The idea that Darwinian ethics and the slbigensian heresy can be matched up in terms of values does not say that the two match completely. I believe that evil tends to go from one form and when it is repudiated, and you think it has been defeated it finds a way to warf into another form. Often it takes time and clarity to realiz it is indeed the same fault of philosophy under a new guise. Of cource there will be some differences otherwise it would be obvious that it was the same thing and easily recognized. I was drawing compariosons between the albigenses heresy and Darwin
based on the fact that both separate the material and the spiritual. Both imply that evil can be found in the material…
and even the ever present nature of violence and survival found in Dawrin shows that he was acutely aware of the negatives in nature.
However I won’t pursue the agument much further as it is off track and will only throw confusion. We have gotten to a point where
it is clear from Darwin’s notebooks and personal memores that he lost faith in God, that he was prone toward a materialistic view, that he did not seek to emphasize the noble in every human person but rather went out of his way to show people were evolved animals. You continually deny that last point yet Darwin seemed very purposeful in making that his main point. His “Descent of Man” draws one parallel after another trying to show that man’s attributes, including his moral conscience and
behaviors, ability to reflect, all can be found in some way in animal behavior. He tries to show that these evolve through material process. Whether darwin truly believes in the apiritual is
doubtful based on the testimonies of his journals and personal writings which attest to his own loss of faith. You simply cannot deny those writings whether they are posted by people who like or dislike Darwin, they are quotes from Darwin.
I have pointed out that Darwin neglected to address the many behaviours of mankind which can be traced to ancient times and which have no counterpart in animal behaviors. These surely are evidence that man is not just an animal…not different in any way, only in degree from animals.
If compassion ‘evolved’ as Darwin seems to propose, then why do people from such ancient times have such complex burial mounds and practices. Certainly this does not have a counter
part in the animals. Human beings at these early time periods should not have had such a propensity to compassion, to sharing and caring for each other, at least not if they were mere animals.
From an article on evilution:
"In 1911, the famous French anatomist, Marcellin Boule, carefully studied a recently discovered Neanderthal skeleton. This specimen was important for it was the first nearly complete skeleton of an ancient man. Using it, science could understand the details of a typical Neanderthal’s body structure.
Boule’s reconstruction of Neanderthal showed a hunched-over, misshapen creature with bent legs and face thrust forward, not unlike the stance of a gorilla. This depiction was highly influential for decades thereafter; it was reproduced in textbooks, drawings, and museum displays around the world. But later discoveries of Neanderthal finds cast doubt on Boule’s work. Then in 1957, a team of anatomists re-examined Boule’s original
skeleton and found a serious source of error: the Neanderthal man had suffered from a case of severe arthritis. His stance was indeed hunched-over, but it was not genetic in origin and was not typical. Today, we believe that ancient people walked and stood erect almost exactly as we do."
".The image of ferocity was also without factual support. Over the years, in fact, many archaeological sites have shown evidence of cooperation and even compassion among primitive people. Numerous fossils came from carefully prepared graves, some as old as 100,000 years. In several instances, the deceased had been old and crippled (like Boule’s specimen) and had received
care for years before being laid to rest. In one grave, a youth had been buried carefully on his side, with one arm tucked under his head, as if he were sleeping; in one hand, he held a beautifully carved quartz knife. In another grave, archaeologists found the body of an elderly Neanderthal who had had his forearm amputated years before in his youth. (Surgery 60,000
years ago!) He had been cared for all his life. And in yet another
Neanderthal site, researchers found evidence that the deceased had been buried with flowers.
Care for cripples and burial with flowers give a dimension of humanness to ancient man that earlier scientists would have found astonishing.*
ewtn.com/library/HUMANITY/EVOLUTN.TXT
Darwin’s quotes that praise the beauty of creation are few and far between and his “Descent of Man” certainly does not indicate the marvelous differences evidenced by early man which would indeed show that man is not just another animal…that man has a special dignity. If Darwin truly believed in the immortal soul of man he would not have gone so far and said so much which essentially reduced man to a mere ape.
In Christ, maryjohnz
