Is Francis Collins a Deist?

by leavingwt 15 Replies latest social current

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  leavingwt

  PSac: Here is what one commenter wrote on Coyne's blog.

  God isn’t ever messing around with Collins’ lab equipment or the regularity of nature’s laws these days, so if he multiplied a few fish, or reanimated a dead guy a long time ago but isn’t planning on doing it again any time soon, then any cognitive dissonance Collins might have about such things is safely swept under the rug.

  It’s a clever trick that they perform in their own minds, so how much harder for those who don’t buy into this stuff to untangle how they think.
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  leavingwt

  PSac:

  So, you are saying that Francis is implying that God is NOT active in OUR every day lives?

  Just making sure I understand your position.

  Yes, indeed. He said this "In fact, I would very much resist that idea."
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  leavingwt

  When he speaks of science, he's very clear and understable.

  Francis Collins: My study of genetics certainly tells me, incontrovertibly that Darwin was right about the nature of how living things have arrived on the scene, by descent from a common ancestor under the influence of natural selection over very long periods of time. Darwin was amazingly insightful given how limited the molecular information he had was; essentially it didn’t exist. And now with the digital code of the DNA, we have the best possible proof of Darwin’s theory that he could have imagined. ”
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  PSacramento

  I think that you and I are not talking about the same thing...

  How I read that is that Franics is saying that God is not active in the day-to-day events of NATURE ( Rain, sun, evaporation, photosynthesis, mating rituals of the CHilean Yak, etc.), those things have a "life of their own".

  But from what I have read in Francis' books, he seems to believe that God IS active in the day-to-day lives of Believers.

  Two totally different things in my view.

  God is NOT active when people decide to have a child ( the physical act), but God is active when the child is born ( breath of God's spirit).
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  leavingwt

  the day-to-day lives of Believers

  The "day-to-day lives of Believers" are either natural or they are supernatural.

  Is God active when a baby rat is born?
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  PSacramento

  The "day-to-day lives of Believers" are either natural or they are supernatural.

  Ok...let me put it this way, when a believer goes to the can, God is NOT active in that, when a Believer needs strength to carry on in his day-to-day, God is active in that.

  Is God active when a baby rat is born?

  A fair question, Is God active when EVERY life comes into being?

  If Yes, it would mean that he is active in Nature, so yes, you got me and I see what you mean.

  But I do think that, as humans that CONSCIOUSLY search for God, we are not on the same level as a rat " that simply is", know what I mean ?