@Shockadelic "Jimmy Jones, when God invented smallpox it may have caused no illness, as Man was perfect (so the story goes)."

Fascinating. So you're willing to speculate, as long as any speculation is predicated on the existence of the Christian god and a literal interpretation of an ancient myth.

That's the tail wagging the dog there, matey!

It's apparent you've picked what you personally WANT to be true (i.e. Christianity), and filter everything through the lens of your own desires. Why you WANT Christianity to be true is anyone's guess, but I'll have a go... Did your parents raise you to be Christian by any chance?

At any rate, you're welcome to your myths, legends and the best-guesses of those ancient tribesmen, honest! I wish you luck with it all.

But please don't fool yourself into thinking fairy tales and legends are as useful for understanding the real world as the scientific method is. That would be tragic.

By the way, did you know that Smallpox will be cured if you simply rub yourself with oil and call for the local church elder? Well that's what your stories say, anyway.

I don't know about you, but I think if I fell ill, I'd be relying on scientifically developed medicine rather than some hokey old ritual made up by some ancient witch doctors. (Actually, I lied before... I KNOW you would too, despite your affected disdain for science)

Actually, instead of teaching the kiddies CPR and all that rubbish at primary school, perhaps we should just instruct them in the oiling up ritual described in your stories instead. What do you think? Good idea??

Dan Dare,
You say that I shouldn't be quoting what some dumb twit said. Have a look. The only person I quoted (loosely) was you.

You were adamant that science was about observation. But you follow this with claims that 'birds are descended from reptiles', etc. This may form part of your belief system, but it's not an observation. No one has ever seem a reptile evolve into a bird.

You're entitled to your beliefs, but don't let your particular leanings cloud the line between beliefs and observations.    

Evolution was validated by the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1940s when a few put together the concepts of

*genetics elucidated by Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel
*the role of chromosomes, and
* Darwin's and Wallace's theories of evolution.

The subsequent discover of the nature of DNA and they way it works sealed the concept as fact.

It's all on the 'Net.

That's a bit thin, Dan S de Merengue. Even for you.

>>No one has ever seem a reptile evolve into a bird.<<

No-one has ever seen Jack the Ripper, either.

But Mary Nichols is still dead.

Houellebecq: "PS Beez, it's so 1980s to think you're clever outing 'trolls'. We're all trolls these days. You're the only straight man left. I think you need a shag is all."

Houe, the difference between 80's trolls and you is that they were amusing and/or brought something new to the table. You are very much a 21st century troll - shaking a paint can full of ball bearings because you know noise gets attention, and that is to compensate for lack of wit and depth of observation. But attention is what you crave, and if you lack subtlety and content, raw noise will have to do. You fail on attributes that made your troll ancestors artists by comparison.

@Shockadelic You said “Perhaps "God" created multiple lifeforms with a common genetic "blueprint" (like some painters do a "series" of artworks on the same theme).”

Ok, provide some evidence that leads to that conclusion. Explain the contrary evidence that shows all life on Earth is deeply genetically related. If you can do that then you have formed a hypothesis and work can proceed in producing a theory.

@Shockadelic You said “ (DanDare said)"We have observed and documented, in real life, populations of things such as cows and wheat changing from one generation to the next"
And crocodiles and nautiluses *not* changing in millions of years.”

And so what? Some things change and other things are at the top of their nieche with no pressure to change and no drift that is anything but detrimental. Whoop de doo.

@Shockadelic You said “If change occurs, it seems to be very restricted in the amount of deviation possible.”

No there is enormous deviation. Its all over the map.

@Shockadelic You said “But maybe "God" designed it that way.”
There is no evidence to suggest that, and since your previous statement is just wrong its not likely you will find any.

I said "there is not enough water on or in the Earth to flood the entire planet to that level"

@Shockadelic You said “Were the polar icecaps always frozen?
Was the landmass always at the same height it is now?”

If the antarctic and iceland melt that will raise water level by about 80 meters. Catastrophic but not enough for a global flood. The arctic melting makes no difference to sea level. And over 6,000 years there has been very little change in land mass position or height.