On Monday, December 29, 2003, at 08:03 PM, someone wrote:
>> Random has several senses. It can mean "described
>> by the laws of probability", e.g., random mutations,
>> quantum uncertainty, flipping a coin, or casting
>> lots. It can mean "humanly unpredictable", like the
>> long-term course of evolution or history or weather.
>> It can mean "purposeless" or "unplanned", like
>> random violence or the unaimed shot of an archer.
>> All of these lists of examples include something
>> that the Bible specifically credits God with the
>> ability to control (lots, history, weather, and
>> Ahab's killer). They also include things that we
>> see happening all the time. Depending on the
>> Arminian versus Calvinistic views of your audience,
>> such everyday randomness is accepted as either
>> things that God can change or work around or as
>> things fully under His determination. Either way,
>> randomness in evolution or any other scientific
>> process does not exclude God.
>>
>> Ultimate purposelessness would eliminate God from
>> the picture. However, purposelessness (and purpose)
>> are not scientifically determinable, so the claim
>> that scientific evidence of randomness rules out God
>> is a logical error.
I believe that for a lot of YEC's "random" means "uncaused". By
definition that ought to be abhorrent to
all Christians. Most of the time when we use random we simply mean
that we do not have the capability to
predict, or that the web of interrelated causes is so complex we can't
penetrate it. (And as I mentioned earlier, in quantum
mechanics I think the problem is one of representation)
Bill Hamilton Rochester, MI 248 652 4148
Received on Mon Dec 29 22:29:47 2003
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