There is a widespread opinion today that the intelligence humans have is simply the result of a random evolutionary process: mutations and natural selection of the mutated individuals according to whether the mutation improved survivability or did not improve survivability. And, even though humans have intelligence, there was no intelligent guiding of evolution before humans came into existence. Before the evolution of humans, there was no known intelligence at all in the universe. I don’t know how to accept that intelligence evolved from non-intelligent sources; how human intelligence, cognitive as it is, could have spontaneously appeared where previously there was no intelligence.
On the other hand, there is a tradition that God created the universe and endowed humans with intelligence and also with free will. And even though God gave humans free will, God wants humans to obey God’s ordinances. One would wonder, if God gave humans free will, why would God want obedience? Is there a problem here also? Maybe God wants obedience because if humans obey God when they have the ability to refuse; they have a dignity unattainable by those who have no choice but follow God’s will. Perhaps this is part of what it means to be created in God’s image. Maybe the problem is now resolved.Anyway, this status as free sovereign persons is very different from what humans would be if we really were the product of random mutations. I hope I have enough intelligence to sort my way through this dilemma.
Maurice A. Williams
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