Re: What identifies a human

Rick Becker (rbecker@refractal.com)
Sat, 01 Mar 1997 10:49:37 -0500

One of the things that might be worth pursuing in this discussion is
shifting the perspecive from a Creative to a Redemptive one. Isn't Christ
the prototypical new Adam? If so, then those who opposed Him would have been
the quintessential Old Guard. Who were those people? Why was the man who
buried the talent wrong? They _knew_ who they were dealing with, and acted
_in spite_ of that knowledge. Isn't that the definition of sin from Genesis
forward? Doesn't that then make theological awareness one of the benchmarks
worth considering as you view the homonid tree? Is there any evidence of
spiritual conciousness in other species? What about the Holy Spirit and the
efficacy of prayer? Of course Jesus' comment about the stones crying out if
the people didn't, as well as revisiting His miracles in light of modern
physics, gives tantalizing glimpses of the physics of redeemed creation.
Since one of God's attributes is perfection, He must be consistent both
within Himself and His creation. He makes the rules, then acts within them.
If I remember my old systematic theology, He can not act inconsistently. I
believe that science and theology _must_ be viewed as co-partners in an
attempt to truly understand either, and as a casual historian, I think
history bears that out. When you think of how much more we know about
creation from a scientific standpoint now vs. 100 years ago, yet how
proportionally little we still understand as the questions simply get more
subtle.

I haven't had this much theological exercise in years! My compliments
to the evolution participants. From the level and broadness of the
discussion you should almost consider this a creation reflector and let a
little physics slide into the discussion.

Thanks,

Rick Becker
Refractal Design, Inc. | voice: 508-777-5500 / fax: 508-777-6575
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