Science, Religion:
JoT re K re Various

"Obviously evolution exists."

Even the die-hard creationists admit this one. They contend, however, that speciation does not exist. That is, a species can evolve but not into a different species. It is common for believers to abondon verfiable (and verifiably false) tenets in favor of unverifiable tenets.

"If there is no creator, no supreme being, where did the universe come from?"

That's a good question to which I have no ready answer. If someone wants to propose a creator (or creators) that are self-created in order to explain the origin of the universe, that's fine by me. I'd have a term for that self-creating creator: the universe.

As to Anselm's proof of God's existence (a favorite philosophical stunt of mine), the key to your quote is this: " [T]o have a thought of God in our mind alone is a negation to his existence as defined." If you use a definition of God to prove God's existence, you're cheating. Like, I could define an "invisible pink unicorn" as "a creature that exists" and thereby prove that an invisible pink unicorn exists, as defined.

"Wow, that was long, and hopefully not too convoluted, and tangent prone."

Convoluted and tangential is what I'm all about.

"... the ONLY figurative interpretation Lutherans have of the entire Bible"

I was raised Lutheran, went to a Lutheran college, and have a cousin who's a Lutheran minister. While there are Missouri Synod Lutherans who are extremely conservative, the ELCA Lutherans (the majority in the US) are progressive. Most ELCA Lutherans (especially the clergy) understand a lot of the Bible to be figurative. I went to college with a Lutheran literalist who knew that his literalism was going to give him trouble when he tried to enter an ELCA seminary.

"I like your theory of Paul-Saul, it's interesting perspective that I hadn't heard "

You haven't heard it before becuase I invented it myself. It's one of my original ideas that I'm most proud of.

" I'd like to see your take on Cain being 'marked, so that others would know his crime.' Who are these others? Where did they come from?"

The curious thing is that Cain's mark was meant to protect him, not to punish him. It's been misunderstood to be a curse, which is where the Mormons, et al, got the idea that Cain's curse was dark skin. I'd like a good answer to the question of who Cain was afraid of. Cain worrying about other people killing him is a non sequitur, since the only "other people" are his mom and dad. My best explanation is that the story of Cain and Abel started as its own story, separate from Adam and Eve. It makes perfect sense as a story about two brothers, if not as the a story about the third and fourth people in the world. At some point, it got stitched onto the story of Adam and Eve, and it no longer makes any sense.

—JoT
July 2003

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Gay Pride Parade, Seattle, 2003

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