Blackadder wrote:
Oh, not the old, threadbare god of the gaps argument again. Really? Aren't you embarrassed to post such intellectually vacant rubbish?

Wortfish wrote:

Blackadder wrote:
Oh, not the old, threadbare god of the gaps argument again. Really? Aren't you embarrassed to post such intellectually vacant rubbish?

No. I am just saying that 300 years of science has not provided an explanation to replace the ancient belief in the divine generation of thunderbolts. Maybe it is time to admit that there may be more than just electrons behind the phenomenon.

Scot Dutchy wrote: If it took seven days for a poultry earth; how many for the rest of the universe

Wortfish wrote:300 years of science has not provided an explanation to replace the ancient belief in the divine generation of thunderbolts.

Hermit wrote:

Wortfish wrote:300 years of science has not provided an explanation to replace the ancient belief in the divine generation of thunderbolts.

Or rainbows, for that matter. It's just so much more satisfying, not to mention useful, to imagine that rainbows are not merely a matter of light refracting through raindrops or mist, but that they are God's reminder to his own self not to drown planet earth once more. There's a side benefit too: We can waste our time wondering where all that water came from that was needed for such a deluge, and where it has disappeared to afterwards. It's truly mysterious, for it seems that right now there is only just enough water on the planet to raise water levels by another 80 metres once every crystal of ice has melted. Mount Ararat is 3,611metres high, and the Himalayas more than twice that much.

Blackadder wrote:
Your fuckwit ancestors believed thunderbolts were being physically thrown from the fingertips of human-like gods. That’s been the full extent of religion’s contribution to the study of lightning, something people like you will try to obfuscate with your usual dishonest tactics. Scientific endeavour is rather more honest and productive than pulling god out of your sphincter every time we have a gap in our knowledge.

laklak wrote:We're still studying, in great detail, how lightning is formed. There is agreement on the general process, but the details are not completely known, particularly for the roughly 75% of lightning events that are incredibly difficult to study. We have a much better understanding of cloud to ground, because it's easy to find someplace to put the instrumentation, but that only makes up about 25% of events. There's a great deal of research going on, and we don't know it all yet.

Wortfish wrote:

Blackadder wrote:
Your fuckwit ancestors believed thunderbolts were being physically thrown from the fingertips of human-like gods. That’s been the full extent of religion’s contribution to the study of lightning, something people like you will try to obfuscate with your usual dishonest tactics. Scientific endeavour is rather more honest and productive than pulling god out of your sphincter every time we have a gap in our knowledge.

I think the idea of gods chucking thunderbolts should be interpreted poetically and metaphorically. However, I find it amusing that scientists cannot explain a very regular natural phenomenon with reference to natural causes. Perhaps lightning is a manifestation of divine power as much as it is electrostatic discharge.

laklak wrote:The Earth is the universe. The rest is just a light show.

Wortfish wrote:

Blackadder wrote:
Your fuckwit ancestors believed thunderbolts were being physically thrown from the fingertips of human-like gods. That’s been the full extent of religion’s contribution to the study of lightning, something people like you will try to obfuscate with your usual dishonest tactics. Scientific endeavour is rather more honest and productive than pulling god out of your sphincter every time we have a gap in our knowledge.

I think the idea of gods chucking thunderbolts should be interpreted poetically and metaphorically.

However, I find it amusing that scientists cannot explain a very regular natural phenomenon with reference to natural causes. Perhaps lightning is a manifestation of divine power as much as it is electrostatic discharge.

Wortfish wrote:

laklak wrote:We're still studying, in great detail, how lightning is formed. There is agreement on the general process, but the details are not completely known, particularly for the roughly 75% of lightning events that are incredibly difficult to study. We have a much better understanding of cloud to ground, because it's easy to find someplace to put the instrumentation, but that only makes up about 25% of events. There's a great deal of research going on, and we don't know it all yet.

I am not claiming that there are not physical principles involved in lightning...just that there may be more to it than just physics.

Scot Dutchy wrote:When was the universe made? Before or after the earth?

BlackBart wrote:

Scot Dutchy wrote:When was the universe made? Before or after the earth?

You do know he hasn't been back since the last time you asked that question, right?