Francis Collins in his book, The Language of God, sets out the following 6 major premises that underlie the concept of Theistic Evolution (or to use his preferred coined term, Biologos):
(page 200)
1. The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago
2. Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.
3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.
4. Once evolution got under way, no special supernatural intervention was required.
5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.
6. But humans are also unique in ways that deft evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
1. The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago
2. Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.
3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.
4. Once evolution got under way, no special supernatural intervention was required.
5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.
6. But humans are also unique in ways that deft evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
And here's his response to some of the common criticisms of Biologos. This is garnered from the same book as well as highlights from his presentation at the Veritas Forum at Caltech in 2009 - including relevant thoughts from CS Lewis whom Collins heavily quoted in his speech and book:
1. If evolution is random, how could God really be in charge?
The solution is actually readily at hand, once one ceases to apply human limitations to God. If God is outside of nature, then he is outside of space and time. In that context, God could in the moment of creation of the universe also know every detail of the future. That could include the formation of the stars, planets, and galaxies... and the evolution of humans... In that context, evolution could appear to us to be driven by chance, but from God's perspective the outcome would be entirely specified. Thus, God could be completely and intimately involved in the creation of all species, while from our perspective, limited as it is by the tyranny of linear time, this would appear a random and undirected process.
2. Isn't evolution a purely random process? Doesn't that take God out of it?
Again, it might seem random to us, but if God is outside of time, randomness doesn't make sense anymore. God could have complete knowledge of the outcome in a process that seems random to us. I suppose in that way we could say God is inhabiting the process all the way along. It's not a fundamental problem, despite the way it is often portrayed as such.
3. Is it possible to rectify evolution with Genesis 1-2?
Down through the ages most theologians did not conclude that a literal reading is required. Genesis 1 and 2 portray two stories of creation, and they don't quite agree in terms of the order of appearance of plants and humans. So they can't both be literally correct. Maybe that's a suggestion to us as we read these two accounts that this is not intended to be a scientific treatise.
St. Augustine wrote no less than 4 books on the question of Genesis. Here's his exhortation:
"In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it."
4. Is free will in conflict with a deterministic world - at least according to physics?
The principle of uncertainty is a reality in quantum mechanics. It's something we have to deal with and it's a legitimate argument.
CS Lewis wrote,
"If you choose to say 'God can give a creature freewill and at the same time withhold freewill from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words 'God can.' Nonsense remains nonsense, even when we talk it about God."
5. Why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?
Consider this, if the most important decision we are to make on this earth is a decision about belief, and if the most important relationship we are to develop on this earth is a relationship with God, and if our existence as spiritual creatures is not limited to what we an know and observe during our earthly lifetime, then human sufferings take on a wholly new context. We may never fully understand the reasons for these painful experiences, but we can begin to accept the idea that there may be such reasons.
There's no immunization from evil, only the reassurance that the suffering would not be in vain. This notion that God can work through adversity is not an easy concept, and can find anchor only in a worldview that embraces a spiritual perspective. The principle of growth through suffering is, in fact, nearly universal in the world's great faiths.
Lewis wrote, "We want, in fact, not so much a father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'likes to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'a good time was had by all.' The reality is life is more a vale of tears than a garden of delight. This may seem like a paradox but it can be reconciled if we consider this, 'His Plan is not the same as ours'."
St. Augustine wrote no less than 4 books on the question of Genesis. Here's his exhortation:
"In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it."
4. Is free will in conflict with a deterministic world - at least according to physics?
The principle of uncertainty is a reality in quantum mechanics. It's something we have to deal with and it's a legitimate argument.
CS Lewis wrote,
"If you choose to say 'God can give a creature freewill and at the same time withhold freewill from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words 'God can.' Nonsense remains nonsense, even when we talk it about God."
5. Why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?
Consider this, if the most important decision we are to make on this earth is a decision about belief, and if the most important relationship we are to develop on this earth is a relationship with God, and if our existence as spiritual creatures is not limited to what we an know and observe during our earthly lifetime, then human sufferings take on a wholly new context. We may never fully understand the reasons for these painful experiences, but we can begin to accept the idea that there may be such reasons.
There's no immunization from evil, only the reassurance that the suffering would not be in vain. This notion that God can work through adversity is not an easy concept, and can find anchor only in a worldview that embraces a spiritual perspective. The principle of growth through suffering is, in fact, nearly universal in the world's great faiths.
Lewis wrote, "We want, in fact, not so much a father in Heaven as a grandfather in Heaven - a senile benevolence who, as they say, 'likes to see young people enjoying themselves,' and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, 'a good time was had by all.' The reality is life is more a vale of tears than a garden of delight. This may seem like a paradox but it can be reconciled if we consider this, 'His Plan is not the same as ours'."
0 comments:
Post a Comment