Truth HQ by Tom Wallace - HTML preview
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.
T R U T H H Q
But quantum theory has blown the deterministic argument out of the water. It might seem that it affords God some leeway with regard to intervention and gives us back our freedom of agency. But really it only adds to randomness – it makes causation and agency harder to explain, not easier. It does not especially affect the
choices we looked at earlier with regard to creation.
Perhaps it could also be argued that God could intervene in such a way as to not compromise our freedom and without causing a cascade of further interventions being needed. But that
does not seem to solve the imperfect world issue – in fact it may make it more complicated. Religion, of course, offers various answers to these conundrums – none of which seem especially convincing. It’s tempting, in fact, to regard the questions raised as theological and religious issues – issues that can be safely side-stepped if one is an unbeliever. But, not so. The issues of the One and the Many, of perfection and imperfection and of free will and agency are issues for philosophy and science as much as for religion, I’d suggest. It’s just that, with science for instance, the universe is just a matter-of-fact reality, ‘damaged’ or otherwise – there is no suggestion of blame. With God
though, things get very much more complex. That does not mean that the answer does not lie with God, of course. Maybe the universe really is more complex than science allows. Maybe the universe is fundamentally moral, and only God can give the answers to its moral nature, if only we could figure this out.
Of course, dear reader, if you are a believer then you’ll probably want to bring in some other factors beyond the purely philosophical views of
24
