Sunday, October 02, 2005

Intelligent Design?

Intelligent Design is hitting the press a lot these days. The notion that a supposedly scientific theory could include the central role of a cosmic designer has angered most supporters of evolution. Of course, there's little actual "science" in any of this. It's more like historical reconstruction - we view the phenomena of this world, and we seek the best explanation, which, barring divine creation, would have to be evolution.

Some would argue, with evolution, that we have scientific evidence of organisms actually evolving. Problem is that the relatively small evolutions we observe are a far cry from the massive changes required to bring about the current state of life on earth, even given millions of years.

I can't address the scientific issues in all of this, but I can affirm the Bible's strong assertion that, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This isn't a blind belief. For me, knowing that God is responsible for all that is comes from my grasp of the sheer complexity and majesty of the organisms that make up this globe.

Evolutionary talk often dips into language that is very much like that found in those who believe in a creator. This organism needed a certain feature in order to survive in its environment so evolution provided it. I know that this is metaphorical language that is intended to explain the activities of natural selection - organisms lacking that feature died. Those having the feature lived. But I can't help asking the question, "Why didn't they all die?" I base this on the odds that even one creature actually by chance have had that feature (though, of course, both a male and female creature would have to have that feature) in order for it to survive. And the feature would have to be a genetic change or it wouldn't be passed on. What are the odds that this would happen millions of times without a cosmic guide to make it work?

All of a sudden, belief in intelligent design doesn't look so foolish.