It seems to me that if in a novel the death of one of the characters has
some significance in the overall plot of the book, then how much more the
death of a real person in God's creation. I think C.S. Lewis gives a good
argument for placing God outside of time. For Him all our actions, past,
present, and future are an Eternal Now. One can get a sense of this when we
draw a path in four-dimensional space-time where the whole time evolution
appears as a single curve where position at particular times are fully
displaced. Moorad
----- Original Message -----
From: "Howard J. Van Till" <hvantill@novagate.com>
To: "Moorad Alexanian" <alexanian@uncwil.edu>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: Response to: What does the creation lack?
> >From: Moorad Alexanian <alexanian@uncwil.edu>
>
> > Howard, the difficulty with your three points is that it is true that if
one
> > rolls a die and the outcomes are truly random and if the outcomes 1,2,
3,
> > and 4 are for the house (Casino) and 5 and 6 for the players, then the
> > outcome is in favor of the house over many rolls. The trouble is that
if
> > one applies that to the whole of Creation then the death of an
individual
> > person is a matter of the odds and can have no other significance.
>
> We live daily in a world in which we are placed in one "probability pool"
> after another. Choose to fly on an airplane, drive a car, be a smoker,
etc.
> Members of each pool accept a probability of death by that chosen
> membership. I do not believe that God has a specified plan for who dies
> when.
>
> However, I see no way whatsoever to connect that fact with your next
> assertion that the death of an individual "can have no other
significance."
> To me, that's a non sequitur.
>
> > I thought
> > God knew even the number of hairs in our heads??? Moorad
>
> Contrary to some strands of traditional Christian thought, and frequent
> repetitions thereof, I see our life experience permeated with authentic
> contingency. Things happen. We celebrate some happenings; we grieve
others.
> In regard to events in our future, unpredictable
> options abound. Until these events in our future actually happen, they are
> not knowable, not even, I believe, by God (unless God exercises all such
> options by divine pre-determination).
>
> So, perhaps God knows the number of hairs on my head at a specific time
> today (a declining number, I suspect), but not the number I will have a
year
> from now. That number is but one drop in a (shrinking) bucket of authentic
> contingencies.
>
> Howard Van Till
>
>
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