Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 03/14/2008 5:08:51 AM PDT by iowamark
The $1.6 million Templeton Prize, the richest award made to an individual by a philanthropic organization, was given Wednesday to Michael Heller, 72, a Roman Catholic priest, cosmologist and philosopher who has spent his life asking, and perhaps more impressively answering, questions like “Does the universe need to have a cause?”...
Much of Professor Heller’s career has been dedicated to reconciling the known scientific world with the unknowable dimensions of God.
In doing so, he has argued against a “God of the gaps” strategy for relating science and religion, a view that uses God to explain what science cannot.
Professor Heller said he believed, for example, that the religious objection to teaching evolution “is one of the greatest misunderstandings” because it “introduces a contradiction or opposition between God and chance.”
In a telephone interview, Professor Heller explained his affinity for the two fields: “I always wanted to do the most important things, and what can be more important than science and religion? Science gives us knowledge, and religion gives us meaning. Both are prerequisites of the decent existence.”
Professor Heller said he planned to use his prize to create a center for the study of science and theology at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in Krakow, Poland, where he is a faculty member....
On returning years later to Poland, where Communist authorities sought to oppress intellectuals and priests, Professor Heller found shelter for his work in the Catholic Church. He was ordained at 23, but spent just one year ministering to a parish before he felt compelled to return to academia....
The prize will be officially awarded in London by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, in a private ceremony on May 7 at Buckingham Palace.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yup. :^)
The short form of what I said is the universe is the offspring of the "tension" of spirit and matter. All things are composed of the relation between the two.
We are smitten by "the thingly things." We should not forget their Source -- that's the most important thing....
Thanks so much for writing, dear brother in Christ!
Why what hostility? Did you read my post?
interesting alright.
Thanks for the ping.
Smitten is the best word.. God is Spirit, the father, son and Holy Spirit and probably the seven spirits of God are Spirits also(Rev.).. Angels are spirits, Satan and minions are spirits and last of all WE are spirits.. Its a very spiritual place we live in.. For all I know plants and animals, even insects have some level of spiritual life.. maybe even microbes.. Hey how can you tell when a carrot dies?.. Are carrots alive?.. Oh! well.. nobody seems to know what life is.. Don't even ask what spirit/Spirit is?..
Darn you always present the hardest of questions/subjects.. The source of matter is probably spirit.. The question is which is the most tangible.. The worms eye view says matter.. but that could be WRONG..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of "chance"...
In my discussions with anti-evolutionists/ID adherents, I have often heard/seen them say, "God is a god of perfect, planned order; He does not do things randomly -- like the (eeevil) evolutionists claim things happen."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To them, I answer, "au contraire!
Random processes {or, as Keller says,"chance"} are some of His greatest and most vital creations!"
Without random processes, you would surely die.
Consider the air in the room where you are: its molecules are in continous, rapid, random motion.
The energy of their random movement, we call, "Heat". The velocity of their random movement, we call, "Temperature". Their random impact on surfaces we call, "Pressure".
If their random motion suddenly stopped, you would freeze instantly. (Temperature = "Absolute Zero".)
If they suddenly ceased their random motion and headed off in a single, "orderly" direction, the walls of your room would explode, and you would find yourself in the most vicious windstorm possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, randomness ("chance") makes our very existence possible. Aren't you thankful that God designed His Creation so randomly for us?
However, I object to the casual use of the word “random” unqualified by scientists when what they really mean is “unpredictable.”
A person cannot say something is random in the system when he doesn’t know what the system “is.”
The full extent of physical reality is both unknown and unknowable (dimensionality.) We, as observers, are also part of what is being observed – we cannot see “all that there is” all at once. We can never assure that something which we observe as “random” – and for which stochastic methods work – is in fact, a uniform distribution.
A random number is a number chosen as if by chance from some specified distribution such that selection of a large set of these numbers reproduces the underlying distribution. Almost always, such numbers are also required to be independent, so that there are no correlations between successive numbers. Computer-generated random numbers are sometimes called pseudorandom numbers, while the term "random" is reserved for the output of unpredictable physical processes. When used without qualification, the word "random" usually means "random with a uniform distribution."
Or to put it another way, the careless use of the term makes matters worse. It leaves many with the impression that whatever it is, is pure dumb, blind, happenstance with no first or final cause. No room for God there.
And pure, dumb, blind, happenstance truly is the worldview of Dawkins, Pinker, Singer, Lewontin et al who market atheism under the color of science. So for them, the obfuscation is an effective marketing tool. Therefore, I counter by stating:
If one were to extract a series of numbers of the extension of pi, it would appear to be "random" when it is fact highly determined.
By knowing what the system "is" - the extension of pi - one also knows the extracted series of numbers is not "random" at all.
A "random" event in nature is like that. We don't know what the system "is." What we really mean is that part we are observing is "unpredictable."
As far as we are able to measure, the behavior of the molecules in a volume of gas is predictably "random with a uniform distribution."
I submit that our God's use of such processes in His Creation was a brilliant way of establishing repeatable, self-controlling equilibria. You may not find the trustworthiness of the behavior of our atmosphere (despite the random motion of its individual molecules) to be worthy of admiration of Him who created it that way -- but I do.
Well Duuuugh.. LoL..
You say semantics I say pedegogy she says unpredictable..
BUZZ... shes more accurate.. When you dont know the full system you're teaching is random observation..
Ping
("The heavens proclaim the glory of God; the skies show forth His craftsmanship")?
There's no blasphemy in that.
Very good post. Your thoughts are poetic. Your Thesaurus, even, is poetic!
:o)
More importantly for us Christians, in a Spiritual sense, creating doubt in the minds of His little ones is a price no one can bear.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! - Matthew 18:6-7
And your following paragraph praising God for it is a beautiful testimony for any who might otherwise be offended by such observations.
If other scientists would qualify their statements as you have, there would be no risk to the spiritually young and less contention with the spiritually mature. But obfuscation benefits the atheist agenda of Dawkins et al. So I will not hold my breath that they will speak as clearly as you - and instead will continue to counter their "spin" with the mantra:
In science, chemistry for example, a random sample would be exactly like the next random sample, all the same and predictable to any degree you care to measure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.