Origins and presuppostion

A couple more quotes from the essay 'Worshipping the creature rather than the creator' by Greg Bahnsen.

Quotes and comments;

A. 'At each point, evolutionary speculation falsifies biblical teaching. To undermine the scriptural doctrine of creation is to undermine Christianity in toto, and this is because (as we saw above) evolution is not a restricted biological theory but a pervasive and religious worldview having a presuppositional status with its adherents. [1.]

- We can see evidence that macro Evolution isn't science (at the very least it's not only science) in the fact that people admit they would believe it even if there was no evidence. Rather than being a 'fact' discovered by investigation, it's a starting point for investigation. Rather than being a fact that is true, it's 'truth' is used as a standard for evaluating the data. As a basic presupposition, in the eyes of its adherents, it needs no proof... rather it's the basis for deciding what proof is. The 'truth' of evolution isn't found by examining the world, but is 'found' by making a logical deduction from the basic starting point of materialism. i.e. if one rejects the reality of a creator god one is left with the options of some other kind of theism, or of a-theism (i.e. materialism).

If one adopts materialism one of necessity has to believe in evolution (at least in the cosmic sense). This isn't science, it's metaphysics. (If you prefer you can call it religion.) All men must decide what their starting point will be; it will be biblical christianity, some form of theism, or materialism. All forms of knowledge (including science) will be affected by this initial decision.

B. 'It was Darwin's gift of hope, rather than the quality of his evidence, that captivated the minds of his readers. Though his Orgin had to be revised and reworked again and again, in order to deflect (he hoped) the sharp and overpowering criticisms lodged against his theory (driving him back into Lamarckianism at the end), nevertheless the hope remained. "give me matter, and I will show you how a caterpillar can be produced."

- The quotation is a reference to what Kant said in his book on cosmology.
- Darwin was one of the men who took up Kant's challenge to imagine how 'life' might emerge from matter. (Kant had already imagined how the planets might have 'emerged' from mere formless matter and so had passed the torch on to others to do the necessary work in biology.)

This great hope of Kant hasn't met with fruition. OOL experiments have failed to demonstrate any plausible evidence for a solely materialist origin for living organisms. (Perhaps Kant is still patiently waiting somewhere.) Everyone knows it's impossible for complex (coded) organisms to 'emerge' from inert matter, but the majority of our academic elite can't bring themselves to admit it. (It might be more accurate to say that they refuse to admit it.)

Summary;
Materialism is a self-defeating proposition. It's the story of physical law acting upon matter. The problem is that laws aren't personal, intelligent, willful or creative. This means the 'theory' has no source for the creativity we see in living organisms. The bottom line is that the materialist must claim that genetic code writes itself. The idea 'life' just chemically 'emerges' from inert matter has no credence. Kant's great hope (that someone would do for biology what he thought he'd done for cosmology) has been turning on the intellectual lathe for a couple centuries now and nothing has yet fallen out. No amount of polishing is going to get this dull rock to shine.

Notes;
1. Worshipping the creature rather than the creator - Greg Bahnsen