God and Unicorns

by Sea Breeze 42 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Sea Breeze

  No, actual biological cells, blood and DNA have not been recovered, that is a lie perpetuated by unscrupulous creationist authors selling books

  @ PeacefulPete - Might as well add 60 Minutes to your list of "liars".

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-K7_H27Wq4&t=164s&ab_channel=BobEnyart
  

  This stuff is everywhere regardless of the state of preservation. In one study at the British Museum of Natural History, 8 dinosaur bones were randomly selected from thousands available. 6 of the 8 dinosaur samples produced original biological material.

  Tons more information and links to dinosaur discoveries here.

  Scientific American ran this article a few years ago:

  Dinosaur Blood and Bone Cells Seem to Survive Fossilization
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  cofty

  In brief - ageing is largely caused by free radicals produced by respiration. Oxygen kills us in the end. Iron in our cells is kept locked up to prevent it reacting with free oxygen radicals. Despite this and other protective measures our cells age and one effect is increased cross-linking of collagen. We get wrinkles!
  

  At death the highly reactive iron is released and causes proteins and cell membranes to tie in knots - an action that mimics Formaldehyde thus preserving amino acids and therefore proteins.

  It is a brilliant and fascinating discovery that allows investigation of samples that are millions of years old, previously thought impossible. It offers no comfort at all to Iron Age creation myths.

  More information here...

  See also Oxygen - The Molecule that made the world (chapter 9) by Nick Lane
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  Sea Breeze

  I think that suggesting dinosaur soft tissue, blood vessels & proteins encased in pourous limestone could last 80 million years is absurd. That is longer than it would take for the Rocky Mountains to erode down to sea level. But, if you keep a straight face you can make absurdity almost plausible. We all used to go to doors to try and talk people into ritually rejecting the free gift of Justification.... all with a straight face of course.

  Richard Dawkins has the schtick down :

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6H9XirkhZY&t=36s&ab_channel=BobEnyart
  
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  cofty

  Once again people who are enthralled by Iron Age myths think they know more about biochemistry than research scientists.

  I just gave you a scientific explanation of how oxidised soft tissue can avoid degradation inside a mineral shell for millions of years. Your response was devoid of content,
• 

  Vidiot

  Poe’s Law.
• 

  SydBarrett

  "It offers no comfort at all to Iron Age creation myths."
  

  
  But that's what they do. Any discovery that's not immediately understood becomes "They don't understand how that works, so it was God." Once it is, they move on to the latest mystery. Since it's unlikely we'll ever have full omnipotence, they can play this game till the heat death of the Universe.
  
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  peacefulpete

  I was not precise in my statement. Yes the wonderful discovery is that within mineralized fossil bone, chemically altered protein structures have persisted far, far longer than was thought possible. These are not evidence of a young earth, they are evidence that chemistry can do unexpected things.
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  Rivergang

  King James himself believed that there was such a creature, having in his possession a horn which was said to be that of a unicorn. That may have influenced the KJV's use of the word!
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  FFGhost

  Any discovery that's not immediately understood becomes "They don't understand how that works, so it was God."

  The combination of hubris + stupidity is often stunning to behold. It is somehow inconceivable to some folks that there are people who understand things better than they do.

  "I don't understand what evolution is or how it could possibly work, therefore God did it" really translates to "I am of extraordinary intelligence, and I can't grasp this, therefore everyone else who claims to understand it is either lying or deluded, because surely no one is smarter than me".
  
  
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  cofty

  Might put my post above in a new thread just for future reference. The soft tissue in dino fossils comes up quite a lot. I think it would be worth having the scientific explanation available. Might add it to to Evolution is a fact series.