I'm curious what you mean that the process of evolution somehow goes against the first law of thermodynamics. New life forms continue to pop up, to be discovered, to confound science. I would think tending toward order rather than chaos would look more like the number of life forms DEcreasing rather than INcreasing. But that's not what happens. It's also important to note that we have a tendency as humans to look at everything in our own time scale (this shortcoming is a byproduct of our own evolution, actually!), so what might look orderly to us for a couple of thousand years might be just a blip on the cosmic calendar, you know?
By saying they are discovered doesn't mean that they just evolved. We haven't found every animal there is non Earth and new species are showing up all the time. Within a "kind" of animal, there will always be new ones showing up, but it will only be within that kind. Such as dogs, they will come out with new breeds of dog, but never a new breed of dog/cat mix. They can't reproduce within their kind to each other. I know that a cat and a rabbit can produce a "cabbit" or a donkey and horse will produce a mule, but those off spring cannot reproduce themselves. The gene pool is too mixed up at that point.
With the whole idea of the law of thermodynamics, cells will deteriorate, die off, need to reproduce itself, etc. We, as living things, are constantly dying. Other non-living things are constantly decomposing. At what point does a non-living, non-thinking item turn against the dying and decomposition and decide that it will become greater or more than what it is? Something has to be programmed into a body to know what to do with waste and then know how to reproduce itself to keep the whole body alive. I know time can do anything in an evolution theory, but can time even create life out of nothing?
Speaking of time, there are a lot of measurable things that can help us determine the age of the Earth. All these actually point to a world that is about 12K to 6K years old, depending on the variables. Take these same measurables and run them out even 100K years and the world doesn't exist. I'd have to dig these up.
BTW, I'm not sure if you ever looked into this, but the "Gods" of evolution are time and earth. It is steeped in Greek mythology with Father Time (Chronos) and Mother Earth (Gaia). Maybe a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting.
But then I'd point out that it only takes ONE TIME for life to arise from non-life for that to no longer be true.
I would agree except we know living things are dependent upon a system of other things. For example, if an single celled organism were to be "created" then where is it's food or energy? Is the environment habitable? Does it have another to reproduce with? Even within a single cell, there are multiple items that have to be within it to make it function. ALL those items are needed for this thing to survive. So, we either have the impossible happening (life created from nothing) and having it to happen millions of times (I'm assuming) in order for this one living cell to survive and reproduce again to create the life we know now. If it happens so freely, then we should be able to see it happen over and over again today and it should be observable.
I would point out the Urey Miller experiments
Neat experiment to say the least, but same concept as above. You can create the amino acids, but what about the rest? Can that same spark source put those acids in order? Were the conditions right for life to begin in the first place? There are a TON of variables for this to happen. I tried to look up the mathematical chances of this happening to to turn into "life", but came up with nothing on google. (I didn't look very hard)
What's this have to do with evolution? I'm not a huge geology guy, but I would imagine some research might reveal things like glaciers that aren't there anymore, I don't know, never looked into it. I don't know why this is here, but it definitely doesn't touch on any evolutionary topic. I'm curious about what you think is "wishful" about it, though. What is it "wishing" to do?
I agree this was out of context, but my point was that evolutionists will state whatever they wanted to prove a point regardless of the facts. They are trying to sham the population. I understand that there are plenty of religious scam artists, so I am not saying that all evolutionists are evil and all religious people are good. Far from it. I think most people are a lot like me, trying to find their way and will follow what sounds good to them and there a plenty of bad people in all walks of life and in every social crust.
To answer the question, there seems to be a large lake (now dry) to the north of the canyon. More than likely glacial melt, snow cover and a earthen dam broke flooding the canyon tearing thru it. Therefore, a lot of water over a short time.
The whole wishful thinking is trying to pull the slight of hand hoping that others won't see. I.E. "Grand canyon is formed by a river almost a mile below the surface. This can help prove our millions of years theory and hope nobody notices that the elevation difference since we see it as it is now." In fact, I googled this and it still says the Colorado carved it out.
This is the question of intercessory prayer and what it's good for, but another topic for another time :). I'm mainly curious about how believers square all this without recognizing how closely this all resembles a coping mechanism and an abusive relationship all at the same time. I know that sounds like I'm being condescending, but I promise you having had several very close encounters with this mechanism, I am not. I admired when my aunt and uncle kept their faith after their eldest son drowned, but I couldn't understand it either.
It's a mystery to me and one that does frustrate me. I wish there was more clarity to all this stuff. I went to church last night (as I go 4 times a week) and the message specifically was about the power of God able to do great things. It made me wonder how much does God get involved in our lives. I mean, God is ever present in a time of need, but not present when we feel He is needed the most? Don't get me wrong, I have had God directly answer prayers that I have said out of frustration (meaning, not being sincere) within seconds. I know he exists and the proof is too insurmountable to me. My issue is making this all make sense in my mind and with my life.
The salvation message is clear. The "how to" on being a Christian is also very clear, but when it comes to knowing the mind of God and the "why's" of it all, it remains a mystery. I am a "why" kind of person and it makes me pull my hair when I can't figure out the intentions of a person.
Funny you bring up the intercessory prayer. I have always heard of stories of people being woke up in the middle of the night saying that they felt a need to pray for someone. I have always thought that odd since the same God that would wake you up with a friend or loved one on your mind would be the same God to help the one suffering. Why doesn't God just the help the person in need and let me sleep? I rationalized that it is not God waking anyone up, but rather a sixth sense built into all of us that when a loved one is suffering, we feel it too. Just like the premonitions that someone has died, they can feel the emotional or spiritual pull on their hearts/minds.
I find this is pretty common. Really I think the key difference between a believer and a non believer is that a non believer simply stops at "we don't know the answer," where the believer appends "So it's probably [diety]."
I actually enjoy investigating something I don't know and I'm not afraid to question it. When I ask questions, I get answers! :) I refuse to just say "oh, it's the way God made it." and even if God did make it that way, then why.