What is God's role in the natural universe?
A physicist explains natural phenomena by appealing to some form of
natural law. A good example is gavity. The apple falls because of
gravity and gravity is evoted to explain the motion of the moon about
the earth. In fact, gravity can even be quantitied by
f = G mM/R/R.
So there you have it but this is really not an explanation. The
equation on this paper is not gravity but a shorthand so that we can
make a calcualtion. What is gravity actually? I cannot touch it, see
it, or tell you what it is. Perhaps I would wish to appeal to something
more fundamental, that is, actually gravity has to do with the actions
of "gravitrons." These are postilated to be tiny particles which when
exchanged produce the so called gravitational force. What then are
"gravitrons." What makes them work?
You see that in the final analysis all that physics provides is a scheme
to calculate phenomena but not a real explanation. Physics is really
not an appeal to fundamental causes in spite of its posturing at the
pyrimid of scientific explanation but really a scheme of predictions of
natures action.
Many believe that something has to be underneath all of these phenomena.
Perhaps God is the best explanation even though a belief in Him does not
easily dervive from this frustration of knowing the underlying mechanism
for physical action.
Bert Massie