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Examples Of Deus Ex Machina By Margaret Betz

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In the article ‘EVOLUTION AND THE MODERN DEUX EX MACHINA’, Margaret Betz argues that no Christian can support the belief of evolutionism and the Christian belief of immortality of the human soul simultaneously.
In the opening paragraph, Betz raised the importance of the debate about evolution, the immortal soul, and the inferior place of animals by showing its influence in politics. In the example, three out of ten Republican candidates during a debate for the United States President in 2007 revealed their disbelief in evolutionism. She further explains those who disagree with evolution views human being as distinctive from the evolution chain.
Betz then explains the contradictions between evolution theory and some fundamental Christian beliefs. …show more content…

She first deduced the only possible logical explanation to believing in both theories. It must take place under a circumstance in which evolution began, as everything diversified and starts branching out. Following by at some random point, God unexplainable interfered in one distinctive branch and began filling that living species with the distinctly immortal soul. To further explain this scenario, Betz associates it with the example of deus ex machina. Deus ex machina is Latin for ‘god out of the machine’ (Betz 2011, 112). The Greeks used it in the form of character or device to solve unaccountable problems through its factitious intervention. In other words, deus ex machina is not a perfect logical solution to inextricable problems. According to Betz (2011, 112), ‘The distinctly human immortal soul is the quintessential example of deus ex machina.’ Furthermore, she gave examples of ambiguities throughout history about God’s intervention of ensouling human being. Such examples are as “What compelled God to intervene at all?”, “What made that life form so superior to the life form that came before it to warrant being granted immortal life?” (Betz 2011, 112) and so on. Betz shows ambiguities and the logical fallacy within the only possible explanation to believing in evolutionism and the immortality of the human soul

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