Re: [asa] AIG's weakly message

I really disagree with the slippery slope notion here. It certainly can
be, but really only if a person's world view is such that such
explanation operates in conflict with or subtracts from a sense of the
supernatural. In fact, that is one of the reasons I don't like the
"supernatural" because it implies something separate from the the
"natural" realm that science operates on.

Suffice to say (by way of illustration) that when I first encountered
the explanatory theory of evolution, my thought was "so that's how this
part of God's Creation works!" It never occurred to me that it took
something away from the sense of awe and reverence for a God who could
put such a clever and consequential thing in place. In fact, as I
continued to realize over time additional detail and implications of the
evolutionary process, that respect for the One who set it into motion
continued to grow, not weaken.

It seems to me that what you suggest is that understanding how a
building is constructed to perform its function somehow takes away from
the reality and essential contribution of the architect.

We are not really "forced to posit the existence of the supernatural".
Indeed, some elect not to. The rest of us embrace the existence of the
supernatural in part because it helps in addressing a whole realm of
thought and experience that is unaddressable by scientific enquiry.

"What is left unanswerable" in any case are of course the "who" and
"why" questions as a minimum; those first cause concerns; those
questions which must be responded to by conjecture or revelations of the
sort that differ from revelations accessible through scientific
enquiry. JimA

Alexanian, Moorad wrote:

>There is indeed a slippery slop once one accepts evolutionary theory as the correct description of the history of life on Earth. Human curiosity and rationality are the major ingredients in the scientific endeavor, which would not satisfied with only the history of Earth but that of the whole universe. Therefore, humans would ascribe the present state of humanity to mere historical accidents. If all could be thought to be explainable by means of scientific inquiry, on what ground would one need the notion of the supernatural. In other words, what is left unanswerable by science so that we are forced to posit the existence of the supernatural?
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>
>Moorad
>
>________________________________
>
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of Carol or John Burgeson
>Sent: Sat 2/10/2007 12:50 PM
>To: asa@calvin.edu
>Subject: [asa] AIG's weakly message
>
>
>>From AIG this week -- a familiar refrain.
>
>Since Templeton accepted evolution, and since Templeton "lost his faith," then it must surely follow that anyone accepting evolution is on slippery grounds.
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>Burgy
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>Q: When someone rejects Genesis, will they then reject the whole Bible?
>
>A: The following is a terrible warning for the church today as to what happens when one compromises on the Word of God.
>
>In the 1950s, a famous evangelist named Charles Templeton received wide media attention across America. Great crowds flocked to hear him. Large numbers of people came forward when he challenged them to trust Christ.
>
>But in 1994 he published a book called Farewell to God in which he totally rejected the Christian faith. He died a few years ago as a man embittered against the Christian faith.
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>What happened to Templeton is a warning for us all today. He went to Princeton University and was taught to believe in the evolutionary teaching of "millions of years." He recognized that if this were true, then God used death, bloodshed, suffering and disease for millions of years as part of His creative process-and then called this very good.
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>All through his book, Templeton wrote that there can't be a God of love because of all the death and suffering in the world. The teaching of "millions of years" destroyed Templeton. Don't compromise, as he did, and destroy your faith.
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Received on Sat Feb 10 15:26:52 2007