By Faith

Hebrews 11
3 By faith we understand that the universe was
formed at G-d's command, so that what is seen was
not made out of what was visible.

The Apostle Paul makes it about as plain as the
nose as your face. There's probably something
interesting here in the greek text, but the
translation works well. He frames the creation vs
evolution controversy in the most simple terms.
Since not even Adam was here to record the origin
event, it has to be taken by faith. You'd think
that it was obvious enough. It always was and
always will be a category of theological debate.
The two are inseparable. The only genuine
question is, Who are you going to believe?


Then, there is the passage from the epistle to the
Romans, in chapter one:

20 For since the creation of the world G-d's
invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine
nature—have been clearly seen, being understood
from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse.

21 For although they knew G-d, they neither
glorified him as G-d nor gave thanks to him, but
their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened.

22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became
fools

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal G-d for
images made to look like mortal man and birds and
animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore G-d gave them over in the sinful
desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for
the degrading of their bodies with one another.

25 They exchanged the truth of G-d for a lie, and
worshiped and served created things rather than
the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, G-d gave them over to shameful
lusts. Even their women exchanged natural
relations for unnatural ones.

27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural
relations with women and were inflamed with lust
for one another. Men committed indecent acts with
other men, and received in themselves the due
penalty for their perversion.

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it
worthwhile to retain the knowledge of G-d, he
gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what
ought not to be done.

29 They have become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
They are gossips,

30 slanderers, G-d-haters, insolent, arrogant and
boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they
disobey their parents;

31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless,
ruthless.

32 Although they know G-d's righteous decree that
those who do such things deserve death, they not
only continue to do these very things but also
approve of those who practice them.


You might be thinking, Well, the Apostle Paul was
very clever. It's more than that. He was
inspired by the Holy Ghost. The truth is revealed
in scripture for our benefit, not because G-d has
an ego to inflate. Given the political mood these
days, you would have to think that the Apostle is
a bit too much on the social conservative side to
ever be able to win an election. But, you have to
admit that there is some appeal to a rational
sense of social order in the model that he
invokes. As we watch the current social model
unwind in a troubling manner, a reasonable person
might suggest that there ought to be a better way.
Seems to me that there is, but it does not align
very well with the notion of mob rule (anarchy).
Myself, I'm just kinda' baffled by what I'm
watching unfold. It's hard to keep those old
Keystone Cops film clips out of my mind, as I
listen to the sirens wailing somewhere outside my
neighborhood.


So, back to ReMine:

" Another misdirection involves *complexity*.

It is true that enzymes, and especially
enzyme systems, are complex, but complexity
is not a sign of 'directed' assembly.
Complexity can be found in chaos even more
quickly than in order.(Vogel, 1984, p2)

...Vogel uses this logic to draw close parallels
between the complexity of enzyme systems and chaos.
The comparison is misplaced."(p.48)


Exactly. 'Irreducible complexity' is a concept
that was introduced to me in a book by Behe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducible_complexity
..."The argument from irreducible complexity is a
descendant of the teleological argument for God
(the argument from design or from complexity).
This states that because certain things in nature
are very complicated, they must have been designed."

Well, not exactly. They get it right that the
nature of the discussion is theological. The
misdirection in this statement is when they write
that '...because certain things in nature are very
complicated...'. That's exactly not right. It is
not that certain things are very complicated. The
point is that certain *systems* are very
complicated. Biological enzymes operate as a
system, not in linear sequence. It's not a step-
wise procedure. A crude analogy might be, if you
remove the steering wheel from your car, is the
car then a useful design? Well, it might get you
back out the driveway, but what then? It's kinda'
obvious that a car is *designed* to have a
steering input. But there might be an
evolutionist around who would like to go to court
over that. You can prove anything in a courtroom
by the way. It's one reason that some lawyers
get paid so well. Nevertheless, enzyme systems
typically have a number of interacting feedback
loops, that are just as essential to their
function as a steering input is to a car. One
for instance, that comes to mind is the way that
the human body relies on insulin. Take away the
insulin from your body, and you don't usually last
very long. Another example might be the vitamins
that are essential to good health. No vitamin C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scurvy
input to the body and health begins to deteriorate
rapidly (scurvy). You see, it's not just that the
human body is an irreducibly complex system, but the
entire biosphere is interdependent. If any single
essential element is not in place, then the game
is over. THAT simply could not evolve in a linear
step-wise order, by random events. We don't want
to go into the thermodynamics. As humans, we are
swimming in a sea of 'irreducible complexity',
rather than a linear sequence of random events.
Sorry, the evolution model takes you nowhere. It
might not even get you out the driveway.


But the Jesus Bus keeps lumbering along.

Romans 1:17 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

17 For in the gospel a righteousness from G-d is
revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from
first to last,[a] just as it is written: "The
righteous will live by faith."[b]

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