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One of the things I was reminded of recently, in some reading I’m doing, is the the debate between Intelligent Design and Evolution goes back at least to ancient Greece and the Stoics and the Epicureans. The Stoics held to a kind of divine providence and a designer in creation. Some would argue later medieval theologians carried this idea further into their theology of natural law. The Epicureans, on the other hand, held that there was a creatrix (read “Mother Nature,” the Epicureans’ ”divine power”) which brought about life and diversity through nature’s laws and natural selection. Darwin even hints at his dependence on this viewpoint in his On the Origin of the Species by speaking of the power of natural selection in the world of nature being greater than the power of man in artificial selection ¹ .

The debate is a philosophical and theological one, not a scientific one, and will continue until the end of time. Modern popularizers of evolution seem to have forgotten or ignore this when they speak of the “fact of science” versus ”faith in the Bible.” 

Modern science is ever changing, and every principle is subject to review and revision. It used to be if you lived by the scientific method, you could expect to die by the scientific method. But it has become exceedingly difficult for scientists to keep a respectful distance from philosophical, political and economical dogma and policy. The pure scientific method is no such thing any longer.

© 2010, Scott Branyan

1. Origin of the Species, Modern Library ed., pp. 29, 52,65-66. Cited in  Traces on the Rhodian Shore, by Clarence J. Glacken, p. 56 ↩

Go ahead and speak out of both sides of your mouth, Sir David. Attenborough is the knight for truth in this interview snippet, “Attenborough on Darwin.” Attenborough blames the Bible account of creation as being responsible for the “devastation of vast areas of the land surface.” He admits, however, ”this is a gross oversimplification.” In the video, Attenborough talks about his affinity for Darwin’s thesis since his early childhood and student days at Cambridge. I’m certainly glad HE doesn’t have any blinders on!

Well read students of geography know that the development of the western interpretation of nature and culture, if one can speak of it as a homogeneous whole, had many influences, not the least of which was Judeo-Christian theology. Man has shown a natural inclination to want to understand an order and purpose for a world which appears to have come out of chaos and indeterminateness. Man believes in progress. It stares him in the face. Attenborough’s view of progress hinges on his faith in science—the modern notion of progress—the thing which gives meaning to his understanding of the world. To blame environmental destruction upon a belief in the Bible’s account of creation, however, is a pretence. Sham on you, Sir David.

© 2010, Scott Branyan

The third temple? Have there not been just two?

There is a good article in the Jerusalem Post today on the Temple Institutes’s plan towards a third temple in Jerusalem. It’s a good article because: 1) It gives some great background on the Jewish perspective of the temple, 2) It shows a wide point of view on the rebuilding of the temple, and 3) It gives us as students of the Book of Exodus and the Tabernacle and its ministry some inkling of the importance of the matter to the rest of history.

Be sure to read it. Would be interested in any comments on the blog.

© 2008, Scott Branyan

Here is a timely interview with Ben Stein about his new movie, Expelled, to be released this spring. Part of the documertary highlights how Intelligent Design scientists working with RNA and DNA are making significant contributions to cancer research and are being muzzled in the scientific community because of their views on origins.

A campus tour is being planned.

© 2008, Scott Branyan