Deklineofman,

There should also be a forum that shows up for you called "Christian Singles." This is a forum devoted strictly to Christians and their viewpoints with no argument or debate. I’m assuming no one will question your beliefs at all in that forum. This is an available option and another reason why this "playing the victim" in the General Religion forum (which is intended for ALL beliefs or lack there of,) goes over like a lead zeppelin.

Abracadabra said:



Good advice in light of the modern day ecological crisis. Although from what I have heard on these forums in the Political section, many of you refuse to even accept the notion that humans are steadily working on destroying the entire natural balance and Eco system of this planet. You don’t give a rat's ass because god gave you the right to destroy the earth.

Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So what have you done? God gave humans dominion over every other living thing on earth. This couldn't be true, of course, since millions of other species existed for millions of years before humans existed. But this verse is used by fundamentalist Christians to justify their mistreatment of other species and disregard for the environment. After all, they believe that God created the other species just for them, so they can do whatever they please with them.

That’s exactly how religions come to be in existence. Christianity is NO different. Someone gets an idea in their head and they tell a few people and they tell a few people and if it is a belief system that fills a certain void in that precise place and time, then Walla!

I agree with Ink. While there is no way to substantiate your statement that Atheists or anyone for that matter, has ever consulted you personally for prayer, it is also highly unlikely this has ever occurred. I imagine you only made the statement because it is impossible to substantiate one way or the other. So yes, it is clearly an ego driven referance and you needed to be called on it.

Little bit of an ego trip being displayed here? You are implying that those of all of these differing faiths or beliefs are coming to Deb specifically to receive Christian prayer? Please. How many Christians on these threads do we see routinely wandering over to the pagan/Wiccan threads asking for tarot card readings and information about spells?

You posted a thread that has TONS of videos suporting the theory of evolution. You need a cup o' java I think.

Its 96%. I think that person was making a joke, feral. I suppose it might actually be higher now due to these recent findings about Chromosome 2. It looks bad for creationists. Here is the video. I need to watch it and still have not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXdQRvSdLAs&feature=related

This is an absurd and hideously biased statement and I will explain why. You are lingering under the fallacious notion that proclaiming oneself to be a "Christian" is somehow synonymous with being a wonderful, caring, loving human being. This is certainly not the case. Some Christians are good people and some are in prison for being child molesters, rapists and murderers.

Historically, Christianity and its devout followers have demanded the executions of thousand upon thousand of innocents.

A much more fair assessment would be to state that humans in general are capable of working toward the tremendous good and the benefit and fulfillment of others. Or they posses the ability to commit unthinkable atrocities, murder and mayhem. This runs across the board.

Making grand, sweeping generalizations such as this is quite silly.

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Godwin's Law is often cited in online discussions as a deterrent against the use of arguments in the reductio ad Hitlerum form.

Right. The royal and noble families of Europe have inbred considerably. Hemophilia is one of those more common recessive diseases that can arise from inbreeding. This is also exhibited in Chimpanzees as well as humans.

I’m not the best cook in the world. It’s never been a skill that I needed to cultivate and take out was just easier with my life style and career. I like to experiment with different ethnic dishes when I do try to cook. Thai, Vietnamese, Indian are all fun to attempt.

That luncheon meat has evolved facial characteristics.

Yeah MS those apologetics websites are not always your best source for a credible analysis of scientific data. Try this one:

Aug. 7, 2008 -- DNA extracted from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal bone has just enabled scientists to sequence the complete mitochondrial genome for the human-like species, according to a paper that will be published tomorrow in the journal Cell. (Great article by the way)

The remarkable feat, which has led to at least three major discoveries about the extinct stocky European individuals, represents a breakthrough for studies on the human family.

"This is the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence from an extinct hominid," lead author Richard Green explained to Discovery News.

Mitochondria, which an individual inherits from his or her mother, are cellular powerhouses that possess their own DNA and include 13 protein-coding genes. The researchers sequenced the Neanderthal mitochondria 35 times to ensure their findings were as accurate as possible.

After studying the newly completed genome, Green, a researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and his team first concluded that the Neanderthal mitochondria falls outside the range of variation found in humans today, offering no evidence that interbreeding occurred between them and us.

The researchers are quick to add that such interbreeding could still have happened and that the Neanderthals' "exact relationship with modern humans remains a topic of debate."

Clearer is the fact that Neanderthals and humans split from a common ancestor around 660,000 years ago. The researchers based this initially upon prior research that determined humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other six to eight million years ago.

They calculated mtDNA sequence changes for both humans and Neanderthals since that time. These accumulated changes then "let us calculate how long ago was the most recent common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals," Green said.

He added, "This common ancestor likely looked something like Homo erectus." This extinct hominid is believed to have been super strong with a relatively large head and brain.

What most surprised the scientists was how little purification acted upon the Neanderthal's DNA, meaning that the elimination of slightly deleterious alleles, or variant gene forms, didn't occur very often within the population.

It sounds to me like you are a recovered addict yourself and went through rehab? That was the sense I was getting from your posts. That means that YOU need to take the bull by the horns here and break free of the crowd that you are currently involved with and seek others (both male and female) who are ether not users/alcoholics or are also post recovery just as you are now. Getting on a soap box and complaining will not help the situation and former addicts will call you on that behavior.

Well it’s a bad idea for close relatives to get together and breed. I think both genetic issues and socialization would tend to advice against this but it happens. Of course people always make the jokes and there is still the existent stereotype of the creepy people living in the Ozarks that marry their first cousins and have children. Entire towns are thought to share a common heritage. This is based in reality historically but like anything else, gets overblown.

I would need to disagree with your professor (and not you I’m assuming?) In-breeding does not necessarily cause more genetic mutations than normal. However, if a genetic mutation occurs within a population, in-breeding will tend to promote that mutation to become more widely distributed. The typical genetic diseases increased by in-breeding are recessive genetic diseases. Close relatives that marry may have a common ancestor who had one mutation of the recessive disease, but did not get any disease because they did not have the second mutation. Chances are higher that both of these close relatives may have the same mutation, and thus be "genetic carriers" for the recessive disease. If they produce children, these children are much more likely to actually have the full symptomatic version of the recessive disease.

But I do agree with you that it is primarily a "socialization" that has been instilled in us over the centuries probably in part due to actual observation of these recessive diseases although I’m uncertain on that. It could have also had roots in religious indoctrination. That’s why I also mentioned that I personally would have no problem with close relatives engaged in a romantic affair, IF they did not plan on producing children and were diligent about taking the steps required to prevent pregnancy. Of course I have no place dictating how someone conducts their love life either. But the question was posed.




This I would agree with you on and it sounds like you are referring to pheromones? You can correct me if I’m wrong.



While this might be true it is certainly not limited to the fact that they are "genetically divergent" from us. That might be one reason to compel us to stay "on the reproductive straight and narrow" so to speak.

Also I did phrase my comment that it is "not unheard of for sisters and brothers to become sexually attracted to one another” meaning that the occurrence is possible. There is nothing chemically happening that would prevent it necessarily. Other mammals will interbreed with impunity just as readily. I work on a farm here so I am well aware of this and need to be very careful about locking gates behind me. I would not abort that offspring but it could not be allowed to breed there after. I certainly wouldn’t bother to chip, DNA or register.

Yes animals love chemical stimulants just like people. Even wild animals. In PA just recently the birds were flopping around drunk on the sidewalks and unable to fly because they had been eating some kind of fermented berry.

Statistically it would be impossible to prove therefore it is an unacceptable argument.

I feel as though comments need to be made at times. Whether it is because someone has behaved inappropriately or in an insulting manner or they are espousing fallacious information.

That was my understanding. Its the exact same process but macro evolution just takes place over a tremendous period of time. Well tremendous in comparative human terms anyway, insignificant in a geological time frame. Thats why I feel like its truly absurd for these Christians to insist that micro evolution is proven fact and macro isnt. Well macro requires a very long period of time but its the same process. Evolution can speed up and slow down as needed also.