>Glenn,
> What, in your view, IS a miracle? And a related question--
>what is the function of miracles?
>
While I have a view of what a miracle is, this is getting a little far from
what I consider to be my area of expertise and is quickly moving over to
theology, a field in which I am very weak. But fools rush in...
I view a miracle as some act of God which appears to go against the laws of
nature. But I consider all nature to be due to the act and sustaining acts of
God.
> Another issue related to functionality is this: Is efficient
>function the only reasonable criterion for good design? What if God
>had other criteria? Surely His creativity could be reflected in
>factors other than functionality.
This is usually an argument made by theistic evolutionists to support their
view that God could design by means of evolution. Evolution is not usually
considered efficient.
> God's joy at creating may be
>analogized to that of the Engineer. But could it not always be
>analogized to that of the artist? The artist lovingly goes back
>to His painting again and again. The painting to the layman may
>appear complete, but the artist puts a dab here and a dab there, for
>the joy of creating a work of art.
Ah, the Progressive Creationist argument. Sure, God could have created via
progressive creation. But observationally, there is absolutely no difference
between progressive creation and evolution. Whatever new form appears in the
fossil record is what God created for the PC and what evolved for the
evolutionist.
>
> So God involving Himself in creation via several creative
>acts rather than just one NEED NOT ENTAIL "imperfection" in the
>initial event.
OK. That is true. But progressive creation gives me the problem of defining
when one of those events occurred. Are creative acts still occurring today?
Was that new phylum which lived on lobster lips a new example of progressive
creation? How would I know when one of these events occurred? ( see Petar
Funch and
Reinhardt Mobjerg Kristensen, "Cycliophora is a new phylum with affinities to
Entoprocta and Ectoprocta," Nature, 378, Dec. 14, 1995, p. 711.)
>
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm