Re: [asa] Miracles and God of the Gaps

Greetings all.

I think a large part of the problem here is the confusion over what
constitutes a 'natural' explanation. Let's say that I believe in evolution,
a relatively gradual development of life on earth (let's put aside, for the
moment, things like the cambrian explosion - even the introduction of
humans/ensouled creatures) and so on. Mutations, splitting populations,
diversification, etc. But at the same time I believe these things were
ultimately guided. In fact, I'm willing to entertain various ways they could
have been guided - perhaps at key points, certain unlikely mutations may
have been selected by God. Perhaps certain environmental situations were
arranged to shape future evolution and ecological niches / overall
development. Perhaps I believe evolution was permitted in part so humanity
could learn from a variety of natural 'designs' in their development.
Perhaps I see purpose and action at work in those typically-gradual
developments.

At that point, am I proposing anything that science can test? It seems to me
I'm taking a philosophical position, one that may in fact be powerfully
justified and defended. But at the same time, I am - like Timaeus pointed
out - envisioning a process that is not Darwinian (at least with regards to
metaphysics). It involves agency, purposeful actions, planned developments.
There is no real 'randomness' here, no 'purposeless' in the sense needed.
But at the same time I can accept science in its totality - mutation,
natural selection, HGT, etc.

Am I still a TE at that point? Has anything I've said introduced a gap, even
though I see at all these points God working through nature, rather than
'poofing' something into existence like magic?

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Received on Fri Jan 23 03:43:48 2009