/blog en Copyright 2013 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog Lou Jost Surely both of you must agree that the authors of the gospels sometimes said false things. Why not just say so directly and move on?   - Posted by Lou Jost Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 beaglelady Looking forward to another one of these conversations, Lou? - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 Lou Jost You’re not even trying to think carefully about this. PLEASE read the relevant part of a genetics text. - Posted by Lou Jost Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 Lou Jost Genetics has nothing to do with natural selection?? Please explain how genetics has nothing to do with the process whereby favorable genes spread through the gene pool. - Posted by Lou Jost Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 Roger A. Sawtelle Lou, Genetics has nothing to do with natural selection.  That is the problem. Since you do not believe in God (or do you?) please do not take God’s Name in vain. - Posted by Roger A. Sawtelle Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 Lou Jost Come on, Roger, natural selection is not mysterious. Any elementary text in pop gen or evolution explains it. I showed you how it is a mathematical consequence of differential reproductive success, a few threads ago. You even admitted, sarcasticly, that this was just common sense. So now this is just crazy of you, to say (just a few days after that discussion) that no one is addressing natural selection.  Read a genetics book for g-d’s sake! - Posted by Lou Jost Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 beaglelady Dinosaur sex might be a good candidate for a situation where  God had to step in.  From what I’ve been reading, nobody so far has been able to figure it out.  Consider the Jurassic stegosaur kentrosaurus.  How did the male ever survive his wedding night? - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 beaglelady And Sean Carroll also has a relevant video called The Making of the Fittest: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies about the transformation of the bodies of Stickleback fish. - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 Chip I generally agree with most of the comments thus far.  With a very few exceptions (most notable of which are Ted Davis’ columns—thanks Ted), what we consistently get from BL is decidedly not “Science and Faith in Dialogue,” but rather something like, “Reconciling Faith with a Defacto Naturalism,” or maybe, “Science and Deism in Dialogue.”  I myself have no problem whatsoever accepting evolution per se; the issue comes down to what evolution’s  mechanisms are and, as Eddie has put it, “the theological question of what God actually does in evolution.” Indeed, what does He do?  But when push comes to shove, the view consistently expressed by those behind the BL pulpit is that God does little more than wind up natural selection and turn it loose to select (or not…) the random mutations that drop into its lap—if he does even that. The alternative would be “tinkering,” or “micromanaging”—neither of which is allowed by the modern synthesis, and so is off the table. I’m sympathetic to the fact that the question is not an easy one; and yet this is precicely why elephants are able to settle down and get comfortable in the rooms that they occupy. Maybe someday, someone at BL will address this one.  But I’m not holding my breath… - Posted by Chip Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-2 beaglelady Sean Carroll is one of the lecturers for the 2005 Holiday Lectures presented by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  (As noted, Carroll is an investigator for the HHMI)  Since the target audience is bright high school students, it is very accessible.  - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog Eddie Don’t try to make this into a discussion of possible errors of Mark in geography.  You know perfectly well that we are discussing demons.  The question is whether Mark made an error about demons.  The question is whether he teaches anything false about demons.  And you won’t directly state your view. Your account isn’t even consistent.  Above, you have implied that the demons are in there because Mark didn’t know modern science and therefore attributed mental illness to possession by unclean spirits.  Now you say that the demons are in there so that Mark can “weave some theology into his narrative.”  So are the demons and their possessions a fictional device for a deliberate literary purpose, or are they an erroneous belief that Mark held quite non-deliberately, because he was a scientifically ignorant child of his time?  If the former, he probably entirely invented the episode with the pigs; if the latter, we should take his account of the possession quite literally.  And you can’t make up your mind which. Again, above you were arguing that the episode with the pigs is entirely plausible because pigs do stampede at loud noises; now you are arguing that the episode is implausible because the water was too far away.  So is the incident with the pigs a historical event, or not?  You change your position like a yo-yo. Pretty incoherent Biblical hermeneutics here, I would say.  But that is always the case when Biblical interpretation is being driven by an extra-Biblical agenda, in this case, the Enlightenment dogma that demon-possession is pure superstition from a benighted age.  In all such instances, the Bible has to be desperately adjusted to fit the pre-ordained theological conclusion that the interpreter wants to get out of it.  But let’s leave this pointless discussion behind.  You don’t want to answer, so keep your secrets.  Peace. - Posted by Eddie Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog Eddie Again you answer a question with a question!  You have done that maybe 200 times since you started posting on this site.  Do you really believe that no one notices that you never answer?  Do you not realize that everyone can see that you evade all the hard questions, all the questions that would involve committing yourself theologically? Not that it matters.  In context, your evasion implies an answer, and everyone can see what the answer is. - Posted by Eddie Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog beaglelady WHY does Jesus do the bidding of demons at the expense of humans? - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog beaglelady Well, if the Bible teaches that stars are stuck in the firmament, with a heavenly sea above it, does it teach thngs that are false?   - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog beaglelady There is a teeny-tiny problem taking Mark’s account of pigs literally running into the sea.    Gerasa is over thirty miles from the Sea of Galilee.  The alternative reading, Gadara, is six miles from the sea.   Did the pigs really tumble into the sea from a hillside so far away?   Mark is writing about historical events; Jesus really heals a sick man.  But Mark is not a modern guy, he is a man of antiquity, and a reasonable person doesn’t  expect him to write as if he’s a reporter for the AP.  He is able to weave theology into his narrative.  Pigs are unclean; the powers of darkness are defeated. - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog beaglelady Oops! Actually it was Rhode Island School of Design Dad graduated from. - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-artificial-selection-and-the-origins-of-the-domestic-dog beaglelady Actually it was Rhode Island School of Design Dad graduated from. - Posted by beaglelady Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/a-tale-of-two-worldviews-being-a-biology-teacher-in-a-christian-school http://biologos.org/blog/a-tale-of-two-worldviews-being-a-biology-teacher-in-a-christian-school Priya Sen You’re absolutely right. Teaching biology in a christian school is not so easy. But there are many teachers in this type of school. - RN CV - Posted by Priya Sen Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 http://biologos.org/blog/endless-forms-most-beautiful-part-1 Roger A. Sawtelle Eddie and PNG, I think you bring up a good point.  Why do we keep going over the same material with little to show for it? Let me give you some reasons.  Creationism is not based on bad science, but on bad theology.  We need good theology to replace it, but BioLogos is reluctant to criticize bad evangelical theology.    Darwinism is not really based on good science, therefore evangelicals have some reason to reject it, although they do it for the wrong reason. Creationists claim that 1 + 2 = 2.  Darwinians claim that 1 + 2 = 4.  Both are abetted by a dualistic philosophical worldview that says that 1 + 2 must equal either 2 or 4.    Everyone is locked into their positions so they cannot see the weaknesses of their own position and the strengths of others. BioLogos needs to take on Monod’s Chance and Necessity as the basis of the current philosophy of science if it wants to make an impact on this debate, instead of giving Scientism a free pass in this important area.  Creationism is not the only problem we face and a strong stance against Scientism might bring some evangelical support. - Posted by Roger A. Sawtelle Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-genomes-as-ancient-texts-part-2 http://biologos.org/blog/evolution-basics-genomes-as-ancient-texts-part-2 melanogaster No one is suggesting that you study all the evidence, just a representative sample. But I think you know that. - Posted by melanogaster Blog comments 2013-06-18T15:00:15+00:00