stevestory
Posts: 13407 Joined: Oct. 2005
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Because the 'new page bug' accumulated in the old thread, we begin anew.
Quote | AF DAVE'S UPDATED CREATOR GOD HYPOTHESIS
When I first proposed my hypothesis a few days ago, I asked for comments and critique. I have now received this and have updated my hypothesis to reflect this. You can see this discussion under "AFDave's God Hypothesis." Thanks to all of you for your feedback!
I will now restate my updated Hypothesis (added a few points) and set forth the updated rules and framework which I wish to use for my reasoning.
MY BACKGROUND I was first an Electrical Engineer, then an Air Force pilot (T-38 and Huey, believe it or not), then a businessman. Having sold my second business, I am now what you might say "between businesses" and am spending a lot of time on non-profit endeavors. I do have an aircraft charter business (a single King Air to fuel my flying "habit") and I am into alternative motor vehicle fuels with the possibility of a future business venture, but I'm not currently doing anything big in business. I was never a logician, by trade, but that does not mean I can't become one very quickly, especially when I see gross incompetence in the field. I also do not pretend to be a professional geologist, cosmologist, physicist, biologist, or Hebrew or Greek scholar. But I do know some good ones and I read voraciously. What I really am is an ordinary guy with a pretty good brain for learning most anything who is sick and tired of what appears to me to be absolute nonsense being fed to us from the Evolution Dogmatists. It appears to me that while there are many good scientists doing a truckload of good work for the benefit of humanity, there seems to be a big disconnect with reality when "science" begins speculating about how life began and developed. I was pleased to see the article mentioned below by Meyer because it is now obvious to me that I am not the only one floating the "God Hypothesis" again. I am apparently in very good company and the pace of new research in this area is accelerating.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (ROE) I need to say right up front that my reasoning with respect to this "Creator God Hypothesis" DOES NOT follow the Deductive Framework. I have stated prior to giving my hypothesis, that I cannot provide a watertight proof for God and I don't believe anyone can, so people are correct in saying that my hypothesis would fail using the deductive schema. However, we CAN use Abductive Reasoning then draw an Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE), and as Meyer points out below, this gives us powerful support for believing that the "Creator God Hypothesis" may in fact be true. So there is good news, O Seeker of Truth! There is massive support for the existence of God and for the literal truth revealed in the Bible. Stay with me through all of my points and I will show it to you in terms you can understand!
Here's a little blurb on Abductive reasoning from Stephen C. Meyer. I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend reading his entire paper (only 23 pages) called "The Return of the God Hypothesis" which can be found here ...
http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_returnofgod.pdf
Abductive Reasoning DATA: The surprising fact A is observed. (The finely tuned cosmos, biological machines, written 'holy' books, etc.) LOGIC: But if B were true, then A would be a matter of course. (B is the God of the Christian Bible) CONCLUSION: Hence, there is reason to suspect that B is true.
Stephen C. Meyer notes that "The natural and historical sciences employ such logic [abductive] routinely. For instance, Peirce argued that skepticism about Napoleon's existence was unjustified although his existence could be known only by abduction: Numberless documents refer to a conqueror called Napoleon Bonaparte. Though we have not seen the man, yet we cannot explain what we have seen, namely, all these documents and monuments, without supposing that he really existed" (Peirce, C. S. 1931. Collected Papers. Eds. Charles Hartshorne & Paul Weiss. Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
UPDATED HYPOTHESIS A. There is a God -- My hypothesis proposes that there is a Super Intelligent, Incredibly Powerful Being -- I choose to call him God -- who has knowledge of scientific laws far more advanced than anything ever discovered by 21st Century humans. These scientific laws are so powerful that this Being can literally "speak" material things into existence and destroy things with a simple command. This Being lives "outside of time" and can view what we call "the future" and "the past" with equal ease.
B. This God created the Cosmos as a specially designed whole, with life and mankind as its fundamental goal and purpose. This God created mankind with a choice of either doing his will or not doing his will, in a similar way as parents "create" babies knowing full well that their child will either do their will or not do their will. Christian Theologians commonly call the choice of NOT doing God's will "sin."
C. All of human kind descended from two genetically rich parents, Adam and Eve, but did not diversify significantly due to minimal geographic isolation. My hypothesis proposes that there was only one large "super-continent" prior to the Great Flood of Noah, thus minimizing geographic isolation and resultant natural selection and specialization/diversification. The same applies to animals except that I make no proposal as to HOW MANY animals there were initially. Obviously, there would have to be at least one pair of each 'kind' (a term to be defined later)
D. Early man was created perfectly, i.e. no deleterious genetic mutations. It is proposed that early man was vigorous, healthy and possibly taller than modern humans. Early families were very large--on the order of 30 to 50 kids per couple and lives were long, many over 900 years. Sons routinely married their sisters in the ante-diluvian world with no worries of genetic defects. The first laws prohibiting close marriages did not occur until the time of Moses by which time we assume that accumulated harmful genetic mutations would have been a significant consideration.
E. Mankind chose NOT to do God's will very early on (just as all young children choose not to do parents' will), thus prompting God to institute a system for persuading humans to admit their folly and begin doing His will, for "redeeming" humans who choose this path, and for reminding humans that the present physical world is only a "proving ground" or "training camp" for the next world which will be created at a definite point in the future. These events are commonly called the Fall and the Curse by Christian Theologians.
F. God allowed the choices of mankind to take their natural course for the most part, intervening in the affairs of men sporadically and briefly. Most of the "day-to-day management" of Planet Earth was delegated to mankind himself, similar to how modern parents delegate the day-to-day management of their children to a school or a day care center.
G. The natural result of collective disobedience to the revealed will of God was an extremely corrupt society--i.e. rampant dishonesty, injustice, murder, theft, etc.--which was terminated by God through the agency of a global, life-destroying flood--the Flood of Noah described in Genesis.
H. The Global Flood of Noah was an immense cataclysm of enormous tectonic, volcanic and hydraulic upheaval. It completely reshaped the ante-diluvian world and resulted in massive, worldwide sedimentation and fossilization, mountain range uplift, sea basin lowering, continent separation, and climate change. The Flood was survived in a floating ark by 8 humans (four couples) and one or more pairs of terrestrial, air-breathing, genetically rich animals and birds. The diversity we see in the living world today is the result of subsequent geographic separation and isolation of species and natural selection.
I. Following the Global Flood, we hypothesize an Ice Age of undetermined duration brought on by the massive climate changes induced by the Flood. It was during this time that the dinosaurs and many other species died out. Since the time of the Ice Age, the structure of the earth's crust and the climate which followed, has not changed appreciably, and uniformitarian principles may now be applied to geological studies.
J. We hypothesize a supernatural intervention by God at the Tower of Babel which instantly and miraculously created several new languages (we think on the order of 12 or so), whereas prior to this event, there was only one language.
K. The record of these events (except the Ice Age) was dictated to selected individuals such as Adam and Seth and their descendants and carefully recorded on stone tablets, then passed down to successive generations. Moses eventually received these stone tablets (or copies of them) and composed the book we now call Genesis by compiling these records into one written document. He then composed his own written record of the events of his own lifetime, resulting in the complete Pentateuch.
L. God personally dictated the events of the Creation week to the first man, Adam, but then assumed a less active role in the composition of the balance of Genesis and the balance of what is now commonly called the Christian Scriptures. This role varied from active dictation in an audible voice to less obvious methods--we might call it "planting of thoughts" in the minds of the writers. This collective process is commonly called the "Inspiration of Scripture" by Christian Theologians.
M. Many cultures in geographically diverse locations around the world have legends which follow the general outline above. The reason for the variance we find in the legends is that many of them are simply oral traditions passed down through the generations without the benefit of scrupulous copying of written records that the Christian Scriptures have enjoyed. Since the Documentary Hypothesis (Graf-Wellhausen Theory) has now been thoroughly discredited, we have good reason to revert to the previously well established hypothesis that Genesis is NOT oral tradition, but rather it is a carefully copied written record of eye-witness accounts.
N. The Christian Scriptures, i.e. the 66 books of what is commonly called the Holy Bible, are essentially the WRITTEN record of what this Super-Intelligent, Super-Powerful Creator God wanted mankind to know about Himself, His Creation, and His Plans for the Future.
O. Jesus of Nazareth is the single most influential human being to ever walk Planet Earth. Also, there are over 300 specific prophecies concerning a supposed "Messiah" figure throughout the Jewish Scriptures -- what Christians call the Old Testament. These prophecies "just happen" to all converge in the life of one man of history--Jesus of Nazareth. We hypothesize that this Jesus of Nazareth was (and is) the Creator God in human form, just as he claimed to be.
P. The Christian Scriptures consisting of the Jewish Scriptures plus what is commonly called the New Testament are the most basic and foundational collection of documents for all of mankind's activities on Planet Earth--from scientific endeavor to family activities to government structure. They also are the only reliable source documents for knowing the future of Planet Earth and Mankind in relation to it. As such, these Scriptures should be the basis and starting point for all human activities from individual behaviour to family operation to nation building and governance of human affairs to scientific endeavors and the arts.
So now you have the "AF Dave Creator God Updated Hypothesis" ... this is my second draft and almost completely my own words. While it is true that I have done extensive study, the only sentence to my knowledge "lifted" from an outside source is the first sentence of para (b). This hypothesis covers many of the main points that I believe should be included, but I would welcome any constructive comments suggesting additions, modifications, or clarifications.
As soon as I am satisfied from my feedback from you that my framework of reasoning is sound, I will proceed to provide evidence which I believe supports each point in my Hypothesis.
This should be fun ... I welcome your comments! |
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