Re: [asa] Of motes and beams

Iain,

I'm afraid we shall have to agree to disagree on the points you make. You appear to be claiming that there is no alternative explanation for these things. Do you and others really believe you've refuted _special creation_ when you catalogue such observations?

I prefer to take my lead from the One who undoubtedly knows the truth concerning these things, Jesus Christ - our Creator and Lord. You will, by now, be familiar with the biblical quotations I have in mind , viz Mt.7:15-20, 6:24, 7:24-27. Clearly, in the Lord's eyes, the kind of 'fruit' which accompanies a philosophy or doctrine should determine whether or not that philosophy or doctrine provides suitable nourishment for those who believe on him. Accordingly, I am disappointed by your somewhat flippant response to my serious request for one or more examples of the _merits_ of evolution. Personally, I can think of none. On the other hand, its demerits are legion.

Some years ago (having given this matter much thought) I put together the following:

An evil fruit

One of the great mysteries of life is the high regard in which evolution is held among those who claim to be committed to Christ. How can it be that these can so lightly ignore the clear warnings of the Master? :-

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Mt.7:15-20)

 Let me list some of the more obvious fruits of the tree, Evolution :-

1) Claiming to be a branch of science, it has progressively undermined faith in the word of God - specifically in challenging the literal truth of the early chapters of Genesis; it has thereby stripped the Gospel of its logical foundations, and provided a plank for biblical criticism, liberal theology, and radical ecumenism.

2) It has provided an excuse for atrocious human behaviour - evolution's driving principle being survival of the fittest ; this has now passed into man's hands for its ultimate fulfilment (eg Nazi philosophy and Soviet communism).

3) It provides essential support for the growing belief in reincarnation and the notion that man's destiny lies in his own hands.

4) It has led directly to the expectation that other and higher forms of life exist elsewhere in the universe, capable of delivering man from his increasingly desperate circumstances; this has clouded the Gospel message and diverted man's attention from his one true source of salvation.

5) It provides an essential 'scientific' prop for secular humanism, the religion of the age, with its emphasis on permissiveness and the denial of all absolutes; inevitably this has led to the progressive loosening of the fabric of human society and to many of the excesses and evils we now witness about us.

6) Its adherents vigorously resist the teaching of biblical creation as an alternative explanation of origins on the grounds that, unlike evolution, it is not science but a matter of religious belief.

The Lord Jesus came to bring truth to the world (Jn.18:37). We demonstrate that we are his followers by our love of truth. If we accept a doctrine that is so patently antagonistic to the gospel of love without rigorously testing its credentials, then it is doubtful that we are numbered among his true followers. He clearly believed all that Moses had written (Lk.16:29), including what is so destructive of evolution and the notion of an old earth, viz the universality of the flood, and its outcome (Mt.24:36-39, Lk.17:26,27).

The battle between God's people and Baal, and his prophets, is not new; it is one that has been fought in every generation since Adam. We find an example described in 1Ki.18 where the prophet Elijah challenges the people with the words, "...How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him."

Many Christians are attempting to serve two masters - masters with opposing agendas! Dominant is the god, Evolution. He is to be continually placated by insisting that we 'interpret' the Scriptures to conform with his dictates. In submitting to this pressure, we so often find it necessary to deny the clear words of Christ and the Apostles - hardly a solid basis upon which to live out one's Christian life!

Vernon Jenkins

28th July, 1998

Iain, if you dispute any of the above - or uncover any _real_ merits of evolution - I shall be happy to discuss these further with you. And, of course, this offer extends to all members of the forum.

Vernon

  ----- Original Message -----

  From: Iain Strachan
  To: Vernon Jenkins
  Cc: George Murphy ; Don Nield ; asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 12:46 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Of motes and beams

  On 7/18/06, Vernon Jenkins <vernon.jenkins@virgin.net> wrote:
    Iain,

    You say, "...in the case of the immune system, God has used evolutionary processes to defend your body against disease." But is this not an example of micro evolution, so-called? It is hardly the _real thing_ . Indeed, where - except in the minds of its protagonists - are we to find even one clear-cut example of macro evolution?

  Vernon,

  I suggest you take a good look at Francis Collins's lecture "Faith and the Human Genome", at

  http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2003/PSCF9-03Collins.pdf

  Francis Collins was head of the Human Genome project, an extremely high profile scientist, who is also a highly committed evangelical Christian. He was converted in his 20's from being self-admittedly a highly obnoxious atheist whom you wouldn't want to go to lunch with, to a Christian, by reading C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity", and being forced to accept that it was perfectly rational to be a Christian.

  Collins also says that as a scientist he finds the evidence in favour of (macro) evolution overwhelming. The talk he gives in the above link gives very compelling evidence that macro-evolution has occurred, notably in the following quotation. Everything we see is in line with the predictions of the theory. The following is a key excerpt from his talk. I think it's a pretty clear cut example of how macro evolution has occurred, by looking at real data, not by some mental delusion as you suggest.

  It is not just a human/mouse comparison
  one can do. Eric Green at the Genome Institute
  has looked at this same region in many
  other species and, in fact, you can find this
  same CAPZA2 gene in everything from
  chimps down to zebra fishes and a lot of
  things in between (see Figure 4). Notice the
  pattern. The chimpanzee is almost 100% identical
  to the human, except the chimp has a
  deletion just before exon 2 that we do not
  have. Otherwise the match-up, as in most
  cases of human and chimp comparison, is
  about 98.5% to 99%. You can see that the
  baboon is starting to diverge. The cat and the
  dog and the cow all look a lot alike, and
  again if you look at the CAPZA2 exons, you
  will see that every one of those species has a
  nice conserved little segment there. But as
  you get further away to rats, mouse, chicken,
  two different kinds of pufferfish and then a
  zebra fish, about the only thing you see is the
  protein encoding regions, while the rest of
  the scattered noise goes away. Again, this is
  a very compelling kind of pattern in terms of
  what one would expect from evolution.

  Collins also accepts, just like you and me, that miracles can occur. He has just brought out a book called "The Language of God", about the genome project, and about his own faith, which I have on order from Amazon, and am looking forward to reading. No doubt I'll be reporting back to the list on what he has to say, if someone else doesn't beat me to it.

    Knowing you to be attentive to the Lord's words, I gather you accept evolution as a 'tree' that yields good fruit. Possibly you are able to defend that view by suggesting a few of its merits.

  How about: it brought forth you and me; intelligent beings who are able to sense and worship their creator. Not a bad start.

   If you read Genesis Ch 1 carefully, you will see that it says "Let the earth bring forth ... plants , seed-bearing fruit etc etc". God endowed earth with the properties that it could bring forth all this amazing creation. To me that is the most mind boggling miracle of all. That the earth did the bringing forth according to the marvellous properties with which God endowed it.

  We should recall that in Colossians Ch 1 it says that Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together. If we hold true to that, we should be able to look unflinchingly at scientific evidence, and find out just how all things hold together. The elegance and subtlety of God's creation is truly amazing if you allow yourself to look into the science, and not just give up and say "That must have been a miracle".

  Iain

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Received on Wed Jul 19 15:57:47 2006