Questions & Answers
4th June
Trevor introduced this Q&A session by emphasising the need to actively listen to each other. No one person knows all the answers (even the person at the front), there is too much to know. The letters of the Bible were written to be discussed in community
Today's question is: What do we think of the theory and controversy of Intelligent Design (ID)?
Introduction to ID: It is put forward as a scientific theory to prove that an intelligence created the world. Great controversy surrounds it in the USA, which has also started to show in the UK. ID has been set up against Darwinian evolution, and says that because there are some complex mechanisms for which we see no intermediate stage in today's creatures or in the fossil record, this shows that these mechanisms cannot have evolved, they have been designed in their completeness by an intelligence.
The discussion which followed included the following points:-
This brings up the creation versus evolution debate. Is there a problem with God creating the world in a scientific way, God works through nature. Evolution and God sit comfortably together. But who created the first 'thing'. Evolution didn't create, it evolves things. It's important that we think about these things.
If I took my torch apart and put the pieces in a box they wouldn't come back together again, it needs and intelligence. God has left a lot of scope in the world, perhaps chaos theory, left us room.
When Genesis was written, people weren't very scientific, they carried God's truth as poetry so it could be conveyed to the next generation. God created, who are we to say how he went about creating it.
This debate misses the point because both views (creation and evolution) go back to how it all happened in the past, it cuts out what is God doing now, all around us. We should be more interested in what God's up to now, sorting out my life but also keeping my molecules together (sustaining). God uses government to restrain the forces of evil. How much is God holding forces together, restraining evil, making his purposes come about.
We are not logical beings, we live our lives and make decisions on non-logical lines. Why do people want to understand everything, is it control? Science can't explain everything, this may be hard to accept.
Science is about evidence, and changing our theories as more evidence comes to light.
Evolution is just a bunch of theories – it can't actually be proved. Doesn't hold water as well as they'd like us to believe. Evolution is not the same as variation eg the white moths becoming black moths.
In the last days there will be distractions taking us away from what really matters, this issue could be a distraction. We can spend hours fruitlessly discussing with people's heads while their hearts are crying out for Jesus.
Einstein said that Science without God is blind, and God without science is lame.
The danger for us is that we try to play the scientific game when our view is actually philosophical. Empirical versus subjective. We have taken on the scientific world view eg in what we see as truth. Jesus described himself as the truth, it's subjective, relational.
Other cultures have broader input, they see the other dimensions.
It's no so much about arguing the issues from thousands of years ago, but the issue is how it affects how we live now, and what we and Jesus are doing now. The world is still being created, God is still bringing his kingdom in, and we are involved in that.
Children should be given both sides in schools. Schools over here are in a slightly different position to in the States.
We need to choose our battleground, this is not something we want as a battleground, it's not that we want to be known for fighting over it. We want to be known for loving people. Be wise.
What is the real issue here – ponder. | 
