Amy Julia Becker, who blogs at “Thin Places,” on faith, family and disability, at Christianity Today wants us to know that faith and science are compatible (STOP the presses).
Apparently, last week, she went to a BioLogos (Christians for Darwin) seminar and learned the following:
First, as Richard Mouw (former President of Fuller Seminary) reminded us, God is slow. The universe is 13.4 billion years old (I think I’m remembering that correctly!). It took billions of years for life on earth to exist, much less for humans to populate it. That’s how much time God has. That’s how long God is willing to work in order to create and ultimately recreate this world. …
…
And finally, God is in control. I heard these scientists talk about how God has used random processes in a purposeful way, in a way that resulted not only in human beings but also in human culture—in art and music and love and laughter and hope and joy. Through billions of years and a vastness of space that I cannot comprehend, God has been at work in a purposeful way.
(Conceptual map: Darwinian evolution is based on the proposition that it looks guided but is really random. People only imagine there is a God behind it, so believing in a “purposeful way” is a matter of sheer, blind faith. Non-Darwinians say it not only doesn’t look random, but is not random. Becker might wish to investigate them. Any suggestions of sources?)
So Darwinism first, Christianity second. Christianity survives if it is acceptable to Darwinism.
Philosopher Laszlo Bencze responds gently,
“I heard these scientists talk about how God has used random processes in a purposeful way, in a way that resulted not only in human beings but also in human culture”. quoted from Amy Becker.
OK calm down. Let’s see if logic can help us here. Any process that is random is not controlled by anything. It just happens… uh, well, randomly. So using a random process purposefully removes the randomness and makes it purposeful. Sorry. That didn’t help. Let’s try again.
Random processes are controlled by a god who is also random. Now that’s consistent. But shoot, a random god can’t have any purposes because, well, uh, he’s random after all. Gosh that didn’t help either.
Wait! Wait! I’ve got it. “Random” is just a synonym for “purposeful” so god can use random processes because they are actually as purposeful as he is! Brilliant eh? Oh, you say that’s not what random means to evolutionists. They say it’s just like playing craps in a back alley and the dice are not loaded so there’s no predicting the outcome.
Well well. This is a tough nut to crack. How about this one? Logic itself is outmoded and non-functional in our world. It is just a mind game for the cultural elite.
Therefore, contradictions do not exist and a thing can be both itself and not itself at the same time in the same place. Whew. That took some heavy lifting. What? Huh?
You say I used logic in proving logic does not exist and so contradicted myself. Well what sort of a creep are you? Oh, you’re a professor of biology at State U and you need logic to put Christians in their place. And you say it also helps you in understanding our meaningless universe.
I think it’s best if we just pretend not to notice any problems with what Ms Becker said and proceed to lunch.
Except, of course, that Becker is just the sort of person BioLogos seeks to influence (she announces that she comes to them in all humility and ignorance, when she should realize that she is walking into a den).
They influence them to forget reason, logic, and evidence—and accept an impossible proposition (guided randomness) in a storm of religious incitements, and then they all go off happy, to tell others the good news.
Incidentally, friends have expressed surprise that the concept of slowness would even be applied to God, except in a metaphorical sense. God is traditionally understood to be outside time, and for good logical reasons.
Of course, if one’s acceptance of God hinges on his compatibility with Darwinian evolution, then presumably, he is subject to the same strictures as Darwinian evolution, or more strictures if he is actually the lesser of the two (the evolving God).
That at least makes sense.
Note: Re faith and science being compatible, doesn’t it depend on whose faith and what science? Boko Haram, a Nigerian terrorist group, acts from religious motives. The name means “books are forbidden” – “books” referring roughly to Western culture. Do these people strike readers as science-friendly? See what harm is done when vague terms like “science” and “faith” are tossed around like that?
The worst damage “liberal” Christianity does is rob people of the ability to ask common sense questions and make common sense distinctions, all in the effort to make them seem godly but up to date. What they really need, which Biologos cannot give them, is a sharp edge, a clear mind, and firm principles. – O’Leary for News
See also: If anyone cares, BioLogos will now actually review Darwin’s Doubt.
Follow UD News at Twitter!