{"id":38676,"date":"2016-08-17T07:04:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/?p=38676"},"modified":"2016-08-17T21:06:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T20:06:46","slug":"mung-a-theistic-evolutionist-who-disagrees-with-some-of-his-kind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/mung-a-theistic-evolutionist-who-disagrees-with-some-of-his-kind\/","title":{"rendered":"Mung, a theistic evolutionist who disagrees with some of his kind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mung: What I Believe<\/a><\/h1>\n

I am neither YEC nor OEC, so don\u2019t really know of a label I can give you.<\/p>\n

I accept that the universe is old, that the earth is old. No problem with dating as provided by the latest science.<\/p>\n

I am a theist and a Christian. I am not a deist. I am not a naturalist. I reject the idea of \u201cnature acting alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe the universe is created and sustained by God I believe the same of all living beings. I accept common descent or descent with modification as the best explanation for the history of life on earth, but reject the idea that this happens without God (by a random undirected process).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve not identified myself as a theistic evolutionist because I find myself in disagreement with theistic evolutionist authors.<\/p>\n

So the best description I can offer is \u201cintelligent design\u201d proponent.
\n<\/p>\n

BioLogos: What We Believe<\/a><\/h1>\n
    \n
  1. We believe the Bible is the inspired and authoritative word of God. By the Holy Spirit it is the \u201cliving and active\u201d means through which God speaks to the church today, bearing witness to God\u2019s Son, Jesus, as the divine Logos, or Word of God.<\/li>\n
  2. We believe that God also reveals himself in and through the natural world he created, which displays his glory, eternal power, and divine nature. Properly interpreted, Scripture and nature are complementary and faithful witnesses to their common Author.<\/li>\n
  3. We believe that all people have sinned against God and are in need of salvation.<\/li>\n
  4. We believe in the historical incarnation of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man. We believe in the historical death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by which we are saved and reconciled to God.<\/li>\n
  5. We believe that God is directly involved in the lives of people today through acts of redemption, personal transformation, and answers to prayer.<\/li>\n
  6. We believe that God typically sustains the world using faithful, consistent processes that humans describe as “natural laws.” Yet we also affirm that God works outside of natural law in supernatural events, including the miracles described in Scripture. In both natural and supernatural ways, God continues to be directly involved in creation and in human history.<\/li>\n
  7. We believe that the methods of science are an important and reliable means to investigate and describe the world God has made. In this, we stand with a long tradition of Christians for whom Christian faith and science are mutually hospitable. Therefore, we reject ideologies such as Materialism and Scientism that claim science is the sole source of knowledge and truth, that science has debunked God and religion, or that the physical world constitutes the whole of reality.<\/li>\n
  8. We believe that God created the universe, the earth, and all life over billions of years. God continues to sustain the existence and functioning of the natural world, and the cosmos continues to declare the glory of God. Therefore, we reject ideologies such as Deism that claim the universe is self-sustaining, that God is no longer active in the natural world, or that God is not active in human history.<\/li>\n
  9. We believe that the diversity and interrelation of all life on earth are best explained by the God-ordained process of evolution with common descent. Thus, evolution is not in opposition to God, but a means by which God providentially achieves his purposes. Therefore, we reject ideologies that claim that evolution is a purposeless process or that evolution replaces God.<\/li>\n
  10. We believe that God created humans in biological continuity with all life on earth, but also as spiritual beings. God established a unique relationship with humanity by endowing us with his image and calling us to an elevated position within the created order.<\/li>\n
  11. We believe that conversations among Christians about controversial issues of science and faith can and must be conducted with humility, grace, honesty, and compassion as a visible sign of the Spirit\u2019s presence in Christ\u2019s body, the Church.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Tom English: What I Believe About Mung<\/h1>\n

    Mung undoubtedly quibbles over some of the stated beliefs of BioLogos, because he is a quibbler. But he out-and-out rejects only point 11. He would find himself in agreement with some theistic evolutionist authors, were he to read more of them. (I suggest he start with the later writings of George Frederick Wright.)<\/p>\n

    Mung is much closer to theistic evolutionists in his beliefs about science than he is to most “intelligent design” proponents. He out-and-out rejects young-earth creationism. But most grass-roots proponents of “intelligent design” are young-earth creationists.<\/p>\n

    Mung aligns himself with “intelligent design” as a sociopolitical movement. He manifests as a sociopolitical activist when he characterizes evolution that “happens without God” as “a random undirected process.” Mung knows that natural selection is predominately nonrandom. Indeed, he takes offense if you suggest that he doesn’t know. But he always reverts to the standard propaganda, designed to inflame Christians who genuinely are ignorant of evolutionary theory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Mung: What I Believe I am neither YEC nor OEC, so don\u2019t really know of a label I can give you. I accept that the universe is old, that the earth is old. No problem with dating as provided by … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theskepticalzone.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}