From: Jan de Koning (jan@dekoning.ca)
Date: Wed Sep 17 2003 - 17:40:55 EDT
At 11:27 AM 16/09/2003 -0700, richard@biblewheel.com wrote:
> > Re: "Evolution is nothing like this. There is no specific "end result."
> > That's an interesting assertion (and a pretty commonly held notion). But
> > just for argument's sake, how do you know that?
>
> > Another perspective suggests that creation is toodling along just finem
> > guided generally or specifically (your choice of flavor) by a plan and
> > processes put in place from the outset.
> > From inside that plan, we would likely have no way of "divining" the
> > outcome or even a reasonably full picture of the objective(s). JimA
>
>I can't say that I "know" it, but neither can I imagine an alternative. The
>theory of evolution is based on non-directed processes like random mutation
>and natural selection (rm+ns). If your suggestion is correct, then it seems
>like it would take fine tuning to an entirely new level where the intial
>conditions would need to be specified to such an extent that the whole
>mechanistic/deterministic cascade of causes and effects that led to the
>apparently *random* result of the appearance of man in the evolutionary
>chain would in fact be inevitable.
I do indeed believe that God uses and used evolution. I believe that God
is involved in our lives every day, and that not a leaf falls from a tree
outside God's will. But God's using evolution means as well that what for
us looks like a random way of doing things is still directed by God. Men
use dice, but God directs the outcome. It does mean regarding evolution,
that we should not try to accuse God of acting in creation in a way which
determines everything following rules which we, men, think illogical. That
we do not understand how God can hold us responsible for our deeds, which
He uses to reach out to others, does not mean that God must have a strange
idea about governing the universe. Who are we, men, to judge the actions
of an eternal God. We only are required to praise Him for what He does,
and marvel at the way He does it, even if He uses evolution in a way, that
we, little people, judge to be illogical. Dare we judge God?
Jan de Koning
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