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AXE COP!
1b) You are correct. This passage is a scientific theory, but it is the basis of philosophic cosmology. As I have said before cosmology is where philosophy, theology, and science come together. This is why non-believers use cosmology to attack theology, as in the attack on Creationism based because Gen 1 as YEC interprets it goes against evolution. John 1 does not go against evolution, but it does go against evolution, but it does go against the Darwinian understanding as Natural Selection as based on conflict.
2a) That is precisely what I try to answer in my other articles on evolution and suffering: that the ugly process is a result of the freedom grounded in love.
2b) This responsible seems to blame God for ugliness and sin. This is not true, Freedom does not create ugliness. Sin creates ugliness and humans are responsible for sin.
3a) You ask: " Is human nature selfish or not selfish?" I would answer “yes.” The evolutionary process does not instill one or the other of these outcomes, but a mix of selfish and unselfish elements intertwined in highly complex ways.
3b) You are right, good does not mean perfect or static, but it does mean fulfilled. Our ecological system is based on equilibrium, which is constantly changing because we live in a limited physical world. Still taken as a whole the system is complete or perfect.
What God meant when God said that the Creation is good, was that it was perfect to carry out God’s plan. Certainly is does not mean that the plan is completed. Of course the plan is still in the process of being carried out. We as Christians believe that it will be carried out and God’s Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven, but certainly I do not know exactly how.
Adam was good in that he and eve were not subject to sin, whoever when they were tempted they fell to their selfish impulses, and failed to seek forgiveness, when God called then on it. Sin and ugliness are a false relationship, not a state of being. They justified their sin and set the stage for us to do the same.
The problem of sin is one for both theology and evolution, because life3 is based on relationships and not on being. Relationships are constantly changing because the ecology is changing and human being are changing. Plants and animals are constantly changing, which does mean dying out at times. The same with humans and human institutions. When human use their freedom selfishly rather than to help each other we have sin. When people justify their selfishness by the guise of shrewd business dealing, they deepen their sin.
Science is based the Greek concept of cosmos, or harmony and beauty. Gravity unites all physical things. On the other hand the Selfish Gene brings all things into conflict, denying the fact that nature is related as found in ecology, which is the way that life works. It also denies how the Logos, Jesus Christ works.
I am making the assumption that order is beautiful, while disorder is ugly. That is a broad philosophical definiti0on of ugliness which does fit in well here.
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