In his book The Meaning of Evolution, revised edition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967) George Gaylord Simpson famously asserted:
"Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind."
A statement like this, would be widely endorsed by today's 'New Atheists', for sure. Consider this one from renowned atheist Richard Dawkins, who, in his book 'The Blind Watchmaker' asserts:
"It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that)."
"Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind."
A statement like this, would be widely endorsed by today's 'New Atheists', for sure. Consider this one from renowned atheist Richard Dawkins, who, in his book 'The Blind Watchmaker' asserts:
"It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that)."
But, is it true?
"According to Darwinism, our Existence is a Mere Accident
When Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of Species in 1859, most Western scientists were Christian theists who believed that God created living things (especially human beings) by design. According to Darwin, however, what appears to be design in living things can be explained naturalistically, as the result of random variations and natural selection.
Darwin's Denial of Design is a Serious Problem for Christians and Other Theists
If we are un-designed by-products of a purposeless process, then the biblical doctrine that we are created in the image of God is false. Yet it is a central doctrine of Christianity (and of other theistic religions such as Islam and Judaism) that God created human beings by design." Extracts taken from (http://www.discovery.org/a/77)
Of course, Darwinism requires us to believe that we share a common ancestor with chimpanzees - and a very long time before that, the 'Last Universal Common Ancestor' (LUCA).... a marine creature of some sort, living at the time of the pre-Cambrian era - roughly 4 billion years ago!
The need for balance, requires me to acknowledge that many Christians would not have a problem with the statement about common ancestry - although they would surely argue that God somehow 'directed' the process - so they would refute that mankind is a mere accident.
But, let's be quite clear. Whether you are a 'card carrying' 'young earth creationist', 'old earth creationist', ID(ist), Theistic evolutionist etc... etc... you will be badged or pigeon-holed a 'creationist' irrespective (by definition). This is simply because of a fundamental commitment of 'science' to 'naturalism' or 'materialism.'
This is perhaps best encapsulated by Professor Richard Lewontin:
"We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.
It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."
Billions and Billions of Demons (italics in the original)
RICHARD LEWONTIN
Source: http://www.faithinterface.com.au/science-christianity/richard-lewontin-on-methodological-naturalism-scientism
It doesn't get much blunter than that, does it!
So, in answer to the question on my Home page: 'where did I come from'? ...
From a Christian 'creationist' viewpoint (of my persuasion), the biblical account (i.e. the Old and New Testaments) make no statements that would lead you to conclude 'human evolution' to be true. In fact, quite the opposite.
The whole argument 'turns' on how we answer another important question, namely: 'who was Adam'?...
The Bible makes no apology (and on the contrary, quite matter-of-factly) for introducing Adam as a supernaturally created human being - but more than that, the very first one (in God's image)! Genealogies within the Bible, and the very meaning of Jesus being the second Adam, depend on it.
Eve, again, is cast as a real living human being (made from a portion of Adam's side) and is referred to as 'the mother of all living'... This is not ambiguous - and is either true or false! In faith, I accept it as true. But it's not 'blind' faith! Even our own knowledge of modern genetics, hints at it (such as Mitochondrial Eve).
In short, my belief is that you and I are descended from a literal Adam and Eve!
In the New Testament book of Hebrews (11:3), the author makes a startling, modern sounding, statement:
"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."
Or, what about the following statement from the Old Testament Psalmist (Psalm 19:1~4):
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."
In my view, there is more credence to such statements as those, than believing there was an un-caused 'quantum fluctuation in a pure vacuum'...
There are several instances in the Bible, where supernatural 'commands' are issued, such as the raising of Lazarus, by Jesus, from the dead... Let's face it, the story is either history, or is a blatant falsehood. Once again, I accept it, by faith, as factual history - even if this view gets derided and mocked.
If this is where we came from - i.e. a unique origin in God's plan - it presupposes that we also have a 'purpose' and a 'destiny'... Such conclusions are totally logical if our God is the Creator God, who loves us, and is imminent rather than 'distant' - as stated on my Home page.
To support such conclusions, I will be developing and unfolding the evidence for this position, as I also develop this website.
More to follow...