:56 GMT

Fossil Friday: Did the Cambrian Explosion Really Happen?
#grownostr #plebchain #fossils #evolution #apologetics
https://evolutionnews.org/2023/08/fossil-friday-did-the-cambrian-explosion-really-happen/

2023-08-11 19:36:54 GMT

SERPENTS THAT HAD THE WINGS OF A BAT
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Herodotus, respected Greek historian who lived in approximately 450 B.C., once wrote:
“There is a place in Arabia…to which I went, on hearing of some winged serpents; and when I arrived there, I saw bones and spines of serpents, in such quantities as it would be impossible to describe. The form of the serpent is like that of a water-snake; but he has wings without feathers, and as like as possible to the wings of a bat (n.d., emp. added).”
Herodotus recognized that such creatures were not birds, mammals, or insects—but reptiles with wings.
_________________
#grownostr #plebchain #nostr #history #cyptid
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2023-08-09 21:37:09 GMT

NOT YOUR AVERAGE RIPPLES ON THE BEACH
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An aerial photograph of the West Barr area on the western side of the Columbia River in Washington state. This area is a large version of the current ripples you may see at a beach or river. However, these ripples are over 24 feet tall and spaced 360 feet apart and were formed by huge floods that carved out a large part of the state. The massive current required to form these giant ripples would have been at least 600 feet deep and flowing at over 65 miles an hour.
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2023-08-09 21:30:45 GMT

WON’T EVEN LIFT A FINGER
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In the depiction of God’s creation of Adam by Michelangelo, it goes unnoticed the subtle differences in the two hands. God’s hand is on the right and is eagerly reaching for the finger of Adam, on the left side of the fresco. Adam, however, is not reaching for God’s touch.
Adam is displaying the trait that is in all of us, pride. It is pride that makes us not even lift a finger to connect with God the way he wants us too.
It is our failed belief that we don’t need God to exist… That we exist without our creator’s hand.
This premise is as absurd as the painting existing without the painter.
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2023-08-06 03:18:10 GMT

UNFOSSILIZED SOFT TISSUE HAS BEEN FOUND IN DINOSAUR FOSSILS
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“It smelled just like one of the cadavers we had in the lab who had been treated with chemotherapy before he died.”
That was the description that Mary Schweitzer gave to describe the odor that was coming from a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that was excavated from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. Schweitzer was working as a researcher at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana and was examining the medullary bone of that skeleton when an assistant put a fragment of the bone in dilute acid to clean deposits off. What they found in the decalcified bone was soft stretchy material something not expected in solid mineral deposits. This led them to decalcify other bone samples, what they ended up finding was a soft stretchy fibrous matrix that was inside of the bone when the T.rex was alive. [1]
[1] Schweitzer, Mary & Wittmeyer, Jennifer & Horner, John & Toporski, Jan. (2005). Soft-Tissue Vessels and Cellular Preservation in Tyrannosaurus rex. Science (New York, N.Y.). 307. 1952-5. 10.1126/science.1108397.
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2023-08-06 03:13:50 GMT

#Christianity #God #grownostr #plebchain #apologetics
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2023-08-06 03:10:38 GMT

NOAH’S ARK DROGUE STONES
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The Durupinar site in the Middle East has many landmarks that have been associated with Noah's Ark over the centuries. Among these are the Arzap drogue stones, which are large standing stones found near the site. These stones were believed to have been attached to the ark and used as sea anchors or drogue stones. They are heavy and flat with a hole for tying a line at one end. Drogue stones were the equivalent of a storm anchor on an ancient ship and kept it stable in rough seas. The stones were continually used in ancient times after the possible flood and can be found in places like Israel and the Nile River in Egypt.
#grownostr #plebchain #apologetics #Bible #history
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2023-08-06 03:08:22 GMT

THE CHAOS IN OUR LIVES DOES NOT DISPROVE A DESIGNER
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I saw a car wrecked on the side of the road. It was a Ford. There was much destruction, it was on fire, seeming chaos, and the people within lay dead.
Some fanatic came up, claiming the vehicle was built by Ford Motor Company. I highly doubt that. The vehicle came about by random chance and endless combinations of metallic parts. I mean, if there really is a Ford Motor Company, one would expect them to build cars that work and are not smashed or on fire! I just don't see any evidence for such a benevolent Company.
This crazy fanatic next to me claimed that the Company built the car just right, but that later the owner misused it, which led to the destruction. I then asked, "Then why doesn't the Company just force all drivers to do exactly what the Company wants?"
He then said I would be complaining about the Company being tyrannical, if it did that.
What an idiot! I think every scientific, free thinking, rational mind knows there is no such Company as Ford Motor Company. I am totally willing to accept it, if there is such a Company, but I do not see ANY evidence for it.
What? The Ford logo? Well, again, that is just chance. Randomness that uneducated people see as creation and order and design?
What? Ford logos on the leather and interior and under the hood? Again, wonderful accident. The beauty of randomness.
~ Anonymous
People have the same argument that God doesn’t exist because there is chaos within our lives. Peace be with you!
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2023-08-05 18:03:54 GMT

THE FIRST CAUSE ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
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The argument for the existence of God being the first cause of the universe is a fundamental element to apologetics. The idea that things that begin to exist must have a first cause was introduced into Christian theology by the Dominican priest, theologian, and philosopher, Saint Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas wrote his argument for the existence of God by causation in his dissertation called the Second Way. The Second Way is part of the grouping called The Five Ways in which Aquinas lays forth five arguments to prove the existence of God. In his in his book “Summa Theologica” he states:
“The second way is from the nature of the efficient cause. In the world of sense we find there is an order of efficient causes. There is no case known (neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. Now in efficient causes it is not possible to go on to infinity, because in all efficient causes following in order, the first is the cause of the intermediate cause, and the intermediate is the cause of the ultimate cause, whether the intermediate cause be several, or only one. Now to take away the cause is to take away the effect. Therefore, if there be no first cause among efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, nor any intermediate cause. But if in efficient causes it is possible to go on to infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an ultimate effect, nor any intermediate efficient causes; all of which is plainly false. Therefore, it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.” [1]
The Second Way addresses the argument that God exists by the way of causation. In that, all beings that exist are due to an efficient cause. No being that exists is due to its own cause, it needs an external cause to bring it into existence the “efficient cause”. Aquinas then argues that this causal chain cannot be extend back into infinity. Aquinas, then posits the need for a first efficient cause not unlike Aristotle’s “unmoved mover”. However, Aquinas makes the connection between the first efficient cause and the Judeo-Christian God.
[1] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1 (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 2006) I, q.2, a.3.
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2023-08-05 18:03:04 GMT

"1N73LL1G3NC3 15 7H3 4B1L17Y 70 4D4P7 70 CH4NG3."
~ 573PH3N H4WK1NG
#grownostr #plebchain #science

2023-08-05 15:14:24 GMT

“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.”
~ Ray Bradbury
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2023-08-05 15:13:50 GMT

PASCAL’S WAGER
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Pascal's Wager is a philosophical argument presented by the French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and theologian Blaise Pascal in the 17th century. It posits that human beings wager with their lives that God either exists or does not. Pascal argued that people can choose to believe in God or can choose not to believe, but the potential benefits of believing in God are so vast that it is rational to bet on theism. Pascal's Wager is a practical argument for belief in God that applies elements of game theory to show that belief in the Christian religion is rational.
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2023-08-05 00:47:47 GMT

2023-08-05 00:44:37 GMT

FIVE NOTABLE BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS
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(1) The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the mid-20th century within a series of caves along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. They contain some of the earliest known copies of the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish texts. 
(2) The Nag Hammadi Library, discovered in 1945 hidden beneath a large boulder near the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt. It contains a collection of early Christian texts within thirteen different volumes, including several lost Gnostic gospels. 
(3) The Tel Dan Stele, discovered in 1993, is a standing stone marker discovered in Tel Dan in the Upper Galilee in Israeli. On the stone is a Canaanite inscription that refers to the "House of David.” The stele provides evidence for the existence of the biblical King David.  
(4) The Beit She'arim cemetery, excavated in 2022, contained an inscription on a grave marker referring to "Jacob the Proselyte.” A proselyte is a convert to Judaism usually from the Ancient Greek religion. The marker provides evidence for the existence of first century non-Jewish converts to Judaism in ancient Israel. 
(5) The discovery of a 10,500-year-old basket in 2021 within the caves along the Dead Sea. It is the oldest known basket in existence and is reminiscent of the baskets mentioned in the Bible, such as the one that held the baby Moses in Exodus and the basket from which Jesus fed the multitudes.
_______________ 
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2023-08-03 02:02:25 GMT

THE FINE TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
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One of the strongest pieces of evidences for the existence of God is the apparent fine tuning of the universe. That is, the fine tuning that exists in numerous equations that govern physics.
Take for instance the equation of Newton's Law of Gravitation. The Gravitational Constant is the number in the equation the tunes the gravitational strength much like tuning a guitar. It's number determines the strength of attraction between two masses. The gravitational constant is tuned to such a degree that if gravity were stronger by 1 part in 10^40 (that is a 1 followed by forty 0s), the universe would be dominated by black holes and not stars. Making the universe inhabitable for life. This is a strong indication that the universe was created for life and not just an accident.
The following video by Dr. William Lane Craig explains fine tuning in more detail.
_______________
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2023-08-03 02:01:12 GMT

WILLIAM BUCKLEY AND THE BUNYIP
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William Buckley was an escaped convict who lived with the Wathaurong aboriginal tribe in Australia for over 30 years in the early 19th century. During his time with the tribe, he encountered a creature known as the bunyip. According to Buckley's account, the bunyip was an "extraordinary amphibious animal" with grey feathers covering its back and about the size of a full-grown calf. Buckley also claimed that the bunyip was believed to have supernatural powers and was a common sight along the Barwon River.
“He [the Bunyip] made his home in the deep waterholes and the rain forests, lurking in the gloom by day and roaming the earth by night during the time of darkness. He brought fear to the tribes, threatening to devour any human he might meet.”
~ William Buckley, The Life and Adventures of William Buckley, 1852
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An illustration of William Buckley during his life with the aborigine tribes.
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2023-07-30 00:51:17 GMT

#grownostr #Christianity #Jesus
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2023-07-29 15:36:25 GMT

“PRESERVATION OF FAVORED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE”
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You never hear that subtitle for “The Origin of Species” written by Charles Darwin. The outward racist beliefs of Darwin are never talked about or mentioned when genuflecting to his evolutionary theories. His views grew roots in the fertile soil of hatred in the twentieth century and allowed for the extermination of our fellow man because of a self appointed superiority.
“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla. ”
~ Charles Darwin, “Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex”
“I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man… Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe that they are fellow-creatures, and inhabitants of the same world. It is a common subject of conjecture what pleasure in life some of the lower animals can enjoy: how much more reasonably the same question may be asked of these barbarians!”
~ Charles Darwin, “Voyage of the Beagle”
_______________
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2023-07-29 15:35:02 GMT

POLYSTRATE PETRIFIED TREES
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Polystrate trees are fossilized tree trunks that are found protruding through multiple layers of rock strata. The question is how the tree fossilizes this way if the rock layers take millions of years to form?
_______________
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2023-07-29 02:20:27 GMT

JESUS WALKS ON WATER
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Painting by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. (1817 - 1900)
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2023-07-29 02:19:16 GMT

PIGEON POOP LEADS TO A UNIVERSAL DISCOVERY
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The biggest piece of evidence for the viability of the Big Bang theory came in 1964 when Bell Labs scientists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were conducting research at the Bell Laboratory, Holmdel Horn Antenna. During their work recording the microwave radiation of the Milky Way galaxy, an unusually high background microwave radiation was detected.
The source of the excess radiation could not be determined and they thought that it could be the leftover radiation from a high altitude nuclear explosion that was conducted a year earlier. However, the radiation measurements didn’t decrease as time passed so it was ruled out as a cause. Even the pigeon droppings that were all over the inside of the antenna, described as “white dielectric material” by Penzias, was cleaned out and examined to see if it was the cause of the excess radiation.
In the end, no terrestrial cause of the radiation was found and it was determined that the radiation was coming from the universe itself. This radiation was the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that was left over from the big bang event and was later shown to be almost uniform throughout the universe. This evidence placed the Big Bang Theory as the prominent theory of the origin of our universe and is dominant to this day.
_______________
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Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson at the Bell Laboratory, Holmdel Horn Antenna
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2023-07-28 18:21:10 GMT

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
_______________
The Cosmological Argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God and can basically be summed up by the following logical form:
Premise 1: Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
Premise 2: The universe began to exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.
Premise 1: States that for everything that has a definite point in time where it begins to exist, there must be a cause or another entity that brings forth that existence. For instance, if you have a seedling growing in your front yard there must have been another plant that initiated that seed that is spouting. Things in our universe just don’t pop into existence from nothing, it is contrary to the reality that we know.
Premise 2: States that our universe has a definite beginning point where it began to exist. We know this by many reasons. First, the Big Bang Theory is evidence that points to this conclusion. Second, one can point to the increasing entropy of the universe, where the universe will eventually run out of usable energy making and infinite past is impossible because entropy would have run out an infinite time ago and we would not be here. Lastly, you can use the argument that Aquinas used in his Second Way that an infinite regression is absurd and doesn’t make sense.
The conclusion ties premise 1 and 2 together. The universe had a beginning, thus it had a cause. Some people take this part as an objection to the Cosmological Argument. They will say that it doesn’t prove the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. Yes, they would be right, it doesn’t. It is not meant to prove there is a God, only a cause sufficient to create the universe. Now, that cause would have some of the attributes of the Judeo-Christian God like all-powerful, timeless, and spaceless just to name a few.
Another objection to the Cosmological Argument is the need for the first cause of the universe to have a cause. The answer to the question, “Who made God?”. I believe that to be a premise that doesn’t take all the facts of the situation into account. Remember in the preceding paragraph that the cause would have the attribute of timelessness? If you are timeless, how do you have a beginning or a cause? There is no time. If you cannot measure with the parameter of time then there is no beginning or end, everything exists in a timeless realm. Something we cannot even begin to comprehend, and we exclude from this kind of philosophical discussion.
_______________
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2023-07-26 23:06:26 GMT

SCIENCE INCREASINGLY MAKES THE CASE FOR GOD
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Published in the Wall Street Journal on December 25, 2014 by Eric Metaxas illustrates a compelling case that science is increasingly making the case for a Creator of the universe.
#grownostr #plebchain #Christianity #Bible #science
https://ericmetaxas.com/watch-read/articles/science-increasingly-makes-the-case-for-god/

2023-07-26 23:05:09 GMT

THE UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING IS ABSURD
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Link to my first Habla article discussing how the explanation of the origin of our universe does not make sense without God.
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https://tinyurl.com/2p8vrdds

2023-07-26 01:40:09 GMT

Salvator Mundi (c. 1510) by Leonardo da Vinci
#grownostr #plebchain #nostr #Christianity #paintings #art
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2023-07-26 01:39:41 GMT

THE SACRIFICE OF ST. DAMIEN OF MOLOKA’I
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St. Damien of Moloka'i, also known as Father Damien, was a Belgian priest who devoted his life to missionary work among the Hawaiian lepers in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Damien volunteered to take charge of the leper settlement of Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii. He served there for 16 years until his death on April 15, 1889. During his time serving the colony as their Pastor and physician, Father Damien cared for the sick in both their physical and spiritual needs. He also improved many of the colonies buildings and improved the water and food supplies. Father Damian was not afraid to do the one thing that the victims of leprosy never experienced, he touched them. This was his sacrifice to the people that he loved, people that were untouchable by regular society.
In 1884, he contracted leprosy but refused to leave the colony. Father Damian choose to stay with his people and continued to care for them until his death. His remains were returned to Belgium in 1936 to be buried in Leuven which is close to the village where he was born. However, his right hand was returned to Moloka'i in 1995 to be buried in his original resting spot as a beautiful testament to the people that he touched with his compassion.
“My greatest pleasure is to serve the Lord in his poor children rejected by other people.”
~ St. Damien of Moloka'i
_______________
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2023-07-24 02:10:49 GMT

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
~ St. Francis of Assisi
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2023-07-24 02:10:15 GMT

STATUE OF THE BIBLICAL JOSEPH FOUND IN EGYPT
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A statue was found in Tell el-Dab’a, Egypt between 1986 and 1988 that has a remarkable resemblance to the biblical Joseph written about in Genesis.
“Over the statue’s right shoulder you can still see his “throw stick” i.e., the symbol of his rule. On the back – remarkably, as with the Biblical Joseph – you can still see evidence that this ruler was wearing a striped garment, made up of at least three colors: black, red and white. He was found in a tomb. The tomb was empty.”
“he is not Egyptian, rather he is a man who comes from the area of Canaan/Israel.”
_______________
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https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/statue-of-biblical-joseph-found-story-covered-up/

2023-07-23 03:52:40 GMT

- reply

Amen!

2023-07-23 03:42:13 GMT

Caravaggio, The Crowning with Thorns, c. 1602/1604
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2023-07-23 03:41:34 GMT

LANGUAGE, CREATION, AND MEANING
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When someone is walking along the beach and looks down to see the words “I Love You”; they do not think it was a random accident of the wind or the waves. The symbols that make up the writing convey a deeper meaning that passes information to us in a metaphysical way. We know that the phrase means that two lovers have gone before us and stopped to write in the sand. It would be preposterous to think it was the wind that carved them. It is by that transfer that we know the words were written on purpose and by an intelligence. That purpose is language.
You have in you a similar language. It is written in every corner of your being, every cell and tissue have it written throughout them. The language is far more complex than the words that were previously discovered in the sand. It requires billions of characters to convey its message.
The language is DNA. It is the molecule that is the instructional blueprint for the assembly of proteins that are the building blocks for all cells and is formed by four distinct bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). The bases act as letters in a four-letter alphabet transferring information to build a specific protein. The bases are assembled into a long strand that we know as the DNA double helix.
Just as we know that the simple phrase in the sand conveys the love between the two beachgoers. Similarly, we should understand that the far more complex writing in us conveys a vast love between a creator and its creation. The DNA language inside you was written not just for you, but it is you. It wrote another being into existence. Something that the words in the sand could not do. Yet, some scoff that the language that has the power to bring things into existence was yet an accident of physics and chemistry. Those words had a meaning lovingly penned by the Creator, and that meaning is you…
_______________
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2023-07-22 18:19:45 GMT

#grownostr #plebchain #science #evolution
https://evolutionnews.org/2023/07/can-science-escape-faith-based-beliefs-maybe-it-needs-them/

2023-07-22 17:58:00 GMT

ISAAC NEWTON AND GOD
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“He [God] is Eternal and Infinite, Omnipotent and Omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from Eternity to Eternity; his presence from Infinity to Infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. He is not Eternity or Infinity, but Eternal and Infinite; he is not Duration or Space, but he endures and is present. He endures for ever, and is every where present; and by existing always and every where, he constitutes Duration and Space.”
~Isaac Newton, “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”, (1687)
_______________
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2023-07-22 14:48:10 GMT

PRESERVED DINOSAUR SKIN
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A well-preserved specimen of the Psittacosaurus dinosaur species was found in Jehol biota of China. [1] The extraordinary preservation of the dinosaurs soft tissues, including skin, makes it noteworthy. The Psittacosaurus' skin tissues in the fossil have a pattern resembling small, spherical scales that cover its body and are many layers thick. Although it is not expressed in many of the articles on the tissues, they consist of unfossilized preserved skin containing collagen fibers which are a type of protein. The preservation of collagen under the most optimal environmental conditions is maximum 700,000 years before degradation destroys them. Yet, they are well preserved in this fossil putting the scientific date of 120 million years in serious doubt.
[1] Lingham‐Soliar, T. (2008). A unique cross section through the skin of the dinosaur Psittacosaurus from China showing a complex fibre architecture. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275, 775 - 780.
[2] Buckley, Michael & Collins, Matthew. (2011). Collagen survival and its use for species identification in Holocene-lower Pleistocene bone fragments from British archaeological and paleontological sites. Antiqua. 1. 10.4081/antiqua.2011.e1.
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2023-07-22 02:25:25 GMT

NEW NOSTR CHANNEL!
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I have started a new nostr channel named “The Shop Rat”. In it, I will write about and showcase my other love in life of making things of value. I will be covering all things related to the craftsman and their trade. Join me in the art of creation!
The Shop Rat:
npub1sd3wwlvl6f58yzs4ss90x07e4dwd7yl6h3n0pygpz9vqjcxd99aq90vwne
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2023-07-22 02:14:09 GMT

KACHINA BRIDGE DINOSAUR PETROGLYPH
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On the base of Kachina Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument in southeastern Utah is an ancient petroglyph depicting what appears as two sauropod dinosaurs.
________________
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2023-07-21 15:41:16 GMT

- reply

#note1v5l…rfgh

2023-07-21 15:40:21 GMT

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I wouldn't say it is the most sound as a theory. Science always changes. The underling philosophy of the universe having a beginning is and the evidence is pointing that way. I just posted an example of one argument for the existence of God that is based on a beginning.

2023-07-21 15:33:55 GMT

THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
The Cosmological Argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God and can basically be summed up by the following logical form:
Premise 1: Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
Premise 2: The universe began to exist.
Conclusion: Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.
Premise 1: States that for everything that has a definite point in time where it begins to exist, there must be a cause or another entity that brings forth that existence. For instance, if you have a seedling growing in your front yard there must have been another plant that initiated that seed that is spouting. Things in our universe just don’t pop into existence from nothing, it is contrary to the reality that we know.
Premise 2: States that our universe has a definite beginning point where it began to exist. We know this by many reasons. First, the Big Bang Theory is evidence that points to this conclusion. Second, one can point to the increasing entropy of the universe, where the universe will eventually run out of usable energy making and infinite past is impossible because entropy would have run out an infinite time ago and we would not be here. Lastly, you can use the argument that Aquinas used in his Second Way that an infinite regression is absurd and doesn’t make sense.
The conclusion ties premise 1 and 2 together. The universe had a beginning, thus it had a cause. Some people take this part as an objection to the Cosmological Argument. They will say that it doesn’t prove the existence of the Judeo-Christian God. Yes, they would be right, it doesn’t. It is not meant to prove there is a God, only a cause sufficient to create the universe. Now, that cause would have some of the attributes of the Judeo-Christian God like all-powerful, timeless, and spaceless just to name a few.
Another objection to the Cosmological Argument is the need for the first cause of the universe to have a cause. The answer to the question, “Who made God?”. I believe that to be a premise that doesn’t take all the facts of the situation into account. Remember in the preceding paragraph that the cause would have the attribute of timelessness? If you are timeless, how do you have a beginning or a cause? There is no time. If you cannot measure with the parameter of time then there is no beginning or end, everything exists in a timeless realm. Something we cannot even begin to comprehend, and we exclude from this kind of philosophical discussion.
#grownostr #plebchain #apologetics #philosophy #God
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2023-07-21 15:32:07 GMT

- reply

There were several, the eternal universe is one. But the universe that has a beginning is the one that is the most philosophically sound. It was made popular by Aristotle with his unmoved mover idea. If the universe has a beginning then that leaves some philosophical questions open regarding "God". Thank you for the question, Cheers!