A. Overall Lesson Objective

B. Learning Competencies

C. Lesson

There is no notion of a deity, god, or intelligent force in a strict naturalistic view of the world and universe. Therefore, any unknown process or suspected force that cannot be defined with currently known processes will not be attributed to a god or deity. Because alien life is possible within a naturalistic view, it is possible to have extremely advanced alien life that may bring forces and actions to bear that may be far beyond our comprehension, but they are not termed as gods or deities since they allegedly would develop via the same natural processes that yielded mankind.

Things happening today—natural laws and processes as currently understood—are projected into ‘deep time’. Laws that govern the present, as we currently understand them, are also projected into the past or used to estimate the arrival of the appearance and nature of things as we see them. Because the likelihood of things developing appears to be very low, ‘deep time’ (billions of years) is considered a fundamental requirement for the universe to develop, and then life to develop within it. In any case, our current understanding of processes is projected into the past.

Chance or random things happening is the active process by which anything develops that is non-living. Likewise, this is the process by which non-life at some points and places develops in the universe over ‘deep time’. Undirected naturalistic processes must be random by definition during the history of the universe. By chance, then, complexity arises through inanimate things to eventually arrive at something that is considered elemental to life. Once life has occurred, living matter, no matter what form it takes, has innate ability to produce increased complexity if given enough time to occur.

Uniformity, in geological terms, means slow change over time. In a strict sense, the principle of uniformity is not a principle, but it is used as one in practical terms, especially as related to geological processes on earth. It is extended for use in the universe (for instance: planet and star development). The same principle is applied on earth to layers of ice when ice cores are investigated from the polar regions or glaciers. It is a baseline assumption that disallows any short-period catastrophic deposition process on earth or any short-term God-instigated creation process anywhere.

The idea of uniformitarianism is that everything, including rocks, came about slowly and gradually over long periods of time by natural processes (God or any deity not permitted). As a result, the ‘principle’ is at the core of interpreting layers of rock a certain way, where individual layers as seen in canyons or other rock faces are believed to have been deposited over long periods of time (millions of years).

Where did this come from? The idea of long ages initially came from the belief that processes we see today have never changed, nor have their average rates. ‘The present is the key to the past’ was its dictum, and from this came the long-age naturalistic view of earth and the universe. The idea was developed by Lyell, who wanted to reject the Bible view of the past that included a catastrophic flood that affected the entire earth. [Research note: Lyell.]

Fossils were thought to have formed from uniform slow processes, which means no soft tissue impressions should be found, but they have been found (they are relatively common). Today, the concept of millions of years for some processes has been disrupted by some recent evidence, so that naturalistic geologists are willing to accept that there must have been at least some catastrophes; the geologic record of catastrophe is too plain and obvious. However, this has not yielded a return to a serious consideration of a worldwide flood. Textbooks in elementary and secondary education remain largely unchanged. And, more fundamentally, the principle of uniformity remains dominant as applied on earth or in the rest of the universe.

With the naturalistic view, interpreting is given serious constraints involving time. Rapid processes in geology are rarely considered unless the scope is limited to a local (not worldwide) scenario. Archeology, when it involves the study of ‘deep time’ issues (like things that are the product of evolution) do not generally consider short range (thousands versus billions of years) interpretations that might yield the same results. Because the naturalistic view is so dominant, shorter range or faster processes or catastrophic events (which are rapid) are commonly disallowed for serious consideration. An example: when closed mollusks or jellyfish are found fossilized, a rapid process is usually not considered as a possible area-wide process because it is simply too short in terms of time.

D. Assignment

How old is old? Find two people of entirely different ages and two books (one on United States history and a second on early Chinese history). For the people: ask them what they think is old. For the books: what do they interpret or give answers about what is old history? With these answers, define what is old.

E. Learning Activity

🦕 CT? What was at the very start? There are questions that arise with the naturalistic world view since random processes are at the core. So, let’s come up with what the naturalistic person might say when you ask the question, ‘What was at the start?’. Formulate a couple of answers the person might give, then put together one further question for each answer the naturalist gives.

🦕 CT? Part of the naturalistic view of the origin of the universe is the ‘Big Bang’. It is assumed as factually true in most institutions and school books. Is it a fact? Why or why not?

F. Concluding Assessment

The naturalistic world view is predicated on a belief that the universe (including earth) self-developed over ‘deep time’ (billions of years) without any deity or God involved. The primary mechanism for change or development is random chance.