The "Tree of Life and its meaning" (page 13)

cofty

Sab please start a new thread on faith. There was an interesting discussion going on here about EdenOne's blog.

EntirelyPossible

Not true. Revelation is personal which then requires faith from others

Blind faith. There is no evidence.

Then I must have gotten something wrong about "atheism": " atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities" (Wiki) Since such a proposition demands empirical evidence, I wonder what empirical evidence is provided for the non-existance of God. To quote EP, " Faith is simply believing in something, sometimes without any evidence." Since you cannot provide evidence of the inexistence of God, then your atheism is a form of faith. But you are what you believe to be, and i won't argue against that anymore.

You wrote that my belief that Adam and Eve were created by God "is 100% anti-scientific." Well, at best you can say that scientific evidence points elsewhere. But since you cannot disprove the existence of the operating subject of your opponent's hypothesis (God), then to use the term "anti-scientific" is a little too easy and ...uh ... unscientific.

You wrote: We did not descend from an original pair. How do you accommodate that fact in your theology?

Consider the two following hypothesis:

a) During the late Pleistocene, circa 10.000 years ago, there were massive extinctions, possibly from climate change or some sort of cataclismic event. Could it be that human life also went extinct there? Could it be that God had to re-create human life, Adam and Eve, as well as replenish the planet with re-creations or reengineered species from previous ones, using DNA available from previous species?

b) Adam and Eve were the first humans created "in God's image", but there have been other hominid and humanoids populating the Earth for long time. While they were created with a special purpose, because they fell, God allowed the descendants of Adam and Eve to merge with other previous human species (this would answer the question of Where Cain got his wife).

Eden

cantleave

Our scientific understanding of the origin and evolution of life on earth has relegated the account of Adam and Eve into the realms of myth / fairytale. Absolutely every bit of evidence shows that all life evolved from a common ancestor and Homo sapiens are not a special creation!!!!

sabastious

Sab please start a new thread on faith. There was an interesting discussion going on here about EdenOne's blog.

It was the original poster who brought up the topic of "atheist faith" which you took part in. I joined that conversation.

Blind faith. There is no evidence.

Yes there was evidence. The experience of revelation. I am talking about a case of a single person having a revelation which can be personally verified but lacks the ability to verify it to others. In this circumstance the religious faith is confined to that single individual which then starts a following. That following exists for a time and eventually the truth about the revelation is warped into a lie. Then what comes is a total corruption of the original idea which requires revelation to be given to someone else outside of the corruption to start the process over again. That's why secularists think all faith is bad is because most of what they see is on the tail end of this state of corruption. It all stems from genuine experience.

-Sab

james_woods

The simple answer to the relevance of an original "human" pair, Eden - is this.

Present day human DNA includes about 3% Neanderthal and 5% Denisovan DNA in the modern European races.

These are two previous pre-modern human species.

It does not reduce to a simgle human pair - but to an evolved result of many millenia and many sub-species.

The DNA is simple, pure, digital sequence - it is without argument for or against.

It is what it is.

Tree of life has nothing to do with it.

EntirelyPossible

The experience of revelation. I am talking about a case of a single person having a revelation which can be personally verified but lacks the ability to verify it to others.

That is not evidence.

That's why secularists think all faith is bad is because most of what they see is on the tail end of this state of corruption.

You are ignorant of what "all secularists" think.

cantleave

During the late Pleistocene, circa 10.000 years ago, there were massive extinctions, possibly from climate change or some sort of cataclismic event. Could it be that human life also went extinct there? Could it be that God had to re-create human life, Adam and Eve, as well as replenish the planet with re-creations or reengineered species from previous ones, using DNA available from previous species?

Quite simply the genetic evidence does not support that hypothesis at all.

EdenOne

James Woods, you certainly don't understand what a "visitor", a "guest" is...? I only joined as a member weeks ago. What's your point? And why do I have to prove anything to you?

cantleave,

We are a cultural product for sure. If I wasn't raised a JW, in a western country, in a predominantly christian culture, for sure I would have a different starting point. But I am what I am and I see a nexus in what I believe. And I don't quite see a mutual exclusion between what I believe and what science says. As for God having a gender, I can accept that as a valid discussion, since apparently there isn't sexual gender in the spiritual realm. God has certain attributes that are identified with male traits (especially in what has to do with warfare) for easier grasp by human beings.

Eden

cofty

Since you cannot provide evidence of the inexistence of God, then your atheism is a form of faith

I can provide tons of evidence for the non-existence of god. I can also demonstrate the vacuous nature of the evidence ffered for god. I can't prove there is no god.

I have no interest in what WIKI says about atheism.

Could it be that God had to re-create human life, Adam and Eve, as well as replenish the planet with re-creations or reengineered species from previous ones, using DNA available from previous species?

No, that is impossible. If you take the time to read the Common Ancestry thread carefully and do further research you will understand why.

ditto your other strange suggestion.

The "Tree of Life and its meaning"

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