From: Glenn Morton (glennmorton@entouch.net)
Date: Sun Jul 06 2003 - 17:21:58 EDT
Hi David, Saw your note just before I left to see my son and
daughter-in-law, almost replied but thought I better think a bit before I
opened mouth and inserted foot.
You wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
>Behalf Of D. F. Siemens, Jr.
>Sent: Friday, July 04, 2003 1:59 PM
>Sorry, guys, but you're involved in a what philosophers recognize as a
>category mistake. Knowing is not necessarily connected to causing.
>Are there
>not many things you know (at least as well as human beings can claim to
>know) which you do not cause?
First off, here is what I said:
* I see no other way for the Deity to be able to predict the future.
* How
* could the predictions of Christ's advent have occurred without
* foreknowledge? Without control, I see no way to have
* foreknowledge.
I do not think, upon reflection that I said what you think I said.. Is it
not correct that while knowing may not be related to causing, causing is
(except with Plato's demiurge) related to knowing? If I cause something, I
am, with a high degree of probability aware of it. Yes, there can be cases
of unknowing or unconscious causation. But, if I don't knowingly cause an
event, I rarely make predictions about what will happen.
Consider a chain of dominos which end in tripping an explosion. If I
accidentally and unknowingly tip a domino, sending it into that famous chain
reacion, I am very unlikely to make predictions about when the explosion
will occur, what kind of explosive was used, or even that there is an
explosive.
If on the other hand, I had carefuly crafted this chain of dominos, knew how
long the dominos would take to fall, I could make all sorts of predictions.
Thus, causing is mostlikely related to knowing and knowing to prediction.
Without knowing, one can't predict. I don't think you would disagree with me
on that one. The OT gives many examples of predictions about who Christ
was, when he would be born, the events surrounding his appearance. Without
knowing, how can God make preditions?
Where does the 'control' come from? From the previous assumption that the
Bible is correct when it says God created the heavens and the earth (see
Gen. 1:1). That is my basis for saying that God CAUSED the universe. If
that assumption isn't true, then I would be forced to agree that causation
and control isn't part of this discussion. But there is more control
necessary than just that exerted at the creation in order for the
predictions to become true. Newtonian dynamics is highly non-linear,
making even the prediction of weather unknowable a few days in advance.
Thus, in order to ensure that the correct weather took place for the various
events leading up to the kenosis, requires further control or the
predictions would simply be wrong.
While I might be digging myself further into the philosophical hole, I
simply don't agree that there was a category mistake made here.
If I am wrong, pleas correct me.
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