and
>>Even though I don't believe the universe is at all mechanistic, I of course
accept that it often appears to be. Further investigation of phenomena
often reveals more and more appearance of mechanism (which is to me just
consistency on the part of God). To avoid confusion here, let me just
assume that the universe is some mixture of mechanism and non-mechanism. (My
contention that the universe is completely non-mechanistic is a theological
one, and not particularly important here).<<
I do not want to mis-represent your position on mechanism but as I understand
what that word means, I find a major theological problem with a
non-mechanistic universe. My dictionary says of mechanism:
>>8. Philosophy. The doctrine that all natural phenomena are explicable by
material causes and mechanical principles.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed
from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved.<<
If by non-mechanism you mean that my spirit is able to cause things to occur
in the universe, then off hand I have little problem with that type of
non-mechanistic universe. Nor do I have trouble with God occasionally
intervening and countervening the normal mechanism of the universe.
But if by non-mechanistic you mean that God alone controls every cause and
thus every event, then the problem a freind of mine, Daryl Wilson, mentioned
to me is quite serious.
Assume that God controls every event directly. When I drop a rock, God
Himself moves it according to the laws of general relativity. When I move a
wire in an magnetic field, God pushes the electrons Himself, always watching
to see how rapidly I turn the generator's handle. Ah, but my arm is cause to
move by the electro-chemical impulses sent down my arm. Thus God Himself
must move the charges and push the chemicals across the synapses. Somewhere
in my brain, is the first neuron which fired to start the entire cascade
resulting in the generator's handle being cranked and God Himself must have
fired that neuron.
Now with this as a strong view of a non-mechanistic universe, when a manI
want to curse God, God Himself must fire the neurons of the brain, leading to
the cascade of electo-chemical impulses which cause the tongue to curse the
person who fired the first neuron.
Similarly, when a robber decides to rob a bank, and ends up shooting someone,
God himself must: fire the neuron giving the robber the idea, moving his legs
as he walks to the bank, fire the neurons which move the arm to raise the
gun, fire the neuron which causes the finger to squeeze on the trigger, unite
the gunpowder with the oxygen, and then push the bullet across the room into
the teller's head.
Similarly, God was involved in firing the appropriate neurons which allowed
Adam and Eve to sin. This would seem to mean that God Himself caused sin.
In this strong form of non-mechanism, I find no room for independent moral
activity, free will, or even personality. My friend called this "kung fu"
theology because everything is God and God is everything. It reduces the
world to pantheism.