(Been a while since I posted up here.
I often see these two arguments come up in debates between theistic evolutionists and creationists:
The first is that creationists say that life was created, perfectly, in it's modern form 6,000-10,000 years ago by God. Now that the Fall introduced death into the world, life is basically "winding down". One of the reasons evolution cannot occur is because of all the bad mutations we're accumulating. Others argue that there are limits to how much a species can evolve, and those limits were set in our genes by God. Evolutionists respond by pointing out that this is basically Deism: God gave us life, but He has now abandoned us. This flies in the face of the Biblical description of a God who takes an active role in our lives.
The second argument is usually a creationist (or sometimes an ignorant evolutionist) misunderstanding how evolution works. They think natural selection chooses "superior" specimens to pass on their genes or they evolve in response to a new challenge. Evolutionists reply by saying that evolution is essentially blind. It does not choose the better or more complex specimen, nor does it "plan" ways to improve a species fitness.
So basically my question is this: if evolution is blind and not pre-programed, then what exactly do we mean when we say we believe in guided evolution?
I often see these two arguments come up in debates between theistic evolutionists and creationists:
The first is that creationists say that life was created, perfectly, in it's modern form 6,000-10,000 years ago by God. Now that the Fall introduced death into the world, life is basically "winding down". One of the reasons evolution cannot occur is because of all the bad mutations we're accumulating. Others argue that there are limits to how much a species can evolve, and those limits were set in our genes by God. Evolutionists respond by pointing out that this is basically Deism: God gave us life, but He has now abandoned us. This flies in the face of the Biblical description of a God who takes an active role in our lives.
The second argument is usually a creationist (or sometimes an ignorant evolutionist) misunderstanding how evolution works. They think natural selection chooses "superior" specimens to pass on their genes or they evolve in response to a new challenge. Evolutionists reply by saying that evolution is essentially blind. It does not choose the better or more complex specimen, nor does it "plan" ways to improve a species fitness.
So basically my question is this: if evolution is blind and not pre-programed, then what exactly do we mean when we say we believe in guided evolution?