On Mon, 22 Apr 1996 lhaarsma@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU wrote:
> Steve, you wrote:
>
> > But one of my arguments
> > is that TEs who allow God's intervention in the origin of the
> > universe, life and human beings, are really inconsistent PCs.
Loren replied:
> That argument is valid, but I think it is directed at a non-existent
> group. If there are any TE's out there who allow God's intervention in
> the origin of the universe, life, and human beings, but who categorically
> RULE OUT God's intervention in the rest of biological history, please
> raise your hands.
>
> Here, I think, is a more accurate portrayal of all TE's: We allow God's
> intervention at any time in history, but we believe, based on the
> scientific evidence and for various theological reasons, that a
> non-interventionist scenario is currently the best working hypothesis
> for studying and understanding biological history.
Agreed. Steve is really describing a "low-end of the scale" Progressive
Creationist who is nearly a TE or EC. It is the type of PC that Stephen
Jones appears to be in some posts.
Both TEs and ECs claim that God does not intervene directly in the origin
of life. TEs tend to be more liberal theologically (eg, Polkinghorne) and
give a certain autonomy to the creation. For example, they would say that
the five fingers on our hand just happened to evolve. An EC has a God
that is a lot closer to the classical formulations of His attributes. For
example, God "loaded" creation to result in a five finger human being as
He had planned. TEs tend to find process theology attractive, having a
God who is in his own personal evolution. ECs have no trouble accepting
God's intervention as directly seen in the NT miracles. Polkinghorne, on
the other hand, dismisses NT miracles as "stories" with no historical
value (and yes, I got this first hand sitting under him in 1991 in a
course at Regent College--I don't think he'll be invited back there for a
while ;- ).
Regards,
Denis
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Denis O. Lamoureux DDS PhD PhD (cand)
Department of Oral Biology Residence:
Faculty of Dentistry # 1908
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E-mail: dlamoure@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca
"In all debates, let truth be thy aim, and endeavor to gain
rather than expose thy opponent."
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