John W Burgeson wrote:
> Peter noted:
>
> "Let's just stick to the few principles we know from revelation (combined
> with science):
>
> (1) God is sovereign, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-loving;
> (2) God is constantly active as Creator and as Provider;
> (3) God abstains from interfering with some decisions by free-will
> creatures;
> (4) God created stochastic laws, abstaining from micromanaging
> everything;
> (5) God is the agent responsible for all other "natural" processes";
> (6) God sometimes does miracles outside the realm of "natural" events;
> (7) God takes the consequences of sin upon himself on the cross of
> Christ;
> (8) God sometimes hurts those he loves for loving purposes;
> (9) God provides to those accepting Christ a future of unspeakable
> blessing;
>
> The problem with the above list is, of course, that not all Christians
> will agree with all 9 principles.
>
> Just picking on #1, you have four attributes listed. The first and the
> last might be agreeable to all -- the second and the third are not. At
> the very least they are problematical and can (and are) debated.
It's true that some Christians deny divine omnipotence, & I don't for
that reason want to declare them infidels. But it should be noted that both
the Nicene & Apostles' Creeds, which have been held as faithful statements of
Christian doctrine by the vast majority of Christians for >1500 years, say
that God is "almighty" (omnipotens, pantokrator). So process folk & others
shouldn't consider this to be just a matter of "some say this, some say
that."
& the classical belief in omnipotence means that God does do
everything at all levels, and thus contradicts Peter's #5. (& in fact
"revelation" tells us nothing about natural laws being "stochastic.") This
doesn't mean that creatures do nothing: What happens in the world should be
understood as a result of God's cooperation with creatures.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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