Intelligent Design

I like following the ongoing debate between the ID'ers and staunch Neo-Darwinists.  On the one hand, are the Mr Obviouses with the pictures and video clips and on the other are the Evolution-is-a-fact-and-dont-bother-me-with-the-evidence establishment that owns our government, museums, public education, media, the Catholic church, your local grocery store and any hope you may have of dignity as a human.  It's a fascinating study in human nature, especially on the side of the evolutionists who have become very sensitive to say the least of any scrutiny of their bully pulpit.  It's a win at any cost of intellectual capital war for the Neo-Ds it seems.  To see all those little molecules lining up like little soldiers to do their jobs in the animated clip of cellular processes the "other side" has come up with makes it so obvious that there is something more than blind natural selection/random mutation going on here.  It has to be embarrassing trying to defend the argument that the molecular electric motor found in the flagellum of bacteria is just a product of chance.  There is a mountain of evidence on the ID side of purposeful design found in all life and the only snobbish argument the Neos can come up with is a "faulty" design feature they occasionally find in animal life.  They seem to take great pleasure poking fun at the straw-man god they imagine 98% of us believe in.  I am always amazed at the ignorant statements coming from these followers of the Bearded-Man-who-thought-cells-were-blobs-of-protoplasm, like "man will surpass the design found in nature someday".  We have barely scratched the surface of the micro and macro creation we live in and they make these incredibly stupid remarks.  Here is a prediction.  Not too far in the future it will be discovered that rather than random mutation being the mechanism whereby positive change is invoked in biological systems, smart molecules have been programmed to monitor the environment and make changes accordingly.  There will be found an anticipatory nature in molecular biology that cannot be explained away by the throwing of Darwinian dice.  Now that's what we all know as Intelligence.

Resources:

Signature in the Cell Discussion (audio)
The Inner Life of a Cell animation 
CS Lewis Society

The Irrationality of Truth

'Truth is stranger than fiction' an old saying attributed to Lord Byron in his epic poem Don Juan (1819-1824), turns out to be more than just a passing observation of some of the ironies of life but a foundational scientific principle discovered in the way the human brain processes reality.  The diagram to the top right is illustrative of the way the sight perceives relative sizes.  Compare the sizes of the center circles.  Which of the two are smaller and larger?  Now measure each one and you'll see , as you probably expected, they are both the same size.  Our perception will still see them as different sizes even after we gained this 'truth' because of a trait in our brains called relativity.  This isn't the Einstein relativity but that of social science such as found in Behavioral Economics.[1]  Are Christians immune to these misperceptions?  Not at all.  We're all 'wired' the same whether we believe and trust in God or not.  The difference lies in how we judge what the truth is.  Whether we trust our eyes (mind) or an external standard.  The same is true in understanding our Christian walk.  Is scripture our standard, the rule of our life experiences and opinions or do we have more faith in our own understanding.  The knowledge that our perception is fallible as demonstrated here should bring us to the conclusion that we can't always trust our eyes let alone our understanding.

"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12

 Paul knew the limitations of human perception as well as anyone else and saw how it could divide the church.  It's a powerful force in our lives today as it was in Israel in New Testament times. Put a 'Dr' in front of your name or have a British accent and you become an authority.  But God rarely uses these types as we see in this letter to the Corinthian church;

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence." 

1 Corinthians 1:25-29

 There is a temptation within the church to overlook the ignoble,the common.  It's only natural for us to esteem those smarter, richer and better looking, we're 'wired' that way.  But the deep wisdom, that other-worldly knowledge turns everything upside down.  It seems irrational, but in fact is Truth.  God uses the weak things to show us not to depend on the ordinary but to see the world the way He does.

Additional resources:

Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions? 

Keith Barry

Notes:

1. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions