A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief Pdf, Epub, Ebook
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THE LANGUAGE OF GOD: A SCIENTIST PRESENTS EVIDENCE FOR BELIEF PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Francis Collins | 304 pages | 21 May 2007 | SIMON & SCHUSTER | 9781847390929 | English | New York, United States The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief PDF Book He would have to be the embodiment of goodness. God of the Gaps Who Created God? Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I like it when a book gives itself away right away from the start and we can give it back to the library and get back to our fun studies of French lessons. Books by Francis S. Reading Group Guide. Shelves: nonfiction , science , religion. He began as an agnostic. And for the first time, the amazing script, this amazing script, he says, the script of DNA, was available to the world, the free as well as the non-free. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. View all 11 comments. Logos is Greek for "word", with a broader meaning in Heracleitean philosophy and Stoicism —namely the rational principle ordering the universe. Collins's beliefs, but I found this book insufferable. The comparison of chimp and human sequences, interesting as it is, does not tell us what it means to be human. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, and in his spare time he enjoys riding a motorcycle and playing guitar. I find this to be true in my personal experience, as well. All truth is good for man: whatever its source. Feeling that agnostics who have not really tried to find God have no basis to defend their position or criticize others, Collins endeavored to see whether belief in God is possible. At first, he was interested in the physical sciences, since "biology was rather like existential philosophy: it just didn't make sense. Fortunately, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find what this book contained. As an auditory learner, I appreciated listening to the audio version of this book and hearing Collins sing his ditties to guitar! There are lots, and lots of religious people who are antirational, don't believe in evolution, take the Bible literally, etc. I found myself cheering throughout. What a terrible and unnecessary choice they then face! He cites many famous thinkers, most prevalently C. In an interview on the Point of Inquiry podcast he told D. Sadly, he misquotes and mischaracterizes Dawkins's position ironically calling it a "straw man" , and simply accepts Gould's controversial, to say the least position on "nonoverlapping magisteria" at face value. If humans universally don't want disease, does that mean disease doesn't actually exist? The only downside from my point of view is that Collins is Christian; I feel like I've spent enough time reading about how people arrived at their faith in Jesus. Probably because I'd heard Dr. Both deny truth. Faced with incomplete understanding of the nature world, believers should be cautious about invoking the divine I areas of current mystery, lest they build an unnecessary theological argument that is doomed to later destruction. This part was excellent, and if you want an authoritative dismantling of ID I have never seen it done better. Categories : Christian apologetic works Books about religion and science non-fiction books. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief Writer The core message of BioLogos is that God created the universe in order for it to contain living beings with souls - us, and any other sentient creatures that may happen to exist - and cares deeply about His people. Therefore belief in that supernatural being comes down to a person's willingness to accept revelation, whether it be through scripture or prayer, as a valid way of understanding the world. Collins feels the desire to reach out and help that starving African child on The Good: Collins at least encourages fellow evangelicals and other fundamentalist believers to leave behind the bronze age science of religion and cross over into the 19th century. Ironically, before I read this book I would've said maybe, but now I think I have to say no. Collins experience in coming to faith was interesting and is detailed in the beginning and end of the book. Religion, he thought, can answer it. Collins's faith in God has been confirmed and enhanced by the revolutionary discoveries in biology that he has helped to oversee. Unfortunately, his arguments against atheism are utterly specious. Open Preview See a Problem? Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould or some other notable thinker. Thus, according to Collins, science is always capable of changing, so this argument for design is not a knockout. Although he is a medical geneticist by training, Collins gives an excellent lay treatment of the argument for design in physics and cosmology. The Moral Law includes altruism which is more than just reciprocity "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours". Zip Code Optional, US only. I find appreciating the blessings of both faith and science in my life to be very satisfying. He leads the reader through the pr This book is now my recommended first read for anyone who is asking the question, "Can a scientist be a Christian or even believe in God? What a terrible and unnecessary choice they then face! In Christianity Today judged it one of the best books of the previous year. This is laid out in the opening prologue of the Gospel of John , forming part of the textual basis for Christian belief in the Trinity, as the concept of Logos morphed over time into God the Son for the second person of the Trinity. Collins tells the story of his conversion to Christianity as an adult. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief Reviews It was a thoughtful question, but Coyne evaded it, saying it was not really a scientific issue. For example, although Collins fully accepts the anthropic principle and devotes an entire chapter to it in The Language of God , he rejects the origin of life as requiring any input from God. Collins apparently has traveled from atheist to evangelical Christian, a journey that I can only describe as irrational in the extreme. Books by Francis S. Raves and Reviews. Consequently, Meyer argues, we are justified in inferring an intelligent cause for genetic information. I hope there are many more Francis Collinses in the future who continue to Excellent book! Most remarkably, at one point he says, "for the evolutionary argument about group benefits of altruism to hold, it would seem to require an opposite response, namely, hostility to individuals outside the group. Collins adds an appendix in which he discusses several controversial topics involving ethics and genetic research. Freeing God from the burden of special acts of creation does not remove Him as the source of the things that make humanity special, and of the universe itself. For instance, ID theorist Stephen Meyer-employing the same IBE logic as Collins-recently contended in a peer-reviewed biology journal that intelligence is the best explanation for the information embedded in the DNA molecule. His expertise is in genetics, so an important section of the book is devoted to evolution. While I imagine there are consistent moral codes, I would like a better description of what those are, especially if one is going to use that as the main support for one's belief in God. Subscribe to receive BioLogos content! Sure, we're all imperfect, and use it, but Ed Viesturs can climb Everest without supplemental oxygen, so he's proof there's some airless ideal we all strive for. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. Download as PDF Printable version. Mar 31, Jennifer rated it really liked it. There is no evidence for belief, that's why it's "faith". Special pleading about God, despite being a favorite past-time of many religious people and a standard theodicy , is not convincing. In the book, Collins describes briefly the process by which he became a Christian. Collins is one of the country's leading geneticists and the longtime head of the Human Genome Project. Plus, receive recommendations for your next Book Club read. Religion, he thought, can answer it. Collins found the arguments compelling, and cites C. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I must say though, that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I disagree with the conclusion. Jul 25, Neil R. A cynical attempt to curry favor from believers, or to disarm those who might criticize this study of the human genome as reducing humankind to machinery? This book is very stimulating and satisfying to the scientist because shows that religion need not be discarded because of scientific theory, and to the religious person because it shows that the greatest and most proven and unifying scientific theories need not be discarded to protect religious beliefs. Indeed, he describes talks he's given to American Christian audiences where he's tried to explain this stuff, and people often leave the room before he's got properly started. So if you love Lewis enough to read through a commentary by the man who lead the Human Genome project, you will love this book. While the author agrees that at some point, faith is involved because there can be no physical proof for God, he explains the events and discoveries in his own life he was the head scientist on the Human Genome Project that led him to believe that there is a God. I can't read any more.