From: bill@bain3.bain.oz.au (Bill Richardson)
Subject: Re: Is evolution contrary to creation?
Organization: Bain & Company, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 01:17:52 GMT


Reply to Charles & Mark

I only know what I quote ... the information is from a book called 'The 
Fingerprint Of God' by Hugh Ross. I quote from page 128


the earth as a fit habitat

It is not just the universe that bears evidence for design. The earth itself 
reveals such evidence. Frank Drake, Carl Sagan, and Iosef Shklovsky were among
the first astronomers to concede this point in attempting to estimate the
number of planets (in the universe) with environments favorable for life
support. In the early 1960s they recognized that a certain kind of star with a
planet just the right distance from that star would provide the necessary
conditions for life. On this basis they made optimistic estimates for the 
probability of finding life elsewhere in the universe. Shklovsky and Sagan, for
example claimed that .001 percent of all stars could have a planet capable of
supporting advanced life.
While their analysis was a step in the right direction, it overestimated the
range of permissable star types and the range of permissable planet distances.
It also ignored *many* other significant factors. Some sample parameters 
sensitive for the support of life are listed in Table 12.1.


Table 12.1: Evidence for the design of the sun-earth-moon system.

The following parameters cannot exceed certain limits without disturbing a
planet's capacity to support life. Some of these parameters are more confined
than others. For example ....

1. number of stars in the planetary system
2. parent star birth date
3. parent star age
4. parent star distance from centre of galaxy
5. parent star mass 
6. parent star colour
7. surface gravity
8. distance from parent star
9. axial tilt
10. rotation period
11. gravitational interaction with moon
12. magnetic field
13. thickness of crust
14. albedo
15. oxygen to nitrogen ration in atmosphere
16. carbon dioxide and water vapour levels in atmosphere
17. ozone level in atmosphere
18. atmospheric electric discharge rate
19. oxygen quantity in atmosphere
20. seismic activity

(Actual figures removed by me .. I can scan and post the pages if requested.)

...safely to the conclusion that much fewer than a trillionth of a trillionth
of a percent of all stars will have a planet capable of sustaining advanced
life. Considering that the universe contains only about a trillion galaxies,
each averaging a hundred billion stars, we can see that not even one planet
could be expected, by natural processes alone . ......


Creator or chance?

.. William Lane Craig: Suppose a dozen sharpshooters are sent to execute a
prisoner  by firing squad, and the prisoner survives. The prisoner could
conclude, since he is alive, that all the sharpshooters missed by some
extremely unlikely chance. He may wish to attribute his survival to an
incredible bit of good luck, but he would be far more rational to conclude that
the guns were loaded with blanks or that the sharpshooters all deliberately
missed.


 


As I said, I ommitted some of the passage due to time. If you would liked a
scanned copy, please let me know.


quoted from The Fingerprint Of God by Hugh Ross
published by Promise Publishing Company, Orange, California 92667
ISBN 0-939497-18-12




Regards


-- 
**\ Bill Richardson                      Mail: bill@bain3.bain.oz.au       //\\
**/ A/P DBBGS, Bain & Co Sydney, Aust.   Ph: +61 2 258 1512 (fax 258-1000)   //
**\       Looking for the secret, searching for the sound                   ||
**/       But I can only here the preacher and the baying of his hound.     **
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