Quod Scripsi, Scripsi

BioLogos

I just finished The Language of God by Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project. It was a refreshing viewpoint, as I have long struggled with the apparent conflicts between Biology, Geology and faith. Collins takes the approach that faith and science need not be opponents, that the conflict is perpetuated by extremists on both sides.

Collins’ theology at times seems a bit too liberal for me, though I agree on the crux (sorry) of the argument. The principles of theistic evolution, or as Collins calls it “BioLogos” are these:

1. The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 Billion years ago.

2. Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.

3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.

4. Once evolution got underway, no special supernatural intervention was required.

5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.

6. But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.

I still need to chew some of this over, but it seems like a very clear and defensible position on biology and the nature of life on earth.

Screwtape Quote 2

It is in some ways more troublesome to track and swat an evasive wasp than to shoot, at close range, a wild elephant. But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.

Screwtape Quote

“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”