Evidence for God from Science

Rob wrote:

RickD wrote:

Rob wrote:

RickD wrote:Katabole,

what you wrote here has got my curiosity up:

I believe that there were two seperate creations of man in this second age; one on the sixth day; (humankind) and one after the seventh; (Adam).

Do you have any literature that speaks about this?

I would be interested in seeing this as well. It sort of reminds me of what I've read in Dake's notes on Genesis, which are pretty interesting.

Tread cautiously, and pray for discernment:http://www.dakebibleboard.com/index.php

I tend to take everything I read, especially interpretations, with a grain of salt.

I browsed through some threads there. You may need a salt factory for that site.

RickD wrote: I browsed through some threads there. You may need a salt factory for that site.

Indeed. I've never visited any Dake sites.
My mother let me borrow her Dake's bible some time ago. I mostly just read his notes on Genesis which I always found to be pretty interesting. Mostly speculative, of course, but still interesting.

Rob wrote:

RickD wrote: I browsed through some threads there. You may need a salt factory for that site.

Indeed. I've never visited any Dake sites.
My mother let me borrow her Dake's bible some time ago. I mostly just read his notes on Genesis which I always found to be pretty interesting. Mostly speculative, of course, but still interesting.

The question that lingers in my mind is how the different nationalities or different races, for lack of a better term became so different in the tens of thousands of years that modern man has existed according to OEC.

If you look at the races through OEC, it is due to adaptation. Blacks had there skin melanin adapted to the intense sun of Africa, brits had their skin melanin adapted to no sun and clouds.

Murray wrote:If you look at the races through OEC, it is due to adaptation. Blacks had there skin melanin adapted to the intense sun of Africa, brits had their skin melanin adapted to no sun and clouds.

In real life, it doesn't work that way. My ancestors were all fair-skinned European. If I stand out in the sun, I get red. My melanin doesn't adjust to the climate I'm in. The same goes for a dark skinned African who lives in Alaska. He doesn't get lighter skin, a smaller nose and lips, and straight hair after living in the arctic circle for 50 years.

Genetic traits devoloped over time. That does happen.

Murray wrote:Genetic traits devoloped over time. That does happen.

Yes, thats the usual explanation I hear.Do you have a link or a book that explains that in layman's terms? I just haven't read nor seen anything to convince me of that. I'm not discarding it, I'm just not convinced.

The classical explanation is that individuals don't evolve, populations do. Remember it's about who reproduces and passes down the genes. The lighter skin person who struggles on the high plain may not reproduce as much or survive as long, decreasing those genes. Vice versa for those that produce more melanin. Over time the frequency of alleles in the population shift and we see more of one type versus another type.

zoegirl wrote:The classical explanation is that individuals don't evolve, populations do. Remember it's about who reproduces and passes down the genes. The lighter skin person who struggles on the high plain may not reproduce as much or survive as long, decreasing those genes. Vice versa for those that produce more melanin. Over time the frequency of alleles in the population shift and we see more of one type versus another type.

^this

Sorry, what did that mean?

zoegirl wrote:Sorry, what did that mean?

It means he agrees with you.

I understand what you're saying Zoe. But I don't understand how the different "races" developed from one, and became different over that relatively short time span.

RickD wrote:

zoegirl wrote:Sorry, what did that mean?

It means he agrees with you.

I understand what you're saying Zoe. But I don't understand how the different "races" developed from one, and became different over that relatively short time span.

Well in order to explain this, I find that sometimes a thought experiment works best.

Let's start by answering questions and move on from there.

In a group of people in a small village or your family even, is there a variation in skin color?

Genetic traits developed over time. That does happen.

Developed? I'd be careful how you state that. The genetic info in the human genome is diluted. It is not increasing but degrading. If you put people who do not have a genetic trait for dark skin in Africa, they will not develop it, no matter how long they live there, or how many generations. Just like animals, people unsuited for their environment are less likely to survive and pass on their genetic info.

There are dark skinned people who live in cold environments. The eskimo people are not essentially different than the native Americans of South America, nor the Asiatic cultures they are suspected to have emerged from. I would imagine they've had plenty of time to 'develop,' yet they still have dark skin and black hair, and little facial and body hair, just like those living along the equator.

If dark skinned people mate with other dark skinned people, they will continue to have those traits regardless of what climate they live in, and for how many generations.

What is needed into this discussion is HOW the genetic traits develop. Mutations are required to develop new traits. Mutations are the key to this idea.

When it comes to general adaptation and natural selection, our new societies have kinda eliminated such possibilities... having lighter or darker skin no longer increases your chance for survival in any given place. In the days before modern transportation, food surpluses and medical care, having darker skin in an environment with lots of sun meant that over time (lots of time) your descendants got cancer less, had fewer birth defects and generally were able to function with greater ease in a hot environment. In turn, the descendants of theirs who had darker skin also received such results, and so on. It is not necessarily a matter of mutation, although it often is. The thing is that if you just take a white population and dump it in Africa for twenty thousand years, they won't necessarily become black anymore because we have developed ways to compensate for the extra sun (I.E, sun block, shelter, and shaded, fast transportation).

At least, that is the theory.