If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out...

[iKotomi]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

I don't get this statement anyway. Of course it is based on something, otherwise it would be completely random and we couldn't roughly reconstruct what happened. Small mutations can turn out to be beneficial for survival and therefore spreading this new genetic material. When this initial impulse happens and what it looks like is somewhat random, that's right. If it prevails however can be foreseen.

Evolution is completely random in that what genes appear to give species an advantage happen completely by chance. Evolution is not random in the sense that what is most likely to survive in the present will almost always appear in greater frequency in the next generation. Just because something is not random doesn't mean that it is based on anything. 1+1 is not 2 because there is some sort of invisible force saying that 1+1 should be 2. It just is. Same with evolution. There is no invisible force saying that the strongest ought to survive for the good of the species. They just do. As I said earlier, if anything, evolution is based on the self-evident truth that dead things don't reproduce, but that is really as far as it goes. The rest is just statistics.

 

[Gegliosch]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

That's some minor misinterpretation from my side then... my second language proficiency seems to be insufficient when it comes to such details.
After all we agree on what it is.

edit - Just to make sure I get it right for the next time: If I refer to evolution as the whole process over time, could you agree that it is based on the given natural laws (whatever you call it) leading to it?

 

[Hot Rod Dave]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

None of the Mormon doctrine makes any sense, but I think that 10% is pretty common for churches to ask for, though they very rarely get anywhere near that amount,

10% is higher than a normal church. Catholics for example have an OPTIONAL plate that comes around during sermon and its OPTIONAL to anything in it.

Now in my familys situation being on the church welfare and such it was a requirement to pay your tithing along with volunteer at local warehouse and things of that nature. Giving 10% of your income on a dishwashers salary (which was what my dad was) and still be able to pay bills, put food on the table, and find time to spend with your family when your not volunteering is very difficult.

Now dont get me wrong, for the amount of food we got each month, my dad was able to make sure that me and my sister were fed. which is what he wanted. Some might say its a small price to pay. But archangel hit on a point. If for some reason you didnt make it to church for whatever reason, a person was sent from the church to your house that same day uninvited to fill you in on the days lessons. And if you ever questioned those lessons as a kid, you got beat.

But the fucked up part is when in the middle of sacrament (which is the equivelent to sermon) it was always announced who was to volunteer at the canneries. and everybody knew that these people were the poor people that were recivieng some kind of church welfare. So after years of humiliation and embarrasment, my dad finally figured out that he wasnt saving that much money and time by having the church help out, so he decided to take us out of that place.

Mormans are a rich stuck up bunch of assholes at times. I have heard many lessons that associate the poor with the wicked thus giving me and my sister a hell of a lot of problems. My sister was also mentally retarded. You would think that a church of all places would be a place where she would be accepted and not treated like a freak. Wrong again. And it wasnt only 1 particular church. It was SEVERAL in my local area. Someone mentioned the word "cult" earlier. I tend to agree. If you are "not one of them" you were a freak of society.

 

[Codemaster92163]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

Evolution is completely random in that what genes appear to give species an advantage happen completely by chance. Evolution is not random in the sense that what is most likely to survive in the present will almost always appear in greater frequency in the next generation. Just because something is not random doesn't mean that it is based on anything. 1+1 is not 2 because there is some sort of invisible force saying that 1+1 should be 2. It just is. Same with evolution. There is no invisible force saying that the strongest ought to survive for the good of the species. They just do. As I said earlier, if anything, evolution is based on the self-evident truth that dead things don't reproduce, but that is really as far as it goes. The rest is just statistics.

Your right, it is not an invisible force. It is, in fact, the other predators that are trying to kill them, or the enviroment changes that are affecting their habitat that allows the strongest to survive. You don't have anything that changed to suit your enviroment then your gonna be more likely to die than the critter next to you who was born with white fur since there is alot more snow than not this year. That is what determined it. Its not like we changed to SUIT our enviroment ourselves, but another person might get a changed gene, leading to a change in a physical attribute which might or might not be more beneficial for the enviroment they are currently living in. Its actually nothing extremely complicated (Unless you choose to go down on a genetic level) rather than just something being lucky, becoming more adapt to its surroundings, living longer than the others, and breeding more who have the same changed gene as them.

 

[Marginal]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

No it's not. 10% is a huge amount. Most "legitimate" religions only ask for donations, whatever you can/want to spare... maybe $5-20.

10%'s actually pretty standard across the board for churches. (I got hit up for that during confirmation in a Lutheran church when I was in the 6th grade.) How actively they require/demand it's the difference.