Bob wrote:
>This claim, however, not just a philosphically-based claim. It is
also a
>scientifically justifiable one. If natural selection is demonstrated
>empirically only to enhance immediate adaptation to the environment,
then it
>is a necessary inference that it has no long range direction as to
where this
>immediate adaptation will lead. This is a scientific inference, not
just a
>philosophical or theological one.
Although your scientific inference is correct, that STILL does not
"rule out" the existence of God. If you look at anything in history,
including the death of Jesus Christ, it can seem to be purposeless,
undirected, and random. Surely Jesus' disciples did not believe that
the Messiah's role was to teach for 3 years and die via crucifixion.
It devastated their faith in Jesus, temporarily. Obviously we know now
that God planned it all this way from the beginning and looking back
we can see a divine direction in all events, even those that seem at
first glance purposeless. It is the same with evolution. Something
that, at first glance, appears purposeless may not be.
There are many people today who I have talked to who, looking at the
death of Jesus, see only the purposeless murder of a good man. But it
is the pinnacle of the Christian faith. People can look at the exact
same "evidence"and see 2 different things. Likewise there are people
(scientists and non-scientists) who philosophize about evolution
saying that because natural selection has no long-range direction then
there must be no God -- or that evolution is false.
Two points (1) If you are after Truth, you can't believe or not
believe something because one philosophically objects to it (or agrees
with it, philosophically). God is truth. If you want to believe in
truth, you have to search for truth and then accept it whether or not
it is what you expected. (both about religion and about creation)
(2) I do not believe God wants to be discovered via scientific means.
I may be wrong, but it seems that if it were so, there would be no
room for faith, which is what the entirety of Scripture's teachings
are based upon. This is why I believe - from what I understand of it
thus far - ID theory will prove wrong. But then again, you never know.
I do know that unless science takes a major leap in anoither
direction, the mass of evidence points to evolution via natural
selection. Maybe there is some middle ground between ID and evolution.
??
My main point: You can't not "believe" in evolution because you don't
want to accept what some atheist scientist say about it. It either is
true or is not, and it in no way will ever change the Truth of Jesus
Christ!
My best,
Wendee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Wendee Holtcamp -- wendee@greendzn.com ~~
~~ Environment/Travel/Science Writer ~~ www.greendzn.com ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How many seas must a white dove sail before
she can sleep in the sand? -- Bob Dylan
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