On Thu, 21 Dec 95 11:11:57 MST you wrote:
[...]
JF>If God designed species to form a harmonious ecology, one might
>well expect species to be designed to help one another. But, as far
>as we know, they aren't.
[...]
This is typical of evolutionary "pop theology", what Johnson calls the
"God wouldn't have done it this way" argument. I am amazed at the
confidence, that atheists/agnostics assert about what God would or
would not do. Their self-assurance in the things of God is truly
breath-taking, doubly so because they believe that God does not
exist or cannot be known!
Human beings have trouble working out what other human beings
(including themselves) would do in any given circumstances, let alone
what an omniscient Creator would do in designing a world!
The Bible plainly says that God does things that may seem initially
strange to human minds:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:8-9).
Even the hymn writers recognised this:
"God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform"
(William Cowper 1731-1800).
Surely, this is to be expected if there was an omniscient God. A
human genius does things that may seem strange to a moron. How much
more would a Being of infinite intelligence do things that we mere
humans minds would think unusual.
The argument:
"If God designed species to form a harmonious ecology, one
might well expect species to be designed to help one
another..." (Jim Foley, 1995)
could have come from a Soviet planned economy manual (1917)! :-) It
seemed obvious to clever Soviet planners that a rational economic
system was one where harmony was enforced, and the competetive Western
capitalist economies were doomed. Well, the Soviet "harmonious
ecology" economic model, starting with one of the most natural gifted
reource economies on Earth, lasted about 60 years before it completely
collapsed!
The point is that a "harmonious ecology" where "species" were
"designed to help one another", would have a slight problem. For
starters, there would be nothing to eat! Even if they could get over
that slight problem by all eating grass (overlooking that grass is a
"species"), the world would quickly be overwelmed by the exponential
breeding of bacteria, insects, rodents, etc, that were not preyed
upon by other species to hold them in balance.
The fact is that there is a "harmonious ecology" where "species" do
"help one another", but they do it by helping themselves. The living
world is one big symbiotic system, for example plants breath in CO2
and breath out O2 and animals vice-versa. Bees help flowers and
flowers help bees, etc, etc, etc. The whole system has functioned
continuously for 600 million years. Only since the origin of
"rational" man is this "harmonious ecology" under threat of being
severely disrupted.
In fact, Psalm 104 praises God that there is a "harmonious ecology"
that is brought about, in part, by competition between species:
"You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the
forest prowl. The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
God. The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in
^^^
their dens. Then man goes out to his work, to his labor until
evening. How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and
^^^
spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-- living things both
large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan,
which you formed to frolic there. These all look to you to give them
their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather
it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things."
(Ps 104:20-28).
Perhaps Jim will now conclude that the because there is in fact a
brilliantly successful "harmonious ecology", where "species" are
"designed to help one another", by paradoxically helping themselves,
that this is evidence of a Super-Intellect behind the scenes?
Happy New Year!
Stephen
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