In theology you have the two extremes of the legalists and the antinomians. Among denominations you have the Armenians at one end and the Calvinists at the other. What is interesting is that even in secular culture we have this division going on. At one end do you have the quantum physicists, and at the other end, you have the behaviorists.
Two mistakes I might be making here. First of all, I’m not sure that quantum physics is the right area of study. What I’m talking about is this awareness that has come to the world of physics that there is an element of unpredictability in the laws of the universe. They talk about some small bit of matter and you have to choose, you can know where it is or how fast it’s moving, but you can’t know both. There is speculation about how you can cause a particle to vibrate in your lab, and there is a spot somewhere on the other side of the universe where another object responses in exactly the same way. This totally defies the concept of the speed of light and such.
That’s on one side. On the other side I have the behaviorists. In my mind this is a school of psychology that claims that if we had a computer big enough to input all information we would be able to forecast everything that happens from here until eternity with no mistakes. All events can be predetermined.
So the division is not just theological. It is also philosophical and possibly scientific.
In between you have the actual Biblical view. The biblical view says that there is a sovereign God, who, in his sovereignty, granted human beings free will because they were created in His image. This threw a monkey wrench into the inner workings of the universe. It’s all very well to say that quarks and all the other little particles of matter that physicists have come up with act a certain way. I don’t know if anybody is trying to say that the rock in your front yard has free will. But when you add in a little boy who picks up that rock and tossed it through a window suddenly the universe changes.
You are that little boy. You have the ability to ignore the rock, throw it through a window, use it to pound acorns into dust, or put it in your rock collection. The thing about free will is that you could go any direction with that rock based on just a whim that you have.
Welcome to the biblical view of the universe. You are the monkey wrench that is designed to be stuck into the spokes. Have fun.
homo unius libri
Well said! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that the deeper the "scientists" dig the more they find that correlates with the Bible.
DeleteGrace and peace