From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Mon Dec 16 2002 - 12:43:28 EST
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/16/02 9:58:49 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> gmurphy@raex.com writes:
>
> > It is, however, a considerable overstatement to say that "selection that
> > runs through the Bible."
> >
> > It has often been noted that in the _Origin_ Darwin never uses the word
> > "evolution" or related words until the very last word of the book. But of
> > course this
> > doesn't mean that he isn't talking about "evolution" in the modern sense of
> > the term throughout.
> >
> > Shalom,
> > George
> >
> >
>
> Your first statement is correct, darwin consistently uses "selection" in The
> Origin of Species. In fact he says "principles of selection" can be found in
> genesis.
> Your second comment," but of course this doesn't mean that he isn't talking
> about "evolution" in the modern sense of the term throughout" can be nothing
> more than conjecture on your part. You provide no support. You cannot
> determine if Darwin was using the modern sense. You can only read what he
> wrote and he says "principles of selection" are found in genesis.
> I took you through 3 generations of selection in genesis in an effort to show
> you how clearly the principles of selection are expounded there and even
> though it is as plain as the nose on my face you didn't buy it.
> It makes more sense to find principles of selection in the Bible than it is
> to discover a valid cosmology or cosmogony there since the Biblical
> patriarchs were all *shepherds* whose very occupation consists of
> manipulating the principles of selection. They were shepherds. The people
> interested in the stars were the priests of the landed agricultural states
> whose lives depended on agriculture and depended on the proper interpretation
> of celestial events to order agricultural activity.
> The principles of selection are found throughout the entire Bible. If you
> didn't see the significance of the story of Jacob and Esau and the next two
> generations, a tale Darwin specifically alludes to in The Origin of Species,
> I'll go over it again.
If Darwin wasn't talking about evolution in the _Origin_ then
I'm not the only
one mistaken. I'm in the same boat with almost everyone else in the
world who knows
anything about the book, including scientists specializing in
evolution and related
fields.
As I've said, there are certainly references to some
knowledge of breeding in
Genesis but this is a far cry from selection being found throughout
the whole Bible.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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