"The current emphasis of "intelligent design" does seem to me to be
strongly
centered on claims that the Designer has acted in a craftsman-type
manner.
[I already alluded to the possible explanation for this]
This limits the action of the creator to one way.
[Certainly]
It also assumes that no
one will discover evidence for a more extensive use of "means" in
creating
it (to use the wording of the Westminister Confession),
[Says who?]
whereas the current
trend is discovering more of the means. To me, both the pattern of God's
action in nature (from the Bible and more recent observations) and the
available information from paleontology and molecular systematics
suggest a
very minor role, if any, for direct craftsman-like action that does
not use
the means of natural laws."
[How do you know that this is a fact and not just a subjective
perception due to the increase in science in this century? Are you
willing to say that you know sufficiently about the "historical
formational economy of nature" to affirm a minor role ("if any") in
this type of activity? Science will continue one way or another
discovering the "means" to our exhaustion, but even then I would not
dare to limit God to my world view.]
[I don't believe IDers limit their views only to "direct
craftsman-like action", a brief reading of Johnson's DOT reveals
this. Moreover, they certainly not limit their views to "direct
craftsman-like action that does not use
the means of natural laws," If we humans can create wonderful things
using natural laws the Creator certainly can/could've also. I can
summarize my version of ID by saying (as I agreed with Van Till) that
there is evidence for design in nature, and that the design the
evidence points to is not an illusion, and that the multitude of
designs were very unlikely to have been the result of mindlessness.
Behe sees a crafty hand and the molecular level that rules out (in his
view) darwinism/gradualism (not evolution in general as he clearly
states in his book. At what length scale and at what time scale are
we ready to rule out the creator's crafty hand even if He used/uses
'natural' means when we _know_ that there are length scales and time
scales we know nothing of? He may very well say Where were you when I
laid the foundations of the world?]
Thanks for the input,
Ed,
==
EGM
"in ipso enim vivimus et movemur et sumus sicut"
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