>Well, I can't answer that last question, but to this philosopher's eye, the
>reference to the miracle at Cana seems to be a false analogy.
>
>I am assuming that Bill's illustration is intended to suggest the question,
>if the wine at Cana appeared to be "aged" in the moment Jesus produced it,
>why could it not also be the case that the world (or the entire cosmos) had
>the appearance of "age" in the moment God created it?
>
>If that is a correct assessment, there is no analagous relationship. The
>very definition of "wine" entails the notion of something "aged" (or,
>perhaps better, something "matured"). Without some process described as
>"maturation," there would be no such thing as "wine." In other words,
>"maturation" is an essential attribute of wine; it is an aspect of the
>identity of wine.
>
>However, the "world," or "cosmos," or "creation," does not require any such
>notion of "maturation" (or "appearance of age") in order for there to be a
>world, or a cosmos, or a creation. We just happen to discover empirically
>that the stuff looks awfully old. But it could have been otherwise. This
>is not the case for wine. Without the "appearance of age," wine would not
>be wine; it could not be otherwise. "Maturation" is not an essential
>attribute of creation, but it is just such an essential attribute for wine.
>
>In short, the appearance of age in the wine at Cana, and the appearance of
>age in creation, is comparing apples and oranges -- or perhaps grapes and
>graphite.
>
>Tom Pearson
In the turning of water into wine, Christ short-circuited what Nature,
created by Him, normally does--I recall reading that in "Miracles" by C.S.
Lewis. Christ collapsed time into an instant and eliminated all
intermediaries normally needed in the process. Why can't He do that with the
whole of Creation? If God indeed created Adam and Eve, He created them
mature and, therefore, old. If He creates a tree it will have rings and thus
have the signature of age. Am I missing something? Why can't God skip steps
and eliminate intermediate processes? Christ did that in all His miracles.
He did in the small what God the Father does in the large through the normal
working of Nature--with the sole exception of His resurrection.
Moorad