>I find it difficult to understand TE's claim that "God can guide
>events" without Him actually influencing and intervening.
If you try to define the TE claim this way, no wonder you have difficulty
understanding it. I would simply say that God's methods of controlling
events in nature are not entirely _visible_ to humans. Isaiah 55:8-9 comes
to mind.
If God did everything by direct intervention, then perhaps we could observe
many of the things He does easily. But when He chooses to use
intermediaries, as He mostly does, His direction becomes less visible to
human senses. And there's no reason to believe that if we could work our
way through all the intermediaries we would then in some sense "see God in
action". We see three dimensions of space and one of time. How can we be
certain that God does not see things in terms of more dimensions -- both in
time and space? And if he does, then we are simply not equipped -- and
never will be so long as we are three-dimensional creatures with a linear
view of time -- to see God's actions in other dimensions.
It's not that he is guiding without influencing and intervening -- a
contradiction IMO. It is that he has means of influencing and intervening
that are invisible to us.
That's how it looks to me, anyway.
Bill Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX)
hamilton@gmr.com (office) | whamilto@mich.com (home)