tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77223918975297160742011-12-05T16:30:33.318-08:00Philosophy, Christianity, and Biting BulletsStan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-87164860279208772962011-08-08T11:36:00.000-07:002011-08-08T12:55:16.132-07:00

propositional posts: Deterministic CompatibilismLet's say you meet up with a prophet (so he calls himself) named Horace.Scenario 1: Horace the FraudIn this scenario, Horace writes something down on a piece of paper, and then asks you to choose a number between 1 and 100. You do so, and Horace reveals what he wrote. It matches what you chose! You repeat the exercise again and again, and each time

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-64020269121627873982010-02-11T00:46:00.000-08:002010-02-11T00:56:15.731-08:00

propositional posts:Moral AbsolutismsIgnorance and Responsibility We're built to recognize patterns. But these faculties aren't perfect, and frequently we'll find ourselves struggling to deal with two conclusions, both apparently drawn from observation, that contradict. These moments are some of the most potent for learning, since we're compelled to explore the conclusions' origins, analyze them,

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-47183727902232516762010-01-28T10:29:00.000-08:002010-11-19T14:03:10.577-08:00

propositional posts:Deterministic CompatibilismIn a May 2008 post, I made an attempt at defining free will under Determinism. Here is a more refined attempt.Now, Libertarian free will is this:"The ability to willfully make current-state decisions without any dependency on prior states."This definition is incoherent. It makes an appeal to an antecedent will and yet demands no antecedents.This

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-19713465495827843232009-05-20T12:10:00.000-07:002009-05-20T17:05:57.213-07:00

propositional posts:The Solution to SufferingKen Ham of Answers in Genesis, in "Couldn't God Have Used Evolution?" wrote:"If we compromise on the history of Genesis by adding millions of years, we must believe that death and disease were part of the world before Adam sinned... How could a God of love allow such horrible processes as disease, suffering, and death for millions of years as part of

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-73366431226595451252009-05-19T14:01:00.001-07:002009-05-19T14:10:38.299-07:00

In October of 2008, John MacArthur's "Grace to You" radio program was entitled "The Battle for the Beginning: Creation Day 6, Part 3 / The Implications of Evolution."In it, he said the following:"Man is distinct from every other created creature. In Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 and verse 11, a wonderful statement is made: 'He has made' (speaking of God) 'everything appropriate in its time. He has also

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-67969982749692703112009-04-27T10:38:00.000-07:002009-04-27T13:24:34.249-07:00

propositional posts:The Deterministic DryerFunctional Free Will Causal self-ownership ("CSO") is the degree to which portions of your self can be considered "yours" as opposed to "someone or something else's."It might be suggested that having a unique identity constitutes CSO. I think, however, that while dissimilarity can be an indicator of CSO, it's actually a mere (possible) symptom of CSO

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-5277510388852666462009-04-14T03:27:00.000-07:002009-10-28T08:50:38.249-07:00

propositional posts:ChaosFunctional Free Will Consider the clothes dryer. It has certain settings, certain speeds, and certain procedures by which those settings and speeds are executed. Not only that, but different dryers have different kinds of chambers. Some are larger in diameter than others. Some have different numbers, and different shapes, of "fins" that help spin the clothes around.In the

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-14310129645774957802009-04-08T00:14:00.000-07:002009-04-08T02:06:47.312-07:00

Professor Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago has written a new book entitled Why Evolution is True. He also wrote an associated article for The New Republic. The article was called "Seeing and Believing" with the subtitle, "The never-ending attempt to reconcile science and religion, and why it is doomed to fail."In his article, Coyne attacks science-Bible compatibilists Karl Giberson and

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-6274388302002801942009-02-26T08:33:00.000-08:002009-03-20T12:46:28.686-07:00

propositional posts:Link: Cellular AutomataChaosSome literal Creationists claim that there's a dichotomy between believing that everything, on the level of complexity we observe, came about miraculously, and believing "it all came about by chance." From a summary of "Truth That Transforms: A Rational Defense," a Creationist video from the late D. James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries: "Chaos

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-14318431373199195422008-12-29T10:44:00.000-08:002008-12-29T10:50:11.566-08:00

propositional posts:The Solution to SufferingGod's Goodness Defined and Predestination SolvedIf you want to make a field goal, one of the most important things to consider is the goalpost. Where is it? What does it look like? How far away is it? Where can the ball go, and where can't it go, for it to count?Only after considering the nature of the goalpost can the most probably-successful play

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-71956475141456920722008-12-05T11:31:00.000-08:002008-12-05T12:05:39.288-08:00

propositional posts:Day-Age CreationismLink: The Contemporary Relevance of Augustine's View of Creation The interpretation of Creation among Christians has been an open topic from the earliest centuries of Christianity. Theophilus argued for a literal Creation account in 181 AD, and Basil the Great agreed in 270 AD. Justin Martyr associated the "thousand year day" with the Creation Day in 155 AD,

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-30294516264868332602008-12-03T13:29:00.000-08:002008-12-03T13:37:21.566-08:00

propositional posts:A Tale of Two DronesFunctionalism usually refers to a philosophy of the mind in which mental activity is defined by its functional role rather than by its physical composition.But the principles of functionalism can apply to much more than simply mental states. In fact, thinking about stuff like freedom and ethics in functional terms can be extremely useful.Let's call that

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-44752704479611142392008-11-18T12:05:00.000-08:002008-11-18T12:28:35.450-08:00

Some day-age Christians take issue with certain liberties of translation they perceive in English Bibles. Some claim that "day" in the Creation account should have been translated as "age."The original passages state that the world was created in 6 "yom"s, which most often means "day," but can occasionally refer to an indeterminate period of time (like an age, or eon). But there are two problems

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-5878605402549223262008-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:002009-03-20T12:46:53.943-07:00

What are the chances that life could have emerged from natural processes that aren't living? Some argue that the chances of such a thing happening are so low that such a thing is practically impossible, like the chances of a tornado through a junkyard forming a fully-functional aircraft. The Creator, then, must have miraculously built the first living thing ("intelligent design"), rather than

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-50871804408706142422008-10-21T14:53:00.000-07:002010-05-18T10:46:46.543-07:00

propositional posts:Moral AbsolutismsUnder the New Covenant, we make decisions in consideration of their consequence, rather than simply in consideration of their conformity to the Law. Sometimes the Law is in harmony with the best consequential decision, but as Jesus often explained, imperative legalism can undergo maladaptation over time, and should be reconsidered in light of end

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-20461861109397904732008-08-08T09:47:00.000-07:002010-11-13T17:58:03.369-08:00

similar posts:Pascal's Wager The Ontological Argument for God is one among several attempts at proving that God exists without a strong contingency on observation. I think it's terrible! Although there are many good ways to refute it, I think the important thing is coming up with a refutation that is easily conveyed and easily comprehensible.The Christian philosopher St. Anselm of Canterbury, in

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-52547643015118052922008-08-04T17:17:00.000-07:002008-08-04T18:49:00.442-07:00

propositional posts:Imperical ResponsibilityDefinition of ImpericsIn the last post, I shared my attempt at systemizing responsibility. In the system, everything depends on this idea of a "moral decision set" or MDS. An MDS is a list of all possible courses of action paired with their "moral intensity" values. Moral intensity comes from the expected utility change (relative to the other courses of

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-87588438366927735092008-07-31T09:17:00.000-07:002008-07-31T10:11:06.905-07:00

propositional posts:Cars and Car MechanicsDefinition of ImpericsTo avoid a war, the king sent a message at the eleventh hour with his fastest courier. Along the way, the courier's horse's shoe broke. The message was delayed too long, and the king found himself at war. As it turns out, the broken shoe was the fault of the blacksmith, who knowingly did poor work on it, but could not have foreseen

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-87076189086642819122008-06-25T10:27:00.000-07:002009-03-20T12:46:14.507-07:00

propositional posts:ChaosI dislike when the ID advocate claims that evolution is said to produce orderly mechanisms "by chance." But I even more dislike when the evolutionist defends this strawman, as if this, indeed, is what evolution is said to do.'We should pause to notice that the order from which cosmic and biological evolution takes rise must have been one of considerable power and

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-18659802902481014562008-06-13T09:20:00.000-07:002011-10-16T16:31:03.692-07:00

propositional posts:Functional WelfareFunctional Free WillDefinition of ImpericsThe Problem of Suffering states that the supposed attributes of God (omnipotence, omniscience, benevolence) contradict observation (the experience of suffering by creatures). Here is a solution. Note that any of two or more incommensurable values would work, but here I'm going with welfare and compatibilitic freedom

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-11809482816502131012008-05-22T12:55:00.001-07:002008-05-22T15:25:52.094-07:00

propositional posts:Functional WelfareFunctional Free WillDeterministic CompatibilismThe Bible says that God is good. "Goodness," we know, is a moral quality, and as such necessitates a reference in order to receive meaning. The Creation apocalypse constitutes a special revelation that, among other important things, God's goodness receives definition from a moral reference that values the welfare

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-61742943230959277762008-05-21T11:29:00.000-07:002008-06-16T13:28:43.906-07:00

propositional posts:The Infinite Reference Problem of Imperics Pascal's WagerLast October, Richard Dawkins and John Lennox debated one another ([1] [2] [3]) over the content of Dawkins' book, "The God Delusion." Both men were woeful disappointments, as was the debate format.In this post, I will address a poor argument of Dawkins:"There is a logical path between religion and doing terrible things.

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-30386945278034359242008-05-19T14:20:00.000-07:002008-05-19T15:32:14.748-07:00

propositional posts:Definition of ImpericsThe Infinite Reference Problem of ImpericsHow should we define welfare in a way that's compatible with Imperics? In this entry, I will propose a definition of welfare that proceeds from our common, everyday usage but with "folk appeals" filtered out.I propose that welfare is synonymous with satisfaction, because welfare is a relative term that makes a

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-37113478365443928732008-05-05T14:35:00.000-07:002010-01-28T10:39:52.374-08:00

propositional posts:Deterministic Compatibilism[This post has been deprecated by "Functional Free Will, Redux."]How should we define free will in a way that's compatible with Determinism? In this entry, I will propose a definition of free will that proceeds from our common, everyday appeals to the term, but with Libertarianism filtered out.The will is the function of a decisionmaking system and

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-55670165167250848202008-05-04T13:44:00.000-07:002008-05-05T12:32:13.401-07:00

propositional posts:Ced1DCA Illustration of Functional AbstractionFirst, we looked at how we can abstract a functional cell from his environment through pattern recognition, and yet recognize how that functional cell is still the same "stuff" as his environment and is subject to the same rules.Next, we looked at the case study of Ced and how, though a mere sequence of automatic atoms, he exhibits

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-12803798038808233772008-05-02T13:56:00.000-07:002008-07-25T09:04:49.989-07:00

propositional posts:1DCA Illustration of Functional Abstraction In the previous post, we looked at how we can abstract an functional cell from his environment through pattern recognition, and yet recognize how that functional cell is still the same "stuff" as his environment and is subject to the same basic rules.That functional cell's inner mechanisms promote its growth and cause it to affect

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-7653033106141173962008-05-01T11:13:00.000-07:002009-03-20T12:48:02.751-07:00

propositional posts:Link: Cellular AutomataChaosThe picture above is an illustration of what a 1DCA (one-dimensional cellular automata) might look like. Each row of pixels represents space at a moment in time (imagine each row going beyond the image border, infinitely in both horizontal directions). History goes off the top of the image, while the future goes down beyond the bottom of the

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-22131545381287715422008-04-30T12:34:00.000-07:002008-05-01T10:44:01.656-07:00

propositional posts:Searle's "Chinese Room" BlundersA Tale of Two DronesFrom a functionalist standpoint, p-zombie (philosophical zombie) is a thing with all the functional properties of a person, but which lacks a functional property we associate with persons (like consciousness).As you can see, under functionalism, its definition contradicts itself. Functionalist acknowledgment of the p-zombie

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-71809015389927846512008-04-29T12:07:00.000-07:002009-03-20T12:48:42.833-07:00

propositional posts:Deterministic CompatibilismLink: Cellular AutomataChaos is the emergent complexity in causal systems over time. The more chaotic a system, the less likely it is that we can predict exactly where it's going. There's a misconception that chaos is akin to true randomness -- unpredictability in an ideal sense. Instead, it is mere apparent randomness -- unpredictability in a

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-56412231315944051592008-04-28T11:01:00.000-07:002008-04-29T08:47:10.793-07:00

propositional posts:The Chess ChooserA Tale of Two DronesIn 1980, philosopher John Searle designed a thought experiment called the "Chinese Room" in order to refute functionalism -- namely, the idea that a synthetic computer could be said to have a mind.Here's the associated Wikipedia article. Read the first few paragraphs for an overview.Layer shiftingSearle tricks the reader (or perhaps himself

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-7040766932744745322008-04-28T09:21:00.001-07:002008-04-28T09:35:04.791-07:00

Previously, I wrote a lot about "moral gauges." A recent feedback post from Andrew has made me realize that I was using bad nomenclature to group two functionally different things into one term.From now on, what I previously meant by "moral gauge" I am now calling a "moral reference." Oddly enough, this new terminology also makes everything a lot easier to understand.What I now call "moral gauge"

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-19647837881388140682008-04-27T16:53:00.000-07:002008-05-05T12:31:12.455-07:00

propositional posts:Moral AbsolutismsMoral RelativismsWhy do we have car mechanics? Because cars are susceptible to environmental damage! Cars aren't invulnerable, and we'll probably never be able to change that completely.So: Are car mechanics good? Should we be happy to have them?If you think that they are, and that we should, does that mean you believe we shouldn't work to make cars more

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-77546142448260491072008-04-26T14:21:00.000-07:002009-04-07T09:00:14.472-07:00

propositional posts:Definition of ImpericsWhat does it mean when someone says "morality is relative?" Unfortunately, it can mean one of two very different things. Thus, I will label both to assist ethical discourse.Imperical relativism(From the propositional post): "All decisions are right[x], wrong[x], or neither[x]. The indexer following each word means 'relative to X.' 'X' is any given moral

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-56169750184846548782008-04-25T12:47:00.000-07:002008-04-28T09:13:41.453-07:00

propositional posts:Definition of ImpericsThe Infinite Reference Problem of ImpericsThere are two kinds of moral absolutism, and yet both are called the same thing. It makes discussing ethics a chore because people begin to talk past each other and even confuse themselves. Thus I am going to label the two kinds.Subscriptive absolutismSubscriptive absolutism means not only subscribing to moral

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-21152766299434350122008-04-25T09:28:00.000-07:002008-04-28T13:28:52.861-07:00

propositional posts:The Chess ChooserLet's say God creates two drones to assist humanity. From the outside, they look identical. Their power usage and behavioral output are qualitatively the same. And those functional qualities are all that matter to me at the moment -- that's all I value.Is any discrimination appropriate, then, between the two drones? Not at the moment. Discrimination is only

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-80936990778896954162008-04-24T15:12:00.000-07:002008-04-25T13:20:37.938-07:00

Intelligent design?from link:"... Cellular automata, one of the most intriguing and admirable aspects of mathematics. Perhaps you have already heard about [Conway's] Game of Life, one of oldest and best-explored cellular automata. The Game of Life is only a tip of a large cellular iceberg. Actually, the count of even simple cellular automata is estimated to be much larger then the count of

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-90943491160147887152008-04-24T08:09:00.000-07:002011-09-03T23:48:22.425-07:00

propositional posts: Compatibilistic Determinism Maria is pondering what move to make. Through foresight, she sees that Dave has her in a precarious position. A wrong move here, or a wrong move there, and Dave will have an imminent checkmate. Dave's growing impatient. Maria's not budging, instead going through each piece and every possible move she could make, weighing advantages and

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-18867712494997000062008-04-23T12:59:00.000-07:002008-12-20T11:59:25.764-08:00

It's a too-common sight for theodicean problem-solvers to be accused of begging the question of God's existence. One cannot state the problem of suffering without the hypothetical assumption that God exists -- everybody's "pretending for now." The amateur atheist forgets that, quickly accusing the problem-solver of circular logic, calling attention to a red herring to mask the fact that the

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-23626408097811275232008-04-21T23:52:00.000-07:002008-04-23T13:47:14.362-07:00

Pascal's Wager is the application of weighted decision models to the question of being a Christian in the hope of a future, infinite reward. In Pascal's mind, the infinite nature of the reward, when applied to the "potential gain" variable, would offset the "decision-damage" done by any finite degree of uncertainty.Pascal's Wager doesn't contribute at all to the apparent truth value of

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-79680978887425635982008-04-21T14:00:00.000-07:002009-10-14T12:19:20.508-07:00

Imperics is the study of the judgment of decisions from a metaethical vantage point. It is a cohesive systemization of all legitimate ethical theories (even to decisions that are not commonly considered "moral decisions," such as which screwdriver one ought to use on a screw).The notion that moral imperatives (deontology), rather than being opposed to consequentialism, are actually practical

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-35775245203770248262008-04-21T09:20:00.000-07:002008-04-21T22:55:20.020-07:00

Some believe that on a macroscopic level, all effects seem to necessitate antecedent causes. A die roll might seem random, but its end result was governed by distinct macroscopic causes (the position of your hand, the altitude from the table, the force of the throw, and many other variables). This is called Determinism.Under Determinism, every decision you make is caused. Some believe this

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-67140713037416379222008-04-20T23:29:00.000-07:002008-04-20T23:36:09.882-07:00

All conscious decisions are caused by internal motives, whether they be basic, carnal instincts or subscriptions to highly abstract principles.It's easy to conflate those motives with desires, because neural networks evaluate based on satisfaction. In some sense, they are the same thing in neural networks.If we acknowledge this, then we can retain the functional meanings of "altruism" and "

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-20141440210820461112008-04-20T23:08:00.000-07:002009-03-21T13:10:00.615-07:00

propositional posts:Definition of Impericsit was said:"In short, what I tried to say about morality was: when we put forth an argument, it usually consists of premises, reasoning and a conclusion. The conclusion must follow logically from the premises by the reasoning, which must therefore be logically sound. But if we apply this to morality, we will face a problem: Descartes showed us how hard

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-33909235915186738522008-04-20T23:05:00.001-07:002008-04-22T08:16:30.324-07:00

from link:"Firmly convinced that Darwinian evolution was true, Hitler saw himself as the modern saviour of mankind. Society, he felt, would some day regard him as a great ‘scientific socialist’, the benefactor of all humankind. By breeding a superior race, the world would look upon him as the man who pulled humanity up to a higher level of evolutionary development. If Darwinism is true, Hitler

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722391897529716074.post-76622980783737298722008-04-20T22:34:00.001-07:002008-04-21T09:56:22.018-07:00

from link:"A common impression exists among lay Christians and many non-Christians that the church interpreted Genesis 1-3 literally until the last two centuries. This allegedly traditional rendering includes the idea that God created the cosmos over a span of six ordinary 24-hour days, that there was no death in the world until the fall of Adam, and that at the time of the fall God introduced

Stan Pattonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16865980026908644731noreply@blogger.com3