Hi Mallon, do you have an opinion on the subject. Please describe the thought process you use to ask questions about things that you have no opinion about. It strikes me that you like to disparage others, questioning their qualifications and so forth. Typical M.O of a light weight. When you lose the debate, attack the person. Trite.
Van, I questioned your background in the philosophy of science because when you say things like "science knows whether the Big Bang came about naturally or supernaturally", you are revealing a fundamental misunderstanding about what science is and what it can and cannot know.
Science is a process that, by definition, restricts itself to explaining the natural world by appeal to natural phenomena. It cannot entertain (nor does it explicitly reject) the notion that God miraculously created the universe because it has no means by which to test such an hypothesis. That is, because science is restricted to what is natural, it cannot comment on the
supernatural.
So no, science cannot know whether the Big Bang came about naturally or supernaturally. By definition, it is forced to assume that the Big Bang occurred via natural means to the exclusion of all other explanations. If it didn't make such assumptions, we would still be chalking disease up to demonic possession and we would still think God used magic to hold the planets in orbit. And as I pointed out to you earlier, simply because we have not yet solved the mystery of the Big Bang does not mean that a scientific explanation for it will never be found. It is important that we remain open to the possibility, lest we subscribe to god-of-the-gaps theology and the dangers it poses to our faith.
Folks, TE has been shown to represent no view whatsoever, seeing refuge in epistemology, not realizing the epistemological defense contains the seeds of its own destruction. I do not claim to be a scientist, but I did stay at a holiday inn.
Van, what defines theistic evolutionists (rather, evolutionary creationists) is not our views on the origins of the universe. Otherwise, we'd be called theistic Bang Bangers or somesuch.
Evolutionary creationists are simply Christians who subscribe to the theory of biological evolution. On that, we all agree. As far as abiogenesis or the Big Bang goes, we range in our views. And what's so wrong with that? Why are you so darned adamant that we all take a position on whether God brought about the universe miraculously or naturally? Are you a positivist? Isn't the fact that we can all agree that God created the universe what matters most?
Just think about how silly you are being. Imagine someone like yourself arguing that YECs are "shown to represent no view whatsoever" because they cannot all agree on their favourite baseball team. It's foolish and childish.
