Re: Surprise

From: John W. Burgeson (johnburgeson@juno.com)
Date: Thu Feb 24 2000 - 13:08:50 EST

  • Next message: John W. Burgeson: "Re: Surprise"

    Dave wrote:

    "Burgy wants God to be surprised, as he is surprised, by what he does. "

    Not quite. I don't "want" that -- I simply see it as a pretty obvious
    implication from the biblical record.

    "The only way for God to be surprised
    is if his knowledge and power are limited."

    At least his power; perhaps his knowledge.

    "But then we have something like process theology, and, as I wrote
    earlier today, a fear that things will be destroyed because of something
    it (not he) did not foresee. The Son emptied himself and became flesh,
    sharing our limitations while retaining deity. But to ascribe some such
    limits to the Trinity does not provide for a Creator, but only a _deus in
    machina mundi_, not even _ex machina_."

    Sorry -- you are in a foreign tongue here.

    "Another problem is that Burgy, without recognizing it, is making his
    deity in his own image. This is not a proper part of orthodox Reformed
    theology, though some quasi-Calvinists I have encountered espouse it.
    They remind me of the woman who told my wife, "I don't believe in worms."
    She was dogmatic because she did not understand anything about intestinal
    parasites. I'm dogmatic on the other side because I've seen them. The
    difference is that Burgy is not dogmatic."

    I certainly do not wish to "make the deity in my own image. Your
    observation may have some validity; to the extent I can avoid it, I will.
    BTW, although I am a Presbyterian, I don't really consider "reformed
    orthodox theology" as contributing much to me thinking. Too many years a
    So Baptist probably.

           Burgy



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 24 2000 - 15:21:02 EST