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<strong>Series:</strong> Understanding Randomness

Series: Understanding Randomness

In this series, Kathryn Applegate addresses the concern that randomness implies the absence of God's activity and involvement in the natural world. She begins by clearing up some common misconceptions about the concept of "randomness", and later focuses on the mechanisms of the immune system to demonstrate that God works through random processes to preserve life. Far from being an indication of a "godless" universe, one might conclude that randomness is one of God’s favorite mechanisms for creating and sustaining life!
Mar 23, 2013 
Kathryn Applegate 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness, Evolution - How It Works
Where are the Transitional Fossils?

Where are the Transitional Fossils?

A common argument leveled against the theory of evolution is that scientists have not been able to produce transitional fossils that show the change of one species into another. In this podcast, we address a common misconception about what transitional fossils actually are.
Feb 01, 2013 
Kelsey Luoma 
History of Life, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
166
<strong>Series:</strong> The Human Fossil Record

Series: The Human Fossil Record

In this series, James Kidder provides an intriguing study on transitional fossils and the evolutionary history of modern humans. He begins by discussing the fossil record, explaining how new forms are classified. He then explains the physically distinguishing trait of humankind—bipedalism. From the discovery of Ardipithecus, the earliest known hominin, to the australopithecines, the most prolific hominin, Kidder focuses on the discovery, the anatomy, and the interpretation of these ancestral remains.
Jan 21, 2013 
James Kidder 
Human Origins, Evolution - How It Works, ID Movement, Young Earth Creationism, Fossils, Evolution - Evidence
Surveying George Murphy's Theology of the Cross

Surveying George Murphy's Theology of the Cross

If God himself is willing to die, particularly in such a gruesome way, then perhaps we should at least consider the possibility of God allowing the death of other creatures, too. But would this really be compatible with what we know of God through Scripture?
Dec 04, 2012 
Thomas Burnett 
Christ & New Creation, ID Movement, Young Earth Creationism, Fossils
3
<strong>Series:</strong> Biblical and Scientific Shortcomings of Flood Geology

Series: Biblical and Scientific Shortcomings of Flood Geology

Gregg Davidson and Ken Wolgemuth seek to remove the stumbling block of the Genesis flood in this four part series. Though many believe in an ancient world-wide flood, the evidence given does not hold up to geological scrutiny, but points rather to something regional instead. It is their hope that Christians will not walk away from faith in Christ simply because a global flood is not supported by science. Looking at natural phenomena like the Grand Canyon, salt beds, and fossil deposits, they reveal reasons for these deposits and structures while showing that their origin did not stem from a violent flood that covered the planet.
Sep 15, 2012 
Gregg Davidson, Wolgemuth, Ken 
Earth, Universe & Time, Young Earth Creationism, Fossils, The Flood
The Randomness Project

The Randomness Project

It is not uncommon to hear voices proclaiming that biology and physics have shown us that—at fundamental levels—nature is random, hence meaningless, purposeless, and without a creator. But how might God work providentially through indeterminate processes? The John Templeton Foundation has provided a generous grant of $1.69 million to support a new research initiative on the theme of Randomness and Divine providence.
Aug 31, 2012 
James Bradley 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
6
David Lack: Evolutionary Biologist and Devout Christian

David Lack: Evolutionary Biologist and Devout Christian

Charles Darwin’s personal struggles and ultimate rejection of Christianity are well documented, and people are eager to link his loss of faith to his evolutionary theory. David Lack, on the other hand, began his scientific career as an agnostic, but shortly after publishing his famous book on the evolution of "Darwin's finches", he converted to Christianity.
Aug 07, 2012 
Thomas Burnett 
Lives of Faith, Randomness, Miracles
14
Hominids Lived Millions of Years Ago, but How Can We Tell? (Videocast)

Hominids Lived Millions of Years Ago, but How Can We Tell? (Videocast)

This BioLogos videocast addresses the age of recently discovered hominid fossils and how scientists are able to obtain those dates.
Jul 26, 2012 
Joy Walters 
Human Origins, Fossils
12
The Fossil Record

The Fossil Record

There are two opposite errors which need to be countered about the fossil record: 1) that it is so incomplete as to be of no value in interpreting patterns and trends in the history of life, and 2) that it is so good that we should expect a relatively complete record of the details of evolutionary transitions within all or most lineages.
Jul 13, 2012 
Keith Miller 
History of Life, Fossils, Evolution - Evidence
8
What scientific evidence do we have about the first humans?

What scientific evidence do we have about the first humans?

In recent decades, scientists have discovered more about the beginnings of humanity. The fossil record shows a gradual transition over 5 million years ago from chimpanzee-size creatures to hominids with larger brains who walked on two legs. Later hominids used fire and stone tools and had brains as large as modern humans. Fossils of homo sapiens in east Africa date back nearly 200,000 years. Humans developed hearths for fire, stone points for spears and arrows, and cave paintings by 30,000 years ago. By 10,000 years ago, humans had spread throughout the globe. Genetic studies support the same picture. Humans share more DNA with chimpanzees than with any other animal, suggesting that humans and chimps share a relatively recent common ancestor. Also, the same defective genes appear in both humans and chimps, at the same locations in the genome—an observation difficult to explain except by common ancestry. Genetics also tells us that the human population today descended from more than two people. Evolution happens not to individuals but to populations, and the amount of genetic diversity in the gene pool today suggests that the human population was never smaller than several thousand individuals. Yet all humans, of all races, are descended from this group. Humanity is one family.
Jul 12, 2012 
 
Human Origins, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

Randomness and Evolution: Is There Room for God? (Videocast)

This BioLogos videocast addresses the idea of randomness as a part of natural selection, and whether it challenges the possibility of God using the evolutionary process as a means of creation.
Jun 15, 2012 
Joy Walters 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
10
<strong>Series:</strong> Randomness and God’s Governance

Series: Randomness and God’s Governance

In this three-part series from Pruim’s chapter in the book Delight in Creation: Scientists Share Their Work with the Church, mathematician Randall Pruim explains what scientists and mathematicians mean when they speak of something being “random”. He also addresses God's use of apparent randomness in creation as a part of his sovereign rule.
May 21, 2012 
Randall Pruim 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
Chance Creation

Chance Creation

It should not be surprising that John Cage asked the stuff he used to make paintings to take part in the process—to contribute its own identity to the intentional, purposeful, and determined work of creating “based on chance.”
May 13, 2012 
Mark Sprinkle 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
0
Fearful Symmetries

Fearful Symmetries

Perusing the writings of atheistic scientists and philosophers like Daniel Dennett, one could easily get the impression that arriving at a simpler explanation for something equates to a revelation that things are “lower, cruder, and more trivial.”
Mar 15, 2012 
Stephen Barr 
Science & Worldviews, Randomness
58
Beginning with the End in Mind

Beginning with the End in Mind

In today's video, Oxford physicist Ard Louis discusses the famous debate between renowned evolutionary biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Conway Morris over the idea of evolutionary convergence.
Dec 15, 2011 
Ard Louis 
Design, Evolution - How It Works, Randomness, Fossils
32
Evidences for Evolution, Part 2b: The Whales’ Tale

Evidences for Evolution, Part 2b: The Whales’ Tale

If evolution is true, whales are related to the even-toed hoofed mammals, and there should be transitional fossil forms dating from about 45 to 50 million years ago.
Nov 27, 2011 
David Kerk 
History of Life, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
20
Evolution: Is God Just Playing Dice?

Evolution: Is God Just Playing Dice?

With his standard panache, the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen J. Gould argued strenuously that evolution had no inherent directionality. We are mere accidents; a "tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree".
Oct 11, 2011 
Matt J. Rossano 
Divine Action & Purpose, Evolution - How It Works, Randomness, Atheism & Scientism
154
New Limbs from Old Fins, Part 2: Comparative Anatomy

New Limbs from Old Fins, Part 2: Comparative Anatomy

Critics of evolution sometimes portray the theory as an untestable historical conjecture, depicting it as fundamentally different from experimental science in the lab. But the hunt for the earliest tetrapods was an effort to test a hypothesis that had generated a prediction.
Sep 16, 2011 
Stephen Matheson 
History of Life, Evolution - Evidence, Fossils
35
From Chaos to Order: The Random Process as the

From Chaos to Order: The Random Process as the "Precision Tool"of God

For many, the importance of apparent randomness in evolution can be a major stumbling block when considering whether God could have created through an evolutionary process.
Sep 13, 2011 
Ryan Pettey 
Divine Action & Purpose, Randomness
35
Ask an Evolutionary Creationist: A Q&A with Dennis Venema

Ask an Evolutionary Creationist: A Q&A with Dennis Venema

Even if Darwin had never lived and no one else had come up with the idea of common ancestry, modern genomics would have forced us to that conclusion even if there was no other evidence available.
Sep 07, 2011 
Rachel Held Evans, Venema, Dennis 
Education, Atheism & Scientism, BioLogos, Young Earth Creationism, ID Movement, Randomness
30
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