Claims without questions

Following our last discussion on genetic information, I would like to share some thoughts with you, my friends, on “claims”. It also serves as a break from our discussion on Evolution, which have been going on for the last few posts.

After describing the classic 1993 biological experiment that we discussed previously, an article claimed that the experiment showed that “genetic information can in fact emerge from random mixtures of polymers”.

Is it true that genetic information emerges from random mixture of polymers?

The experiment shows that information can be formed, which by the way needs trilliant of special molecules called RNA instead of random polymers. Furthermore, it is not genetic information. The common understanding of genetic information is the information that is buried in DNA or RNA and that directs our cells to carry out replication or other special jobs on the cellular level. The information created in the experiment (yes, I agree information was created in the experiment!) is billions and billions miles away from becoming useful genetic information, as discussed previously.

If you are impressed with the experiment described in the article and find it natural to believe the claim that follows in the same article, then you may have been misled.

“Claims” may not be true even though they are from reputable sources. The famous philosopher Bertrand Russell once claimed “Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all”. How do we respond? Would you say to yourself “I have been so silly to believe that there had been a person named Jesus ever lived in the world”, or “I knew it! Christianity is a joke. Jesus has never existed”?

Is it true that Jesus’ appearance in human history is doubtful?

Our calendar uses Jesus’ birth-year as a dividing line. The year today is 2023. To be precise, this year is 2023 AD. “AD” stands for the Latin “Anno Domini”. It means “In the year of Our Lord”. Three thousand twenty three years ago is 1000 BC, with “BC” stands for “Before Christ”. We humans are really silly if we have been using the birth year of a fictional character in fixing our dates.

How did Christianity even start if Jesus is not historical? Should we examine all the documentation about how first century Christians died for their faith in Jesus? Are these people so ignorant that they would die for a non-existing person?

There is a great deal of archaeological evidence to prove the historicity of Jesus, including extra-biblical documents that describe Jesus' life and death. Some of these archaeological discoveries were found after 2000 AD, which Russell who died in 1970 AD could not have seen.

Claims, which may come from a respectable source or that they look like natural consequences of some well-known facts, have to be evaluated carefully. It should never be taken blindfoldedly.