Do you think that nature shows that mention 'wonders of evolution', and credit 'mother nature', are using this unknown "Mother Nature" as a substitute for the concept of creation by a "Heavenly Father"?
by 
JAMMco... its complicated...
ANSWERS: 7
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They are certainly mystical descriptions of a so-called process of accidental coincidence!
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It's human nature to assign intent or purpose to everything -- it's a useful shortcut for quickly assessing an unknown phenomenon or creature. Richard Dawkins devotes nearly an entire chapter to the subject in "The God Delusion".
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Nah it is just shorthand for "natural processes". I don't tend to use it but occasionally even I anthropomorphise at times - which shows how easy it is to do. I am well aware though that it is just a figure of speech as opposed to a literal statement.
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Nope - it just demonstrates the human tendency to anthropomorphise everything - which is how the hundreds of thousands of gods and goddesses we have came about, in my opinion. Personally I find a "Mother Nature" character easier to believe in than the Heavenly Father one. Nature sure can be a Mother sometimes.....
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Mostly I think it's just an off hand thing to say to make us grasp the concept of nature as the significant source and reason for current life and how it upholds itself, like generalizing, but certainly not in the context of it being a ''deity'' of any sorts. Also, it may be a ''substitute'' for something like God in some ways but, I doubt scientists or evolutionists really care about that in respect to scientific progress and discovery. Also, it's rarely ever implied that nature ''created'' life as your question suggests, but is a part of whatever it was that was created, if that makes any sense.
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Just to add to the other answers - I agree that "mother nature" is often a personification of natural processes. Answers in Genesis has an interesting article explaining why one shouldn't take religious-sounding phrases from scientists at face value: http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i3/god_talk.asp
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Great question Jammco, never really thought of that... I think you're on to something, they probably are using the term 'Mother Nature' as a substitute for 'Heavenly Father'... By the way, I hope your headache gets better!!!
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