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Author
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Topic: Suggestions From Fellow Seekers?
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Bradford McCall
Member
Member # 2024
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posted 20. July 2006 23:17
Hello.
My name is bradford mccall, and I am a PhD student at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, studying under Dr. Amos Yong. I am pursuing a degree in Systematic Theology with a specialization, if you may call it such, in relating Science to Theology. I have undergraduate
degree in Biology, and am a converted atheist (by and large through IDT, as I encountered it in 1999 during my senior year of undergrad). Wanting to 'redeem' my Biology degree (after attaining an
MDIV), I am studying the role of the Holy Spirit as He interacts with the Genes and Information that ultimately provide the 'blueprint' for
organic life, and thereby also for humanity.
Besides 'popular books and articles', have any of you any other material that you might bless me with and/or lead me unto? I hope you do not mind aiding an avid seeker of God, as he attempts to make the Spirit of God manifest in and through creation more fully. I would therefore adore your suggestions for further perusal. Many thanks,
bradford
218 liberty trace
milner, Ga 30257
770-872-2212= church phone
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Melvin H. Fox
Member
Member # 1684
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posted 21. July 2006 12:26
Welcome Bradford,
The popular agent of change turned to in today’s scientific community is chance. If we can’t figure out the workings of a particular process, be it quantum motion or genetics, we simply slap a probability distribution on it and problem solved. I cringe every time I read or hear a statement like: “…and by the law of chance the size of Mendel’s pea plants were distributed.” This is an unsatisfactory explanation of genetics.
I recommend to you the book “Not a Chance” by R.C. Sproul. He does well to show how “chance” can’t do anything and if we are looking for causes we must look some place else.
-Mel
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Sandor Szabados
Member
Member # 1969
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posted 25. July 2006 16:06
Hi Bradford,
An excellent source of info is The URANTIA Book. It's a 2,097-page tome comprised of 196 Papers on science, religion, history, philosophy and many other subjects written by celestial beings - Divine Counselor, Perfector of Wisdom, Archangel, Melchidezek, Life Carrier, to name a few - between the 1920s and mid-'30s and published in book form in 1955.
Urantia is the name of our planet and Part IV of the book (over 750 pages) is dedicated to a detailed narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus. It has been translated into many languages and can be found at www.urantia.org/ as well as bookstores and selected libraries.
As to the origin of life and its evolution, here is what it says:
"Life does not originate spontaneously. Life is constructed according to plans formulated by the (unrevealed) Architects of Being and appears on the inhabited planets either by direct importation or as a result of the operations of the Life Carriers of the local universes." (p.396)
"The original life plasm of an evolutionary world must contain the full potential for all future developmental variations and for all subsequent evolutionary changes and modifications. The provision for such far-reaching projects of life metamorphosis may require the appearance of many apparently useless forms of animal and vegetable life. Such by-products of planetary evolution, foreseen or unforeseen, appear upon the stage of action only to disappear, but in and through all this long process there runs the thread of the wise and intelligent formulations of the original designers of the planetary life plan and species scheme." (p. 398)
The latter information has recently been validated by the developmental biologist Dr. John A. Davison in his "Ontogeny, Phylogeny and the Origin of Biological Information." (2000)
Sandor
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Supersport
Member
Member # 1989
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posted 28. July 2006 20:08
This is a good topic. I need book ideas myself. Personally I like Dr. Lee Spetner's "Not by Chance." The theological perspective is not there, but it's fascinating reading if you're looking for a refute of neo-darwinism. Anyone have suggestions for books on embryonic development from an ID perspective?
http://unisci.com/stories/20021/0313021.htm
This is interesting to me...butterflies emerging with specific physical traits in accordance to environment.
[ 07. August 2006, 11:18: Message edited by: Supersport ]
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