I'm sorry Naishou, I can agree with all of your points except one...

It's a physical impossibility that Santa Claus exists. There is no way that St. Nick can travel on a sleigh and visit all these homes...it's just not within the realm of plausibility.



You may be surprised that to find out that I don't believe the Bible in a literal sense. In fact, I am not even religious...my argument is based not on a religious foundation, but on what I would say my own logic (as twisted as it is sometimes). I was looking at the sheer number of things that had to be in alignment for life to arise and taking into account all the millions, probably trillions or more, of conditions that had to exist that fostered life and then for that life to continue, over the course of millions of years, to evolve into all its magnificent diversity that we find in it today. I think God exists, but I also think that God has a very hands-off, laissez-faire approach to us. I just find it easier to swallow that all of this was at some point created rather than a haphazard, unguided process of spontaneous generation of life and then some evolutionary process after that.

I also find it fascinating that life came about on Earth for this reason. Earth is perfectly situated in relation to the Sun to harbor the conditions which are favorable to life to "come about." Any closer, it would be too hot, any further, it would be too cold. But not only that...there are mountains on Earth that are too high to support life as there are valleys which are basically inhospitable to life, like Death Valley. So, it's a very narrow range that will support life. This can be used by either side of the argument, actually. The evolutionist can say, "Well, that's exactly why it came about, because the conditions were ripe for it." Or the creationist, "What are chances?! They are impossibly remote." That is the jumping off point of my perspective, because the range of geological and planetary conditions is so narrow that it points me in the direction of something having created it all...

I studied the Drake Equation in college...in fact, it was the basis for a semester long course called "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life." I should pull all that stuff out and take a look at it...

You have made a convincing case for the Earth being far, far older than the Bible says. And as I said, I am not one to take the Bible literally, so your argument makes good sense to me and it's difficult to deny. You do admit, though, that there have been some rather dubious findings with C-14 dating, will you concede that? It's not the holy grail that it has been purported to be...

This really is a fascinating discussion...I hope it continues!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gregstevens
[B]It's a physical impossibility that Santa Claus exists.

 

Plus we have not discovered the entire universe to see if anyone/thing else also "won the lottery". It's a very big space out there.

I also recall the discovery of microbes (or something) deep in the sea where a volcano was emitting lava out to the sea. Previously no-one thought anything could live there...