Re: [asa] Random and natural vs intelligence

Randy Isaac quotes a book reviewer as saying (with Lee Strobel agreeing):
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"While theists can have a variety of legitimate views on life's evolution,
surely they must maintain that the process involves intelligence. So the
question is: Can an intelligent being use random mutations and natural selection
to create? No. This is not a theological problem; it is a logical one. The
words random and natural are meant to exclude intelligence. If God guides which
mutations happen, the mutations are not random; if God chooses which organisms
 survive so as to guide life's evolution, the selection is intelligent rather
 than natural.

"Theistic Darwinists maintain that God was "intimately involved" in
creation, to use Francis Collins's words. But they also think life developed via
genuinely random mutations and genuinely natural selection. Yet they never
explain what God is doing in this process. Perhaps there is still room for him to
start the whole thing off, but this abandons theism for deism."
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But if one takes this logical viewpoint, one cannot consistently be an OEC
like Strobel either. What about stellar evolution? I believe people like
Strobel and Hugh Ross would say that the development of stars unfolded over
billions of years entirely from natural laws, with no extra input from
"intelligence" except perhaps at the Big Bang itself. Yet the Bible tells us God made
the stars. So, if one really takes the logical position that it only counts
as "creation" if some "intelligence" participates in the process in a
non-natural way, to be consistent one must insist on such intelligent intervention
for stars also in order to "make room" for God.
 
Of course, most OECs do not invoke "intelligent design" for stars, instead
ascribing their development to God's sovereignty over nature and selection of
initial conditions. Why is the same logic not applied consistently to both
stars and starfish?
 
Allan (ASA Member)
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Dr. Allan H. Harvey, Boulder, Colorado | SteamDoc@aol.com
"Any opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be
attributed to my employer, my wife, or my cat"

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Received on Tue Nov 6 00:10:44 2007