Is Darwin's Theory of Evolution True? Part 4.1

[vz71]

God is alive: “living God”.

God is not created.

God did not create the first life (Himself); He can only have created the second and subsequent living things.

God is not part of creation.
That would be pantheism, not Christianity.

 

[rossum]

Precisely. Since God is a “living God” then life was not created. If life was not created, then God cannot have created life. QED.

At most, God can have added more life to already existing life.

Creationism cannot be the explanation for the origin of life. It may be the explanation for the origin of Armadillos, though currently the evidence is against it.

rossum

 

[Techno2000]

I don’t believe this is true. You have no evidence for any such desire. It would be perfectly possible to breed huge dogs, but nobody wants to.

Because they have short lives.

 

[Aloysium]

The poetry of Genesis, and its understanding of God’s creative imagination, is astonishing in a book so old. It’s not a history book, or a science book. It is a fundamental theology book, and should be honoured and respected as such.

The statement “astonishing for a book so old” reveals another modern myth that sees new as being synonymous with better. The standard evolutionary theory actually would see it as simply different, but that again speaks to the vagueness and lack of coherence in what pople call evolution.

Genesis is the written Word of God, describing the Word of God to each and every generation that followed, understood by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we might individually and collectively engage in a dialogue with God, through which we may ultimately enter into communion with Him. It is more than a theological masterpiece; its reading is a prayer in which our thoughts become one with God’s.

Whereas the scriptures of eastern religions address the ontological structure of the person, the Bible speaks of God’s relationship with mankind, particularly the people with whom He entered into a covenant, and through whom the Saviour of all mankind would be born. It is the history of mankind’s journey in relation to God, from the beginning of time and moving towards its end. With guidance from the Holy Spirit and through His graces, the contemplation of its various levels of meaning will reveal the Truth.

 

[buffalo]

Some breeeders would love to bred guard dogs as big as horses, for example - but they can’t. Dogs can only get so big, because the variations in every kind of creature are limited by their DNA. Therefore it is a genetic impossibility for a “kind” to evolve into a different “kind”.

Bingo! The organism hovers about the mean. When pressure is reduced they go back to their mean.

 

[Aloysium]

The number ‘3’ is also relevant as the six days are grouped into three pairs of two days each, that is, day 4 corresponds to day 1, day 5 with day 2, and day 6 with day 3. This structure has long been recognized in the narrative.

This is very interesting and something I hadn’t noticed. If we put them together in terms of their subject matter, we get: 1) the creation of the sky and what we find in it, 2) the separation of the waters and creation of the seas and their inhabitants, 3) the creation of earth and the plants animals and we ourselves, that it contains, it might make more sense to those who doubt its historicity.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

 

[Aloysium]

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

My personal opinion as to why they are separated into three sections of two days is to highlight the fact that the ground of living beings, their environment, that which would allow them to flourish was laid before they came into existence. Again, I don’t know, but favour the idea that the “days” of Genesis were God’s days, in other words, a set of tasks done together constituting a whole and involving a purpose. I believe it fits with what we currently understand to have happened during the history of the earth. Evolution is nowhere alluded to in Genesis.

 

[Kei]

God is not a just a living thing or some being, but being itself.
"God presides in the great assembly;

he renders judgment among the “gods”:

“How long will youa defend the unjust

and show partiality to the wicked?

Defend the weak and the fatherless;

uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.

They walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

“I said, ‘You are “gods”;

you are all sons of the Most High.’

But you will die like mere mortals;

you will fall like every other ruler.”

Rise up, O God, judge the earth,

for all the nations are your inheritance."

 

[Hugh_Farey]

The statement “astonishing for a book so old” reveals another modern myth that sees new as being synonymous with better.

No, I don’t think so. There are dozens of creation myths from all over the world, but I think no other is as complex or as subtle in its depiction of the relationship of God with his creation.

The standard evolutionary theory actually would see it as simply different, but that again speaks to the vagueness and lack of coherence in what pople call evolution.

A few comments back, I suggested that you did not know much science, to which you replied somewhat indignantly that I was presumptuous. It is remarks like this above that continue to suggest to me that I was correct. The theory of evolution may be incorrect, but to describe it as vague and lacking coherence is ignorant.

 

[rossum]

God is not a just a living thing or some being, but being itself.

Meaning? I am a being. Does that make me God? Does it make me part of God? Does it make God part of me? Philosophically this is incoherent.

Whatever the case, it is impossible for God to create the first living entity. Or is God not an entity now?

rossum

 

[Kei]

No, you are a being.

This is not new (as in the “now”), and you can see this stated clearly in ie the Summa.

You as A being are not God, but you are existent dependant upon Him and exist in Him.

God is in all things. Yet He is not all things. He is in you, but is not you.

edit: about God, see http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1003.htm

 

[buffalo]

Jesus was a carpenter. How a carpenter approaches his work.

Find suitable lighted workspace. Build the foundation. Do the fancy work.

 

[Kei]

For your perusal,
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1003.htm

to help explain the simplicity of absolute Being.

 

[rossum]

For your perusal,

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1003.htm

to help explain the simplicity of absolute Being.

I am Buddhist. There are no absolutes in my form of Buddhism. No absolutes, no Essence, no Substance. All those capitalized words are merely reifications; they have no reality, they are just mental constructs.

Your Being (note the capital letter) is just another reified construct. It exists only inside our mind and has no existence in the external world. It is as real as the water in a mirage.

rossum

 

[Kei]

The Christian God is not a Buddhist god.

I mean, being God, everything is His, but you know what I mean.

He is not limited to Buddhist understandings of reality.

 

[vz71]

Meaning? I am a being

That was not what was said.
Go back and read the post again.

 

[vz71]

Whatever the case, it is impossible for God to create the first living entity. Or is God not an entity now?

I suggest not.
God is not part of creation.
Therefore the terms used to describe parts of creation are wholly inadequate to describe God.

 

[rossum]

Therefore the terms used to describe parts of creation are wholly inadequate to describe God.

God is not “loving”? God is not a “creator”? God is not “intelligent”? God is not “sentient”?

What a very strange God you have. Shall we remove all the words from the Bible because they are “wholly inadequate”?

You might want to rethink this approach.

rossum

 

[rossum]

The Christian God is not a Buddhist god.

I mean, being God, everything is His, but you know what I mean.

He is not limited to Buddhist understandings of reality.

He is not limited to human understandings of reality.

rossum

 

[Kei]

Precisely.