CATHOLIC CATECHISM

by HFH Reuvers



INTELLIGENT DESIGN

"Wisdom is the reflection of Eternal Light, the unblurred mirror of God's efficacy, and the image of His goodness." (Wisdom 7,26)

At the moment, people are carrying on a discussion about "Intelligent Design": the opinion that states we can't explain the origin of (animal and human) life without referring to an intelligent "designer". Most supporters of this thought go quite a long way with the supporters of evolution theory, but think this theory can't explain the origin of life.
Well, this is also the Catholic standpoint. I add: even if no life would exist in the cosmos, but only dead matter, the cosmos couldn't exist without a Creator.
Many people become irritated when they perceive that the discussion about Intelligent Design brings God in again, whilst they were thinking they'd got rid of Him. They vie with each other in shouting ID is no science. That is because they think there's no knowledge outside science. Then they behave like the ants in Bomans' bestseller Erik of het klein insektenboek (Erik with subtitle the little book of insects), who refuse to see anything beyond the horizont.

"We all are exiles, living within the frame of some strange painting. Whoever knows this, lives in a great way. The others are insects." (Leonardo da Vinci)

Genesis 3, 4-7 relates the successful endeavour of the devil who can make people think for a moment they might be independent of God:
"But the snake said to the woman: 'You will not die at all! God knows your eyes will open when you eat off this tree, and you will become equal to God ...' So she picked a fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was standing next her, and he ate too. Now the eyes of both of them opened, and they revealed they were nude."

The same people who are annoyed when they hear others talk about ID, learn with pleasure the endeavours of informatics experts to create Artificial Intelligence. However, we may lay as much AI in computers as we want, but they will stay lifeless machines. We can make it appear that these machines have consciousness, but they never will be aware of God who created them so that they can freely answer His loving offer of high perfection in heaven.
We will deal with this freedom in the next few sections.


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