THE FOLLOWING IS OFFERED IN THE SPIRIT OF DIALOGUE, NOT DEBATE.
IN MY OPINION:
G--stands for all the goodness there is
?--stands for all the laws and order that there are
D--stands for all the discipline and design (beauty) that there is

You quote F.R. Ellis, Blacknad:
?To make sense of this view (design as opposed to accident), one must accept the idea of transcendence: that the Designer exists in a totally different order of reality or being, not restrained within the bounds of the Universe itself.?

Before the Beginning ? Cosmology Explained
London and New York: Boyars/Bowerdean, 1993, 1994, p. 97
========================================================
Then you quote ROMAN'S 1:19-32, where PAUL WRITES TO THE GENTILE WORLD. He writes about the nature of idolatry and how it can affect how we live our lives, morally and ethically. He also writes about THE SELF-EVIDENT NATURE OF G?D:

?? what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God?s invisible qualities ? His eternal power and divine nature ? have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.?

THE PHILLIPS TRANSLATION
CHECK OUT http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CP06Romans.htm
AND http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPhillips.htm

I like the clear way The Rev J.B. Phillips translates Paul's words. Here is the full section:

The righteousness of God and the sin of man

1:18-21 - Now the holy anger of God is disclosed from Heaven against the godlessness and evil of those men who render truth dumb and inoperative by their wickedness. It is not that they do not know the truth about God; indeed he has made it quite plain to them. For since the beginning of the world the invisible attributes of God, e.g. his eternal power and divinity, have been plainly discernible through things which he has made and which are commonly seen and known, thus leaving these men without a rag of excuse. They knew all the time that there is a God, yet they refused to acknowledge him as such, or to thank him for what he is or does. Thus they became fatuous in their argumentations, and plunged their silly minds still further into the dark.

1:22-23 - Behind a facade of "wisdom" they became just fools, fools who would exchange the glory of the eternal God for an imitation image of a mortal man, or of creatures that run or fly or crawl.

1:24 - They gave up God: and therefore God gave them up - to be the playthings of their own foul desires in dishonouring their own bodies.

The fearful consequence of deliberate atheism

BTW, I would like to dialogue with Paul about what he really means here. I am not one of those who say it is impossible for sincere atheists to be moral and ethical. In my opinion, not all theists are automatically paragons of virtue.

1:25-27 - These men deliberately forfeited the truth of God and accepted a lie, paying homage and giving service to the creature instead of to the Creator, who alone is worthy to be worshipped for ever and ever, amen. God therefore handed them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged the normal practices of sexual intercourse for something which is abnormal and unnatural. Similarly the men, turning from natural intercourse with women, were swept into lustful passions for one another. Men with men performed these shameful horrors, receiving, of course, in their own personalities the consequences of sexual perversity.

1:28-32 - Moreover, since they considered themselves too high and mighty to acknowledge God, he allowed them to become the slaves of their degenerate minds, and to perform unmentionable deeds. They became filled with wickedness, rottenness, greed and malice; their minds became steeped in envy, murder, quarrelsomeness, deceitfulness and spite. They became whisperers-behind-doors, stabbers-in-the-back, God-haters; they overflowed with insolent pride and boastfulness, and their minds teemed with diabolical invention. They scoffed at duty to parents, they mocked at learning, recognised no obligations of honour, lost all natural affection, and had no use for mercy. More than this - being well aware of God's pronouncement that all who do these things deserve to die, they not only continued their own practices, but did not hesitate to give their thorough approval to others who did the same.
==================

Interestingly, scholars have long since known that the ancient Greeks, for example, Seneca--active in the time of Paul--had developed the "argument from design". The Greek term 'gnoston' can mean 'what is known' as well as, 'what can be known'.

NB: 2:14-15 - When the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of the Law, act in accordance with it by the light of nature, they show that they have a law in themselves, for they demonstrate the effect of a law operating in their own hearts. Their own consciences endorse the existence of such a law, for there is something which condemns or commends their actions.

2:16 - We may be sure that all this will be taken into account in the day of true judgment, when God will judge men's secret lives by Jesus Christ, as my Gospel plainly states.
=============================================

The character of G?D in creation is spoken of, frequently, in the Hebrew scriptures as being reflected in nature. Psalm 19:1 exclaims: "How clearly the sky reveals God's glory."

Last edited by Revlgking; 04/06/07 07:18 PM.

G~O~D--Now & ForeverIS:Nature, Nurture & PNEUMA-ture, Thanks to Warren Farr&ME AT www.unitheist.org