Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed for October 14, 2012

Never figured Binkley’s dad to be the religious type. Guess I missed this arc the first time around.

People take their theological disputes very seriously….

religion ruins everything.

LOL..the arguments over religion or no religion are pathetic. People that have deep faith are not less intelligent, nor are they more intelligent. People are people. That religion can be abused, there is no doubt, but humans would just find something else to fight over. We always have and sadly always will. Anyone that thinks they are superior based on belief or no-belief is pretty darn sad. And for all the atrocities committed in the name of religion, there are just as many done by non religious people like Stalin or Mao.

Binkley’s dad knows his King James Bible… at least, those parts that suits him.

This strip is calling out a specific slice of religion: the born again fundamentalist community. This community is militaristic about morality, blind to science, and avid believers that God should torture people forever. Not all religions are like that, and commenters who lump all spiritual people together because of the few are simply uneducated bigots. But that’s the atheistic, evolutionist, secular model for demeaning people who don’t agree with them…Here at Bloom County, on Oct 10 (Thursday), several of them implied I was an idiot and did not understand science. So, I posed a scientific quandary regarding evolution’s foundations. Not a single one answered the question. I was hoping to get educated, but maybe the question was too hard.

Techno-barbarians – I love that term! Thanks.

Read it. “possibility”, “perhaps”, “must have” Why? Because life exists, therefore it must have evolved! That is the argument? It is the same argument for God…life exists, therefore He created it! Guess what?FAITH!You believe something because YOU CHOOSE TO! Not because of facts! By the author’s own admission, this should not happen! (And I didn’t see where he mentioned oxygen and amino acids together or not together anywhere.) You have NO argument!

Your argument is for variety within a species…NOT EVOLUTION! Evolution describes species turning into other species! Define your FAITH! This pot will call your kettle any color it wants to, when your case is irrelevant!

BTW – for the sake of being pedantic…if you cannot say there is no God, then you are an agnostic, not an atheist.

No one cares, but evolutionists beware…This “oxygen?/amino acids” is only quandary one, insufficiently addressed.Quandary 2: if the impossible happened and amino acids survived to reach organic soup ocean, would they clump together to form a protein molecule? No. See the author previously cited by one of your faithful, who states this is one chance in 1 – 190-something power against. He does not explain why…but I will…later, if necessary.There are more quandaries, and the ultimate result will be an event that has 1 in 1-40,000 power of a chance against occurring.Mathematicians consider anything over 1-50th power against to be impossible. We will be way into the unthinkable. If evolutions’ foundation is unthinkable, then what option will there be?To believe in God? How many of you are that courageous and honest?If you are not that courageous and honest, then suppose you shut up about how stupid religious people are and how smart you have to be to understand the science of evolution?

“…since the middle ages, the human has gone from about 5 foot tall and 90 lbs to 6 foot and 220, from about 35 years to 80 years. About 400 years evolution)…” NOPE.Nutrition people will tell you about experiments done in the Indonesian area back in the 1960’s- feed fish protein, etc. to children and they gain an average of 6 inches in height. Before the Middle Ages, there were 2 natural age groups for people: 40’s and 60’s. Those that died from disease and those that survived disease and lived to a ripe old age. From the New Testament, there was a culture described that men having to wait til age 30 to Teach religious topics.

Definition of Evolution Theory: Life on Earth evolved GRADUALLY, from ONE primitive Species- the molecule. It then branched out over time, throwing off many new and diverse species, and the mechanism for most of evolutionary change is Natural Selection (Chance & Necessity).

Some observations re your comments:Redkaycei Repoc says ozone layer and ground oxygen divided.Black4dder suggest either meteorites or undersea volcanic vents.markjoseph125 gave me a lot of reading to do, but no answers (this is because he is a teacher ;-)Baslim the beggar said CO2, Nitrous and sulfuric oxides formed the ozone, and actual oxygen came later.Night-Gaunt49 said methane atmosphere.So many answers…it’s like asking a religious person to explain their faith. If evolution is a scientific fact, wouldn’t there be more consensus? Remember, science is held to a more august standard than personal religion. Do all of you remember that CO2 and H2O inherently have oxygen? At the ground and atmospheric level? And the amino acids would require no oxygen in either place to form? But would require it for protection? You talk circles around each other. Makes me wonder why you call it a FACT.Have not yet done all the reading markjoseph125 recommended, so will return with that asap.Night-Gaunt49’s quandaries will be answered in short order.

Thank you. I will agree that I am weak with chemistry. But…you’re saying amino acids will form in the presence of CO2 when a spark (lightning, volcanic eruption, etc) provides the energy needed, right? Then amino acids will form in the presence of oxygen in some form? And CO2 will accept lightning, volcanic eruptions as a first cause, even though a fire is untenable? And…no one’s blaming you for my poor chemistry. Educate me.

@markjoseph125Considering you gave me homework, I will give you one piece of homework. Go to http://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/?first=0 and pick the fifth item, entitled “The Origin of Life – Five Questions Worth Asking.” It’s a pdf download. Let me know what you think.

@Nightgaunt49You said: Quandary one for theologists: Where did their god(s) come from?If you built a chair, would you have to abide by the same rules as the chair? Can a chair walk, talk, eat, drink, laugh, cry, reproduce, get a job, go shopping, be responsible citizens or family members? No. It’s a chair. You are vastly superior to that chair. The creator is always superior to the creation. Why do I bring this up? Because your quandary presumes to impose the same limitations on the creator that the creation have. We are all bound up in the limits of our universe and the space-time continuum. Does that mean our Creator is? Consider three scriptures (one previously cited): Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens…” Before he did this, there was no space-time continuum analogous to our universe. 1 Kings 8:27 – “the heaven of the heavens…cannot contain you.” Where is the heaven of the heavens? Probably outside our universe. Psalm 90:2 – “from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God.” In other words, God has no beginning and no end. He is eternal. He is not bound by the stricture of time because he created time. This is why the age-old question, “Who created God?” is meaningless. The answer would have to be “another God.” Well, then who created Another God that created God? Answer: Still another God. Well then, who created Still Another God that created Another God that created God? Ad infinitum and ad nauseum. Might as well stop at the first appearance of God and simply say he has always existed.As for explaining all the gods people worship, I will agree that all but one are made up. The true one is very real, and faith requires evidence to support it. Can all the gods furnish proof?-Quandary two: How does this force gain intelligence before anything else exists? See above answer. God is the first intelligence. He bestows intelligence.-Quandary three: If matter cannot be created nor destroyed how did a god(s) do so? By what mechanism?You are going to love this! Isaiah 40:26 says that when we look at the stars, all that matter, we should understand that matter exists “due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one is missing”! That’s right…E=mc(squared) is in the Bible 800 years before Christ (Einstein didn’t see it until 1905)! Matter is another form of energy, and God is the source of all the energy required to account for all the matter in the universe!-Quandary four: How can you explain it all in a way that doesn’t include a nonsensical god did because god is answer?Don’t understand this question…you are asking a theologist to explain creation without a creator? That’s like me asking an evolutionist to explain life without invoking evolution…-Main point: Night-Gaunt49, some of your comments are interesting; some are funny; many are pedantic; most are derisive and disrespectful. Your arrogant tone is more massive than Jupiter, I think. To me, your mind is stuck in the confines of your own skull. You need to think much more expansively, my friend. Open that mind to all the possibilities. And don’t call me crazy because I do.

I’ve looked at this comment so many times, I think I’ll stop…it seems like a verbose kiss off. Yes, my education is my responsibility, not yours. Granted.-Yes, religions do their cause a disservice by all their divisions. If there is a truth about God, then there should be one truth. Granted.-Much of what you know about the Bible is based on same religions not teaching it; or, using a “Version” rather than an actual “Translation” from original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek. A technical distinction that holds a higher standard for accuracy. (Ex: word for “fowls” in KJV is more accurately translated “winged creatures”, and bats qualify.)- Which brings me to a point I think should be made: the Bible is not a science textbook. It does not pretend to be. However, when it touches on science, it is remarkably accurate. For instance it states (contrary to accepted thought at the time):-1) an accurate order of life appearing according to the paleontological record.2) that the earth is round.3) that it “hangs upon nothing.”4) energy is equal to matter.5) the water cycle.6) to wash frequently to avoid bacteria.There are probably others, but I think you get the point.-To me, all the above offers proof of God. Who else would know these things? Not any human.-Occam’s Razor is oft cited as a guiding principle of science. It seems less assumptive to think evolution (or abiogenesis) did it than to think God did it. Given all the assumptions evolutionists must make (and I totally understand why you’ve separated abiogenesis from the main theory…it poses too many problems), why does assuming a wise, loving, imaginative, artistic Creator seem more problematic?-Some think belief in a Creator stymies scientific investigation. Yet, there are plenty of biologists, physicists, rocket engineers, mimeticists, etc that believe in God. I think I can say “God did it” and then get on with figuring out HOW he did it, and you can say “Evolution did it” and get on with figuring out HOW it did it…and I will have fewer discrepancies. Mines’ foundation is far stronger.-BTW: I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and my passions are physics, astronomy, and cosmology.-Best Wishes to you, too.