a guy who is timid about being identified by his real name wrote:
I see no problem with natural selection just as long as there is a 'guiding hand' that institutes the will of God in that action (i.e., Logos).
Mark Twain made a joke about how we have great trouble with practical everyday problems; it is only when explaining the universe, God and everything that our difficulties vanish. It seems self-evident that Natural Selection does apply to cosmic physics as well as biology, since
Natural Selection is a value-free sorting process which is inevitable in the absence of
criteria.
If God instituted a value-free sorting process, then God must have wanted to allow some wiggle room for creatures to experience varieties. What benefit is there in the long run for a creature to have descendants? None. What benefit is there to society or you if someone is Naturally Selected to have their descendants dominate? None necessarily: benefit is dependent on defining a VALUE. There is no guarantee our definitions of value are well-conceived in the long view. There would likely be serious unforeseen fallacies in attempting to breed human beings either for strength, intelligence or even social grace. A few generations downstream, most likely the project's control would fall under control of someone whose agenda skews the entire point you were trying to achieve. While selective breeding of humans is probably a can of worms both as a topic here and as science, we can at least admit nature has attained some kind of grace in the mathematics of diversity. And individuals are able to experience variation
in many cases as a blessing. Furthermore, our ability to think (something that looks new in nature) will allow the further exploration of this whole topic area as generations pass -- if our current information environment does not ruin it somehow.
Harv, I believe in God, Jesus etc. in ways which answer rigorous examination to the best of my understanding, so you and have some common ground
and I am not attacking you when I speak freely -- and I have written mildly on this website by fair standards, even when I called Yanniru a funny name and he seemingly was in a period of his day when he couldn't take a joke or admit he deserved it for what he had just written about me.
WR
Mike