Re: What is ID?

Allan Harvey (aharvey@boulder.nist.gov)
Wed, 11 Dec 1996 13:01:56 -0700

Terry Gray wrote:
>Allan Harvey wrote:
>
>>However, somebody on the Evolution reflector raised a point which (despite
>>my sympathy for van Till's position) I think deserves some discussion here.
>>As Christians, we affirm that *salvation* history IS (at least from the
>>viewpoint of human history) "interventionist", in that God bridged a
>>specific gap almost 2000 years ago. One even hears the "Couldn't God have
>>done it right from the beginning?" question with regard to salvation. Of
>>course there are reasonable answers to that question. But, for our current
>>discussion, can anybody point out some fundamental difference that would
>>make "interventionism" less theologically acceptable for the Earth's
>>formational history than it is for salvation history?
>
>The work of Christ is not "interventionist"--it was planned from before the
>foundation of the world. No, I can't answer all the "problem of evil"
>questions that might arise here. I simply must say that God did what he
>did for his own good pleasure and glory. (Sorry, if my Calvinistic
>prejudices are showing through again.)

That's the classic answer and probably the best we humans can do with
regard to God's ways which are higher than our ways. But that still leaves
the question as to how this is theologically different from the Earth's
formational history. Just as Christ's apparent intervention (from a human
perspective) was there before the foundation of the world, could not other
apparent intervention in, say, the development of life have been part of
God's plan all along? Unless somebody has a good reason why formational
history differs from salvation history in this respect, I think the
argument for "functional integrity" (much as I lean toward it) as a
theological necessity is weakened.

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