Re: [asa] Origins: Francis Collins and ID

On Dec 3, 2007 11:25 AM, Dehler, Bernie <bernie.dehler@intel.com> wrote:
>
> " What do you see as a problem for evolution here?"
>
> The problem is seeing how a mindless nature can create something so complex
> as an eye. The eye is just one example. As I said, I work at Intel in CPU
> design, and I see how much work it takes to make an advanced CPU. There is

Is there any similarity between CPU's and complex systems like the
eye? As I pointed out, despite some people's inability to grasp how
evolution can have resulted in an eye, it seems that science indeed
has shown how intermediates exist.

> no way it could be done without pushing every brain cell that we have.
> However, life itself is so much more complex (the eye, DNA, etc.). So on
> one hand I see the evidence of evolution in the genome, on the other hand I
> can't comprehend how nature can do this without an intelligent guiding hand.
> Is there something unscientific in thinking that God guided evolution? Is
> the most reasonable conclusion that God guided evolution? Did God directly
> manipulate DNA as a programmer writes a software program?

Of course, we can always invoke the guiding hand of God but to replace
our ignorance with an appeal to God runs the risk of a gap argument.
Is it necessary that God guided evolution? Is it sufficient to set in
motion evolution? That may mostly be an issue of faith. Personally, I
see nothing wrong with accepting that God set it all in motion a long
time ago. What does it mean for God to 'guide evolution'? How do we
limit God to a mechanism that can be studied by science? Should we?

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Received on Tue Dec 4 12:10:12 2007