Been nice talking with you guys.

[Plane]

Perfection is a concept.

What is more perfect than a thing that fills all requirements?

If the surface of the sun were smooth , and it therefore radiated less and didn't warm the Earth enough to support our lives.

It would be more perfect? or less?

[Xavier_Onassis]

A perfect sphere is a perfect sphere. It would not have magnetic rifts running across it.

The fact is that Aquinas was wrong. The Earth is no more nor less perfect than the rest of the Universe. Whatever Adam and Eve did had no effect on the Earth that made it a less perfect place. Original Sin seems to be some human mental construct.That is the main point here.

[Amianthus]

A perfect sphere is a perfect sphere. It would not have magnetic rifts running across it.

Why does a perfect star have to be a perfect sphere? Why do you get to define what is "perfect"?

[Xavier_Onassis]

There is such a thing as a perfect circle. There is such a thing as a perfect sphere. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of geometry knows this. There is a perfect right angle. When it comes to shapes, they are either perfect or they are not perfect. I am not defining them. This should be obvious.

Geometry defines perfect shapes, not me.

[Amianthus]

I agree that geometry defines perfect shapes.

The Sun, however, does not need to follow a geometric standard for perfect shapes, since it's not a mathematical object. The Sun is perfect for the human race, if you accept the definition of "perfect" as "exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose" - which is one of the definitions of the word at dictionary.com. It does not need to be a perfect sphere (as defined by geometry) to perfectly fulfill it's function. Your definition of prefect is flawed.

[Xavier_Onassis]

It does not need to be a perfect sphere (as defined by geometry) to perfectly fulfill it's function. Your definition of prefect(sic) is flawed.
==========================

Again. I did not say that the Sun needed to be a perfect geometrical form. OI said that in order to comply with Thomas Aquinas' insistence that everything other than earthly objects were the perfect creations of a perfect Deity, the Sun would have to be geometrically perfect. Since it is not, we can conclude that St Thomas Aquinas' insistence is incorrect: heavenly bodies are not perfect creations. They are not geometrically perfect,and may not be creations at all, since they could have been more or less formed according to the natural process started by the Big Bang.

The Sun is not perfect. It does what it does and it is what it is. We also know that no heavenly body is eternal, either, which was another of Aquinas' beliefs.

I was not referring to the Sun as flawed, but simply as evidence that geometric perfection in celestial bodies is either rare or nonexistent. What is flawed is St. Thomas Aquinas' theological view of the Universe.

[sirs]

It does not need to be a perfect sphere (as defined by geometry) to perfectly fulfill it's function. Your definition of prefect(sic) is flawed.==========================

Again. I did not say that the Sun needed to be a perfect geometrical form. OI said that in order to comply with Thomas Aquinas' insistence that everything other than earthly objects were the perfect creations of a perfect Deity, the Sun would have to be geometrically perfect.

WHY?  Was Aquinas insistances of perfection confined to geometry??  Or merely yours?

[Plane]

@XO


    I think that if you want our group to consider it resolved that Thomas Aquinus is incorrect on this point you can probly have this.

    That this can be further extended to serve as proof that there is no God seems more like what you want , and I don't see this .

    Did saint Thomas Aquinus argue that the simple shape of soap bubbles and the sun proved Gods action thereon?

      I see a flaw in this logic , God nowhere says that he hates complexity.

    This seems as if Thomas Aquinus was attempting to reconcile Christinity with Pythagorism.
         

[Xavier_Onassis]

Complexity is not perfection.

If you read the Summa Theologica, you will see what Aquinas was talking about.

[Amianthus]

Complexity is not perfection.

Again, you are pushing your definition of perfection. There is no definition of perfection that requires simplicity.

[Plane]

So it is over.

For now.

Solar max is due next year.

Betting on lots of hot weather?

QUIET THANKSGIVING: Despite a large number of sunspots on the Earthside of the sun, solar activity is very low today. Not one of the sunspots is actively flaring. The forecast calls for a quiet thanksgiving.

ERUPTION: The day before Thanksgiving, however, was not so quiet. On Nov. 23rd, a magnetic filament wrapping around the sun's NW limb rose up and erupted. Click on the arrow to play the movie recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

http://www.spaceweather.com/