Posted on 12/18/2004 5:56:30 PM PST by PatrickHenry
Professional danger comes in many flavors, and while Richard Colling doesn't jump into forest fires or test experimental jets for a living, he does do the academic's equivalent: He teaches biology and evolution at a fundamentalist Christian college.
At Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., he says, "as soon as you mention evolution in anything louder than a whisper, you have people who aren't very happy." And within the larger conservative-Christian community, he adds, "I've been called some interesting names."
But those experiences haven't stopped Prof. Colling -- who received a Ph.D. in microbiology, chairs the biology department at Olivet Nazarene and is himself a devout conservative Christian -- from coming out swinging. In his new book, "Random Designer," he writes: "It pains me to suggest that my religious brothers are telling falsehoods" when they say evolutionary theory is "in crisis" and claim that there is widespread skepticism about it among scientists. "Such statements are blatantly untrue," he argues; "evolution has stood the test of time and considerable scrutiny."
His is hardly the standard scientific defense of Darwin, however. His central claim is that both the origin of life from a primordial goo of nonliving chemicals, and the evolution of species according to the processes of random mutation and natural selection, are "fully compatible with the available scientific evidence and also contemporary religious beliefs." In addition, as he bluntly told me, "denying science makes us [Conservative Christians] look stupid."
Prof. Colling is one of a small number of conservative Christian scholars who are trying to convince biblical literalists that Darwin's theory of evolution is no more the work of the devil than is Newton's theory of gravity. They haven't picked an easy time to enter the fray. Evolution is under assault from Georgia to Pennsylvania and from Kansas to Wisconsin, with schools ordering science teachers to raise questions about its validity and, in some cases, teach "intelligent design," which asserts that only a supernatural tinkerer could have produced such coups as the human eye. According to a Gallup poll released last month, only one-third of Americans regard Darwin's theory of evolution as well supported by empirical evidence; 45% believe God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago.
Usually, the defense of evolution comes from scientists and those trying to maintain the separation of church and state. But Prof. Colling has another motivation. "People should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their faith," he says. He therefore offers a rendering of evolution fully compatible with faith, including his own. The Church of the Nazarene, which runs his university, "believes in the biblical account of creation," explains its manual. "We oppose a godless interpretation of the evolutionary hypothesis."
It's a small opening, but Prof. Colling took it. He finds a place for God in evolution by positing a "random designer" who harnesses the laws of nature he created. "What the designer designed is the random-design process," or Darwinian evolution, Prof. Colling says. "God devised these natural laws, and uses evolution to accomplish his goals." God is not in there with a divine screwdriver and spare parts every time a new species or a wondrous biological structure appears.
Unlike those who see evolution as an assault on faith, Prof. Colling finds it strengthens his own. "A God who can harness the laws of randomness and chaos, and create beauty and wonder and all of these marvelous structures, is a lot more creative than fundamentalists give him credit for," he told me. Creating the laws of physics and chemistry that, over the eons, coaxed life from nonliving molecules is something he finds just as awe inspiring as the idea that God instantly and supernaturally created life from nonlife.
Prof. Colling reserves some of his sharpest barbs for intelligent design, the idea that the intricate structures and processes in the living world -- from exquisitely engineered flagella that propel bacteria to the marvels of the human immune system -- can't be the work of random chance and natural selection. Intelligent-design advocates look at these sophisticated components of living things, can't imagine how evolution could have produced them, and conclude that only God could have.
That makes Prof. Colling see red. "When Christians insert God into the gaps that science cannot explain -- in this case how wondrous structures and forms of life came to be -- they set themselves up for failure and even ridicule," he told me. "Soon -- and it's already happening with the flagellum -- science is going to come along and explain" how a seemingly miraculous bit of biological engineering in fact could have evolved by Darwinian mechanisms. And that will leave intelligent design backed into an ever-shrinking corner.
It won't be easy to persuade conservative Christians of this; at least half of them believe that the six-day creation story of Genesis is the literal truth. But Prof. Colling intends to try.
Science has accumulated evidence; but, not for evolution. Christianity has no bicker with evidence. It's the spin put on it by evolutionists that's at question. Ala "Lucy" - science is good at manufacturing what it can't observe and hiding what it would rather not have observed.
Ah, the old 'you just can't understand cause we're smarter than you' argument. God apparently designed the universe to make you guys look like morons. Cause planets spin in both directions in violation of the law of Conservation... LOL. But, you go ahead, bein smarter must have an advantage somewhere that we missed.
It ain't that simple. Scripture says plainly that God made man from the dust of the earth in a seperate event after creating the animals. That's wrench number one. Wrench number two is that there was no such thing as death till Adam sinned. This also ocurred long after all the creating was done - which is in contention directly with evolution. Wrench number three is that the language of Genesis doesn't allow it. The literal language is THE FIRST DAY, THE SECOND DAY, etc. Definitive article associated with day. There's only one first day. And there is no precident for translating the original hebrew to anything but "day". Nothing else stands up. It only gets worse.
If you try to force ages onto this, you're violating exigesis rules and you destroy context among other things. God made plants one day, Light the following day, and insects to polinate the plants on the next. That's called dealing rapidly with built in interdependancies which exist for the benefit of all involved. At each point of the story, evolution directly contradicts scripture and posits something destructive to the situation. Thus, you can't say God just set something in motion and let it do it's own thing here. We have the story telling as much as we need to know about what happened. The problem here is people playing at religion wanting not to have the image that science and religion are in argument with one another. They aren't in any way. Christianity and evolution are in direct contention with one another and evolution isn't science. It's just propped up by scientists with an agenda. They start from their conclusions and suppress/dismiss anything that blows holes in their pet conclusion. That ain't science.
Interesting article. Not surprising at all.
O the joy!
Problem with your presentation is in this statement. The earth isn't a closed system per se; but, the universe is. And the Earth lives in that universe. The sun is destructive to everything it presents itself to with one exception - chlorophyl. So, your own example destroys your premise. You can introduce energy into any system you want, that doesn't mean the system is capable of making use of said energy. Wherever it can't make use of said energy, said energy is destructive to the system - not beneficial. Thus the law itself. Your exception to the rule requires another exception to the rule to be relevant in minor circumstances. If a man dies on the operating table and is brain dead at 90, you can introduce all the energy to his system you want, the brain is dead and the body will continue decaying. The end of that is disorder as the body breaks down. You can keep the circulatory system and resperatory system going; but, without the brain to tell every other system what to do, you're just spinning your wheels. It's like putting a car with a dead engine up on blocks and spinning the wheels to convince someone that the car is still good. Not without an engine it ain't. Introduce all the energy to that car you want, it ain't goin anywhere unless you can replace the engine. In the case of the human body - that's impossible.
Genesis doesn't mention the creation of Satan by name. It does however state that all things that were created were created in those 7 days. If you actually bother reading the text, you'll see that Satan was in Eden which wasn't created till day 6. But Satan was an Angel, which would put him being created either on day 1 or 2. No problem. I'd also note that it doesn't say the earth "BECAME" void and without form.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; ..it says after God created it, it was void and without form. IE, like a house being built, he created the foundation - the planet itself; but, he'd not done anything to it to finish the work he'd started yet. Kinda like making a bookcase. If all you do is create wood, it's void and without form so far. Once you build the actual bookcase, it is merely void. Once you populate it with books, it is no longer void. You've purposedly distorted what it says. You've done the same with these other passages you cite. They've nothing whatever to do with what you're arguing. Scripture speaks plainly of Two earths. The first is the one we're on now. The second will come when this one is destroyed in the end times. Spin or lie about that.
There is no physical evidence you can produce that argues against the account in Genesis. The spin you associate with the evidence is something else altogether.
No, read it again. There is no mess to clean up. God created raw materials then set about through six days to use those raw materials to make something - finished products. There is no place mentioned any rebellion. That's something you're introducing that is not only unsupportable by the text; but, outright refuted by the text. You read just far enough to get yourself in trouble and when your lie is pointed out, you've nowhere to go with it. Death didn't come till Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden AFTER the creation - AFTER the first 7 days of existance. If you have a rebellion and God destroyed everything, then death exists before Adam Sinned. There is no place you can find any support for such a blaring contradiction. And it calls God a liar - something that God cannot, by his very nature, be.
Ah, but it's not the rosey picture you paint, is it. The thought that dinosaurs could move at warm blooded paces and therefore be warm blooded was the notion of a very few in the community and was accepted only after the evidence for it went public. Once the evidence was public and near incontestible, then things changed. But it was a long time coming and with great resistance. The community is not the fluid organism you describe. It is ICE which thaws every once in a while to take another form only after someone boils the cube and ticks a lot of people off by showing they aren't as smart as they thought. There are too many egos involved who think themselves too smart to be wrong. Seems to be common amongst certain types for what that's worth.
LOL. Might I remind you that the whole scientific community used to believe the earth to be flat.. used to believe blood-letting cured illness.. etc. The idea of little things called germs that could travel from person to person if doctors didn't wash their hands between examinations was disputed as absurd. The science community lives on majority opinion and heralds itself as superior and intellectually above reproach while it holds any given belief. It derides any contestor to the point of destroying them at times. And they condescend to change only after making fools of themselves much of the time. Majority opinion ain't worth much.
An Earth and Solar System dated at a few billion years old; a fossil record that just happens to show a progression from the single-celled to multi-cellular to increasingly complex organisms over billions of years -- all corroborated by multiple dating types to obviate any discrepancies.
Of course, what you are saying is there is no physical evidence that we can produce that you will accept, regardless of its provenence. You are one of the few creationists who make no bones about flat-out rejecting any evidence that conflicts with your beliefs.
It isn't falsifiable. You show me one blasted animal on this planet that can couple with it's own kind and produce a completely different kind of animal that can reproduce it's own kind. You can't. It thusly is NOT falsifiable. It is a belief system - not science.
You've just defended Hitler and the Nazi attrocities. Without God, you can rationalize the worth of anything. With God, you have to accept the standards he sets or answer for it. That is why evolution exists. That alone.
You do have the 'freewill' to choose to believe what parts and pieces you select to believe.
It does happen both ways. Since they started teaching evolution, there has been a snowball effect on the youth turning from religion in general as evolution calls their parents' religion a lie. That's why it's in the schools. And the result of that is discernable in the historical data showing the decline of morality and it's affect on society since the 1960s. The lie is so pervasive that the damage is widespread. The extent of the damage is matched only by the anger of those who finally realize they've been lied to and after examining all the facts. Once one reaches that point, they have two options, God or their own path. The choice doesn't change - the perception that the choice exists does.
The real impact is easy to see. If you can convince people that God's a liar or that scripture is a lie, you can get by with anything. Cause those people aren't going to hold you to a standard if you've convinced them (however wrongly) that their standard is a lie. Now you can get by with murder - literally, because everything then becomes situational and relative. To Hitler, Aryans needed more room to thrive and the jews posed a problem as being the "chosen" people when Aryans were supposed to be the "chosen" people. In a moral relativistic society, this becomes all the reason in the world to commit genocide.. just as "my life will be impacted negatively if I have this baby" becomes all the reason needed in the world to murder a baby - to the glee of the liberal who wants to have unprotected sex with as many women as possible with no responsibility, then legislate a tax on all of us to pay for that damage.
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