Re: quantum physics and Buddhism

On 6/19/05, SteamDoc@aol.com <SteamDoc@aol.com> wrote:
>
> But such a view is also found in more respectable circles, such as R.C.
> Sproul in his book "Not a Chance!" that came out a few years ago. I have not
> read this book, but apparently he makes strong statements like "If chance
> is, God is not." I don't know whether Sproul is driven to this by a desire
> to retain the cosmological argument in apologetics, or by his strong
> Calvinism (which some would call Hypercalvinism), or what. But the role of
> chance in quantum physics seems to present a problem for some expressions of
> Christian theology as well.
>
 Sproul's evidentialism stems from three axioms, one of which is the law of
causality. Sproul's approach is more subtle than "everything must has a
cause" but "every effect has a cause" (self-existence is not an effect and
thus does not need a cause). Sproul falls into the popular misunderstanding
that chance equals causelessness and thus the false dichotomy above. It is a
bad inference drawn from Sproul's evidentialism and not his Calvinism that
leads him into this particular error. Even accepting his axioms, his
conclusions are not necessary because they require a naive reading of what
constitutes causality.
Received on Sun Jun 19 21:19:13 2005