RE: [asa] (entropy???) Darwin only biological evolution? (can anything exist without evolution?)

Dr. Campbell wrote:
" I don't think it's explicit much in current YEC, but historically

there was some tendency to think Platonically about creation-God

created the ideal forms, and the things we see on earth are

approximations thereof. Evolving into something different might then

be perceived as suggesting there was something wrong with the original

ideal form, which might suggest that the creator messed up."

Sounds exactly like the YEC/OEC idea of humans- made perfect by fiat- then deformed after the fall (DNA somehow got stirred-up and cursed, but it had a perfect state when God originally made Adam).

David O. later wrote:
"I don't understand these statements in that article:

"Physicists have generally rejected Darwinian evolution because it is at odds with their second law of thermodynamics, and no adequate mechanism for life's overcoming that law has been forthcoming."

Is there any basis at all for this generalization about physicists?"

If YEC's think evolution is impossible because it violates entropy because a sub-system goes from simple to complex; then to be consistent, they must think it is against entropy for a cell to divide by two (over and over again, creating complex organs in the after-math), or on a larger scale, a child growing into an adult (which introduces new things as we witness when a child passes through puberty). Think about that entropy-wise... starting from one cell, ending up in a complex human- so complex, we can't even understand yet (just started reading the DNA code). Do YEC's think that God violates entropy when they see a baby growing in the womb??? Isn't this obviously inconsistent?

...Bernie

-----Original Message-----

From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of David Campbell

Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:07 PM

To: ASA

Subject: Re: [asa] Darwin only biological evolution? (can anything exist without evolution?)

I don't think it's explicit much in current YEC, but historically

there was some tendency to think Platonically about creation-God

created the ideal forms, and the things we see on earth are

approximations thereof. Evolving into something different might then

be perceived as suggesting there was something wrong with the original

ideal form, which might suggest that the creator messed up.

Of course, that reasoning overlooks the fact that flexibility and

adaptability are often wise design features.

Bringing out the fact that non-cyclic change over time is commonplace

might help address the antipathy for the term "evolution". However,

this does nothing to show that natural selection and other aspects of

biological evolution are correct.

Spencer's ideas on social mores were largely in place before the

Origin of Species, so there is actually a lot that was as independent

as might be expected of two people from similar cultural backgrounds,

though of course Spencer quickly took up aspects of Darwin and, not as

quick and extensively, vice versa.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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