Hi Chris…
Please read my OP more closely. No where in that post do I state or even infer that I was taught by YEC zealots, and indeed I was not. The fact is, I was taught by what I now understand to have been TEs. I was taught, and still believe in a universe and an earth that are billions of years old.
Now, please allow me to point to a critical distinction: I do not believe that evolution has to be a purely natural process. I do believe, and have backed up with numerous references, that the TOE specifically teaches that evolution is the result of purely natural processes. The TOE teaches purely natural, non teleological mechanisms; to wit: natural selection acting on random mutations. Any teleological element has been deliberately purged. And when you (and many others here) put the evolution of life in the same category as gravity, chemical bonding, and meteorology, you rubber stamp the notion. The fact that you believe that God is the cause, even the necessary cause, does not take away from the fact that gravity, chemical bonding and meteorology “happen.” They happen naturally. They happen deterministically. Indeed, they happen predictably. In short, and as I’m sure you would agree, we do not need to invoke God every time two chemicals bond in nature. This is a key insight into where you and I part ways. If we do not need to invoke God every time matter “behaves” according to the natural laws which constrain it, and if we say that evolution works in the exact same way, then we must concede that there is no need to invoke God in the evolutionary process. At best, God is outside the process, having set things in motion and then backing off. It would be nonsense to say that these two chemicals “chose to bond.” Inanimate matter is aimless. It is mindless. Inanimate matter does not make choices. Purpose requires choice. Thus, inanimate matter and the interplay thereof, is mindless and it is purposeless. You and I would agree that there is purpose which is manifested in the establishment of the initial conditions. But that purpose is extrinsic. There is no purpose intrinsic to natural processes (a purposeless process cannot produce an intended result).
On the other hand, information does not happen naturally. It does not come about in deterministic fashion. Indeed, coercion and determinism destroy the potential to create any significant amounts of functional, prescriptive information. The ability to choose freely at each successive decision node is critical to generating functional, prescriptive information. Imagine if each stroke produced on my keyboard were constrained and governed by deterministic laws rather than by my deliberate, goal oriented free choices. There is no way I could ever get this post you! Therefore, the deterministic laws that govern chemical bonding and gravity are woefully inadequate causal candidates for the prescriptive information that undergirds all life.
You are right to observe that scientific theories take no position on matters of faith. However, if we wish to hold an accurate worldview - something that has always been of the highest importance to me - we will allow what is true to inform our worldview. If it is true that we do not need to invoke God in the regular, deterministic interplay of natural processes, and if we are willing to promote the origin and evolution of life as a natural process, then it should be no surprise when we conclude that there is no need to invoke God in the origin and evolution of life.
I do not agree that the origin and evolution of life can be explained by the same causes that explain gravity and chemical bonding. I used to believe it. And when I did, I quite logically realized that I did not need to invoke God. But when I came to grips with the full implications of the truth that life is fundamentally information processing, I also had to come to grips with the fact that, like any information processing system, life requires a Creator, not merely natural processes.
I understand that the folks who run BioLogos like to promote the notion that there is some sort of “warfare” mentality going on. There isn’t. I do not see science and faith as being at odds with one another. Frankly, I never did. This whole warfare thing is itself a warfare strategy and it is a false dichotomy. The science - the evidence - from life clearly points to the necessity of a Creator. I urge you to consider this evidence.
Chris, I consider you a brother in the Lord and therefore I am grateful for you and your willingness to engage. I thank you for your prayers.