The real alternative to design (Evolution)

by clayto , Sunday, February 17, 2008, 17:35 (5907 days ago) @ dhw

Miracles? - ----- "the implication is that chance can bring about miracles." Here and elsewhere you have used the word miracle, perhaps in what has become a common and unsatisfactory way, causing confusion, to mean something like 'wonderful' or 'extraordinary'. More precise, and I would suggest far more useful, definitions of 'miracle' are along the lines of "something which is contrary to (the laws of) nature, brought about by supernatural or divine intervention in the way nature works' ----- as for example in the claims of miracles performed by Jesus which are one of the key indicators for believers that he was divine, a supernatural manifestation in our natural world not least if he 'rose from the dead'. I suspect (and hope!) this is not the way you intend the word to be used, in which case I humbly request that you stop using it! - When people say the birth of their child is a miracle, most (not all) are not saying this most natural of events is supernatural and contrary to nature, they are saying something like 'isn't nature wonderful'? - The origins of life (rather than its subsequent evolution) may well be considered wonderful, by some it is considered supernatural ---- but hardly by most people who want to describe themselves as agnostics, I suggest. - clayto