>Besides, the use of "natural processes" does not invalidate
>"supernatural intervention". Jesus used his saliva to heal (Mk 7:33;
>8:23) and even saliva and mud (Jn 9:6). It is a hangover from Sunday-school
>>theology to imagine that God creates only by snapping His fingers and "poof"!
>something appears out of nothing.
First a quibble: I have never heard of saliva or mud curing anyone of
anything. I believe these instances were purely miraculous. I don't think
the saliva and the mud were simply "props", but surely Jesus was using (or
activating) properties of these substances we don't normally see. But I
readily agree that miracles and natural processes are not mutually
exclusive. I thought it was creationists who took that position.
>
>LH>It is
>>therefore consistent hermeneutically to hypothesize that God also used
>>natural processes in biological history. Given our natural-processes
>>interpretation of "... let dry ground appear," it seems arbritrary to
>>interpret, "Let the earth bring forth..." as REQUIRING detectable
>>supernatural intervention for the formation of first life, higher taxa,
>>and novel features.
>
>Requiring that "supernatural intervention" is "detectable" is raising
>the stakes unnecessarily. See above.
Whoa! That's _exactly_ the point: much of creationist reasoning seems to
me to imply that supernatural intervention is (or should be if we can only
get smart enough) detectible.
>
...
>
>The picture in Gn 1 is of God *commanding* "Let the earth bring
>forth..." vegetation (Gn 1:11); and animal life (Gn 1:20, 24). It is
>the
>same "And God said..." that is used in Gn 1:3 "And God said, Let
>there be light: and there was light". This indicates, at the very
>least *supernatural intervention* in what naturally existed at that
>point.
>Whether God used intermediate secondary natural processes is
>irrelevant.
>
>Gn 2:7 indicates that God made man out of pre-existing materials
>"the dust of the ground", but that does not mean it was not a
>ultimately a "supernatural intervention".
>
>If you interpret "Let the earth bring forth..." (Gn 1:11, 20, 24) as
>not
>requiring supernatural intervention, then to be consistent you should
>not
>require it anywhere else God issues a command and then makes or does
>something through intermediate processes.
Whoa again! God's command _is_ the supernatural intervention. God
commands, nature obeys.
Bill Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)
hamilton@gmr.com (office) | whamilto@mich.com (home)