Re: Signs of Scientism

On 1/16/06, David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I'm pretty sure, though, that the phrase "origin of life" has a different
> meaning as Ken is using it. Say, for example, that we could somehow confirm
> that organic molecules developed throughout the universe through "natural"
> processes and arrived on the proto-Earth through comet impacts. My guess is
> that would be the kind of solution to the origin of life question Keith
> mentions (assuming that neo-Darwinism really accounts for the development of
> life from those organic molecules). But that wouldn't cause me to throw
> away my Bible (though it would cause me to once again reexamine the first
> couple chapters of Genesis) because it wouldn't address the question of
> ultimate causation.
>
>

Exactly. If we look at the case of Psalm 139, the following question arises.
If science has the ability to describe the descent of humans (without
modification) does it negate that God knit David in the womb? Of course not.
If that is not an issue, why would descent with modification be one? And
what if science disovered a natural mechanism for abiogenesis whould that
mean that God did not create life? Please note that God is free to use first
causes as in the case of the virgin birth, but He is also free to use second
causes and still be God and still be sovereign over all creation and over
all time (not just the time period described in Genesis 1). Please note the
asymmetry here. Discovering first causes would show that God exists, but
discovering second causes does not disprove it. Thus, both Dr. Millers are
correct in saying that science that believes in descent with modification is
not necessarily incompatible with religion in general or the Bible in
particular.

As for the faith question, saying theistic proofs negate faith is to
equivocate on the word faith. Believe in God's existence (or any other
Biblical doctrine) is not the complete sense of a Biblical faith. It is
merely the faith of demons (James 2:19), being necessary but nowhere near
sufficient. Our faith is in the person of Jesus Christ and not merely in a
set of propositions.
Received on Mon Jan 16 13:02:07 2006