From: rh@smds.com (Richard Harter)
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Evolution implied by the Bible
Date: 7 Jan 93 05:32:38 GMT
Reply-To: rh@ishmael.UUCP (Richard Harter)
Organization: Software Maintenance & Development Systems, Inc.

In article <watson.726339134@space.sce.carleton.ca> watson@sce.carleton.ca (Stephen Watson) writes:
>vanweer@ecf.toronto.edu (VANWEERDENBURG NICHOLAS JOHN) writes:
>
>>In article <1993Jan5.002839.1093@smds.com> rh@ishmael.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes:
>[Richard's VERY amusing theory deleted.  The ICR themselves couldn't have done
>better ;-)  The scary part is, its not so different from some actual
>fundy theology I've heard]

Thanks for the kind words.

>I'm treading on thin ice here, relying on my memory, but perhaps it
>would clarify the issue for you if I tell you that Richard was also
>the one (I think!) who, last Fall, posted the young earth "proof"
>based on the change in human body temperature.  

No that wasn't me.  I did the time traveling angels, the creationist FAQ,
the Holden Scatology index, tomorrowism, atheistic creationism, and
sundry other japes, but not the human body temperature "proof".

>Sorry, Richard, but you need to start using smilies.  Creationists
>descend so often into self-parody that it gets difficult to tell the
>spoofs from the genuine item.

As the immortal weemba said, "Think of it as evolution in action".
People get so accustomed to shooting down creationist sitting ducks 
that their wits atrophy.

>>Does this mean I'm almost perfect?  Since I only have 1/( 2 500 000 000 )th
>>of the original sin in me?

>>By the way, how do know this?  Do you have reasons for your strange fantasy,
>>or is it simply that since it makes the world pink and rosy for you it
>>must be right. 

>To quote a certain immortal epigrammist: "It's a joke son, a joke".

The odd thing is, one can make a good theological case for the law of
conservation of original sin.  We know that original sin did not pass
away Adam and Eve; it is inherited by all.  Now on one hand, no new
original sin can be created for such sin would not be original sin.
On the other hand, none of it could disappear until the coming of Christ,
for only He can redeem sin.  Now since we are equal in the eyes of the
Lord it follows that we each carry an equal share of original sin.  The
question arises, what happens when someone is saved?  Clearly they lose
their share of original sin.  But is it destroyed or does it pass back
to the rest of us?

The view that Man was created perfect and that subsequent imperfection
is due to original sin is traditional scholastic theology; the creationists
have simply borrowed it.  One can argue that Aquinas did not have a
working knowledge of molecular biochemistry, and that the Medieval
synthesis of Christianity and Aristotle incorrectly assumes telegonomic
causation where simple physical explanations suffice.  However this
facile physicalist reductionism ignores the real possibility that
physical mechanism is merely the mediating instrumentality for Divine
purpose -- a possibility illuminated by considering who the Author of
those mechanisms was.  Thus we must examine the possibility that the
mutation rate (mutations being almost always neutral or deleterious)
as the mediating mechanism for the imperfection due to original sin.

In matters of Truth, of course, faith is supreme over reason.  However
in the search for truth, reason is our first tool and faith the final
arbiter, so it behooves us to follow the course of science and put our
theory to the test of prediction.  And we have:

(a)	The theory predicts that, since the curse of original sin is
now shared among many, that the rate of increased imperfection, i.e.
the mutation rate, will be quite low.  This prediction is confirmed
by observation.

(b)	The theory predicts that, as the population increases, the
per capita share of original sin declines and hence that the reduction
in life span which is concommitant with original sin will be reversed.
More simply the theory predicts that life span increases with the
population.  We observe that in this century both the average life
span and the world population have increased sharply.  Again, the
predictions of theory are confirmed by observation.

I should note that there are certain scholars who hold that the
conservation of original sin applies to the individual, that each
person has exactly the same share of original sin as Adam and Eve.
However this view is clearly wrong.  If it were true then the amount
of original sin extant would be directly proportional to the population.
In turn mass murderers and tyrants who decrease the population would
be benefactors of the world, a conclusion that outrages our moral
sense.
-- 
Richard Harter: SMDS Inc.  Net address: rh@smds.com Phone: 508-369-7398 
US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742.    Fax: 508-369-8272
In the fields of Hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die.
Newsgroups: talk.origins