sdb@tekecs.UUCP (06/11/83)
One princeton!levy has posted anarticl with two quotes that stunned me, and which demanded answers. Here goes: "When Jesus turned water intowine at Cana, he was doing similiar to what nature does when microorganisms ferment grape juice." Well, now - that ain't quite right. Microorganisms take the natural sugars in grape juice and chemically alter them slightly into the chemical ethanol. By so doing, some energy is released and the organism uses the energy to live. Turning water into wine isn't quite the same: there isn't any carbon in water, so transmutation of elements (probably turning oxygen into carbon) would at least be necessary. I think I can state unequivicably that there is no known species (including homo) capable of controlled transmutation into carbon in quantity. I suggest that you take a course in chemistry - you may find it enlightening. By the way, just in passing, transmutation of that much oxygen into carbon would require an energy source equivalent to a hydrogen bomb! "When bread and fish are multiplied, the everday miracle of reproduction is supernaturally reenacted." This one is even more amazing. Reproduction in the natural environmen consists of consuming organic compounds to increase body weight, then using some of that weight to create another organism. The organic compounds ultimately come from plants - which create it from CO2, H2O and certain minerals by an EXTREMELY slow process.Jesus' creation of bread and fishes (Oh, by the way, I would appreciate a reference to evidence that bread breeds) was not the modification of other organic material, but the CREATION of same. Again, seems like controlled transmutation of the air is the only possibility. This time the energy required dwarfs a hydrogen bomb. However, an even more amazing thing happens once the raw elements necessary for the bread and fishes have been created - they have be to rearranged into the extraordinarily complex constructions of the cells that the fishes and bread contan. I don't see how this process can be compared to reproduction in any way. Either it truly was a miracle, or it was exagerated reporting - but to try to explain it this way is a little strange. (Oh, and by the way, I always thought that Mary was married to JOSEPH, not to JOHN.) Steve Den Beste Tektronix Engineering Computing Systems [ucbvax|decvax]!teklabs!tekecs!sdb