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Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:55 pm
by Perry Lassiter
It's 6000 years, which should clear up a lot! :D But still leaves the problem of the ashes at a tower in Jericho that radio-carbon date to 9000 BCE.

The bigger question is how did the world undergo subduction without duct tape?

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:55 pm
by Philip Hudson
The Bishop of Ussher created the 6000 year old Earth in 1650. Actually, he created the 6000 year old Universe. God, for whom a thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years, took his own good time and I am not going to second guess him.

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:09 am
by call_copse
Ah, a reference to the six days of creation each lasting a thousand years I guess? Well, even (personal hero) Newton went with 6000 years. It was fashionable before Ussher though - I'm pretty sure the Venerable Bede thought 6 millennia adequate.

Anyhow, second guessing is not really needed - we have fairly credible evidence for an age of 4.54 billion years for the Earth, give or take a percent or so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:08 pm
by Philip Hudson
No, each of the six days of creation do not amount to 1000 years. In the Bible, a thousand years mean a "long long time". The Bible is not a science book. I am sure God "knew"* the Bishop of Ussher would calculate the age of the universe the way he did, but the Bishop's opinion is not Holy Writ. Unbelievers have much more trouble than most Christians understanding what part of the Bible is historical, symbolic, theological. etc.

* God is not in space or time so there is no real way to think about what he "knows" about the future since he created time.

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:32 pm
by Slava
Is there any hope we can cease to discuss religious beliefs and get back to words?

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:58 am
by call_copse
Sorry Slava, probably my fault, I thought the xkcd cartoon was excellent and relevant to the meaning of subduction, and worth a post, and though I should not have japed at the end, I meant it jocularly.

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 1:50 pm
by Perry Lassiter
It's ok, lain. Slava is our strict-constructionist who tried to bring us back to some semblance of order when we fly our kites too high.

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:00 pm
by Slava
I, too, thought the cartoon excellent. It's just that I worry when we get too close to the edge. Religion is a very dangerous topic in many ways, and a prime candidate for the application of Godwin's law.

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:21 pm
by bamaboy56
Great gatekeeping, Slava!

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:46 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Would you believe David Letterman last night showed a box of Peeps! He then produced ordinary mushrooms and tried to shape them into chicks and color them yellow with a marker. Finally he popped one into his mouth, gagged, leaned over not quite out of sight and spit it out. No subduction though, although I bet the set had a. Lot of duct tape here and there!

Re: SUBDUCTION

Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:57 pm
by LukeJavan8
So glad I spend that time with a good book.