This is supposed to be impossible. Scientist say it should not exist.
How could an Ocotopus leave a fossil? They have no skeleton and are eaten very quickly after death.
Dr. Richard Paley knows.
He says it’s because of a flood. Only a massive flood like we have never seen could cause such sediment to fall at a pace rapidly enough cause this phenomena.
What if it’s the flood?
Genesis was not intended to be poetic literature (like Psalms), but a Historical Narrative. Either call Genesis false, or beleive it as true, but don’t try to make it something it was never designed for.
If you found an error in your American History textbook, would you say, “Well, it’s was meant to be allegorical.” No. You’d call it false.
Either Genesis IS a Historical narrative, or it is false. Errant. Fallable.
Not Inspired
Christian Evolutionist, do not alter the Bible to fit your worldview. Alter your worldview to fit the Bible.
Your link to Paley isn’t working, but when I googled it, here is what came up:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forum/forum_comments/1720/
http://objectiveministries.org/creation/
So- he’s a minister, not an evolutionary biologist. In other words– not an expert and not qualified to speak on cephalopod evolution.
Hey what happened to my comment?
Sorry about that,
For some reason my spam filter tagged your first post…
I must have done it wrong, anyhoo– Paley is a minister, not an evolutionary biologist, therefore not an expert on cephalopod evolution. And as he is not a geologist either, he is not qualified to speak about a flood.
http://objectiveministries.org/creation/
If you aren’t a seminarian, does that disqualify you from speaking about God?
Paley is a Scientist, though not an evolutionary biologist, which I believe you aren’t either, are you (I know your background is in philosphy and neuro-something)?
What is your opinion on how this could have happened, if not a massive flood?
Yes– Not being a seminarian recuses me from publishing valid scholarship on religion/God. For sure. No question. Not even a little bit. I am utterly unqualified.
Paley is NOT a scientist. He has NO formal training in science and is NOT qualified to publish valid scholarship on science.
As I said, I have advanced degrees in biology, even if I didn’t specialize in evolution.
Now, if you’ll just point me to the source of your picture, I’ll answer fully your question on how it happened; however, soft tissue fossilization is FAR from impossible!
Here is a source for the fossil picture: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29757659
Ok, Paley may not be a scientist, but here’s a large list of Creationists who are: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/
You have said in different places that you are not an atheist, but you also stated your journey took you away from Christianity. What are you views on God then?
Ok- here’s my best guess…
The ocean is vast… incredibly vast and there are underwater deserts where life is sparse ( http://marine.unc.edu/mascnews/flow-below ). The msnbc article tells us that the scientists theorize that the octopus sank to the deep anaerobic (meaning lacking oxygen) parts of the ocean– so the bacteria in the octopus’s body wouldn’t have decomposed it (because they would die without oxygen) and being in a deep ocean desert meant it wasn’t consumed by scavengers. Now, as plankton and other microscopic things die in the upper layers of these deep ocean deserts (because they can live on sunlight) their cells sink down and create sediment– which would cover the octopus rather quickly.. and once that happened, the body’s biomolecules would be slowly replaced by minerals… and viola! fossilization!
Now, for your list of scientists… creation “science” is NOT science!!! This has already been decided by a republican judge appointed by GW Bush in a court of law!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District
However, in all fairness, there are actual scientists on the Discovery Institute’s list of scientific dissenters… but if you look closely, none of them are geneticists, or paleontologists, or geologists, or developmental biologists (studies the development of the body in utero) or any other field that supports evolution. There are a few biophysicists (the physics of biology) and biochemists (the chemistry of biology.. works mainly with proteins– Michael Behe is a biochemist at LeHigh University– although they put a disclaimer on their biology department web page) but NONE of them are experts in evolution!!! As I have already told you, if you aren’t in a specialty field, you have NO right to criticize it! (You can do your best to explain it to others, but not to try to take it down!) That’s because if a person hasn’t taken the time to read through the literature of that field, then they are only arguing from ignorance and that is not acceptable.
Now for my views on God. I hope there is a God! I really do! Do I believe in God? Well, it’s very hard for me to believe in anything… I need proof– or more accurately knowledge– for the things I espouse. But I do pray sometimes and I think about God a lot. I guess I have some kind of deist leanings, but that’s not a totally accurate picture of my beliefs. I hope I have a soul and I hope it will go to be with God when I die, but I’m not sure!!!
Also, the picture that tops your blog is wonderful! Is it you in the picture? If so, are you the guy or the girl? I like the angel wings on the girl. Anyhoo– I’m a girl (probably the pink tile gave that away), but I’m just asking to imagine the person I’m talking to…
Thanks!
The pic on the top is of me and my wife on the coast of Maine (of course the background has been changed).
Well, it’s a lovely picture! You two look very happy!
Hey! I found another very cool video! A Christian neuroscientist! (at the Veritas forum):
http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/713
I hope you’ll enjoy it!
I’m a Christian. I don’t think Genesis is a straight historical narrative, nor do I think it’s false. I don’t think it’s an allegory exactly, either.
I think the Bible, ESPECIALLY Genesis, is an attempt to write down a tribe’s oral tradition about their earliest origins. In oral history’s transition to written form, things get lost, altered, mis-stated. It might be divinely inspired, but God himself didn’t pick up the stylus and write it.
So, for example, there might have been a huge, terrible, devasting flood affecting many lands. There probably was an ark and a family that famously escaped the flood in that manner. But did this flood kill every single person and animal on earth except for those in that ark? I don’t believe that.
I’m not a theologian of any sort, BTW; I am a literature major, so I have had classes in oral tradition literature.
The octopus was a very attention-catching way to introduce this topic BTW.