[Ahh the amusement I find watching a fundie marvel at the way the world fits him perfectly, just like the water marvels at the way the puddle fits it perfectly.]
Have you ever considered the complexity of the human eyeball? It's an absolute miracle how two cells, once united, become specialized and develop into the various components that make up blood, lymph, skin cells, bone cells, nerve cells, etc...and form tissues and organs that all have complex functions that work together and form the human body... insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish... and then there are plants and trees, different types of soil, the sun is the perfect distance from the Earth..any closer we'd burn...any further, we'd freeze. The planets are in perfect rotation... Believing in God a fairytale? It takes a greater leap of faith to think these things just happened.
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In the words of Robert G. Ingersoll:
"Did it ever occur to them that a cancer is as beautiful in its development as is the reddest rose? That what they are pleased to call the adaptation of means to ends, is as apparent in the cancer as in the April rain? How beautiful the process of digestion! By what ingenious methods the blood is poisoned so that the cancer shall have food! By what wonderful contrivances the entire system of man is made to pay tribute to this divine and charming cancer! See by what admirable instrumentalities it feeds itself from the surrounding quivering, dainty flesh! See how it gradually but surely expands and grows! By what marvelous mechanism it is supplied with long and slender roots that reach out to the most secret nerves of pain for sustenance and life! What beautiful colors it presents! Seen through the microscope it is a miracle of order and beauty. All the ingenuity of man cannot stop its growth. Think of the amount of thought it must have required to invent a way by which the life of one man might be given to produce one cancer? Is it possible to look upon it and doubt that there is design in the universe, and that the inventor of this wonderful cancer must be infinitely powerful, ingenious and good?"
Have you ever considered that species (including us) evolve to fit their environment perfectly? Otherwise, they go extinct.
What leap of faith is necessary? Believing in imaginary creatures may be fun for recreation but they really shouldn't interfere with your appreciation of truth and reality.
Eyeballs aren't really that complex; they're pretty much just a couple of kinds of jelly. The human eye (and the vertebrate eye in general, come to that) is poorly-'designed' in that the optic cells actually point away from the light, giving the blind spot where their nerves plunge into the retina. Plus, we have six muscles controlling the position of each eyeball. Positioned intermediately, three would suffice. Furthermore, as George C Williams notes, why do we have only two eyes? Surely omnidirectional vision would be more useful to us.
Ahh, nothing like an oldie but a goodie!
Sweet memories. Where were you when you first heard this classic fallacy? Prom night? Your first kiss? That first shared joint rolled in strawberry-flavored paper behind the gym?
the sun is the perfect distance from the Earth..any closer we'd burn...any further, we'd freeze.
The distance between the Earth and the Sun changes from time to time.
The planets are in perfect rotation
As Papabear mentioned, I'm not even sure what the definition of a "perfect" rotation is. All planets have different rotations.
"the sun is the perfect distance from the Earth..any closer we'd burn...any further, we'd freeze."
No, we would never have been here in the first place. Or we would be able to survive in a different range of temperature range...
if you understood even a little physics, mathematics, chemistry, geology, biology and the principles of science; then observed nature around you ....
I forgot;
you look but cannot see
you hear but do not listen
you touch but do not feel
you live but have no life
you exist but have no existence.
Yes its all done by magic and evil spirits, if you say so.
"the sun is the perfect distance from the Earth..any closer we'd burn...any further, we'd freeze."
This would make sense if Earth were the only planet in the solar system, but with eight of them, at least one of them is probably going to be in the "Goldilocks zone" of its parent star. Also, the Earth's distance from the sun fluctuates about a million miles or so per year (from ~92 million to ~94 million miles). Ironically, the Earth is actually farther from the sun in summer than it is in winter. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure I read that.) In short, read an astronomy book.
EDIT: Also, what about the ~200 extrasolar planets that have been found? If there is a god, why did he make those planets and not do anything with them? Granted, there are a few that might harbor life, but we haven't found it (although I believe we will someday. Maybe not intelligent life, but at least some microbes or something). Why would a god create an entire universe 70 billion light years across and just have one tiny little blue marble with life on it?
Ah, the puddle argument, first formulated by the late great Douglas Adams... How I miss that wonderful author and his stylings.
Knight4Him, the evolution of the eye has been greatly expounded on. Philosophies, hypotheses, and theories exist covering everything else you listed. You, sir, are ignorant, and have failed to make an argument. And shame on you for downright ignoring the puddle argument as you have, despite quoting it.
And as a matter of fact, solar systems tend to flatten themselves because of something to do with gravity. If I ever got around to that freaking gravity simulator I wanna build, I would show you.
Heck, I should go do that right now....
We get it. You don't know how any of the branches of science you mention work, and due to that, you assume we don't grasp it. You're incapable of conceiving of a life without faith so everything becomes that.
Nah, the orbits are elleptical. Of course, a "perfect orbit" really isn't defined anyway.
And yeah, isn't it amazing to know what simple structures can become given the laws of nature?
As for God...that is where we differ in our opinions. See, when a religious person looks at the complexity of nature, they say "This is proof of God." When I look at the complexity of nature, I say "Why is it so complex if God did it? Does he feel the need to show off, or something?" So no, the way things are rather supports my opinion that God didn't do it, or at the very least it isn't all-powerful.
I think this guy is trying to describe evolution.
Besides, any closer to or farther away from the sun and we wouldn't be here in the first place. Simple, just like you.
... and then there are plants and trees, different types of soil, the sun is the perfect distance from the Earth..any closer we'd burn...any further, we'd freeze. The planets are in perfect rotation...
You may find this article on Anthropic Coincidences somewhat enlightening.
I don't think these things "just happened", I believe they happened over billiosn of years of the planet's formation. I'll admit it does take a huuuuge leap of faith to believe that God created it all in seven days. Oh, btw, could you explain to me, properly, how God came to be there in the first place?
"...any further, we'd freeze."
If by any further, you mean virtually all the way out to the orbit of Mars, you are correct.
Otherwise, FAIL.
I hate this argument. If God makes such freaking perfect things, THEN WHY HAVE I WORN GLASSES SINCE I WAS TEN?
I have a birth defect in one of my eyes. A birth defect! Was your god punishing me for a sin I hadn't even had a chance to commit yet?
Didn't Darwin already explain the human eye thing? Like, a century and a half ago?
I'm not even going to address the rest of the puddl- er, fundie's idiocy right now.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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