Some form of intelligent design theory apparently dominates among cosmologists and astronomers.

No, it doesn't. Whoever told you that was lying to you.

Ross was born in Montreal and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He earned a BSc in physics from the University of British Columbia and an MSc and PhD in astronomy from the University of Toronto; and he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Caltech, studying quasars and galaxies. Ross was the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver’s Royal Astronomical Society[2], and before starting Reasons to Believe, he was on the staff of Sierra Madre Congregational Church. In addition to apologetics writing, Ross speaks regularly in academic venues and churches, as well as hosting a weekly podcast Creation Update, and another podcast "Science News Flash." He spoke at the 2008 Skeptics Society' "Origins Conference" at California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, Victor Stenger, and Leonard Susskind.[3]

Ross adopts the view that there are two "records" of revelation from God – the Bible and nature – which both offer accurate knowledge and each of which can correct misunderstanding of the other. Moreover, he argues that the Bible is the only scientifically accurate religious text when interpreted contextually

It doesn't have to be a person making a statement. Regardless, this thread has been mind-boggling.

Be careful Dennis, Jews aren't dumb and it's racist to say they are.

. It is kind of annoying that a dumb Christian, Jew or Moslem can have tremendous peace of mind and feel right at home in a positive higher space time dimensions whereas another person may take disbelief to such an extreme that when they float out of their bodies they will not go toward that dot speck of light off in the distance, simply because they have concluded that it cannot be real!

Which emoticon signifies exasperation mixed with resigned despair?

The name of the person who I am quoting is Dr. Hugh Ross. He does have a website and has written a book on how the implications of the Anthropic Principle has affected the theories put forward by cosmologists and astronomists moreso than any other branch of science.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Ross_(astrophysicist)

Be careful Dennis, Jews aren't dumb and it's racist to say they are.

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:

The point is that faith isn't about about intelligence (as we would quantify it contemporarily). I would say that's the beauty of it.

Beverly Brodsky was raised in a conservative Jewish family in a mostly Jewish neighborhood in Philadelphia. She went through her teens as an atheist. Since learning of the Holocaust at age eight, she had turned angrily against any early belief in God. How could God exist and permit such a thing to occur? In July 1970, her questions were answered when a motorcycle accident led to her near-death experience. Her NDE testimony comes from Evelyn Elsaesser Valarino and Kenneth Ring's book, Lessons From The Light, reprinted by permission. Ring described Beverly Brodsky's NDE as "possibly the most moving in my entire collection."

Beverly Brodsky states: "In 1970, I had a profound encounter in which I was taken into the heart of creation, and back to the moment before the Big Bang. My NDE taught me everything that mattered: who we are, why we are here, and the nature of reality itself. To share and ponder this mystery is my greatest honor and joy."

He is merely stating an opinion, not a peer reviewed, widely accepted theory. It's cool that someone is trying to think outside the box a tad, but when you consider that the origins of the Bible are not the word of God, rather, a jumble of ancient writings, gathered over thousands of years, one has to dismiss the man's theory, not to mention the use of the Bible as an accurate historical account.

The ecologists observed a strong correlation between the available quantity of carbon dioxide and nitrates and the amounts of microcystins produced by the cyanobacteria. Microcystins can be very toxic to a wide range of plants and animals, including human beings. Consequently, the team concluded that their “results are largely consistent with the carbon-nutrient balance hypothesis.”2 This hypothesis states that the quantity of carbon dioxide and nitrates available in the environment must be fine-tuned in order to maximize the biomass and biodiversity, to optimize the health of all species and maximize ecological stability.

For Earth to sustain the maximum biomass for the longest possible period of time so that humans can reap the benefits of enormous and diverse biodeposits, the quantities of both nitrates and carbon dioxide on the planet surface must be exquisitely fine-tuned. This new evidence for fine-tuning adds to the already very long list of terrestrial features that must be designed for the specific benefit of human beings. The discovery by the Dutch team shows once again that the more we learn about our planet and its life, the more evidence we uncover for the supernatural, super-intelligent design.

This new fine-tuning evidence does, however, raise another apologetics question. Why would an all-powerful, all-loving Creator make cyanobacteria that produce harmful toxins?

I suggest ignoring those comments.

I am encouraged by one thing. People on this thread started more negatively and got more positive; that didn't used to happen. I credit Nitz and Dennis.

Speaking of Jews, did anyone see this?


Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8550614.stm


It says that among other things, the priestly class has a common ancestor with the Jewish priestly class - whose descendants were marked by the last name 'Cohen' - dating about 3,000 years ago, around the time of Moses and Aaron.

' Members of the priestly clan of the Lemba, known as the Buba, were even discovered to have a genetic element also found among the Jewish priestly line.

"This was amazing," said Prof Tudor Parfitt, from the University of London.

"It looks as if the Jewish priesthood continued in the West by people called Cohen, and in same way it was continued by the priestly clan of the Lemba.

"They have a common ancestor who geneticists say lived about 3,000 years ago somewhere in north Arabia, which is the time of Moses and Aaron when the Jewish priesthood started." '

Manasseh heard a very remarkable thing from Montezinus that in 1642 when Montezinus was deep into the mountainous wilderness of Ecuador, he met with four Indians who greeted him with "Shema Israel" which is the traditional creed of Israelites beginning with "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4). He claimed that he spoke with them in Hebrew and claimed they were from the Lost Tribe of Reuben and Levi.

Through the conversation with Montezinus, Rabbi Manase Ben Israel was convinced that the American Indians were from several tribes of the Lost Tribes of Israel. He wrote on Dec. 23, 1649, in a letter to John Drury, the Puritan divine, "I think the Ten Tribes lived not only there in America, but also in other lands scattered everywhere, these never did come back to the second temple, and they keep to this day still the Jewish religion seeing that all the prophecies which speak of the bringing back into their native soil must be fulfilled."

Menorah Was Found in South America

As for the Indians in South America and the Lost Tribes of Israel, there was an interesting article in a newspaper published in Israel (Maariv, Dec 31, 1974) as follows:

In 1587, a Jesuit Nicholas Delttsu was sent to South America by the king of Spain to convert the Indians. In Argentina, he found a tribe with Hebrew names, Abraham, David, Moshe, etc.. When he asked them if they were circumcised, they answered, "Yes, just as our ancestors." In the same area were found knives of stone used for circumcision. Sharpened stone knives are cited in the Bible as used for circumcision.

At the festival, a boy is tied up by a rope to a wooden pillar, and placed on a bamboo carpet. A Shinto priest comes to him preparing a knife, and he cuts a part of the top of the wooden pillar, but then a messenger (another priest) comes there, and the boy is released. This is reminiscent of the Biblical story in which Isaac was released after an angel came to Abraham.

The knife and sword used in the "Ontohsai" festival

At this festival, animal sacrifices are also offered. 75 deer are sacrificed, but among them it is believed that there is a deer with its ear split. The deer is considered to be the one God prepared. It could have had some connection with the ram that God prepared and was sacrificed after Isaac was released. Since the ram was caught in the thicket by the horns, the ear might have been split.

In ancient time of Japan there were no sheep and it might be the reason why they used deer (deer is Kosher). Even in historic times, people thought that this custom of deer sacrifice was strange, because animal sacrifice is not a Shinto tradition.

My friend went to Israel and saw a Passover festival on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria. He asked a Samaritan priest how many rams were offered. The priest answered that they used to offer 75. This may have a connection with the 75 deer which were offered at Suwa-Taisha shrine in Japan.

Dennis, there's a difference between having an open mind and believing everything you read.

That really isn't a parallel to what Lock said, though. Your statement is much broader, Busty St. Clair.