RE: [asa] God as Cause

We are somewhat assured of the regularity of the Solar System, notwithstanding those who are concerned with the dynamical stability of the system, which we may ascribe to secondary causes-delegated by God. Suppose, however, that an asteroid strikes the earth with ominous consequences. Is that part of the regularity we insist upon or is it due to the direct action of God?

Moorad

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From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of David Opderbeck
Sent: Thu 1/4/2007 4:37 PM
To: George Murphy
Cc: Bill Green; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] God as Cause

George's excellent article refers briefly to the Thomistic understanding of primary and secondary causes, which is an ancient and helpful way to look at this question. Good article on this here: http://www2.nd.edu/Departments//Maritain/ti98/carroll.htm

On 1/4/07, George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:

        Belief that God is the ultimate cause of all things (which is the classical understanding of omnipotance) does NOT mean that God causes all things directly instead of through secondary causes. The latter notion, though popular in some circles, means that creatures are not causal agents at all but mere inert things that God moves around. This would raise serious questions about the good ness of creation. & it would mean that the extensive regularities which science discovers & describes in its laws have nothing to do with the properties of the things which it studies, but are just due to the fact that God chooses to move them in regular ways - rather in the way that the ways in which different chess pieces move have nothing to do with the pieces themselves but are due to arbitrary rules imposed on them from outside.
         
        A PSCF article which deals with this, "Chiasmic Cosmology and Creation's Functional Integrity," can be found at http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2001/PSCF3-01Murphy.html .
         
        Shalom
        George
        http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
        

                ----- Original Message -----
                From: Bill Green <mailto:wgreen82004@yahoo.com>
                To: asa@calvin.edu
                Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 3:58 PM
                Subject: [asa] God as Cause

                 
                How many of you believe that God cause all things?
                 
                It seems that the Bible has a lot to say about causes.
                 
                Isaiah 45:7
                I form the light and create darkness,
                I make peace and ??create calamity;
                I, the Lord, do all these things.?'
                 
                 
                Amos 4:13
                For behold,
                He who forms mountains,
                And creates the ?wind,
                ?Who declares to man what ??his thought is,
                And makes the morning darkness,
                ?Who treads the high places of the earth-
                ?The Lord God of hosts is His name.
                 
                 
                Psalm 147:8-9
                Who covers the heavens with clouds,
                Who prepares rain for the earth,
                Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.
                ?He gives to the beast its food,
                And ?to the young ravens that cry.
                 
                 
                Psalm 147: 15-18
                 
                He sends out His command to the earth;
                His word runs very swiftly.
                ?He gives snow like wool;
                He scatters the frost like ashes;
                He casts out His hail like ?morsels;
                Who can stand before His cold?
                ?He sends out His word and melts them;
                He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
                 
                 
                These verses seem to teach that God causes all natural processes, from plate tectonics (mountains) to wind and frost, growing grass and running water.
                 
                I have read some articles about "complementarity" on your website, but I am not clear as to whether many of you believe that God actually directly controls natural processes.
                 
                The "complementarity" view, it seems, could include a view in which the theological perspective is superfluous or only necessary for certain purposes. It seems to me that in order to avoid this situation, and in order to affirm the Scriptural definitions given above, we must ascribe to God the direct causation of all of these processes, and the scientific explanations as descriptions of his activity. Scientific or material "causes" are not "causes," but only sequential events, all caused by God. How can we say, for example, that God causes the grass to grow when we are in church, but then say that auxins and cytokinins cause it when we are in the lab? If auxins and cytokinins are sufficient, then why invoke God at all?
                 
                 
                Thanks for your input.
                 
                Sincerely,
                 
                Bill Green
                 

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David W. Opderbeck
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