Re: [asa] American Scientific Affiliation * Whatever happened to its mission?

I still fail to see the real point of Denyse' accusations and these further
assertions by Bill.

Ignoring the misrepresentation of the individuals and their traditions,
the assertion was that George (as a purported "typically example"
of ASA) has capitulated to the materialists. In effect, George said
"God's actions in the world are hidden and therefore, we are unlikely
to detect them directly". This is not at all a materialist position.

ID represents the materialist position because, whether viewed
openly so or nuanced, the position asserts that we should be
able to _prove_ God with a substantial level of certainty using the
materialist tools (generally an adapted for probability theory where
you set a threshold of likelihood). It's a simple task for
the opponents to build a ring around ID claims and gradually close
in on the kill. It appears they have found it quite easy.

If we could generate reproducible experiments where prayer
always worked even 1% of the time, and the only requirement
was the person had pray and accepted Jesus, it would be just plain
dumb not to pray and accept Jesus. Period. There is no need to hear
long sermons about faith or how we need to be saved because
we are all sinners; we can simply count on that 1/100 chance
of getting our own Mercedes Benz. (OK, perhaps prayer is
only limited to healing, and only special requests for luxury
transportation are accepted. So how about a Chevy? Lord!
I need a car!) You would be clearly a fool (by the _world's_
standards) not to pray, because, where this really governed
by such facile rules, the more you pray, the better the odds.

Instead, what we are given is a choice: believe or not. Trust
and obey, or don't. We must struggle to see God's actions
in this world through our feeble eyes of faith.This is hardly
bowing to materialism, it is recognizing that the answers to
ultimate meaning and purpose are not likely to be found by
turning to and using materialist tools.

Judging human nature and what we have shown ourselves capable
of doing with the little power we have already, that makes a lot of sense.

by Grace we proceed,
Wayne

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Received on Tue Apr 24 12:12:47 2007