RE: [asa] Origins: Francis Collins and ID

Hi Gregory,

 To answer your questions.

  I have a BSEET degree from Oregon Institute of Technology (1984). I
also have a Masters in Ministry degree from www.lru.edu
<http://www.lru.edu/> (2007). I've worked at Intel since 1984 (23
years). Since 1992, I've worked in CPU design, called a Mask Designer
(draw out the transistors, sometimes manually, sometimes with highly
automated tools). I do a little programming, but not much.

  Yes, it is possible I'm not appreciating the value of time. However,
if something is impossible, it also doesn't matter how much time one is
given. So I guess, the proof will lie in the fossil record... but that
still doesn't say whether God personally manipulated things, as a
programmer would writing software code. Correct?

  Am I a TE? So far, yes, but I'm still trying to understand what that
is... doing lots of reading, etc. (and discussions like this). The
reason I'm a TE is because it seems to me the genome has overwhelming
evidence for evolution, and the other creationist options (OEC and YEC)
don't accept evolution. So far, I'm a creationist who thinks God used
evolution as his means for creation.

  Another question... could there be a difference between a Theistic
Evolutionist (TE) and a Deistic Evolutionist (DE), with a TE believing
in God directly manipulating DNA and a DE denying that concept?

...Bernie

________________________________

From: Gregory Arago [mailto:gregoryarago@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 1:09 PM
To: Dehler, Bernie; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] Origins: Francis Collins and ID

Hello Bernie,

Please excuse if you might have said this on another thread, but I'm
curious what your educational background is. Could you say what your
disciplinary perspective is in asking 'how can evolution (as if it is
some autonomous thing that can have a dialogue with people) explain...'?

You wrote: I work at Intel in CPU design...

Should I assume you are a computer programmer (computer science) or
engineer (computer engineer)?

You also wrote: Or am I just putting God in there because I can't
appreciate the time element of evolution?...

Shall we assume you are not a historian, not appreciative of the 'time
element' of (and I am guessing you are referring to the biological
variety of) evolution?

Likewise: I would like to know what the other theistic evolutionists
have to say on this topic.

Should we assume you are a 'theistic evolutionist,' since you address
'the other' TEs?

Thanks,

Gregory

"Dehler, Bernie" <bernie.dehler@intel.com> wrote:

        Hi all, a question I have; maybe you can help me.

          Given that evolution actually happened because of evidence in
biology (genome evidence), how can evolution explain the complexity of
things like the eye?

          Francis Collins says the answer is to appreciate the vast
amounts of time.

          This still bothers me.

          I'm perplexed because I see both sides. The genome shows
proof that evolution happened. Yet, using reason, it seems impossible
that an undirected evolution can create something as complex as the
human eye (no matter how much time is involved). (I work at Intel in
CPU design, and even though out CPU's are super complex, it is nothing
near as complex as our body, DNA, etc.).

          I wonder if the solution is to see evolution as God-directed.
DNA is like a programming code, God is the programmer, directly
manipulating the code. It is like intelligently solving the rubic's
cube (toy) by one turn at a time. Randomly, you could solve a rubic's
cube given enough time, but intelligence would do it rather quickly. Is
this solution contrary to science? Is this the point where naturalistic
science and God meet? Or am I just putting God in there because I can't
appreciate the time element of evolution? (Some think that nature alone
can evolve, and that by God's design upfront with the anthropic
principle... designing everything upfront so it would unravel correctly
from a big bang.)

          I would like to know what the other theistic evolutionists
have to say on this topic.

________________________________

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Received on Tue Dec 4 12:43:41 2007