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To: betty boop; IowaHawk; Alamo-Girl; hosepipe; marron; metmom; curiosity
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.”

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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."

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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?

25 posted on 03/14/2008 4:28:26 PM PDT by TXnMA (Don't vote for McCain. Vote AGAINST the Democrats!!!)
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To: TXnMA; betty boop; IowaHawk; hosepipe; marron; metmom; curiosity
Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!

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.

Wolfram on Random Numbers

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."

Scientists and mathematicians understand the actual meaning of the term – but when the word “random” is thrown out, unqualified, in casual conversation about science it causes many to believe it means a uniform distribution when it does not. It merely means the output of unpredictable physical processes.

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:

A person cannot say something is random in the system when he doesn't know what the system "is."


27 posted on 03/14/2008 10:40:38 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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