JamesYaqub
Nobody Special
My belief is that at the moment of creation God instituted a system of change and growth wherefrom all else would be derived. This is what evolution is. It is no more than evidence of God's Intelligent Design at work.
How does evolution work? The simplistic view is that God will personally sit and direct each atom in it's association with others. If this is the way it works then every change in the world would be a positive and timely one. That is not the way God works. God places in His creation the rules which, all of them, fall within the rules of physics. Let's not forget that God is responsible for all aspects of the physical universe, not just the mystical ones.
So God sets things up in such a way that the fires of His processes continually work in the world. Natural selection is God's handiwork. When nature tries various forms, rejects some and allows others, what we are seeing are the outer workings of God's great evolutionary directive.
Sometimes when we consider God we suppose that He does everything is a very direct sense. Certainly those men who wrote the OT were of that opinion. It just plain isn't that simple and clear. God's mechanicisms are many and complex. In evolution we see dead ends for instance. These are not because God was incapable but rather because the earth was. It is the earth, considered as a dynamic whole, that responds to God's directives then finds ways to move forward. Evolution is all about trial and error and trial again to see what works. This procedure is evidence of the earth following, in the best way that it can God directives. Nothing more.
There is a lot more to this storyline. The question is asked, "How does a tree know that it's fruit....etc". The tree does not. The form of the tree is following the rough design mandated by God. It takes time for the end result. Creation may have begun in a blinding moment but evolution, because the material universe simply cannot move fast enough, provokes us to doubt if God is involved. He is.
There is one last aspect to God's creation. The religious mind will want to believe that there is but a single entity in spirit which is God. If scripture speaks of angels and a few others they will accept it but only because it is plainly written in their books. There are other forms in God's heaven though. God does not act directly upon the universe when implementing evolution.
I mean no offense but in religions things are simple to understand. Finding God in His creation is less so. Yet the Hand of God is always nearby.
How does evolution work? The simplistic view is that God will personally sit and direct each atom in it's association with others. If this is the way it works then every change in the world would be a positive and timely one. That is not the way God works. God places in His creation the rules which, all of them, fall within the rules of physics. Let's not forget that God is responsible for all aspects of the physical universe, not just the mystical ones.
So God sets things up in such a way that the fires of His processes continually work in the world. Natural selection is God's handiwork. When nature tries various forms, rejects some and allows others, what we are seeing are the outer workings of God's great evolutionary directive.
Sometimes when we consider God we suppose that He does everything is a very direct sense. Certainly those men who wrote the OT were of that opinion. It just plain isn't that simple and clear. God's mechanicisms are many and complex. In evolution we see dead ends for instance. These are not because God was incapable but rather because the earth was. It is the earth, considered as a dynamic whole, that responds to God's directives then finds ways to move forward. Evolution is all about trial and error and trial again to see what works. This procedure is evidence of the earth following, in the best way that it can God directives. Nothing more.
There is a lot more to this storyline. The question is asked, "How does a tree know that it's fruit....etc". The tree does not. The form of the tree is following the rough design mandated by God. It takes time for the end result. Creation may have begun in a blinding moment but evolution, because the material universe simply cannot move fast enough, provokes us to doubt if God is involved. He is.
There is one last aspect to God's creation. The religious mind will want to believe that there is but a single entity in spirit which is God. If scripture speaks of angels and a few others they will accept it but only because it is plainly written in their books. There are other forms in God's heaven though. God does not act directly upon the universe when implementing evolution.
I mean no offense but in religions things are simple to understand. Finding God in His creation is less so. Yet the Hand of God is always nearby.