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| Drosophila sp.
God's wonderful little creation! Image wikimedia |
[In the beginning, let me declare that I personally reject both the pseudo-scientific claims of American born fundamentalist creationism - especially the frauds of Answers in Genesis - and the premises of Intelligent Design. Someone has said wisely "God did not design me; He loved me into existence."]
But what if God of Israel, who is the only real God there is, would challenge Jerry Coyne in turn? It could be something like this:
One
You think you are cool but you are nothing but a fool in not glorifying God the Creator and worshipping instead humanity and inanimate things and glorifying pagan goddess Fortuna of Randomality by assigning her key role in making you.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.Two
Romans 1:21-23 NIS
By denying the very goodness of God's works you shut yourself - and those who listen to you - into the dark box of 19th century mechanistic world view without the real joy, freedom and imagination in genuine creativity.
For example, the God of Israel saw it good that vegetation is predominantly green and not pink or black (which colours would be more efficient for the energy generators of plants). Chlorophyll is present in the earliest life forms known from planet Earth - cyanobacteria - and rejects for some unknown reason the green wavelength. For us humans this is marvellous as it makes nature so beautifully green.Today we know that cyanobacteria are not a random thing on early life but essential to all life as they began slowly and patiently pump oxygen into the atmosphere.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.Three
Genesis 1:11-13 KJV
By denying the need of God of Israel in the evolution of life and elsewhere you follow the path of those 19th century Darwinists who reject G.W.F. Hegel's idealistic Weltgeist. Hard boiled Darwinists and Marxists adopted Hegel's philosophy but projected the role of the absolute Spirit as the driving force of processes into inanimate Matter. Somehow, who knows how since God does not know, Matter drives the processes such as evolution of life forms or history of the society. Without further ado they claim with Democritus that Matter is all that matters and wish anonymously "may the Force be with you". This foolishness can be seen in the two mutually related post-Hegelian isms, Evolutionism and Communism. (These materialistic atheistic isms are not the same thing as scientific Evolutionary Biology or Sociology).
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.Four
Romans 1:21 NIS
As an atheist scientist you have studied the marvellous little creature, fruit fly. The insect has a place in the Hall of Fame of Genetics as its rapid reproduction rate makes the species ideal for precise genetic research.
As a personal Christian Austrian monk Gregor Mendel studied the heritage rules and founded genetics by cultivating peas in monastery gardens. Peas also have a place of honour in the Hall of Fame of Genetics.
Contrary to your claim, neither your Atheism nor Mendel's Christianity play any decisive role in studying the precise laws of Genetics. Jewish, Christian, Atheist, Mormon, Hindu or Muslim researcher can all study in the labs the works of God of Israel and make scientific discoveries from the evidence at hand. The difference is not in methodology or conclusions but rather in the hearts of the scholars. People sharing Monotheist faith praise God for His wonders and refuse to deny His role or to honour idols. (It is true, of course, that religious or other belief systems may taint scientific work but that is bad science. Such trends will eventually be noted and fixed by the peers where needed.)
Five
You reject the Scriptures and specifically the first chapter of Genesis where God puts forward the claim that He has created everything - including you.Yet you wrote one of your main publications on the very issue that God of Israel says is essential in the creation of life - speciation!
The Hebrew concept in the Bible is leminehu usually translated "according to their kinds" but it actually means in modern English "according to their species". Speciation is a major issue in the first book of Genesis and you have excelled in studying and teaching this subject.
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.The origin of species was the main issue driving Charles Darwin in his revolutionary study of the nature. How can we best understand the biodiversity in Galapagos Islands without referring to supernatural intervention as was done on the basis of the world view of his times.
Genesis 1:11-13 NIS
Darwin suggested the mechanism of natural selection thus creating one of the most influential scientific theories of all times. You continue in his trail and battle with the specific issues of how species evolve, get separated to the point when reproduction between the species stops and other aspects that still remain scientific mysteries after 150 years of intensive study.
Six
You reject the special role of humans among the living things upon Earth and blame believers for thinking that mankind is something else. You think logically that humans are just another species in the great evolution of life upon Earth and that we evolved by chance from placental mammals. Or should I say by Prompt and Circumstances, more fitting to Madam Fortune..
God of Israel says that you are wrong. He gives two undeniable and rather surprising aspects that separate humanity from the rest of the creation and makes us the image of a mighty prototype, God Almighty Himself.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:26-28 NIS
You cannot deny that humanity has conquered the planet and is the most successful among the higher life forms and dominates on land, water and air. Vae victis!
Surprising the other defining aspect in the Bible verses - human sexuality - is declared divine. In this way humans "are like us".
Scientific biologists like you know better than anyone else how prevalent sexuality is in the living nature and how crucial it is for evolution, growth and change of life forms, adaptation and survival of the fittest. It is a driving force in everything and yet extremely difficult to explain as a product of random mutation and environmental stress. I am sure you and many others will try to explain sexuality using the fundamental scientific toolbox you have chosen for the job and apply such theories. But it will not be an easy task!
Why does God define us humans in His image essentially as being male and female?
Well, this is a significant theological and philosophical question about humanity that you ignore because you do not listen to what God has to say. The question posed by God to us with these few sentences is intriguing and worth pursuing - what separates human species reproduction/multiplying from the rest of the living world God has created?
Seven
By denying God you deny from yourself the chance to rest in peace (R.I.P.)
For after completing the work of creation in six days, God of Israel took rest and had well desserved Sabbath Shalom.
Divine rest from work is only reached by the grace of God who grants it at will. So how could those who do not even seek God rest in peace in this life and in the future one (for life is not one dimensional)?
When burying their dead Christians pray dona eius requiem. It is a request to God of Israel to grant eternal rest to the deceased. This shows that such a rest is not considered self evident or automatic even among believers. Full Requiem is a prayer that God would not only grant peace but even more - that God would accept him or her into the realm of eternal light and not banish the person from His presence into eternal darkness
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis care veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
A prayer
This is what God might say to biologist Jerry Coyne on the basis what has been written - and He says much more as the text refers only to the first chapter of the first book of the Bible.
And this is what we pray for him and for all of us - the opening of our eyes and hearts in faith to the grandeur in the works of His Majesty, God of Israel, in Nature and His crucially important message to us in the Scriptures. For He is the only real God there is. Before it is too late
Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.
Amen
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