>Comments?
>God bless.
>Steve
Steve,
I can understand your desire to envision an evolutionary explanation for
the sudden appearance of higher taxa from a theistic perspective. Since
a-theistic evolution has failed to develop a convincing natural
mechanism for this phenomenon, then people of faith are certainly at
liberty to suggest alternative supernatural causes.
Let me first assert that as believers we can very easily accept the idea
that God has supernaturally intervened in some manner with respect to
the appearance of the higher taxa. As you well point out, supernatural
intervention is consistant with Genesis 1.
Three questions remain... how God intervened, when God intervened, and
why was it necessary to do so?
Since the jury is still out as to whether theistic evolutionary
mechanisms were involved (due to the lack of convincing evidence), an
equally valid argument could be developed that God simply created the
organisms in question at some point in time. This is certainly
reasonable, within God's power, and also consistent with scripture. In
other words, if your theory requires supernatural intervention why not
simply accept a fresh creative action rather than the manipulation of
genetic codes? I do not know of any convincing argument that God has
always used or needed evolutionary mechanisms to accomplish His will.
The second question cannot be answered so easily. The "sudden
appearance" of higher taxa is a questionable concept. We can say with
confidence that higher taxa usually appear fully formed and distinctly
separate in the geologic record and that they are usually positioned in
a superior position stratigraphically (contributing to the assumption of
later development). But, unless we have a full understanding of the
events that occurred between deposits we can only infer "sudden
appearance" as one explanation. Since this concept is a murky one, it is
difficult to conclude from the evidence when God intervened and perhaps
Scripture could provide some insight in this area.
The third question can also be answered consistant with scripture.
Obviously God desired a full creation for His enjoyment and purposes as
well as for man's benefit. In addition, scripture tells us that God's
invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature have been
clearly seen and understood through that which has been made. God has
given us evidence of Himself and His existence since the beginning of
creation. Whatever method was employed by God must be consistant with a
full reading and understanding of the whole of scripture including this
message from the first chapter of Romans.
Note that God's creative method needs to have provided man, throughout
time, with "clearly seen and understood" evidence of His nature (since
the beginning of creation). This would be most evidenced in the higher
and more visible organisms that man came into contact with as well as
the broader non-living world. One logical conclusion is that the
simplest explanation for the appearance of higher taxa, consistant with
ancient man's knowledge base, would best conform to scripture. A fresh
creative act does this and does it efficiently.
Your idea, therefore, needs some work in these areas, i.e....
1. Why did God need to or choose to manipulate the genetic code rather
than a fresh "de-novo" creative act?
2. When did He do this and why that point in time?
3. How does your idea contribute to a better understanding of Romans
1:18 to 20?
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"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17"
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Paul Durham pdd@gcc.cc.md.us
Oakland, Maryland