[asa] Why believe in the moment by moment "model"

A light went on for me last night while reading on the list. I'm
getting the impression that some think that the moment-by-moment
"model" that I propose is rooted in science (or at least an
observation of creation and then a speculation about how God interacts
with it). Thus, the debate about the elegance of the "God making it
robust and letting it unroll" vs. the tinkering dimension that my view
seems to have.

If the argument is cast in those terms then in a sense we are just
doing natural theology. We see the results, we know something of who
God is, and then we come up with what we think happened. Of course,
you all know what I think of natural theology!

My view of God's moment by moment governance is not just natural
theology model. I claim that this view is what scripture teaches and I
am applying here what scripture teaches. If you go to any reformed
systematic theology, you can find a discussion of this doctrine of
sovereignty and its Biblical basis. Here is a footnote from my paper
on concursus (http://www.asa3.org/gray/GrayASA2003OnHodge.html) that
contains a sampling of such prooftexts:

____
6A good thorough discussion of this view of providence and the divine
will can be found in John Frame’s book No Other God: A Response to
Open Theism in his chapter entitled “Is God’s Will the Ultimate
Explanation of Everything?” Using many of the same headings and texts
that Hodge uses in his discussion, Frame walks through the Biblical
arguments to answer the question with a “yes.” Here are the headings
and the texts: the natural world—Ps. 65:9-11, Ps.135:5-7, Ps.
147:15-18, Gen. 8:22, Job 38-40, Pss. 104:10-30, 107:23-32, 145:15-16,
147:8-9, Acts 14:17, Prov. 16:33, Ex. 21:13, Judg. 9:53, 1 Kings
22:34, Ex. 9:13-26, Amos 4:7, Gen. 41:32, Matt.5:45, 6:26-30,
10:29-30; human history—Acts 17:26, Pss. 45:6-12, 47:1-9, 95:3, Gen.
18:25, Ps. 33:10-11, Gen. 41:16, 28, 32, Gen. 45:5-8, 51:20, Ex.
23:27, Deut. 2:25, Gen 35:5, Josh. 21:44-45, Deut. 3:22, Josh. 24:11,
1 Sam. 17:47, 2 Chron. 20:15, Prov. 21:31, Zech. 4:6, Isa. 14:26-27,
10:5-12, 14:24-25, 37:26, Jer. 29:11-14, Dan. 2:21, 4:34-35, Isa.
44:28, 45:1-13, Ezra 1:1, Jer. 30:4-24, Gal. 4:4, Matt. 1:22, 2:15,
3:3, 4:14, Acts 2:23-24, 3:18, 4:27-28, 13:27, Luke 22:22, Matt.24:36;
individual human lives—Jer. 1:5, Eph. 1:4, Gen. 4:1, 25, 18:13-14,
25:21, 29:31-30:2, 30:17, 23-24, Deut. 10:22, Ruth 4:13, Pss. 113:9,
127:3-5, Ps. 139:4-6, Ex. 21:12-13, Ruth 1:13, 1 Sam. 2:6-7, Ps.
37:23, Rom. 12:3-6, 1 Cor 4:7, 12:4-6, James 4:13-16; human decisions—
Gen. 45:5-8, Isa. 44:28, Luke 22:22, Acts 2:23-24, 3:18, 4:27-28,
13:27, Luke 6:45, Prov. 21:1, Rom. 9:17, Ex. 9:16, 14:4, Ps. 33:15,
Ex. 12:36, Ex. 3:21-22, Prov. 16:9, 16:1, 19:21, Ex. 34:24, Judg.
7:22, Dan. 1:9, Exra 6:22, John 19:24, 31-37; sins—Jer.17:9, Ps.
105:24, Ex. 3:19, 4:21, 7:3, 13, 9:12, 10:1, 20, 27, 11:10, 14:4, 8,
14:17-18, 8:15, Ps. 95:7-8, Rom. 9:17-18, Deut. 2:30, Josh. 11:18-20,
1 Sam. 2:25, 2 Chron. 25:20, 1 Sam. 16:14, 1 Kings 22:20-23, Isa.
6:10, 63:17, 64:7, 10:5-11, Ezek. 38:16, Judg. 14:4, 2 Sam. 24, 17:14,
2 Kings 12:15, 2 Chron. 25:20, Matt. 13:14-15, John 12:40, John 13:18,
2 Cor. 2:15-16, 1 Peter 2:6-8, Rom. 11:7-8, 9:22-26, 11:11-16, 25-32,
Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28, 13:27, Luke 22:22, Rev. 17:17, Prov. 16:4 (In
this section Frame mentions the “problem of evil” and comments that
there is “no perfectly satisfying solution to it” and “Scripture
itself regards this problem as a mystery” (Job 38-42, Rom 8:28-39,
9:17-24, Rev. 15:3-4).); faith and salvation—these are all “standard”
Calvinist texts about election and predestination—I won’t list them
here; summary passages—Lamentations 3:37-38, Romans 8:28, 38-39,
Ephesians 1:11, Romans 9:21-24. Later in the book Frame highlights the
importance of the distinction between God’s decretive will and His
perceptive will for providing a solution to the passages where God
appears to change his mind, repent, or relent. In his discussion of
the problem of evil on pages 135-141 he writes criticizing the radical
revision of the doctrine of God found in the open theism literature,
“Would it not be better to leave the problem unsolved than to resort
to such drastic measures? Is there no point at which we should be
silent and take God at his word? Open theists do not seem to have
considered how large a price we should pay to solve this theological
problem.”
_____

While I'm very willing to say that the Bible has little to say about
modern science, the question of God's interaction with the creation
isn't really a question of modern science. It's a fundamental
theological question that scripture all over the place teaches us about.

TG

________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D.
Computer Support Scientist
Chemistry Department
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
(o) 970-491-7003 (f) 970-491-1801

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Received on Wed Dec 19 16:05:07 2007