Descartes – and many others – have claimed that God is not a deceiver. If this is so, and the Earth is only 10K years old, why did God “fake” the light coming from distant galaxies or set up a dendrochronology record that pre-dates the creation? I hesitate to mention radiocarbon dating, the archeological record, and just regular commonsense applied to a host of other subjects. Is this ‘The Fall of the House of Ussher’? My apologies to Mr. Poe.
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 1- General Introduction and from the Creation to the Flood (trans. Franz Rosenthal, State University of New York Press, Albany 1989), pp.
According to Ibn Humayd- Yahya b. Wadih- Yahya b. Ya’qub- Hammad- Sa’id b. Jubayr- Ibn Abbas: This world is one of the weeks of the other world- seven thousand years. Six thousand two hundred years have already passed. (The world) will surely experience hundreds of years, during which there will be no believer in the oneness of God there. Others said that the total extent of time is six thousand years. (pp. 172-173)
Don’t really get this one. While some Christians may be Young Earthers my impression is that most have no problem with the scientific consensus. Catholics and mainline Protestants certainly don’t, and that’s already a majority. I think this is sufficient to demonstrate that there is no fundamental incompatibility between Christianity and modern science.
The (historic) case of creating a virgin birth:
Gather a bunch of geriatric men and let them vote whether a woman over 300 years ago was a virgin when she gave birth. A very small majority declared her to have been.
At the First Council of the xtians in Nicea (now Izmir) anno 325 it was only a minor issue, the main issues where the relations within the Trinity, and the definition of the dates of Easter.
I have seen the first council of xtians referenced in books I have read, However I was never wasting my time reading about such a mind-boggingly waste of human resource the first example of a business meeting that is about as much use as an ash-tray on a motorbike…
I can remember an old Teacher, Mr Jackson, blatheting on about a Nicence Creed or some such nonsense, I wasn’t paying attention, i was busy doing my maths homework at the back corner of the class…using the time productively I’m sure you all agree….
Talking of a waste of human resource, I watched a harmless old lady fail miserably to answer a simple science based question on a popular tv quiz show. She was studying for a Phd in 11th century prayer construction……a non subject if ever there was one…
The 325 Counsel of Nicaea was in fact an extremely productive use of human resources… politically! And that is something that has mattered in all times and places throughout history.
Yes and tbat means it is productive for the politicians only. It was a disaster for mankind. It hearalded tge dark ages…Religion is totally responsible for keeping the majority of homo sapiens ignorant and suffering. If I grasped that aged 10 why are we still not laughing at priests as the best comics in Town? The sheeples just keep banging their heads on the floor…morons…
M27, my mistake. Trent it is. I used this comment once on a physics website and was roundly derided for my facetious remark. The counsel of tent could be an apt description of the circus-like assemblage of lawyers defending DJT here in the USA. A suitable case for the clown car to disgorge its risible contents.
You were derided, possibly because such statements (though funny) are used by the uneducated religious apologists to take it as literal and claim that gravity is a gift from god, and imparted to the xtian loon-bombs before Newton worked it out…Even though as we know Mass acted upon by gravitational forces is different from the waste if space meeting where the laws of physics are ignored…
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Take your time, Author, and get over the whelm again.
lol, I thought he was going to say six thousand, four hundred years … tish, boom
The jews should have a chat to some indigenous Australians about the length of their genealogy.
Descartes – and many others – have claimed that God is not a deceiver. If this is so, and the Earth is only 10K years old, why did God “fake” the light coming from distant galaxies or set up a dendrochronology record that pre-dates the creation? I hesitate to mention radiocarbon dating, the archeological record, and just regular commonsense applied to a host of other subjects. Is this ‘The Fall of the House of Ussher’? My apologies to Mr. Poe.
I thought the world was created last Thursday: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos_hypothesis
(End snark, for any who might have mistakenly thought I was serious)
@Quine – this is a view not held by Islam. The qur’an says Allah is the best deceiver (ماكر) on multiple occasions
Fun fact, Muhammad believed in a young earth.
The History of al-Tabari, Volume 1- General Introduction and from the Creation to the Flood (trans. Franz Rosenthal, State University of New York Press, Albany 1989), pp.
According to Ibn Humayd- Yahya b. Wadih- Yahya b. Ya’qub- Hammad- Sa’id b. Jubayr- Ibn Abbas: This world is one of the weeks of the other world- seven thousand years. Six thousand two hundred years have already passed. (The world) will surely experience hundreds of years, during which there will be no believer in the oneness of God there. Others said that the total extent of time is six thousand years. (pp. 172-173)
Don’t really get this one. While some Christians may be Young Earthers my impression is that most have no problem with the scientific consensus. Catholics and mainline Protestants certainly don’t, and that’s already a majority. I think this is sufficient to demonstrate that there is no fundamental incompatibility between Christianity and modern science.
Not sure that virgin births are scientific? I’m with the Hitch, more likely that Mary the Jewish Minx dropped her knickers for a randy Centurian…
The (historic) case of creating a virgin birth:
Gather a bunch of geriatric men and let them vote whether a woman over 300 years ago was a virgin when she gave birth. A very small majority declared her to have been.
At the First Council of the xtians in Nicea (now Izmir) anno 325 it was only a minor issue, the main issues where the relations within the Trinity, and the definition of the dates of Easter.
Dr John: Sorry, but Nicea is now Isnik, not Izmir
Iznik, not Isnik! (Or Izmir)
Those Turkish names are so confusing!
SoG:
My bad. Sorry. Although the rest is correct (at least, to the best of my knowedge)
I have seen the first council of xtians referenced in books I have read, However I was never wasting my time reading about such a mind-boggingly waste of human resource the first example of a business meeting that is about as much use as an ash-tray on a motorbike…
I can remember an old Teacher, Mr Jackson, blatheting on about a Nicence Creed or some such nonsense, I wasn’t paying attention, i was busy doing my maths homework at the back corner of the class…using the time productively I’m sure you all agree….
Talking of a waste of human resource, I watched a harmless old lady fail miserably to answer a simple science based question on a popular tv quiz show. She was studying for a Phd in 11th century prayer construction……a non subject if ever there was one…
M27Holts @ 10:09:Please note that, at the time of the Council of Nicea, 325, neither ash-trays nor motorbikes yet existed.
SoG: Ergo, they were all equally useful – or not.
… at the time, he hastens to add …
SOG. Are you sure? Doesn’t it say in the bible…”The roar of Moses’ Triumph could be heard throughout Israel!”
The 325 Counsel of Nicaea was in fact an extremely productive use of human resources… politically! And that is something that has mattered in all times and places throughout history.
Yes and tbat means it is productive for the politicians only. It was a disaster for mankind. It hearalded tge dark ages…Religion is totally responsible for keeping the majority of homo sapiens ignorant and suffering. If I grasped that aged 10 why are we still not laughing at priests as the best comics in Town? The sheeples just keep banging their heads on the floor…morons…
jb, long before Isaac Newton was born the Council of Tent defined mass.
Council of Trent? Was that a deliberate mistake?
M27, my mistake. Trent it is. I used this comment once on a physics website and was roundly derided for my facetious remark. The counsel of tent could be an apt description of the circus-like assemblage of lawyers defending DJT here in the USA. A suitable case for the clown car to disgorge its risible contents.
You were derided, possibly because such statements (though funny) are used by the uneducated religious apologists to take it as literal and claim that gravity is a gift from god, and imparted to the xtian loon-bombs before Newton worked it out…Even though as we know Mass acted upon by gravitational forces is different from the waste if space meeting where the laws of physics are ignored…
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