Discussion about scientific issues as they relate to God and Christianity including archaeology, origins of life, the universe, intelligent design, evolution, etc.
Turgonian wrote:This is completely irrelevant, since there is a 100% chance that someone will win the lottery. So unless you want to posit an unsubstantiated 'multiverse' (which would create a lottery scenario), you have to accept that it's a marvel this single universe even exists...
Not true. In most lottery systems, people buy tickets and choose numbers. Numbers are then drawn by the lottery holder, but since all numbers are usually not chosen, there frequently is no winner.
But with lotteries, odds can be simply calculated as it is assumed that random chance governs the outcome. What kind of statistical analysis can be justified to show that it is a "a marvel this single universe even exists"?
In general, if we do not know how something (abiogenesis or universe) may have happened, is it better to believe that it did or believe that it didn't? Does that question even make sense; is it possible to argue that one is better than the other? [What are the consequences of accepting either side?]
Sorry. I don't participate in lotteries. However, the chance is in any case a lot higher than the chance of one specific person winning the lottery.
If random chance governs (as naturalists assert), the chance calculation is valid.
sandy_mcd wrote:In general, if we do not know how something (abiogenesis or universe) may have happened, is it better to believe that it did or believe that it didn't?
Believe that it didn't, if there's a lot more plausible explanation.
The Bible says they were "willingly ignorant". In the Greek, this means "be dumb on purpose". (Kent Hovind)
Angel wrote:Have you ever won a national lottery?
Does that mean that it cannot be won?
This reminds me of the dumb & dumber movie where Jim Carrey asks a pretty lady about the chances he has to go on a date with her. She replies, "one in a million." Carrey counters, "so what you are telling me is that I have a chance..."
In the end, he doesn't get to go out with the lady...
The heart cannot rejoice in what the mind rejects as false - Galileo
We learn from history that we do not learn from history - Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. -Philippians 4:8
Angel wrote:Have you ever won a national lottery?
Does that mean that it cannot be won?
This reminds me of the dumb & dumber movie where Jim Carrey asks a pretty lady about the chances he has to go on a date with her. She replies, "one in a million." Carrey counters, "so what you are telling me is that I have a chance..."
In the end, he doesn't get to go out with the lady...
I'm thinking it was the hair cut.
"Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible." - Corrie Ten Boom
Act 9:6
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
The aim is to clarifying once for all the fact that one would need to know a lot of details about the scenario for abiogenesis in order to be able to compute the probability for it to occur naturistically.
I'll be back to this thread as the other one reaches a point.
