Posts Made By: Daryl Crowley

"If there is no punishment for sin from God after a man dies, and the only judgment one will see is that of the court system if caught, why live a moral life?....."

Why do mother animals care for their young? They have no God and no thought of an afterlife. Your question if valid but perhaps the question is actually a different one. Maybe we should ask, "Why does there seem to be an innate desire to care, not only for life, but for the planet and even immaterial things?" It seems evident that animals and primitive man had a sense of morals well before the appearance of Jesus or any surviving religions.

Just because a man does not perceive a reward or punishment after death does not automatically follow that the "golden rule" has no intrinsic value. Perhaps the better question is why are moral values basically intrinsic in higher and many lower life forms. While religion plays on these values I do not believe it is the source. We care because we do. Why?

Daryl

I copied one of the ones that advertises plans on the Internet. They also sell completed chairs. They had a lot of pictures and it seem pretty straight forward to me so I just built it from memory. I will post a picture or two and if your interested in building one I will be happy to send you the parts and measurements. Mostly it's just some hardwood boards, a dowel rod, and a few screws. It really works slick and it folds up for storage. I will try to get some pictures after work today and post them tomorrow.

Daryl

Also, the seat adjusts by just sliding it to the new setting and the whole thing breaks down and folds up with NO tools required.

Daryl

Sarah,

Star hopping is more fun than go-to. You should start star hopping because that is how you learn your way around the cosmos.

A very good first book is "Turn Left at Orion" available from www.telescope.com. It has most of the best targets for a scope the size your are considering. There are other books but this one will really get you started as well as any. It shows you what you should expect to see and will show you both the finder scope view and telescope view in the proper orientations. Includes galaxies, nebula, clusters, and double stars.

I also find a computer star map a big help as you can print out various zoom levels of star maps and it makes it very easy to find your targets.

But the book above is a good place to get started and will introduce you to a good number and a variety of objects that you can find easily.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

Daryl

We have free will because of the Uncertainty Principal. Without quantum probabilities the fate of the entire universe would be written in stone. There is no doubt and there is proof to 11 decimal places that quantum mechanics IS the reason we have free will and that you can not compute the fate of yourself or the universe. That is a scientifically proven fact.

The question is, did God create quantum mechanics so that we would have free will. If he did, it was a pretty clever trick and something certainly worthy and in keeping with an all powerful creator.

And before you react and say "NO NO it's God and you He does it by his will...." think about how incredible quantum mechanics is and how that might just be what a God would do. Something so incredibly small in inconspicuous, woven into the fabric of the universe: not magic but design.

Daryl

As you all know I do not subscribe to the Bible as the answer for God. But the question of "why life" is one of the best arguments for creation that there is. I did not say "proof" I said "argument".

I study physics with a passion. I love the scientific exploration of what makes the universe tick. I am also very interested in the "origin" of life. (Not evolution as that is entirely different than origin.)

As has already been stated, there is no doubt that the total of life is more than the sum of the parts. An exact replica of you, atom by atom, would in all probability not create another you. There seems to be more than just chemistry at work.

This is not proof that God endowed us with animation as it may be new processes that come into play when all the constituent parts are in place.

Life is a incredible long shot by chance alone. If there was one viable planet for every star in the universe that will still not be enough chances for life to start by the pure chance of mixing chemicals. This also does not prove the existence of God but it does indicate that there is SOMETHING here that "loads the dice" that allows life to start.

Life started on Earth almost immediately at the beginning of the Earth reaching a stable environment. The odds are way against that happening. And most scientists would agree that IF life on Earth happened by chance alone, the we are most certainly alone in the entire Universe as the odds of it happening twice are beyond astronomical.

I do not believe we are alone in the Universe, so there is something that short cuts the odds on life getting started. The question is what is that short cut and why does it exist. Creation? Maybe, maybe not. But there is something special happening there because life is a long long shot indeed. The odds are something like 1 in 10 to the 33rd power. There are not that many planets in the universe. This is not just my opinion but is documented in a number of texts by a number of prominent physicists and biologists.

The most viable theories now suggest that there is a quantum measurement process that includes a superposition of all the chance chemical reactions that SOMEHOW favors the combinations for life. This could be how a creator/designer "loads the dice". Certainly IF the process was designed if would be done in some manner like this and not by magically willing it so.

Life IS special, or fantastically improbable.

Daryl

Mike,

I agree with your sentiment. There are those on this forum that believe we should all act like Job.

As I posted a few days ago, what God supposedly did to Job was sick. If God did that to me, even after setting things right, my opinion of him wouldn't be fit to print.

Daryl

Richard,

I suspect the universe is a work in progress. Probably one of great many such endeavors.

Daryl

Heaven is a trout stream in Alaska, full of huge hungry rainbows, snow capped peaks, bears, wolves, moose and caribou, a good fly rod and several boxes of flies. I know I've been there several times and I'm going back next year. I can send you pictures of Heaven if you like.

Daryl

Don,

An atheist can not prove there is no God anymore than you can prove that their is.

What we try to do here is make viable cases for what we believe in. I don't believe either case, I believe in something different, but I can't prove it. But I can offer science that supports my claims: support not proof.

At the two extremes are those that have only the Bible to back their claims, which is not only NOT proof, it does not make a logical argument for their case, and those that deny any possible creation or design to the universe and offer nothing to back up such claims except that it could be all accidental. It could, but it might not be either.

If you want proof of the existence or non-existence of God then you're out of luck. If you have something verifiable that sheds light on the subject, then you have something worth debate.

To state that there is or is not a creator(s) is just projecting a belief. Stating that God is just like he is described in the Bible is no different that saying a creator(s) does not exist.

But to say that there may or may not be a creator(s)and offer something tangible that supports your case, while keeping an open mind, that is the road to enlightenment and does not compromise what you might "suspect" to be true in any way.


Daryl