Why are there no fossils of rabbits in pre-Cambrian and Cambrian rocks?

What are stromatolites?

What is the end-permian extinction event?

What are dinosaurs?

What is cognitive dissonance?


I bet none of you honest Christians can answer these questions. I would like to be proved wrong.



References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX_WH1bq5HQ...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA_UFImmulY...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxLR9hdorI...ature=rec-fresh

What are stromatolites?
I will have to look that up before answering this, if I can.

What is the end-permian extinction event?
It is a theory.This means that it is not a scientifically established fact.

What are dinosaurs?
Animals that are now extinct. They are another family of animals that is not reptile, mammal, bird, plant nor fish. Why does this matter?

What is cognitive dissonance?
I will have to look that up before answering this, if I can.

You can be a Christian and still believe in the Big Bang, Evolution, etc. I think that God triggered the big bang, and let things go their course, interfereing from time to time like a cook stirring a pot of soup to ensure things go right.
Not believing in Evolution or dinosaurs is rather odd, given the massive bulk of irrefutable evidence supporting their existance.

Pointus,

Have you read this book? Instead of asking here, in forum without many biologists, why not go directly to a biologist to see what he has to say.....

Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution (Paperback) by Kenneth R. Miller

I DARE you to!

Beware: it may cause you to move into the camp of faith (especially near the end of the book)!

pointus,

QUOTE

Why are there no fossils of rabbits in pre-Cambrian and Cambrian rocks?

Possibly because the seeming "stratification" of complexity of fossil forms (which by no means is universal or clear-cut) could be explained by mobility of the creatures - less mobile creatures (generally those that are "less complex") would be found at lower levels, while more mobile creatures would have sought higher ground to escape the rapidly rising waters of the Flood.

QUOTE

What are stromatolites?

From Wikipedia:

QUOTE

Stromatolites (from Greek στρώμα, strōma, mattress, bed, stratum, and λιθος, lithos, rock) are layered accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae)....

Stromatolites were much more abundant on the planet in Precambrian times. While older, Archean fossil remains are presumed to be colonies of single-celled blue-green bacteria, younger (that is, Proterozoic) fossils may be primordial forms of the eukaryote chlorophytes (that is, green algae). One genus of stromatolite very common in the geologic record is Collenia. The earliest stromatolite of confirmed microbial origin dates to 2,724 million years ago.

Stromatolites are a major constituent of the fossil record for about the first 3.5 billion years of life on earth, with their abundance[verification needed] peaking about 1250 million years ago. They subsequently declined in abundance and diversity, which by the start of the Cambrian had fallen to 20% of their peak. The most widely-supported explanation is that stromatolite builders fell victims to grazing creatures: implying that sufficiently complex organisms were common over 1 billion years ago.

Does that help? I have to say, though, that there is a whole lot of speculation going on in the above. "The most widely-supported explanation" should read "the most widely-accepted explanation", actually. And, the conditions prior to the Flood could explain the greater pre-Flood abundance of stromatolites by noting at least one likelihood: prior to the Flood, there apparently would have been more areas of "shallow water" (where stromatolites thrive). In any case, I do not see how stromatolites would argue against the Creation account given in the Bible.

QUOTE

What is the end-permian extinction event?

Again from Wikipedia:

QUOTE

The Permian–Triassic (P–Tr) extinction event, informally known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred 251.4 million years ago, forming the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods. It was the Earth's most severe extinction event, with up to 96 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct; it is the only known mass extinction of insects. Because so much biodiversity was lost, the recovery of life on earth took significantly longer than after other extinction events. This event has been described as the "mother of all mass extinctions".

The pattern of extinction is still disputed, as different studies suggest one to three different pulses. There are several proposed mechanisms for the extinctions; the earlier peak was likely due to gradualistic environmental change, while the later was probably due to a catastrophic event. Possible mechanisms for the latter include large or multiple bolide impact events, increased volcanism, or sudden release of methane hydrates from the sea floor; gradual changes include sea-level change, anoxia, and increasing aridity.

It is obvious to me that they are describing the results of the Flood - mass extinctions, especially of marine life. The "fountains of the deep" being opened could have resulted in the deaths, and extinctions, of a large number of marine animals. Furthermore, the Bible does not say what was the "triggering" mechanism for the Flood - God might have used the impact from a large asteroid, or from several large asteroids, to cause the Flood (perhaps causing a "chain reaction" in opening the "fountains of the deep", which were apparently associated with the continental ridge lines, or something like this).

QUOTE

What are dinosaurs?

Big, scary reptile-like creatures which now live in deep Scottish lakes, and never allow themselves to be clearly filmed. It would seem that God decided to kill them off after the Flood (likely the new conditions on the Earth led to their failing to thrive and survive, though perhaps some have lived on in remote locations).

QUOTE

What is cognitive dissonance?

I should think you would know.

Actually, Pointus, you may have been asking the wrong question of us. You asked about whether we knew what cognitive dissonance was, but I think you may have really been wanting to ask whether we have confirmation bias?

[b]Confirmation bias:[/b

]In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. It is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference, or as a form of selection bias toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study or disconfirmation of an alternative hypothesis.

Confirmation bias is of interest in the teaching of critical thinking (non-cognitive dissonance), as the skill is misused if rigorous critical scrutiny is applied only to evidence challenging a preconceived idea but not to evidence supporting it.[1]

I think you (Pointus) may be trying to accuse us of confirmation bias when you, Pointus, may be the one actually guilty of it.

Let me share with you a tidbit from Brother Lawrence regarding this very subject:

"All the comfort I need can be found in the privilege of suffering just because it is His desire that I suffer. In a little time, I will go to God. What comforts me in this life is that I now see my Lord by faith. In seeing Him by faith I actually see so well I sometimes say, "I believe no more! I see!" I can feel what faith teaches; I can sense what faith sees. This of course, works great assurance in me. In that assurance and in that practice of faith, I will live and die with Him. So continue always with God. To be with Him is really your only support and your only comfort during affliction."

We are in a cycle of which came first the chicken or the egg? You say "we have confirmation bias - our faith" that prevents us from proper critical thinking (confirmation bias), and we feel the same about you (you won't go at it by faith - only intellectually- or without faith). But, the thing about faith that Brother Lawrence brings up, though, is that if you seek Him sincerely by faith, you can sense Him now and have the reassurance you are seeking. Logically speaking, if He exists and wants us to approach Him by the method He set out (faith), you'll never be able to prove He does/ does not exist with your intellect because He is sooooooooooooo far above us that He can put scientific blocks that would prevent the most intelligent human from ever doing it (such as the probablity factor in quatum physics which prevents proof of miracles, etc...)? Since by intellect you cannot prove whether He exists, or not, why not go the only possible way to solve your dilemma and sincerely seek Him by faith? If you will, you will know whether He truely exists or not.

1) You say proof/assurance first, then faith (this would make you a robot/slave - forcing you to love Him - no potential for true love)
2) He says faith first, then reassurance (this is Him giving you the freedom to love Him -and the option not to - but the only potential for true love)

option 2 is clearly the better option

I think I ate some stomowhatever the other night.
I wasn't around when these creatures (now called dinosauers) ate the rabbits probably with the bones.
I would like to know what a stromatolite is.
Do tell!

What is oil? Have you ever seen how rabbits decompose? The same thing with all of the dino's and every other living organism of the time. You have fossils because the normal decaying process is stopped somehow, either by freezing or some other solidifying event.



They might be the biblical behemoth and leviathan. I believe all of the animals in the biblical times were so much larger than they are now but through the process of supply and demand, the foodstuff that keeps the animals alive has diminished to the point of making the herds so small. And that goes back to the supply of oil in the earth.



Cognitive dissonance is the stress caused by holding two opposing beliefs and either not modifying one or discarding one. Now confirmation bias is the result of the prevention of the dissonance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance



I believe all life on earth evolved from stromatolites. Go to the moon of Jupiter and possibly Jupiter itself and you may find the surface dotted with stromatolites. Stromatolites gave the early-earth atmosphere oxygen which caused the stomatolite to evolve into eukaryotic organisms [because of what oxygen does].



It could have been the sun exploding.

Pontius,
i like you. you ask provocative questions, that makes people think. that's good. where do you get all of it?

regarding creation, find dr dino's website on creation and evolution. i think it is www.drdino.com. something to that extend. i believe in a very literal six day creation and that dinosaurs lived with man on the earth before the flood. if you get kent hovind's (dr dino) dvd's, it will explain everything you might need to know regarding "ancient fossils" and all the rest.

stay out of trouble.

blessings.