How does theistic evolution, BioLogos-style, make any sense?

Question

If one is a BioLogos-style theistic evolutionist, and believes that God didn't intervene in the history of evolution, why should one believe that God answers prayer?

It seems somewhat inconsistent to say that God didn't direct or guide evolution on one hand, and then claim that God answers prayer or interacted in human history.

Answer 1

the problem that you have here is your view of God. God is not the watchmaker of the universe, as commonly portrayed by modernist thinkers. the western modernist view of God does not portray the christian view of God. God doesn't intervene, God is behind all things within the universe. as Christ himself said, "it is God who feeds the ravens when they call upon him', this doesn't mean that a hand comes down from heaven, rather christ is saying that the universe has a harmony, an order, which is the way of God, which is God. and it is through "the way" by which things are truly fulfilled in there being. God is in all things, and holds all things into being, christians traditionally were/are panentheist "all in God". so as for evolution, God was involved with evolution, God was the central aspect of the process. how? well in panentheism, God is fundamental to our existence, God is existence, God is the true order. as the apostle Paul wrote, "it is in God that we live and move and have our being.



as for prayer, in traditional christianity (eastern orthodox) prayer is not a wish list. prayer is meditation, it is aligning yourself the core of your being, with "the way" (God). prayer is not asking for a new car, rather true prayer is of ones "nous" (our spirit, soul) the very core of our beings. scripture says that true prayer is silent, a moan, a groan. it is something that is felt deep within you. these are the prayers that God truly hears, because such prayers are of repentance. which is the sole purpose of prayer. repentance. prayer is about repentance, turning towards God/ "the way" or "logos". God has already spoken, from eternity. we simply have to open up our ear (our hearts) to what God has said. as Jesus said "seek first the kingdom of God and after his righteousness, and all things shall be added onto you" our true fulfillment is in uniting ourselves to "the way"

Answer 2

I believe the picture is something like this:



God got things going. He started the process and He either knew or knew more or less what to expect from what He had done, but He didn't interfere. He just watched until things got to a certain point and then He breathed His Spirit into humans and made them into sentient beings. That's my understanding, and there are no doubt many different flavors. It's not my thing, so I don't know a lot about it.



If it were true (which I kind of doubt), I'm not sure how this would preclude God ever entering the space-time continuum (so to speak) and interacting with humans. I would see it as His dealing with one situation one way and another situation another way, depending on what was called for at the time.



The bible says nothing about evolution. If that's the way God created, we don't know what that looked like in any detail. We have the creation poem, which tells us worlds more than any account of physical creation. I understand scientists wanting to know -- it's just that I don't really care. I'll find out one day. Meanwhile, I have the opportunity to know Father personally and I don't have time for the details of evolution or whatever.

Answer 3

The truth be told evolution creates no real issues with the Biblical account of creation, if it is true and there may some day be evidence affirming the claims of evolutionists, that is not an issue at all. whether God were involved or had nothing to do with it. With respect to prayers. God made Adam and Eve special - there may have been other hominids that evolved, but these two were specially created for a special purpose and these are followed throughout history. The flood eliminated all the other hominids leaving only the humans descended from those God created.

Answer 4

Not intervening in biological evolution doesn't preclude intervening in human affairs.



That being said, noninterventionist theistic evolution is still very rickety (If evolution can take place without God, why is he there at all?), and can be considered the terminal stage in the death of someone's faith. If they've pushed God back that far they're right on the cusp of getting rid of him entirely.

Answer 5

The Pope, Catholic Church, Church of England and mainstream churches all accept the big bang and evolution!



Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury put it rather well – “Creationism is the fruit of a fundamentalist approach to scripture, ignoring scholarship and critical learning, and confusing different understandings of truth”!



Nice that christians and atheists can agree and laugh together even if it is at fundie expense!



But behind the laughter is the despair at the fundamentalists striving so hard to destroy christianity by turning it from a religion to an ideology!



Surveys suggest that 29% of American christians are so extremist in their beliefs that they fall well outside of the accepted bounds of christianity!



Please state which extremist sect you belong to so that GOOD christians can disassociate themselves from you and explain why your sect is so at odds with Christianity!



Just another fundamentalist striving so hard to destroy christianity by turning it from a religion to an ideology!

Answer 6

I think you are misinterpreting what the BioLogos people are saying.



Under "What We Believe":

http://biologos.org/about

* "We believe that God created the universe, the earth, and all life over billions of years. God continues to providentially sustain 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."



* "We believe that God continues to be directly involved in human history in acts of salvation, personal transformation, and answers to prayer."



* "We believe that the diversity and interrelation of all life on earth are best explained by the God-ordained process of evolution and common descent. Thus, evolution is not in opposition to God, but a means by which God providentially achieves his purposes. Therefore, we reject ideologies such as Darwinism and Evolutionism that claim that evolution is a purposeless process or that evolution replaces God."





So it is not accurate to say that "BioLogos-style" theistic evolution includes the belief that "God didn't intervene in the history of evolution" ... in fact precisely the opposite!



The BioLogos position is that the unfolding of evolution *IS* God's method of creation.



So it is as meaningless to ask how God "intervenes" in that process as it is to ask how a painter "intervenes" in his own process of painting ... or to ask how you "intervene" in your own process of creating thoughts.





As for the answering of prayers (which, as you can see, is also part of the BioLogos statement of belief), this is also complex.



One essay on the BioLogos foundation that addresses this specific point, is this one by Paul Lange. As a cancer surgeon, he describes the challenge of being a medical doctor who deals with the human body as a naturalistic organism, at the same time he deals with his own faith, and the faith of those praying for miracles.



"Does God Change His Mind?"

http://biologos.org/blog/does-god-change-his-mind



In his view, once one accepts the natural world as not being separate from ... or a static creation of ... God, but rather something so inseparable from God that He is in a *constant* state of involvement with it ... then divine action, including in response to prayer, is just a part of that same process. Answering prayers is not an "exception" to his normal involvement with the natural world, it is absolutely consistent with it.



"As a scientist it is much easier to believe in DA [divine action] than it was when the worldview was so-called static; that is, the view that the world was created in toto, once and for all, and governed by infallible consistent “laws.” Now we “see” a much different universe; one that started with the big bang, has a history and geography that positions our world and a humankind (that evolved over eons of time) into a very small place and time; black holes; dark matter; time travel; string theory with unfathomably dimensions exceeding six; maybe multiple universes making other intelligent life in the cosmos probable; and so forth. Taken together this “ real” world is now much more unfathomable than Eve from a rib, water into wine, or a resurrection. No wonder physicists concerned with matters related to cosmology are now so filled with wonder that they appear spiritual."





Please don't do what the creationists do ... and try to reduce things down to a cartoon.

Answer 7

Any kind of theistic evolution makes no sense at all...