On Creationism

Occasionally creations will accuse evolutions of inventing just-so stories to explain what we see in nature. The reality, of course, is that evolution is real science, and the account for why something is how it is will always: (1) be backed up be real evidence; and (2) noted as speculation. The real irony, however, is the number of just-so stories in the Bible, especially Genesis. Note that none of these are backed up by evidence and all are presented as fact. Daddy, why do we feel shame when we are naked? Because Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. Genesis 3:7 Daddy, why do snakes not have legs Because God cursed all snakes when that nasty snake in the Garden of Eden tempted Eve. Genesis 3:14 Daddy, why is there enmity between snakes and mankind? Because God cursed all snakes when that nasty snake in the Garden of Eden tempted Eve. Genesis 3:15 Daddy, why do women suffer in childbirth so much? Because God cursed all women after Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:16 Daddy...

 CS Lewis book, Mere Christianity , can be found here . This is about book 1 of the book, five chapters across about 20 pages. Lewis spends a long time saying there are moral laws that exist as abstract concepts in the same way as mathematics. It is debatable, but I tend to agree, so will not address it further. Then, a the end of page 20, we get: I should expect, for instance, to find that the stone had to obey the law of gravity—that whereas the sender of the letters merely tells me to obey the law of my human nature, He compels the stone to obey the laws of its stony nature. But I should expect to find that there was, so to speak, a sender of letters in both cases, a Power behind the facts, a Director, a Guide. Thus, his argument is that if the is a law of gravity or a moral law, then there must be a law maker. It is an old argument, but that alone does not make it wrong. Maths What he does not say is whether he thinks the laws of mathematics requires a law maker. And to be clea...

Twice in each of the Synoptic gospels Jesus says he will return before the generation ended. It looks like this was an early belief - perhaps Jesus even said it. But as time passed, the prophecy had to be re-worked. That generation passed... Looking at Mark, as the earliest: Mark 9:1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” It seems likely that even by ca. AD 70 this was looking unlikely, so Mark leads straight into the transfiguration: 2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one...

 I will introduce this by quoting Wiki . The streetlight effect, or the drunkard's search principle, is a type of observational bias that occurs when people only search for something where it is easiest to look. Both names refer to a well-known joke: A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is". ... Noam Chomsky for instance uses the tale as a picture of how science operates: “Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is looking under a lamppost for a key that he has lost on the other side of the street, because that’s where the light is. It has no other choice.”  Is Chomsky right? Well, yes, to an ex...