[GCFL-discuss] In the beginning...

[gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net]

Hi greenBubble,

I like your take on free will. It touches from another angle on C.S.
Lewis's remark that the deity does not look from the past into the
future, and see what a man is going to do, because the deity is not
limited by time, so it is all one unbounded now. The deity sees what we
are doing AS we do it, and to watch a man do a thing is not to make him
do it. It comes back to free will under an omnipotent creator.

I guess if it were so obvious that no sane man could deny it, then it
would be so overwhelming that we would be overpowered rather than freely
accepting. We have to be free to find out for ourselves. Thus, scientific
inquiry should come back in as an adjunct to faith, rather than a neutral
side show that can neither impair nor hinder faith. Which is a
perspective I did not think of explicitly. I must make a note of this on
the off chance that there is ever a second edition. Still, after "God
said, let there be light" (exactly what the latest astronomy is turning
up), perhaps the most powerful verse in Genesis is "let the water bring
forth the living thing that hath life." Not, let the ocean bring forth
kelp and fish, but let the water bring forth life. Of course I am relying
on the old KJV -- you may have some additional perspective from the
Hebrew. Some of my understanding of the term "day" was enhanced by the
comments of an orthodox rabbi I have exchanged a few notes with in
Milwaukee.

Siarlys