>You might
>consider the possibility that cosmic radiation was causing mutations, and
>suppose you were able to determine that it _had_ indeed caused some of
>them. But does that eliminate God as the cause of those specific changes?
>I think not. It does place an additional mechanism between God's causation
>and the effect on the genomes, but it does not eliminate God.
Perhaps it doesn't eliminate God, but it removes a strong motivation
for belief in God. When I was a young child, I remember asking my
parents how seeds knew to sprout just after the rain. My parents'
answer was something like "God tells them when to sprout." One day,
at about that time, I was talking to my grandfather and was shocked to
learn that he didn't believe in God. I found it incredible that
anyone could not believe in God. I mean, how on earth do the seeds
know when to sprout if there isn't a God to tell them? And I told
my grandfather this in no uncertain terms. It was only later that
I learnt of the existence of biological mechanisms which explain
how seeds "know when" to germinate. My parents explanation of
"God tells them" was not strictly wrong - indirectly, through the
biological mechanism, God did "tell them". But their explanation
was misleading - what at first sight seemed like clear evidence for
God, on second viewing became "an assertion" about God's role in
the world.
Many people believe in God because "of course God exists, otherwise
how would you explain such-and-such"? Maybe you can argue that
this type of reason for belief is invalid, but have you something
else to put in it's place?
The other point to raise is the following. Additional mechanisms
between God's causation and the effects, do not eliminate God's
causation, but the particular mechanisms postulated may have
theological implications. For example, with Fiat Creationism,
death and suffering only came after the fall. With Theistic
Evolution, it would seem that death and pain came before the
fall. Perhaps these difficulties may be able to be overcome.
Certainly we should pay close attention to the theological
implications of any mechanism postulated.
In Christ,
Mark Phillips.