He said it: Richard Dawkins on the origin of life

Praise Jesus The whole earth is full of the LORDs glory. The wisdom of man is foolishness to God. The world will know we are Christians by the love we show for one another not our attempts to explain God in the wisdom of man. If we want to prove that God created all things, let us love God and love others, and worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. The kingdom of God is not in word , but in power. Jesus is LORD danielcmalloy

I think you're right, Eric. Bilbo I

Sorry, not a specific quote, just paraphrasing an argument. Should have said ". . . oft-repeated mantras of the materialist which goes something like this: . . ." One of the complaints materialists make against the analogy to archeology, forensics, cryptology and similar fields is that we know humans can create these kinds of artifacts. We don't know for a fact of any being that can create life, and so, therefore, we can't apply the same design inference -- so the argument goes. It is a silly argument, but one I've heard a number of times. If life is ever created in the lab, it will put this to rest. Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson: "And if life is ever created in the lab what it will demonstrate is that life can, in fact, be created by intelligent agents,..." I agree. "thus eliminating one of the silly but oft-repeated mantras of the materialist: '. . . but unlike iPods and Mount Rushmore and the sculptures on Easter Island we don’t know of any actual examples of intelligent agents creating life, and therefore we aren’t willing to consider that intelligence may have been involved in the creation of life.'" Eric, are you quoting what somebody actually said? If so, I'd be curious who it was. Bilbo I

OT:

500 million-year-old super predator had remarkable vision Excerpt: The fossils represent compound eyes - the multi-faceted variety seen in arthropods such as flies, crabs and kin - and are amongst the largest to have ever existed, with each eye up to 3 cm in length and containing over 16,000 lenses. The number of lenses and other aspects of their optical design suggest that Anomalocaris would have seen its world with exceptional clarity whilst hunting in well-lit waters. Only a few arthropods, such as modern predatory dragonflies, have similar resolution. The discovery of powerful compound eyes in Anomalocaris confirms it is a close relative of arthropods, and has other far-reaching evolutionary implications. It demonstrates that this particular type of visual organ appeared and was elaborated upon very early during arthropod evolution, http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-million-year-old-super-predator-remarkable-vision.html

Further notes:

"How came the Bodies of Animals to be contrived with so much Art…. Was the Eye contrived without skill in Opticks, and the Ear without Knowledge of Sounds?" - Sir Isaac Newton Proverbs 20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made both of them. Anomalocaris - image http://bygonebeasts.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/anomalocaris.jpg Exotic Cambrian Animals and Plants and Ediacaran biota- Animated videos (including Anomalocaris) http://www.lightproductionsvideo.com/Cambrian-Animals.html Modern optics in the eyes of an Early Cambrian arthropod - June 2011 Excerpt: 'the Emu Bay Shale, which provides exquisite preservation of Early Cambrian animals, has now supplied us with the earliest example of an non-trilobite arthropod eye. Of the seven specimens recovered to date, three are spectacular for the detail revealed and stunning because they document eyes that "are as advanced as those of many living forms" http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2011/07/01/modern_optics_in_the_eyes_of_an_early_ca

Music:

Hillsong - Here I am http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=K6YLGNNX

bornagain77

Biologos - Where we don't let the bible get in the way of our religion. Mytheos

semi OT: Seems Dawkins is still shooting himself in the foot over the 'empty chair debate',,, still making excuses as to why he did not debate Craig:

Edward Feser: Dawkins vs. Dawkins http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/12/dawkins-vs-dawkins.html

bornagain77

Agreed. And if life is ever created in the lab what it will demonstrate is that life can, in fact, be created by intelligent agents, thus eliminating one of the silly but oft-repeated mantras of the materialist: ". . . but unlike iPods and Mount Rushmore and the sculptures on Easter Island we don't know of any actual examples of intelligent agents creating life, and therefore we aren't willing to consider that intelligence may have been involved in the creation of life." Eric Anderson

Without being able to read the context of Dawkins' remarks, it sounds as if he's saying that scientists will be able to "create" (design?) life in the laboratory in a few years. If this is what Dawkins was saying, it is different than saying that scientists will be able to understand how life on earth originally came into existence. Bilbo I