Re: God of the Gaps

Paul Arveson (arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil)
Thu, 7 Mar 96 15:05:19 EST

In message <27306C121A5@legacy.calvin.edu> writes:

> Well said. When this becomes generally understood, Christians will no longer
> be intimidated by the popular rhetoric of, "If there are no demonstrable gaps
> in the developmental or functional economies of the universe, then what need
> for a Creator?"

Dr. Van Till holds this view very consistently. In fact I'll never forget the
response he gave me at an ASA meeting back in about 1980. At that time the Big
Bang cosmology was just getting well established, and for many (including me, I
must admit), it provided a remarkable correspondence to the Beginning of Genesis
1:1. All of space and time originated there. I asked Van Till, 'surely there
was something special about that event in the history of the universe?'
Van Till was not impressed by it. He viewed it only as another physical event
in a continuum of such events.

His point is the absolute distinction between a physical origin and an
ontological origin. I understand that a little better now, but it apparently
needs to be constantly repeated.

Paul Arveson, Research Physicist
73367.1236@compuserve.com arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil
(301) 227-3831 (W) (301) 227-1914 (FAX) (301) 816-9459 (H)
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