Monday, July 1, 2019

Creation Moment 7/1/2019 - Purposefulness: Bible vs. Evolution

"On the question of purposes, we encounter a very important point of difference between Biblical and evolutionary thought. In no other historical book do we find so many and such valuable statements of purpose for man, as in the Bible. As some examples illustrate:
  1. Man is God’s purpose with creation: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (Gen. 1:27).
  2. Man is the object of God’s love: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jer. 31:3).
  3. Man is the purpose of God’s plan of redemption: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).
  4. Man is the purpose of the mission of God’s Son: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).
  5. We are the purpose of God’s inheritance: “So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).
  6. Heaven is our destination: “But our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).
The very thought of purposefulness is anathema to evolutionists. There are no blueprints, nor any purpose: “There are no causes
working from the future and thus no previously established purpose of evolution” (H. von Ditfurth).
Similar views are expressed by H. Penzlin, a biologist of Eastern Germany [P2, p. 19]: “Evolutionary adaptations never follow a purposeful program, they can thus not be regarded as teleonomical.”
In a comprehensive overview, Penzlin discussed the problem confronting evolutionary doctrine of explaining the purposefulness observed in the world of organisms, without recourse to a Creator and Master Builder; the purposefulness itself cannot be denied. What a remarkable and contradictory brashness ....In 1861 Karl Marx wrote to Ferdinand Lasalle that Darwin’s work dealt a death blow to teleology [P2, p. 9]. Penzlin endeavored to interpret the word “teleological” in biology in such a way that it would not mean anything purposeful.
Another proposal from the ranks of evolution supporters is to introduce the word “teleonomy” to replace “teleology.” C.S. Pittendrigh explains that the former word would not refer to a plan or a purpose in all known cases of purposefulness."
AIG