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petra22
Guest
Ah, so deep. I feel myself floating in the clouds trying to wrap my mind around the words-sssssssss.
Half of God's creation survives only because of the deaths of the other half?
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laocmo
Guest
And just how does all that useless salt in the oceans contribute to anything. Great bodies of fresh water would have plant life in them to create oxygen. And with fresh water everywhere, deserts like the Sahara would become breadbaskets. Lots of food, lots of good things to eat, no starvation and the wars it has developed over the centuries. Maybe a peaceful planet.
I’m certain given enough time and money we humans will develop methods for terraforming a place like Mars to be a much more human friendly place than the present Earth.
The_Reginator
Active member
I’ll try this again … my computer is messing up, or maybe it’s just Firefox.
I’ve copied my post from last night - I hope this works:
Well that was an interesting read.
The thread title drew me right is as it seemed odd for a Catholic discussion forum. I read the whole six (so far) pages.
Here’s an important aspect that applies to all this:
Trustful Surrender to
Divine Providence
I’ve copied my post from last night - I hope this works:
Well that was an interesting read.
The thread title drew me right is as it seemed odd for a Catholic discussion forum. I read the whole six (so far) pages.
Here’s an important aspect that applies to all this:
That’s from a marvelous little book by Father Jean Baptiste Saint-Jur and St. Claude de la Columbiere:
Trustful Surrender to
Divine Providence
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petra22
Guest
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fisherman_carl
Guest
The ocean’s do have plant life that creates oxygen. In fact 50-80% of the oxygen in our atmosphere comes from plankton in the ocean. The salt in the ocean comes from rain water washing off the rocks. Salt is a mineral and it is necessary for life. Fish can adapt to either salt water or not. Also, we now have the technology to get drinking water from the ocean. I would say that the salt was probably introduced over time into the ocean from erosion of rock minerals. If this is the case any large body of water would eventually become salty, even if you started from fresh water.
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fisherman_carl
Guest
What is amazing also is that God man Jesus Christ gave to Peter the keys and said whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.
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HelenRose
Guest
Yes.
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3DOCTORS
Guest
Saw this thread the other day and saved it; I know I’m a bit late to the party. 
But I’ll offer what I can.
I’m intending soon to start a blog encompassing Catholicism, science, and science fiction and though I’ll be the first to admit I’ll be learning on the fly, I’ve serendipitously (or miraculously, perhaps?
) stumbled upon various resources dealing with faith and science questions. One of these is the Vatican Observatory’s blog, where among other great finds are the essays of Fr. James Kurzynski. Here is a link to them:
vofoundation.org/blog/author/james-kurzynski/
Some may find these fascinating and helpful as I do.
That’s just one of many sources of inspiration and pondering. I’ve been watching National Geographic documentaries about discoveries in dinosaur evolution recently, which have deepened my understanding of that process, and raised questions at the same time. The dinosaurs were amazing creatures about which we are learning so many new details, correcting previous mistaken assumptions, etc. Quite a different world they lived in from ours today. And because of a rock from space striking the Earth, they died off and small mammals survived and from them eventually evolved monkeys and primates and . . . us.
I’ve also had an interest in Evo-Devo since I discovered what it is - Google it, read Sean B. Carroll’s books - fascinating stuff. I love to learn about DNA and hope to have my own DNA sequenced at the first opportunity.
This essay by Fr. Kurzynski ties together some of these threads and where they intersect with our faith in a recent post entitled “God and Creation: Irenaeus of Lyons and the Opulence of God.” Really, I suggest reading it, it may just knock your socks off.
vofoundation.org/blog/god-creation-irenaeus-lyons-opulence-god/
I hope I’m not being too random in this post - all this stuff has been swirling in my mind and connecting together and I hope somehow I can convey that connection. It crystallized for me in a moment of thinking a couple of days ago. It was a mini-epiphany. It occurred to me in a simple thought -
God loved every animal that ever lived. Whether it arose and died off, or lives today, or perhaps hasn’t even come into being yet but will. He loved those dinosaurs and the little rodents that supplanted them. I believe He hears the cry of the predator and the prey, and somehow, in ways we cannot comprehend, they are safe with Him. I’m not a pantheist, I don’t believe in worshipping the created over the Creator. But I believe if He “created them and found them good,” those aren’t just empty words.
Our own bodies are full of an entire biome of microorganisms. These are individual; even identical twins don’t have identical systems. It’s amazing. God is good. There is so much. So-called “Junk DNA” can hold potential down the line: scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-treasures-in-junk-dna/
Anything I’ve cited here is just random gleanings - there is much more that we know. And there is even more that we don’t know. But none of it is a reason to criticize God or think He doesn’t exist or doesn’t know what he’s doing. The more I learn, the more I am in awe and see His hand at work.
But I’ll offer what I can.I’m intending soon to start a blog encompassing Catholicism, science, and science fiction and though I’ll be the first to admit I’ll be learning on the fly, I’ve serendipitously (or miraculously, perhaps?
) stumbled upon various resources dealing with faith and science questions. One of these is the Vatican Observatory’s blog, where among other great finds are the essays of Fr. James Kurzynski. Here is a link to them:vofoundation.org/blog/author/james-kurzynski/
Some may find these fascinating and helpful as I do.
That’s just one of many sources of inspiration and pondering. I’ve been watching National Geographic documentaries about discoveries in dinosaur evolution recently, which have deepened my understanding of that process, and raised questions at the same time. The dinosaurs were amazing creatures about which we are learning so many new details, correcting previous mistaken assumptions, etc. Quite a different world they lived in from ours today. And because of a rock from space striking the Earth, they died off and small mammals survived and from them eventually evolved monkeys and primates and . . . us.
I’ve also had an interest in Evo-Devo since I discovered what it is - Google it, read Sean B. Carroll’s books - fascinating stuff. I love to learn about DNA and hope to have my own DNA sequenced at the first opportunity.
This essay by Fr. Kurzynski ties together some of these threads and where they intersect with our faith in a recent post entitled “God and Creation: Irenaeus of Lyons and the Opulence of God.” Really, I suggest reading it, it may just knock your socks off.
vofoundation.org/blog/god-creation-irenaeus-lyons-opulence-god/
I hope I’m not being too random in this post - all this stuff has been swirling in my mind and connecting together and I hope somehow I can convey that connection. It crystallized for me in a moment of thinking a couple of days ago. It was a mini-epiphany. It occurred to me in a simple thought -
God loved every animal that ever lived. Whether it arose and died off, or lives today, or perhaps hasn’t even come into being yet but will. He loved those dinosaurs and the little rodents that supplanted them. I believe He hears the cry of the predator and the prey, and somehow, in ways we cannot comprehend, they are safe with Him. I’m not a pantheist, I don’t believe in worshipping the created over the Creator. But I believe if He “created them and found them good,” those aren’t just empty words.
Our own bodies are full of an entire biome of microorganisms. These are individual; even identical twins don’t have identical systems. It’s amazing. God is good. There is so much. So-called “Junk DNA” can hold potential down the line: scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-treasures-in-junk-dna/
Anything I’ve cited here is just random gleanings - there is much more that we know. And there is even more that we don’t know. But none of it is a reason to criticize God or think He doesn’t exist or doesn’t know what he’s doing. The more I learn, the more I am in awe and see His hand at work.
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Aloysium
Guest
We are a new creation.
We are not animals, any more than animals are plants or star dust.
It is in the nature of creation that each successive level was built on what was (the earth) but constitutes a different, more sophisticated type of being.
DNA is an important part of our physical make up. As persons we are more than the physical.
We can relate as individual beings, communing with each other. Simple matter cannot do this. And, no animal has free will.
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oldcelt
Guest
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3DOCTORS
Guest
With respect, we are animals - we are in the class Mammalia. Yet we are also created in the image and likeness of God. This piece explains it nicely: catholic.com/tracts/adam-eve-and-evolution
Another resource - this book - if you want to delve into it really deeply: From Big Bang To Big Mystery, by Fr. Brendan Purcell. Here’s a review so you can get an idea of the book’s premise and scope: christendom-awake.org/pages/purcell/big-bang.htm
We are part of all of Creation - and we are special - these two need not be in conflict; we need not feel ashamed of being animals, and we should simultaneously feel in awe and gratitude that we are “little less than the angels.” A great mystery, difficult to wrap our minds around, which is why it’s easy to get tempted to reductionist arguments. Embrace the mystery!
“If the human body takes its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God.” --Pope St. John Paul II, in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 1996
“. . . every spiritual soul is created immediately by God.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church, #366
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fisherman_carl
Guest
Also, I was just thinking without the salt water in the ocean then it would freeze over in the winter. And nothing can grow in ice or produce oxygen.
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laocmo
Guest
Probably in the polar regions like now.
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petra22
Guest
Good one, fisherman. I’m glad God thought of that…
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tonyrey
Guest
A person who criticises Creation needs to produce a feasible blueprint of a superior universe. Please note that piecemeal improvements are inadequate…
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tonyrey
Guest
So do you, John! Not the same theories but others you have invented or borrowed.
Happy Easter!
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tonyrey
Guest
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HelenRose
Guest
I know when I need to stop spending time on these forums when I run across a statement like this. I am not sure if the desired effect is making someone who loves God clutch their hearts and faint for the sheer horror of it or if the comment in just a mental tape played back so often in his mind, that the writer has lost touch with grace, beauty and goodness.
But, for me I just have a weary sense that it is time for me to just back away, If someone who can not see and appreciate the wonder of God and His creation, there really is nothing I can do for them. My instinct is sarcasm but there is already far to much of that. I think that I will I will drive to the top of my beautiful Grand Mesa of the Rockies and look across the Western Colorado Valley that I love.
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tonyrey
Guest
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