@rosborne979,
rosborne979 wrote:
livinglava wrote:It is a false notion that the theory of evolution in in conflict with creationism. Evolution is how God creates and continues to create life and the universe. Whatever mechanics of nature are discovered to be true, those are the mechanics of (the) creation.
Everyone seems to have their own version of creationism. Yours seems to be that the actions of God/Creation are indistinguishable from nature. But if that's the case, then it's fruitless to even mention them as anything different at all. Nature is God. Welcome to Pantheism.
I don't exactly understand pantheism, but I don't think it's the same thing. Pantheism leads to nature worship, but there are aspects of nature that are punitive and deadly. I.e. Destruction and death are part of nature as much as life. Put another way, God created angels to do his work, but then Lucifer and some other angels fell into opposition against God, so there is duality between good and evil, creation and destruction, in nature. So if you worship all of nature as being all God's creation and thus God, then you are failing to discriminate in favor of good against evil.
Now there is a nuance here, which is that yen/yang, karmic justice, etc. are part of God's plan. In Bibilical terms, the wages of sin are death because God's will is for the creation to work like clockwork. There is forgiveness/mercy/salvation/sanctification, but not by erasing the consequences of sin. Spiritually, you get deliverance from the (eternal) suffering caused by sin, but sin still has the effects in this world that it has. Just as Christ suffered on the cross, people still have crosses to bear whether they are Christian or not. The difference for Christians is that spiritual clarity about the relationship between sin, suffering, and spiritual rebirth and God's will give us peace and deliverance throughout the turbulence of this world. We see it for what it is and there is transcendence in that.
But in terms of evolution, we are part of a larger play where our role is to do the best we can but ultimately accept that there is sin in the world and we are part of it. The wages of sin are death and destruction, so we are supposed to turn the other cheek and try to get through it the best we can, all the while seeking to have God's will revealed to us and honoring it. Many Christian say they are "a work in progress," another way of saying they are evolving, just as the rest of the creation is continuing to evolve according to His will, i.e. the natural mechanics He set up that discipline and hone everything further is a process of never-ending progress in the direction of (ultimately unreachable) perfection.
