Group

My name is Stephen E. (Steve) Jones and I am the Moderator of this
List.

Here is a brief introduction which I have decided to place in the
form of an FAQ.

My practice is to post all my posts to the Group and not to any
individual. I find that this cuts down some of the unpleasantness
which may arise from taking things too personally.

My policy is not to get involved in private discussions on
creation/evolution/ID because: a) I don't have the time; and b) I
regard these as topics which should be discussed *publicly* .

Steve

=====================================================
http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/faqipers.html

FAQ: INTRODUCTION: PERSONAL

Q. Who are you?

My name is Stephen E. (Steve) Jones. I am 54 years of age, Australian and
have been a Christian since 1967. Originally I was an atheist from a non-
Christian home but I came to believe in God through the evidence of design
in nature. I did not become a Christian until about 1-2 years after that.

As a Christian I started off as a Progressive Creationist, became a Theistic
Evolutionist and now I call myself a Mediate Creationist. See also the FAQ
at http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/faqiposs.html on various Creation-
Evolution positions.

That is, I believe (on the basis of Genesis 1) that God created the raw
materials of the universe immediately (i.e. directly) from out-of-nothing,
and thereafter He created mediately by working (both naturally and
supernaturally) using existing materials and natural processes.

Mediate Creation (MC) is a form of Old-Earth Creation (OEC), and
therefore I accept that the universe is tens of billions of years old and the
Earth is about 4.6 billion years old. Mediate Creation in closest to the
position known as Progressive Creation (PC), but differs from versions of
PC which posit ongoing ex nihilo creation of whole new organisms. MC
differs from Theistic Evolution (TE) in that it accepts the possibility of God
having intervened supernaturally many times in natural history.

My basic approach on Bible-science issues is that I assume that the Bible
and nature are two books with the one Author and therefore, when all the
facts are known and misinterpretations are cleared away, these two aspects
of God's revelation, Special and General, will be seen to be in mutually
supporting agreement. I regard Genesis 1-11 as symbolic history (i.e. real
history expressed in symbolic form).

I have been debating creation/evolution first on Fidonet, and then on the
Internet, since 1994. I am a layman but am in my first year of a part-time
Bachelor of Science (Biology) degree. I am a member of the Intelligent
Design (ID) movement.

I would have no major problems if evolution was 100% true (in fact while
a committed Christian I believed that evolution was true for about 10
years), because the God of the Bible is fully in control of all events, even
those that seem random to man (Prov. 16:33; 1 Kings 22:34). But I believe
the scientific evidence is pointing strongly to the intervention/guidance of
an intelligent designer in the history of life. I assume this intelligent
designer to be the Christian God. However, the identity of the designer is
outside the scope of ID, which aims to empirically detect design, not
identify the designer.

I accept the Common Ancestry Hypothesis (with some qualifications). The
scientific evidence for it is strong and, if anything, the Biblical evidence is
also in its favour. However, common ancestry is not uniquely supportive of
Naturalistic Evolution but is also supportive of Mediate Creation.

For further information see my testimony at:
http://www.members.net.au/~sejones/testimny.html.

Stephen E. (Steve) Jones
=====================================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of
having been designed for a purpose." (Dawkins R., "The Blind
Watchmaker," [1986], Penguin: London, 1991, reprint, p.1)
Stephen E. Jones, Ph. +61 8 9448 7439. http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
Moderator: CreationEvolutionDesign@yahoogroups.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CreationEvolutionDesign
--------------------------------------------------------------------------