[asa] God as Cause

George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
  Secondary causes are not sufficient - that's why they're secondary. I.e., physical entities & forces are not "efficient in-an-of-themselves."
   
  ...An appropriate metaphor for God's cooperation with creatures is the way in which human beings work with tools. If you tighten a bolt with a wrench, both you and the wrench work. The wrench doesn't do anything by itself, but you don't tighhten the bolt with your hand.
   
  George,
   
  If God uses physical forces and natural laws as one uses a wrench, then the wrench is not a sufficient explanation for the tightening of the nut. Neither, then, are auxins and cytokinins a sufficient explanation for plant growth, nor are electrostatic forces a sufficient explanation for chemical bonding. In what sense are these scientific explanations not sufficient?
   
  In the tightening of the wrench, it is clear that it does not happen on its own, but what about in the case of natural processes. Where is the place for God. The atheistic scientist can explain the "natural tightening" without invoking a craftsman. How does God "use" the physical laws and properties? This is what is unclear to me.
   
  I am not rying to develop an argument to prove God's necessity, I am trying to understand how he controls (or might control) nature. I am sure that there is mystery here, but I'm not sure it is intended to be a contradiction. The scripture is clear that he causes all things, and naturalistic science leaves no room for this.
   
  I think you wrench analogy is a good one, but where is the place for the craftsman? Naturalistic science has an explanation for how the wrench can turn itself.
   
  Thanks for your input,
   
  Bill Green
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Received on Mon Jan 8 11:53:09 2007