The View From 1776

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After reading the recent postings on “Jesus vs. Darwin” (here and here), Jan Paul Burr emailed the following thoughts:

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In your coverage of Jesus vs. Darwin, I would like to focus on not what you covered, regarding “chance,” but rather, the forces that create “order” which you also brought to the attention of the reader.

We know that there is order in the Universe all the way down to the atom and electrons that spin around the nucleus. We know there is order in DNA. We see granite rocks from all over the world which were created by the same process over and over. You referred to the “laws” we use in Science and Math and that they have been with us from the beginning. Well, there is also a force for life. Darwin had his theories and others have theirs, including God as a “creator.”

Rather than cover ground you have covered, I would like to look at the “force” that is in “life.” We know there is life since we can see it. We know there are thousands of life forms and they have been labeled into the plant, animal and human categories with human an offshoot of animal to some and as a separate ‘creation’ to others.  But, seldom do we stop and think about the force that is behind life.

If we look at our skin we see a solid but flexible object that holds in the organs, muscles and bones of our body. Yet, if you broke that skin down into its basic components, you would not only see hydrogen, oxygen, iron, carbon, etc., you would also see the molecules and atoms that would look just like those found in rocks, soils and waters around us.  You would probably see more space that material.

In those rocks, soils and waters, you would see forces that keep them relatively stable under certain conditions and less stable under others but, you would not see growth, movement on their own, or intelligence. But, the same forces that hold those base components together are there even in life forms but, life forms have an added force that gives ‘life’ to those components.

Let’s call that force God. Why not? Do we understand that force anymore than we do God? Do we see that force anymore than we see God? No. What we do understand is what we can see with our naked eye, microscopes, and telescopes. We see the results of that force even though we don’t see the force. We also don’t ‘see’ intelligence but do ‘see’ the results of intelligence through the actions of animals, people and societies. Even plants may have a ‘form of intelligence’ since they react to heat, light, loss of limb, water and even chemicals they come in contact with.

All we know about intelligence is that ‘electrical signals’ are stored and placed in an order that upon retrieval allow us to make movements with muscles that accomplish things like walking, seeing, talking, lifting, etc. And, each of those things is done in an orderly manner from person to person. But, what is the force behind those signals that places them into such order?

DNA is an order that is the same type of order from person to person with many components that create arms, legs, eyes, organs, skin, etc. and yet, still allow variety but a controlled and orderly variety. We may have different color eyes but for all normal people the location of the eyes are always on the face with one on each side of a nose. Yet, what is DNA but atoms just like the atoms in dirt. What force drives those atoms to certain positions that are not only in relationship to the chemicals involved but places those higher order components into another order that is used to program the growth of a plant, animal or person?

I watched several programs of police departments using psychics to solve criminal cases. In most of them, the police were skeptical and yet, admit that the psychics had revealed information they could use. Even the Bible mentions people able to predict things or interpret things that weren’t already recorded. Where does this ‘intelligence’ to see things not visible to others come from? I point this out not to ‘prove’ anything other than how little we know about the force behind life.

Life not only creates life forms but has a relationship (food chain) and teamwork that comes from the life forms. Whether it is a tree that provides shade for other plants or animals, or a bee that allows plants to reproduce or humans working together to do something one alone couldn’t do, there is a lot of ‘order’ going on in life that gets things done.

Whether that ‘force’ behind life was created, itself, or has been in existence since the beginning of eternity (which we can’t understand either), we should be seeking knowledge of that force and how to use it it cure disease, prevent birth defects, prevent wars, better use the resources we have, etc. Could it be that the same force that creates ‘intelligence’ creates ‘life’?

Can ‘intelligence’ be ‘sent’ to others in what we call ESP or psychic phenomenon and can it transcend time? Is what we call God, really this force for order that exists in both life forms and not life forms? We can’t deny that force exists since we see the results of that force in the planets and universe and in the electron microscope.?

Even man has seen the order to ‘nature’ when he wrote the Bible some 4,000 years ago. What scientists were there to tell him to record in Genesis, that oceans came before other life. It records that we had plants next and we couldn’t have had them without water and the oceans that create the cycles of rain and snow. Then it is recorded fish come next. They need the Plankton and other sources of food that plants provide to create a food chain. Then we add animals that also need a food chain that includes plants. And, of course, finally man.

Why would ‘man’ in his ignorance with no scientists, lab research, logical treatment of theory and cause and effect, know that order was what happened before he even arrived on the scene. Yet, we know that he did, because he wrote it down.

If there is a mystery to the Bible, it is that with all our science we reach many similar conclusions. We have the food chain I just mentioned, but other things as well. We see a law the says, “Don’t eat pork,” and later find that pork can cause trichinosis. We see cleanliness laws before we even knew about bacteria and how disease spreads. We see morality laws that, even in secular nations help maintain the trust and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, a society needs for close team work to advance the economy and defense of a society.

Even if there is no ‘God’ in the religious sense, should we not ‘worship’ intelligence. Should we not seek intelligence? Should we not ‘pray’ that we use intelligence to make ‘life’ better? Should we not ‘obey’ intelligence so we don’t betray the people we live and work with or spread disease? Should we not study the forces of nature that can change the axis of the earth as has been found to have occurred or the winds that can part waters or the volcanoes that can drop ash that taints the color of waters, etc?

Think of that axis change. Some say a meteorite striking the earth could cause that to happen in a short period of time. Suppose you were standing at a particular point of the earth where the perception of rotation was slowed as that axis changed. As the earth changed its axis, there would be no real change in rotation speed but at some points of the earth during the movement of the axis, some places would make the sun appear to slow or even stop while others might make the sun to appear to move faster.

The Bible even makes statements about the Sun’s relative movment to the earth and while it attributes this change to God, are they wrong if we don’t know what the force behind ‘order’ is? Suppose that instead of the ‘unknown force’ behind order, we called it God? And, the ‘unknown force’ behind ‘intelligence’ as God? And suppose we created a religion that tried to understand that unknown force behind order and intelligence and gave it a name and called it a ‘church’? Does that make that ‘unknown force’ any less powerful or the intelligence of that ‘unknown force’ any less remarkable?

Darwin tried to demonstrate the results of that unknown force and place a ‘visual image to the process of that order. However, we keep running into roadblocks. We can’t find the missing links. So, should we give up trying to understand the ‘force behind order’? Or, should we start to look in other directions for that ‘force’? Could that ‘force’ create a ‘Jesus that demonstrates ‘Life’ is more than a ‘life form’ but rather, a force behind order and life forms?

I find some of the words the translators used when interpreting the Bible, very interesting. One is the “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Is that saying that Jesus was a ‘true’ example of the ‘way’ order progresses and how even at the end of a ‘life form’ the life or the force that puts life in life forms continues to have the power of life? I find that “Light” is also used and we know that without light life can’t exist on this earth, but what is the force behind light?

I think people who don’t want to believe there is a God have a right to believe that. However, they may be short sighted by doing so, since, they may also be denying the ‘force’ life depends on. They may deny themselves insight.

So, for those of you who have no desire to ‘seek God,’ would you at least seek knowledge about the force behind ‘order’ and ‘life’ that would help prevent so many of the problems societies have?

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