SteamDoc@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 2/26/01 10:38:49 AM Mountain Standard Time,
> alexanian@uncwil.edu writes:
>
>> One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in a classroom.
>> The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children.
>> The teacher asked a little boy: Tommy do you see the tree
>> outside?
>> TOMMY: Yes.
>> TEACHER: Do you see the grass outside?
>> TOMMY: Yes.
>> TEACHER: Go outside and look up and see if you can see the sky.
>> TOMMY: Okay. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the
>> sky.
>> TEACHER: Did you see God?
>> TOMMY: No.
>> TEACHER: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't
>> there.
>>
>> He doesn't exist.
>
> Though the story is a bit silly, it makes an important point. Just
> because
> God isn't found in the place somebody looks for him, doesn't mean that
> he
> doesn't exist. It could just mean that the person is looking in the
> wrong
> place, or looking in an inappropriate way.
>
> This is of course a lesson to all the atheists who don't see any gaps
> in
> nature that require God and therefore conclude he doesn't exist. But
> it is
> also a lesson to Christians who insist that God must have left
> "fingerprints"
> of a specific nature in order to avoid the collapse of theism. They
> need to
> consider that cellular biochemistry or the Cambrian explosion might
> not be an
> appropriate place to look for God, and that to base apologetics on
> such gaps
> plays into the hands of those who share the flawed reasoning of
> Tommy's
> teacher.
Yes, but a point of clarification may be helpful. God is
present & active in cellular biochem & was in the Cambrian explosion.
But we should distinguish between where God is present and where God has
promised to be present for us. Where God has revealed & made himself
available for us is in Christ, when he is proclaimed in word & act. We
can then see God present & active anywhere else in light of that
revelation.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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