You said phosphorus is a naturally occuring inorganic chemical  . . . so are you suggesting it wasnt occurring at one point to allow the other RNA components to form then appeared to complete the RNA cycle? Even you know that is statistically impossible but of course you have to beat your drum for your atheistic faith. I understand.

It is not statistically impossible for abiogenisis to happen if it is a billion to one chance with a billion years to happen. Once abiogenisis has occurred then natural selection can occur. With the imperfections of self replication and a constantly changing environment only those that survive successfully will continue to evolve. It has taken 3.5 billion years for life to evolve to what we have today, although 99% of the life on this planet was unsuccessful and became extinct.

Now here is where things become laughable . . . if indeed Sutherland's experiment is right, it means phosphate did NOT EXIST for millions of years while the basic components of RNA were already formed and lying around waiting patiently for phosphates?

Considering the FACT that phosphate must have been an initial part of the primordial soup, Sutherland's experiment is a very strong argument for why RNA would not spontaneously form in nature and still does not today. Because as long as phosphate was a starting material, you had no RNA!

"A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in agriculture and industry. At elevated temperatures in the solid state, phosphates can condense to form pyrophosphates."

In other words, phosphate is a naturally occuring inorganic chemical.
I admit that the chances of these chemical all combining together in the right combinations to form the first self replicating molecule were probably a billion to one. But when you have had a billion years between the formation of the earth and the first evidence of life on it the chances comes down to one. If all the inorganic elements are there on a planet with thousands of different and changing environments, its just a matter of time,  In our case about a billion years.

Now if you dont believe that the earth is billions of years old then i can understand why you would have a problem with this scenario. All the evidence points to the earth being around 4.5 billion years old with organic life beginning around 3.5 billion years ago.

THEY MIXED WHAT? INGREDIENTS? INGREDIENTS MADE FROM WHAT? WHERE DID THE INGREDIENTS COME FROM IN THE ORIGINAL SPARK?

The ingredients used are naturally occuring molecules in the universe of which the earth is a natural part of and made of.

"Intriguingly, the precursor molecules used by Sutherland’s team have been identified in interstellar dust clouds and on meteorites."

"A fundamental but elusive step in the early evolution of life on Earth has been replicated in a laboratory.

Researchers synthesized the basic ingredients of RNA, a molecule from which the simplest self-replicating structures are made. Until now, they couldn’t explain how these ingredients might have formed.

“It’s like molecular choreography, where the molecules choreograph their own behavior,” said organic chemist John Sutherland of the University of Manchester, co-author of a study in Nature Wednesday.

RNA is now found in living cells, where it carries information between genes and protein-manufacturing cellular components. Scientists think RNA existed early in Earth’s history, providing a necessary intermediate platform between pre-biotic chemicals and DNA, its double-stranded, more-stable descendant.

However, though researchers have been able to show how RNA’s component molecules, called ribonucleotides, could assemble into RNA, their many attempts to synthesize these ribonucleotides have failed. No matter how they combined the ingredients — a sugar, a phosphate, and one of four different nitrogenous molecules, or nucleobases — ribonucleotides just wouldn’t form.

Sutherland’s team took a different approach in what Harvard molecular biologist Jack Szostak called a “synthetic tour de force” in an accompanying commentary in Nature.

“By changing the way we mix the ingredients together, we managed to make ribonucleotides,” said Sutherland. “The chemistry works very effectively from simple precursors, and the conditions required are not distinct from what one might imagine took place on the early Earth.”

Like other would-be nucleotide synthesizers, Sutherland’s team included phosphate in their mix, but rather than adding it to sugars and nucleobases, they started with an array of even simpler molecules that were probably also in Earth’s primordial ooze.

They mixed the molecules in water, heated the solution, then allowed it to evaporate, leaving behind a residue of hybrid, half-sugar, half-nucleobase molecules. To this residue they again added water, heated it, allowed it evaporate, and then irradiated it.

At each stage of the cycle, the resulting molecules were more complex. At the final stage, Sutherland’s team added phosphate. “Remarkably, it transformed into the ribonucleotide!” said Sutherland.

According to Sutherland, these laboratory conditions resembled those of the life-originating “warm little pond” hypothesized by Charles Darwin if the pond “evaporated, got heated, and then it rained and the sun shone.”

Such conditions are plausible, and Szostak imagined the ongoing cycle of evaporation, heating and condensation providing “a kind of organic snow which could accumulate as a reservoir of material ready for the next step in RNA synthesis.”

Intriguingly, the precursor molecules used by Sutherland’s team have been identified in interstellar dust clouds and on meteorites.

“Ribonucleotides are simply an expression of the fundamental principles of organic chemistry,” said Sutherland. “They’re doing it unwittingly. The instructions for them to do it are inherent in the structure of the precursor materials. And if they can self-assemble so easily, perhaps they shouldn’t be viewed as complicated.”

There is so much killing in the bible by God or by direct order from God.

This vile bloodthirty character should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity if he was real and not just a figment of the imagination of a barbaric tribe of bronze age middle eastern desert nomads.

Moses gets the Ten commandments which include Though shalt not kill, yet God immediately orders him to murder 3000 of his own people. Ooops 

Watch this:
Atheist comedy - God's moral framework

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjhFlI6-ZBI&feature=related

God is love.

The jewish/christian God Yahweh/Jesus is a merciful, loving and peaceful God.

He had to make those harsh laws to keep sinful humans from falling into the hands of the devil.

God had other ideas.

You know what happened to lots wife when she looked back at her family, friends and neighbours burning to death. God murdered her in cold blood. no compassion, no mercy. Did her soul go to hell?
You also know what happened to lots two daughters. He got drunk and impregnated them both. one after the other.

Where is the morality in this story?
Do you really think it is a good thing to burn to death every human being in a city, and save only one father and his two daughters / lovers?

How can you read this story and not feel any compassion for the women in the story. Or all the innocent children who would have died a horribly cruel and painful death?

Hello sweetnecta.

I know the topic has been covered many times before on this site so i dont know how you can still say the following about evolution.

it is a theory untested and unsubstantiated at best. in reality it is delusional hypothesis.

Here is a link to the wikipedia site about evolution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution

"Evolution (also known as biological or organic evolution) is the change over time in one or more inherited traits found in populations of organisms.[1] Inherited traits are particular distinguishing characteristics, including anatomical, biochemical or behavioural characteristics, that are passed on from one generation to the next. Phenotypic expressions of these traits can be influenced by gene–environment interactions. Evolution may occur when there is variation of inherited traits within a population. The major sources of such variation are mutation, genetic recombination and gene flow.[2][3][4][5] Evolution has led to the diversification of all living organisms, which are described by Charles Darwin as "endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful".[6]

Two processes are generally distinguished as common causes of evolution. One is natural selection, a process in which there is differential survival and/or reproduction of organisms that differ in one or more inherited traits.[1] Another cause is genetic drift, a process in which there are random changes to the proportions of two or more inherited traits within a population.[7][8]

In speciation, a single ancestral species splits into two or more different species. Speciation is visible in anatomical, genetic and other similarities between groups of organisms, geographical distribution of related species, the fossil record and the recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations. Speciation stretches back over 3.5 billion years during which life has existed on earth.[9][10][11][12] It is thought to occur in multiple ways such as slowly, steadily and gradually over time or rapidly from one long static state to another.

The scientific study of evolution began in the mid-nineteenth century, when research into the fossil record and the diversity of living organisms convinced most scientists that species evolve.[13] The mechanism driving these changes remained unclear until the theory of natural selection was independently proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace in 1858. In the early 20th century, Darwinian theories of evolution were combined with genetics, palaeontology, and systematics, which culminated into a union of ideas known as the modern evolutionary synthesis.[14] The synthesis became a major principle of biology as it provided a coherent and unifying explanation for the history and diversity of life on Earth.[15][16][17]

Evolution is currently applied and studied in various areas within biology such as conservation biology, developmental biology, ecology, physiology, paleontology and medicine. Moreover, it has also made an impact on traditionally non-biological disciplines such as agriculture, anthropology, philosophy and psychology."


If you click on the link and read and learn more about it you will see that it is the polar opposite to what you think it is.
The overwhelming amount of evidence supporting evolution is way too much for it to be just a delusion.

There is no evidence to support any of the many magical African creation stories. likewise there is no evidence to support the magical Jewish creation story or any other supernatural creation stories from around the world.

A light year is the distance that light travels in a year at a constant speed of 186000 miles per second. I know that a light year is a measure of distance. A light year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles. 
The closest star to Earth (besides our sun) is something like 24,000,000,000,000 miles ( 4 light years ) away. That's the closest star. There are stars that are billions of times farther away than that. When you start talking about those kinds of distances, a mile or kilometer just isn't a practical unit to use because the numbers get too big. No one wants to write or talk about numbers that have 20 digits in them! Thats why it is much more convenient to use the term light years to measure these immense distances.

However, using a light year as a distance measurement has another advantage -- it helps you determine age. Let's say that a star is 1 million light years away. Thats 1 million x 5,865,696,000,000 miles away. The light from that star has traveled at the speed of light (5,865,696,000,000 miles per year) to reach us. Therefore, it has taken the star's light 1 million years to get here, and the light we are seeing left the star 1 million years ago. So the star we are seeing is really how the star looked a million years ago, not how it looks today. In the same way, our sun is 8 or so light minutes away. If the sun were to suddenly explode right now, we wouldn't know about it for eight minutes because that is how long it would take for the light of the explosion to get here.

Light does not travel instantly across the universe. It has a constant velocity of 186000 miles per second. So if the universe was created only 6000 years ago as you claim then the light from stars and galaxies further than 6000 light years away (6000 x 5,865,696,000,000 miles) would not have reached us yet.

The fact that we can see galaxies that are 13 billion light years away means that they are 13 billion x 5,865,696,000,000 miles away and the light from them have been travelling for 13 billion years to reach us. We are seeing them as they were 13 billion years ago, just as when you look up at the sun you are seeing it as it was eight minutes ago.

Do you understand now? I hope that i have explained it well enough for you.

What Do You Really Know
About The Bible?

The bible is the "best seller" that is rarely read. How much do you actually know about the so-called "Good Book"?

Answer all 50 questions, then hit "Submit" for your score and full biblical documentation of all the answers.

Click here
http://www.ffrf.org/legacy/quiz/bquiz.php

1. What is the last of the Ten Commandments?

   1. Don't steal.
   2. Don't covet your neighbor's wife and property.
   3. Don't boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.
   4. Love your neighbor as yourself.

2. What is the penalty for working on the Sabbath?

   1. You will be stoned to death.
   2. Neither you nor your offspring to the 5th generation can enter the tabernacle.
   3. You should sacrifice two unblemished she goats.
   4. You will be disinherited from the kingdom.

3. What is God's name?

   1. Jealous.
   2. Righteous.
   3. Holy.
   4. Jehovah.

4. How should parents treat a stubborn and rebellious son?

   1. He should be beaten seven times with a whip made of horsehair.
   2. He should be stripped and humiliated at the gate of the city.
   3. He should be expelled from the family.
   4. He should be stoned to death.

5. What happens if you are not a virgin on your wedding night?

   1. Your father must pay 100 shekels of silver to your husband.
   2. You can never approach the altar.
   3. You must dress in black and leave your husband for one year.
   4. You will be stoned to death.

6. What does the bible say about witches?

   1. Witches should be killed.
   2. Witches are people possessed by demons and they are forever damned.
   3. Witches can be saved if they are exorcised.
   4. Witches are part of the mythology of idolatrous tribes.

7. Which of these foods does the bible expressly permit you to eat? (The others are "abominations."

   1. Pork.
   2. Shellfish.
   3. Locust.
   4. Rabbit.

8. When the Israelites conquered the Midianites, what part of the spoils of war was given to the priest as "the Lord's tribute"?

   1. 500 sheep.
   2. 30,000 asses.
   3. 32,000 cows.
   4. 32 virgins.

9. What is the origin of the "mighty men" giants known as nephilim?

   1. They were the offspring of God's angels and young women.
   2. They were the result of an earlier, botched creation.
   3. They were monsters from the evil nation of Nephi.
   4. They were part of the "blessing of Abraham" that ensured military victory to God's chosen people.

10. What happened to Korah and his family, Israelites who thought they could deal directly with God without a human intermediary?

   1. They became priests.
   2. They were expelled from the nation of Israel.
   3. The earth opened and swallowed them up.
   4. They were stripped of all their belongings, houses, and livestock.

11. According to the bible, who created evil?

   1. Adam.
   2. Eve.
   3. God.
   4. Satan.

12. According to the bible, what is God not able to do?

   1. Save the very worst sinners from hell.
   2. Make a rock so huge he can't lift it.
   3. Repel chariots of iron.
   4. Make people tell lies.

13. According to the bible, where does God live?

   1. On a throne in the seventh heaven.
   2. In darkness.
   3. Above the clouds.
   4. On a planet between the sun and the stars.

14. According to biblical biology, what is a bat?

   1. A bird.
   2. A mammal.
   3. An insect.
   4. A mythical creature.

15. According to biblical anatomy, where does thinking happen?

   1. In the heart.
   2. In the brain.
   3. In the kidneys.
   4. In the lungs.

16. How did Gideon demonstrate his family values?

   1. He lived with a young boy named Jether.
   2. He and his wife Ophrah had three sons who became spiritual leaders.
   3. He fathered 71 sons through his "many wives" and a mistress in Shechem.
   4. He remained single, becoming the inspiration for St. Paul.

17. After Jephthah was victorious in battle, what sacrifice did he burn on the altar, as he had vowed to the Lord?

   1. Himself.
   2. His livestock.
   3. Two unspotted lambs.
   4. His virgin daughter.

18. What price did David pay King Saul for his first wife?

   1. 500 cattle.
   2. The heads of 100 Philistines.
   3. The foreskins of 200 Philistines.
   4. The swords, shields and horses of 300 Philistines.

19. How many sexual partners did King Solomon have?

   1. One wife and 300 concubines.
   2. One wife. (The concubines were servants.)
   3. 300 wives.
   4. One thousand sexual partners.

20. What happened to 42 little children who teased God's prophet Elisha for being bald and he cursed them in the name of the Lord?

   1. They were whipped by their parents.
   2. They and their descendants to five generations were forbidden to enter the tabernacle.
   3. Two bears came out of the forest and killed them all.
   4. They were forced to work seven years for the Levites as child slaves.

21. What reason did God give for tormenting Job?

   1. "Job was a sinner. He deserved it."
   2. "I didn't torment Job. Satan did it."
   3. "Satan dared me, so I destroyed Job for no reason at all."
   4. "I wanted to see how far a man would bend before breaking."

22. According to the bible, what does Satan look like?

   1. A skinny red man with horns and a pointed tail.
   2. A red dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns.
   3. A garden snake.
   4. An angel in a black robe.

23. How does the biblical god treat haughty women?

   1. He makes them barren.
   2. He puts scabs on their heads and uncovers their private parts.
   3. He takes away their gold and expensive clothing.
   4. The Holy Spirit causes them to feel shame for their arrogance.

24. In dollars (shekels), how much is a woman worth?

   1. Half a male.
   2. The same as a male.
   3. Twice as much as a male.
   4. Irrelevant. The bible does not put a financial value on human life.

25. What happens if a man despoils an engaged virgin in the city, and no one hears anything?

   1. The man should pay her father 100 shekels of silver.
   2. The man is stoned to death.
   3. The woman is stoned to death.
   4. They are both stoned to death.

26. What is the Mosaic Law punishment for being handicapped?

   1. You will be stoned to death.
   2. You must sacrifice two additional doves on the altar.
   3. You are not allowed in church.
   4. You must bathe for two months before entering the tabernacle.

27. According to the bible, when may a husband have sex with his wife?

   1. As often as he likes. She is his property.
   2. Not during her menstrual period.
   3. As often as he likes until the first son is born, then by mutual agreement.
   4. As often as the wife allows it.

28. How should you feel when you dash babies against the rocks?

   1. Happy.
   2. Ashamed.
   3. It depends if the babies were guilty or innocent.
   4. Nothing. It is all in God's hands.

29. How many human generations were there before Jesus?

   1. "More numerous than the stars."
   2. 144,000.
   3. 412.
   4. 62.

30. What Christmas tradition is expressly forbidden in the bible?

   1. Singing carols house-to-house.
   2. Exchanging gifts.
   3. Christmas trees.
   4. Kissing under the mistletoe.

31. According to Jesus, what must you do to have eternal life?

   1. Obey the law and keep all the sacraments.
   2. Sell everything you have and give all the money to the poor.
   3. Attend church regularly and tithe ten percent of your income to God.
   4. Confess your sins and ask Jesus to come into your heart.

32. According to Jesus, how should Christian disciples treat their parents?

   1. Parents should be loved, honored and cared for.
   2. Parents should be taken care of by the church community.
   3. Parents should be hated.
   4. Parents should be ignored--"Let the dead bury the dead"--because when you are born again, God becomes your true parent.

33. According to Jesus, how should slaves be treated?

   1. They should be beaten daily to keep them in line.
   2. They should be beaten for disobedience, but not more severely than they deserve.
   3. They should be treated humanely, as members of the family.
   4. They should be set free because slavery is wrong.

34. What did Jesus say about peace?

   1. "Peace on earth, good will toward men."
   2. "Don't think that I came for peace on earth. I came to start wars."
   3. "Each person makes their own peace, according to their faith and how they treat others."
   4. "There is no peace apart from God."

35. Which one of these phrases did Jesus not say about witnessing?

   1. "Thou shalt not bear false witness."
   2. "God is my witness."
   3. "If I bear witness of myself, it is true."
   4. "If I bear witness of myself, it is not true."

36. What personal sacrifice for "the kingdom of heaven" was Jesus talking about when he told his disciples, "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it"?

   1. Leave your family.
   2. Pluck out your eyes.
   3. Become poor.
   4. Castrate yourself.

37. According to New Testament medical advice, what should you do if you are sick?

   1. Seek medical help from doctors ordained by God.
   2. Ask the church elders to apply oil to your skin and pray for you.
   3. Ask Jesus or the elders to exorcise the evil spirits from your body.
   4. Kneel down before a brass serpent wrapped around a pole.

38. What does Paul prohibit a woman from wearing in church?

   1. A hat, or any head covering.
   2. Gold.
   3. Necklaces, bracelets or anklets.
   4. Men's clothing.

39. According to Paul, what is the role of women in the church?

   1. Women are equal to men in all respects.
   2. Women do the praying, singing and testifying, while men handle the preaching and finances.
   3. Women must keep silent. They should learn from their husbands at home.
   4. Women are not allowed in church except on high holidays.

40. What does Paul say about marriage?

   1. "I wish everyone were single like me."
   2. "Celibacy is a pagan practice."
   3. "Elders and deacons may have more than one wife."
   4. "If your feelings are only sexual, then don't get married."

41. Paul forbids divorce, but Jesus allows it under one circumstance. What is that circumstance?

   1. If the husband has sex outside of marriage.
   2. If the wife has sex outside of marriage.
   3. If either has sex outside of marriage.
   4. If the wife fails to produce a son.

42. What group of people will make it into the heavenly choir?

   1. Those who are "poor in spirit."
   2. Those who confess their sins and accept Jesus as their savior.
   3. God's chosen people, the Jews.
   4. 144,000 male virgins who have not been defiled with women.

43. Which one of these words is in the bible?

   1. Trinity.
   2. Liberal.
   3. Christmas.
   4. Rapture.

44. Where does the bible say that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights?

   1. The laws of Moses.
   2. Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.
   3. The Book of Revelation.
   4. Nowhere.

45. Should Christians allow nonbelievers into their homes?

    Yes. No.

46. Should Christian men kiss each other?

    Yes. No.

47. Should Christians always give what they have to anyone who asks for it?

    Yes. No.

48. Do the Ten Commandments prohibit Inbreeding or violation?

    Yes. No.

49. If you lose a lawsuit, should you pay exactly what the court decides?

    Yes. No.

50. Can Christians ask their boss for a raise?

    Yes. No.

(Unanswered questions will be counted wrong.)

NOTE If the "Submit" button doesn't work, see Bible Quiz Answers (minus your score).

@Olaadegbu
There is a huge problem with the 7 day creation story. The writers knew nothing about the speed of light and the vast distances between stars and galaxies in space.

It has been measured that Light travels at approx 186,000 miles per second, Yet it takes light from the nearest star to us, excluding the sun, four years to reach us. Other stars on the other side of our own galaxy are a hundred thousand light years away. This means that they must have existed at least a hundred thousand years ago for us to be seeing them now.
The next closest galaxy to ours is the Andromeda galaxy. This galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. How can all the billions of stars and planets in it have been created on the third day 6000 years ago. It must have existed at least 2.5 million years ago because it has taken the light from it 2.5 million years to reach us.

When you look at the objects in the night sky the light from them has taken millions of years to reach your eyes. Through the most powerful telescopes you can see distant galaxies that are over 13 billion years old.

How can we see things that are billions of light years away if it has not taken the light from these objects billions of years to reach us here on earth?

Why didn't the writers of genesis take this into consideration when they wrote the story? Did they not know about these scientific facts?

@olaadegbu

Good people do good things, bad people do bad things, but for good people to do bad things it takes religion. If you cannot see that offering your daughters to the mob is a bad thing then you are dangerously deluded. Anybody with a shred of human decency and love for their children would never do that. Would you? Think about it.

Here is the rest of the story of lot. (warning: explicit material)
http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/lot_raped_by_his_daughters/01_gn19_30.html


Here is a video that might help you understand why you think the way you do.
Mind control made easy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E


[img]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNSe5XYp6E[/img]

@olaadegbu

Maybe if you did a bit of honest enquiry and not just on creationist websites you will find the overwhelming amount of peer reviewed evidence in support of science.
Did you watch the documentary i posted earlier?

Here it is again.
Everything and Nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psHPx4YezdE

I would love to heard you opinion on it and if you learned anything from it.

If you believe that science confirms the bible, why is it that science says the earth is about 4 billion years old and the universe about 13 billion years old?

How old do you think the earth is?

I dont understand how anyone can read that story and not feel disgusted that a father could say that. His first line of duty is to protect his daughters. Any father that loves his daughters will try to protect his children and keep them safe no matter what.
How can he offer his daughters to the crowd to be gang raped and murdered and still be considered to be a good man? The whole story is ridiculous and gets a lot worse when his wife is murdered by God and he ends up getting drunk, shagging and impregnating them both, then blaming them for getting him drunk.

And the moral of the story is, ?

"Take my virgin daughters instead"

I think that a lot of people are aware of how sensitive indivdual C is and are scared to upset him in case he goes off on another murderous killing spree, whilst the more moderate advocates of his beliefs keep telling us that theirs is a religion of peace. 

Nice analagy.

So if individual C believed that the bread is holy bread and individual A or B decided to burn the bread,

Does individual C have the justification to kill individual D, E, F, G, H, I, and J.

Or is individual A or B to be held responsible because he should have known that individual C might react in this way.

Some people need to understand that what they consider 'holy' is not holy to others. You cannot go around murdering people because someone, somewhere has burned a book, drawn a cartoon of your leader or named a teddy bear mohammed.

@olaadegbu
If you watch the documentary it will answer a lot of the questions you have about the latest scientific discoveries relating to the origin and nature of the universe.

If you enjoy learning and educating yourself you should enjoy it.

@olaadegbu
Did you watch the documentary?
It would be very interesting to hear your opinion on it.

Science does not have all the answers yet, but its methods are revealing much more information than the gods of any religions ever have.
So many awe inspiring and enlightening discoveries about our universe have just recently been made.

Here is a link to a must see documentary about our journey of discovery to what we know today about our universe.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psHPx4YezdE

"Two-part documentary which deals with two of the deepest questions there are - what is everything, and what is nothing?
In two epic, surreal and mind-expanding films, Professor Jim Al-Khalili searches for an answer to these questions as he explores the true size and shape of the universe and delves into the amazing science behind apparent nothingness.

The first part, Everything, sees Professor Al-Khalili set out to discover what the universe might actually look like. The journey takes him from the distant past to the boundaries of the known universe. Along the way he charts the remarkable stories of the men and women who discovered the truth about the cosmos and investigates how our understanding of space has been shaped by both mathematics and astronomy."

Ok. so you think that its ok to murder the innocent inhabitants of a town because you believe that your god has given it to your people. How can you even attempt to try to justify this. This is genocide and a despicable crime against humanity.

Imagine how you would feel if you were going about you normal life in Jericho for instance where your people had lived for generations. Can you morally condone the merciless slaughter of your children, parents, friends and self by a fanatical army of ancient isrealites.
They were ordered by Yahweh to kill by the sword every single man, woman and child, then burn them all. If you dont see this as wrong then i rest my case. Religious indoctrination is a major threat to the peace on this planet. Can you imagine the carnage if you were one of those isrealites. With sword in hand you would be covered in the blood of your fellow human beings. Would you kill the parents first so they dont have to see their children being killed or kill the children first to put them out of their misery? Would you try to make it quick by decapitating them or chop their limbs off first to make them suffer even more?
Would you question your god's order to commit this evil act? or would you obey and do it?

As for isreal. You are right they don't stone people to death any more. They built illegal settlements on palestinian lands and use much more sophisticated weapons now like cluster bombs. How can you negotiate with people who believe that their god gave them this land, and muslims who believe that their god gave it to them and Isreal should be wiped off the face of the planet!

The world is not sinking. It is religious beliefs like these that are sinking.

its one thing to act in the direct opposite of what your religious text teaches and its another to have several passages in your religious text authorizing you to destroy everyone not practicing your religion and allowing them to live only if they opt to come under your authority

Exactly!!! But as you know in the bible there are several passages where there is no clause allowing them to live. I don't understand how people who consider themselves to be good can follow a book which directly instructs you to murder your family and neighbours.

Kill your family members;

"If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him.  Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you.  You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.  And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst."  (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB) 



Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

    "Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods.  In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully.  If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock.  Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it.  Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God.  That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt.  Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction.  Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you.  He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors.  "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him."  (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

Why do muslims call Islam the "religion of peace"? This make absolutely no sense to me.

As i said earlier. The world is a much more peaceful and stable place than it used to be in the past.
However, it seems like the biggest threat to the peace on this planet is religions. Especially the sheer narrow minded and blinkered views of those who think that they are the exclusive chosen ones by their god and everyone else is to be eradicated.

The world is not sinking. I hope that common sense will prevail in the end.

Help. I'm confused. According to the scriptures in Genesis, at what point did Satan disobey God and was thrown down to earth? I can't seem to fiind it anywhere.

Was it before the first day, or was it after Adam and Eve had been created?

And on what day was Satan and all the other angels created?

It was the devil who tempted Satan to disobey God.

The world is far from perfect, but if you look at recent or ancient history, it is a hell of a lot better now than it used to be.

There is nothing wrong with Non-Christians. They are good people too and dont need to be pitied by christians, even if you think they are all destined for hell.

The problem is that many people sincerely believe many different things about what happens after you die.
Have you ever considered the possibility that your heartfelt beliefs about the Jesus story could be wrong? Just like the story of Mohammed and the angel Gabriel could be wrong.
Otherwise you must think that most of the worlds population is destined for hell. It sounds like a huge failure of God's plan and such a waste of life.

However, there is a quite obvious intelligent solution to the impending hypothetical disaster.

Just like the story of Tinkerbell in peter pan. If you stop believing in fairies, they cease to exist.

It's the same with Gods.
All the Gods of history that humans have stopped believing in have ceased to exist.

This implies that that they are all a construct of human's imagination and the stories surrounding them are all fiction.

^^^^
So you believe that many paths can lead you to heaven, so long as you are a good person and live a good life.

You dont have to accept Jesus as your lord and saviour?

I know God is just in his judgement.

Please elaborate,

What if when you die you saw a sign on the gates of heaven saying "Muslims Only!!! (I do not have a son)".

What would you expect Allah's judgement on you to be?

Ok. sorry i misunderstood what you were saying. Thanks for clarrifying.

So you believe that accepting Jesus as your lord and personal savior is the only way into heaven.

Will all those billions of people around the world who do not, be turned away and sent to hell? Including all muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Humanists, etc etc.

Would you be destined for hell if you were born in china and spent all your life as a buddhist for example?