Sandcastles In Real Time—Geologic Time vs Intelligent Design

Comparing human evolution to sandcastles—equal time comparison

Intelligent designers often use ridiculous metaphors to prove a need for god. This conversation happened on Steve Ruis (excellent blog) if you want to wade through it

JohnBranyan— “Do you believe sandcastles appear on the beach without an explanation”?

Jim—See my first answer. Don’t be ridiculous. Please.

Branyan— You didn’t answer the question, Jim.
If you believe brains come about by unguided, natural processes, why can’t sandcastles?

Jim—They do form naturally under the right circumstances given time (see pics)

Branyan—So your answer is, “Yes. Sandcastles appear on beaches without explanation.”

Branyan—This topic actually came up a couple of years ago when during a conversation with my 5-year old granddaughter. She was asked how sandcastles get on beaches. Her response was, “Somebody put it there.” We asked a clarifying question, “Can the waves build sandcastles?” She said, “No.” (this story is a lie)

I’ll tell her that you disagree and see if becomes an atheist. (She would already be one without your overt brainwashing)

Jim—You asked for naturally occurring sandcastles. They appear all the time in geologic time. You want to rush the process, but like the brain (apples to apples) it took a long, long time. You defining negligent parameters doesn’t fit anywhere and you know it. No species evolved in the time it takes to go to the beach. You want to guide the question to suit your answer. Doesn’t work in evolution or geology—only religion….Weird

Branyan—”Well done, Jim.
You have thoroughly debunked the sandcastle argument—”No species evolved in the time it takes to go to the beach.”
Boom”.

He then backpedaled to add some old and irrelevant switching of goalposts, moving from sandcastles to televisions on the beach.

Jim—Actually john, those sandstone mesas used to be in the very ocean, battling the very waves of which you speak. It actually fits perfectly—in evolutionary and geologic time. And as far as the tv on the beach, that too, is proof intelligent design only comes after evolution—of the human brain.

Author: jimoeba

Alternatives to big box religions and dogmas

47 thoughts on “Sandcastles In Real Time—Geologic Time vs Intelligent Design”

  1. The moving of goalposts and then the predictable “Bravo, well done, lol or whatever” responses from certain people get rather tiring. The childish answers to serious questions in a serious discussion are indicative of someone wanting to disagree yet not having any legitimate rebuttals to do so. It’s the old “I know you are but what am I?” argument. I don’t have patience for such childlike behavior…and I’m younger (much younger) than those who are guilty of it.

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    1. And it really doesn’t matter how thoroughly you debunk the argument, it’s just one silly proposal after another. What about this or that. How the hell do you go from sandcastles to televisions? Religion.

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      1. If you were ever a real Christian Jim, you’d know there is no debunking Christianity or creationism. We’re on the outside, looking in. Out here we have a fundamental misunderstanding of scripture. We have no basis for our arguments and we’ll never understand the mystery. I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with not understanding what some of these people are saying and believing.

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        1. They do say that. The funny part is I’m pretty sure I understand as well if not better than they. That’s why I’m here. The key to understanding religion is integrity.

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          1. I’m pretty sure we all have the same material to work with. The arrogance that some people have when they say that they can read the truth in the text ,while we misinterpret it, is appalling. It shouldn’t take a theology degree to read and understand the words a god supposedly left for the poor and uneducated people of ancient times to follow. Where exactly in scripture does it say that only a select few will be able to discern God’s wisdom? Is it not for all to understand and live by? Are the lessons not for all to learn and to teach others, making disciples of them? This elitist version of God that only speaks to the likes of the clergy is a god of their own creation.

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            1. When the Bible was first translated into English it was considered a heinous crime by the Catholic church , only ordained priests were allowed to interpret and that must be from a Latin version. English Bibles were burnt by the Catholic church , it some cases they purchased the new version to burn it. Later in the reformation the Catholics pointed out that such madness has led to many groups all with different beliefs.
              The argument that only a small elite group can dictate to the masses is still very much alive and well — surely letting everyone have their say would lead to chaos.

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            3. That’s interesting and puzzling empirically as the Devil is usually the one depicted with horns at the ready to inflict injury. There is no extrabiblical evidence for the historical existence of Moses , modern scholarly consensus is that he was a legendary figure. The curious thing about human nature is we often make fictional characters of lasting importance . Take Oliver Twist he never really asked for more or existed

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    1. Being from India I may need to explain. A Christian argument for intelligent design, or god creating the earth is an analogy. If you see a sandcastle on the beach, do you assume it just appeared there by chance, or that someone created it? They think this is analogous to the existence of the earth. Must have been created, right? Because it’s here. The evolution of species, the development of the human brain they claim was created by God, that it couldn’t have evolved. But, evolution is saying different. It’s a convoluted argument they use to try to trick the uneducated. But given enough time, these things do happen, and as evidenced in the photos, did happen.
      They insist on comparing a day trip to the beach to the evolution of species over billions of years. It’s a ridiculous argument that has been around a long time. They have to use word play because they have no evidence the world was “created”. If it was created, it is therefore artificial, not natural at all—contrived. They can’t wrap their heads around that either.

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        1. Outside of religious belief it is not even controversial. It is even being witnessed time and again in multiple species as we speak. You have time for an hour long video?

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            3. An outsider can see this pretty easily. They use convincing little snippets and then help you answer the question of a topic you’ve never thought of (and rightfully so, it’s silly) and take you down a path to prove their god. A very specific god. Not Zeus or Brahma, but Jesus.

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  3. They, believers, are allowed to twist words and phrases, but non-believers are not. We are supposed to stick to very narrow definitions, not of our choice, but theirs. Leave them sitting in their sandcastles, or whatever their tongue-twister of the day, and let them rot. Engaging them makes them feel intelligent, in their minds, when intelligence is the property of ahe non-believer. Belief overrides intelligence, even that of geniuses. Leave them to it. Let them discover for themselves how long they have to wait for a fully-built sandcastle to fall on them. It will keep them amused for millenia, and stop them from harming others. No one with intelligence will wait with them.

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    1. You just reminded me, the fool built his house on the sand, and here Branyan is building his religious defense out of sandcastles. You are genius rawgod! Thanks man for stoping by.

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      1. Lol, Jim, you are so easy to fool. Genius is just being in the right place at the right time. You are the real genius for reading what I am saying, and seeing what I did not see. Yay, men.

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  5. Branyan is much like a child sitting on its potty threatening not to poo unless you give it a sweetie.
    Best just to ignore Branyan, and let him go back to taking Viagra to get a hard on.

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    1. I thought Steve’s blog could enjoy the add-ons to the bran yawns. He’s back on Ruis’ new post today. I don’t have the patience at the moment.

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  6. Branyan jumps on his sandcastle analogy. But, alas, it is only made of sand which cannot support even the light weight of his argument. He falls onto the beach and the waves wash him back out to sea. As he struggles to stay afloat offshore, he utters one final proclamation to puzzled onlookers: “I shall return!”

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  7. Like Marilyn Monroe once said to her shoe cobbler, Mark McBiggly, “Mark, the biggest problem I have with the intelligent design theory is there ain’t one friggin’ intelligent thing about it. Oh, please use the red leather for my new sandals. I think it makes me feet look just spiffy!”

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  8. I have never seen a sand castle that was not either being build by, or destroyed by a person. No lone castles. I have been to some awesome shows where the sand art experts do their thing. Again, no loners. If I did find one as I walked the beach, I am sure that I would immediately conclude that there obviously exists one or more gods. I know a spiritual miracle when I see one. I am not so foolish as to pass up a random, intelligently designed sand castle.

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  9. I believe the slang term is “sealioning.” Sealioning is the name given to a specific, pervasive form of aggressive cluelessness, that masquerades as a sincere desire to understand. … A Sealion is a person who, when confronted with a fact that they don’t care to acknowledge, say, the persistence of systemic racism in America, will ask endlessly for “proof” and insist that it is the other person’s job to stop everything they are doing and address the issue to their satisfaction.

    I believe that is what happened here in this exchange.

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    1. Nice. I thought sealioning would be to pop back in the water when approached and then pop back up somewhere else. I think that fits too. Lol. Good to see you.

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  10. Just south of where I live is a state park that has hiking trails that go through a section of sand stone, I think of it as a miniature Grand Canyon. They have sand stone that appears to look like honey comb, some that has been smoothed and grooved by the wind, it is eye candy! There is a geological process to it. A few hours further south, I can go into caves with drip stone, Stalagmite and Stalactites. Had I followed religion, I might think they are a gift from god, lol, but since I know the scientific process…
    Branyon is still around? Lol

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