Why Does the History of Life Give the Appearance of Evolution?

[Dirty_Jerz]

Fossil evidence suggests that life on earth originated about three and a half billion years ago, starting with prokaryotes (single-celled organisms without nuclei, such as bacteria). Much later came eukaryotes (cells with nuclei), which included algae and single-celled animals (protozoa). Multicellular marine animals appeared long after that. Then came land plants, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, primates, and finally humans. Not only did living things appear in a certain order, but in some cases they also had features intermediate between organisms that preceded them and those that followed them. Kenneth R. Miller challenges critics of Darwinism to explain why we find "one organism after another in places and in sequences... that clearly give the appearance of evolution."1

The answer is found in various religious traditions, especially Christianity. "Far from denying life's progression, tradition provides a reason for it," wrote Huston Smith in 1976. "Earth mirrors heaven. But mirrors, as we have noted, invert. The consequence here is that that which is first in the ontological order appears last in the temporal order." Smith explained: "In the celestial realm the species are never absent; their essential forms or archetypes reside there from an endless beginning. As earth ripens to receive them, each in its turn drops to the terrestrial plane." But "first a viable habitat must be devised, hence the inorganic universe is matured to a point where life can be sustained. And when living beings do arrive, they do so in a vaguely ascending order that passes from relatively undifferentiated organisms... to ones that are more complex." Thus "man, who is first in the order of worth on the terrestrial plane, will be last in the order of his appearance."2

 

[The Real]

The answer is found in various religious traditions, especially Christianity. "Far from denying life's progression, tradition provides a reason for it," wrote Huston Smith in 1976. "Earth mirrors heaven. But mirrors, as we have noted, invert. The consequence here is that that which is first in the ontological order appears last in the temporal order." Smith explained: "In the celestial realm the species are never absent; their essential forms or archetypes reside there from an endless beginning. As earth ripens to receive them, each in its turn drops to the terrestrial plane." But "first a viable habitat must be devised, hence the inorganic universe is matured to a point where life can be sustained. And when living beings do arrive, they do so in a vaguely ascending order that passes from relatively undifferentiated organisms... to ones that are more complex." Thus "man, who is first in the order of worth on the terrestrial plane, will be last in the order of his appearance."2

That's not Christianity. It's Platonism- pure pagan Greek philosophy that was assimilated into early Christianity.

 

[the cac mamba]

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

That's not Christianity. It's Platonism- pure pagan Greek philosophy that was assimilated into early Christianity.

what do you mean? what part of that is the pagan part?

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

 

[The Real]

what do you mean? what part of that is the pagan part?

The idea that there is a plane in which eternal archetypes or forms of all species reside, of which our own world is an imperfect reflection, comes from Plato. You won't find anything in the Bible that mentions any such idea. A lot of early Christian writers, being Greek, imported ideas from their native Greek philosophy in order to elaborate upon or interpret the Bible. Identifying Plato's transcendent world of forms with the Christian heaven is one example of this.

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

The idea that there is a plane in which eternal archetypes or forms of all species reside, of which our own world is an imperfect reflection, comes from Plato. You won't find anything in the Bible that mentions any such idea. A lot of early Christian writers, being Greek, imported ideas from their native Greek philosophy in order to elaborate upon or interpret the Bible. Identifying Plato's transcendent world of forms with the Christian heaven is one example of this.

i see what you're talking about but there are verses in the bible where it talks about a different plane of existance if you look in revelation

are you saying that this comes from platonism as well?

 

[The Real]

i see what you're talking about but there are verses in the bible where it talks about a different plane of existance if you look in revelation

are you saying that this comes from platonism as well?

Nah, there's definitely a heaven in Biblical literature. But the stuff about all these eternal archetypes of the limited forms we see here on earth being there is from Platonism. They basically took Plato's idea of a different plane of existence and integrated it into the one they already had.

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

Nah, there's definitely a heaven in Biblical literature. But the stuff about all these eternal archetypes of the limited forms we see here on earth being there is from Platonism. They basically took Plato's idea of a different plane of existence and integrated it into the one they already had.

interesting friend this sounds accurate and its kind of oddly humoring now that i think about it

 

[NZA]

the thing is, in genesis, god tells you in enough detail how he made species. he simply made them perfect and original and without any gradual design or replacement process. there was no mention of archetypes of xeroxing.

then, when his creations needed saving from his own murderous wrath, he had noah go out and save them instead of just replacing them with those archetypical molds he supposedly had in heaven.

the bible implies immediate creation and a permanence to the existence or extinction of species, just like the mainstream creationist tends to teach.

you gotta be careful with european christian traditions, they do what the real said all the time, actually. the common notion of hell, for instance, is greek paganism forced into christianity as well