re: an after sunday school read
You raise some interesting points denman. I agree that Flew is contradicting himself in that article as reported.
Isn't DNA the wisdom out of very ancient times, through countless generations, from millions of centuries ago?
I say yes.
Why not think that the messages that have come down to us are the ones that have survived millions, in some cases hundreds of millions, of generations?
I am sure there many more 'messages' out there that we have not yet identified.
Why not consider for a moment that for every successful message that has reached the present, countless failures have fallen away?
All messages are available whether considered successful or not as that is a judgement you have made.
Do we ever consider that this process is irreversible?
Definitely worth a thought but that is devolution & I believe in evolution at this point in time.
Isn't it geological time, honing and whittling, carving and rejigging by selection and rejection, in a succession of environments, rather than some super external intelligence designing?
Yes to the first part but I have difficulty with the 'external intelligence' as there is only One life( all things connected) there is nothing external.