Darwin film

[Donald45]

Finally, a feature film about the life and science of Charles Darwin! Very exciting. View the trailer here:
creationthemovie.com/
The film opens on Sept. 25th.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

Finally, a feature film about the life and science of Charles Darwin! Very exciting. View the trailer here:
creationthemovie.com/
The film opens on Sept. 25th.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

I’d love to watch the trailer, but I’m having trouble downloading quicktime to view it-I’m not computer savvy in the least
Maybe you could just give your opinion about how it incorporates God and creation-a Christian perspective.Thanks!

 

[Pons]

Heh, the title seems deliberately provocative to certain kinds of Christians. Some of these, namely the creation science folks, make the rest, especially Catholics, look bad, in my opinion. Catholics at least are free to believe in evolution or not, as long as we recognize that God is behind it all. But the way the media paints it, Christians are all the same. http://forums.theonering.com/images/smiles/icon_mad.gif

 

[Donald45]

I’d love to watch the trailer, but I’m having trouble downloading quicktime to view it-I’m not computer savvy in the least
Maybe you could just give your opinion about how it incorporates God and creation-a Christian perspective.Thanks!

My hope is that the film portrays Darwin as he was, in contrast to the demonizing caricaturization that’s often imposed upon him by many fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians (and, sadly, by a few Catholics as well). It will be great if the movie shows him in his historical, cultural, and scientific context in order to dispel some of the common misconceptions regarding both Darwin and his controversial theory.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

My hope is that the film portrays Darwin as he was, in contrast to the demonizing caricaturization that’s often imposed upon him by many fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians (and, sadly, by a few Catholics as well). It will be great if the movie shows him in his historical, cultural, and scientific context in order to dispel some of the common misconceptions regarding both Darwin and his controversial theory.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

Is it true that Darwin deliberately wanted to exclude any possibility of the existence of God in his theory? I heard it told that he was very angry at God at the loss of his ten year old daughter. Do you think the producers would even include facts such as these, if true?

 

[Donald45]

Is it true that Darwin deliberately wanted to exclude any possibility of the existence of God in his theory?

The theory itself, being a scientific idea, would not be equipped to address questions of theology or religion. However, Darwin himself certainly allowed for the possible activity of a “Creator” in later editions of The Origin of Species:
"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, form so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved" (from the concluding paragraph).

I heard it told that he was very angry at God at the loss of his ten year old daughter. Do you think the producers would even include facts such as these, if true?

From reading Darwin’s autobiography, as well as the many biographies written about him, I don’t see that he was particularly angry with God, as much as disillusioned with the conventional Victorian Anglican concept of God. Darwin never referred to himself as an atheist, but rather as an agnostic, simeone who simply could not be certain of God’s existence. The slow and agonizing death of his daughter Annie certainly had an effect on Darwin (as a father myself, I can definitely relate), and made a confident belief in the conventional Victorian picture of God, for him, impossible.

Yes, I think the filmmaker will likely include these things about Darwin’s gradual loss of conventional faith. The book from which the screenplay was written—Randal Keynes’ Annie’s Box (U.S. title: Darwin, His Daughter, & Human Evolution)—focuses on just those features of his life and science.

Gaudium de veritate,

Don
+T+

 

[GeorgeSword]

That looks interesting. I only browsed over the page, but it said UK cinemas. Any idea if it will be released in the US?

 

[lemonbeam]

In the trailer, I’m not sure of the character name, but he says to Darwin ‘You’ve killed God.’
Why did people think then, and now, that Evolution somehow means that God is out of the picture, God does not exist?

 

[lemonbeam]

Also, what did he mean by this quote in the film:

‘Suppose the world stopped believing God had any sort of plan for us.’

?

I have feeling this film is just going to encourage more people to think that science and religion are incompatible, and Evolution is not compatible with Genesis / The Bible.

 

[Donald45]

That looks interesting. I only browsed over the page, but it said UK cinemas. Any idea if it will be released in the US?

Not yet. I’m hoping it’s not too long after the UK release date.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[Donald45]

In the trailer, I’m not sure of the character name, but he says to Darwin ‘You’ve killed God.’ Why did people think then, and now, that Evolution somehow means that God is out of the picture, God does not exist?

That’s a good question. I think what Huxley was getting at in his statement (“You’ve killed God, sir!”) was that Darwin’s ideas directly conflicted with the conventional Victorian picture of God and his actions in the world. Essentially, what was “killed” was a particularly favored interpretation of Gensis 1 and 2 that could no longer be maintained in the light of organic evolution.

Of course, this has hardly been a novelty in Christian history. For example, Christians at one time commonly believed that the earth was the center of the universe based upon such biblical passages as Ps. 93:1-2, though no Christian today would venture such an interpretation. Likewise, Christians were once convinced that there was a gigantic global subterranian ocean below the earth’s crust based upon passages like Ps. 24:2; again, no one today would presume to interpret this verse in such a manner. Christians have been challenged throughout Church history to modify their interpretations of the Bible on the basis of known material facts, and evolution is one such example of this.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[tjm190]

My hope is that the film portrays Darwin as he was, in contrast to the demonizing caricaturization that’s often imposed upon him by many fundamentalist and Evangelical Christians (and, sadly, by a few Catholics as well). It will be great if the movie shows him in his historical, cultural, and scientific context in order to dispel some of the common misconceptions regarding both Darwin and his controversial theory.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

This. Darwin was a scientist, not a demonic vessel.

 

[Donald45]

Also, what did he mean by this quote in the film: ‘Suppose the world stopped believing God had any sort of plan for us.’?

I’ll have to see the film to be sure, but this seems to touch on Darwin’s fear that religious believers like his wife, Emma, would see his theory as an attack on the concept of divine providence… That is, if everything in the natural world occurs by means of natural laws and forces, what place is there, then, for God as a causal agent? In answer to this, many Christians recognize a distinction between secondary causes (e.g., gravity) and the Primary Cause (that is, God).

I have feeling this film is just going to encourage more people to think that science and religion are incompatible, and Evolution is not compatible with Genesis / The Bible.

Unfortunately, for some people that may well be the case. Folks tend to take from a film (or book, etc.) what they wish to affirm about their own present beliefs. On the other hand, it may enlighten many to the simple beauty of Darwin’s controversial idea, and allow them to see how his theory actually reveals the intricate wonder of God’s creative action in the world.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[Donald45]

This. Darwin was a scientist, not a demonic vessel.

I couldn’t agree more.

Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+

 

[LBSDBS]

Darwin appeared to be an honest scientist. However, as far as I know, many of the scientific fields that offer strong evidence in the existence of afterlife were undiscovered during his lifetime. It’s both sad and interesting to think that; had he been aware of many of the scientific methods discovered since his passing, it is quite possible that his theories would have been based on explaining the existence of afterlife rather then the opposite. What scares me is that he appears to be a man who sought truth and perhaps never found it. What I mean by that is many of his theories were still theories when he died, NOT facts. It’s tragic that one might seek answers on such dangerous matters and never find them in their lifetime.

 

[Gabriella_San_S]

Darwin appeared to be an honest scientist. However, as far as I know, many of the scientific fields that offer strong evidence in the existence of afterlife were undiscovered during his lifetime. It’s both sad and interesting to think that; had he been aware of many of the scientific methods discovered since his passing, it is quite possible that his theories would have been based on explaining the existence of afterlife rather then the opposite. What scares me is that he appears to be a man who sought truth and perhaps never found it. What I mean by that is many of his theories were still theories when he died, NOT facts. It’s tragic that one might seek answers on such dangerous matters and never find them in their lifetime.

I believe his theories are still just that. His use of science was never an attempt to prove the existence of the after-life, was it? I had heard that his theories were explicitly to disprove the existence of God.But often times man’s intellect and will are opposed to submission to God due to an overriding sense of pride.

 

[tjm190]

I believe his theories are still just that. His use of science was never an attempt to prove the existence of the after-life, was it? I had heard that his theories were explicitly to disprove the existence of God.But often times man’s intellect and will are opposed to submission to God due to an overriding sense of pride.

Fact- Theory does not mean or imply unproven, it simply asserts that witnessed phenomena are the result of a particular process. Like cell theory. And Darwin wrote his theory as a result of his observations- he was not predisposed against God

 

[LBSDBS]

I believe his theories are still just that. His use of science was never an attempt to prove the existence of the after-life, was it? I had heard that his theories were explicitly to disprove the existence of God.But often times man’s intellect and will are opposed to submission to God due to an overriding sense of pride.

Yep. Almost everything negative mankind deliberately does can be traced back to pride. If there is a single human root of all evil, pride is it.

As for Darwin, it my understanding is that he was a pretty objective individual. I never got the impression that he had a personal agenda towards religion or belief in God and/or afterlife.