From: Walter Hicks (wallyshoes@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Oct 04 2003 - 14:36:10 EDT
George Murphy wrote:
> Walter Hicks wrote:
> >
> > Michael Roberts wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Suggestion of apparent age of the earth are abhorrent as if God did that
> > > then he is a liar and unworthy of worship. Period.
> >
> > Thinking about what God may or may not do is always presumptuous. However, being
> > made in His image, maybe we can learn from those things which we ourselves do.
> >
> > Recently, we all received a post from the inventor of a sophisticated AI
> > program. The AI are inserted into a program which has many separately generated
> > parts. Beyond any doubt, the programmer did not start with a blank sheet of
> > paper and generate the program one step at a time. He starts with certain
> > building blocks and inserts the AI into them. It is not "apparent age" ---- it
> > is a real program whichever way he does it.
>
> Walt - We've gone around on the "apparent age" idea before & I don't want to
> belabor the matter, but your analogy here raises a flag. The point of traditional
> doctrines of creation /ex nihilo/ is precisely that God _didn't_ have to start with
> certain bulding blocks.
Hey George!
In my analogy the building blocks do not pop out of thin air! I am talking about this
real world , George, not some flight of fancy into things that do not happen.
God, of course, did create the universe ex nihilo ---- and the programmer had to
personally write the code. The issue is not _whether_ God (or the programmer) did it, it
is a question of _when_ God (or the programmer did it) and whether or not it has other
"applications". You claim that God did it step by step from nothing to man and it was a
once only operation. I don't accept that as a logical deduction from any rules I know
---- nor any implication from scripture. You are the theologian, but I persist in the
belief that this is possible -- and others have (offline) agreed with me.
You have your opinion -- but it is only that (an opinion)
God could create a universe and apply it to many applications if He elected to do so.
IMO it is egotistical to force fit a philosophy that elevates mankind to existence in a
one and only creation of God and claim that it is the only possible viewpoint.
Walt
-- =================================== Walt Hicks <wallyshoes@mindspring.com>In any consistent theory, there must exist true but not provable statements. (Godel's Theorem)
You can only find the truth with logic If you have already found the truth without it. (G.K. Chesterton) ===================================
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