I have noticed several posts lately taking advantage of the eclipse to argue in favor of a creator. The argument usually goes that the eclipse is so precise that it had to have been designed. Curiously, the people making these arguments happen to all be Christians rather than deists, pantheists, etc.
Suppose for argument sake the eclipse did prove a creator. Why should we then assume that the Biblical god is that creator? Why not possibly consider a deistic god? Or perhaps an entirely different god? How do you take the leap from "the universe had a creator" to "and that creator was YHWH"?
The eclipse, complexity, design, and God
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Re: The eclipse, complexity, design, and God
Post #11With regard to eclipses, there is no necessarily "tight fit" between the relative diameters of the sun and the moon. The moon's size, relative to the earth, varies with is position along it's orbit. When the moon is further away from us, it appears smaller.
Also, the moon has been gradually moving away from the earth over time. The physics of this outward movement of the moon is well know. The moon's gravitational tug, especially on the oceans, slows the earth down. Because of the principle of the conservation of angular momentum, this causes the moon to move farther away. Think of a figure skater who tucks her arms in to spin faster and then moves her arms outward to slow back down.
There is fossil evidence that during the late Cretaceous period, the year was approximately 372 days long, which would mean that the moon was closer to us then. At that time the moon's relative diameter would have been greater and in fact, bigger than the sun's apparent diameter.
Also, the moon has been gradually moving away from the earth over time. The physics of this outward movement of the moon is well know. The moon's gravitational tug, especially on the oceans, slows the earth down. Because of the principle of the conservation of angular momentum, this causes the moon to move farther away. Think of a figure skater who tucks her arms in to spin faster and then moves her arms outward to slow back down.
There is fossil evidence that during the late Cretaceous period, the year was approximately 372 days long, which would mean that the moon was closer to us then. At that time the moon's relative diameter would have been greater and in fact, bigger than the sun's apparent diameter.