"Providence" is not a common word anymore. Defining it is therefore useful to our discussion. Its derivation is from the Latin and literally means "to see before," which implies foreknowledge. But the idea of providence means more than just foreknowledge, as can be told by the related English word "provide." Providence has to do with the way that God interacts with his creation to bring about his purposes for it.
There are some ideas opposed to the strong view of providence taken by the Confession.
1. Deism: God made the universe as a mechanism, sort of like a clock, which he wound up and then set aside to work on its own, never having anything more to do with it. God is distant, uninvolved, uninterested.
2. Pantheism: Everything is God; creation has no real, separate being. This view is common in Eastern religions and philosophies and some Western thought. A major drawback of this view is that it necessarily makes evil part of God; this has led some advocates of pantheism to deny the reality of evil.
3. Materialistic naturalism: This view either denies God altogether or forbids him to have anything to do with a closed universe. This is the prevailing view in the secularized West and is the position advanced by most science educators and science popularizers.
Nevertheless, the robust theism espoused by the Confession is intellectually and spiritually satisfying. God rules. Neither chance nor fate governs the universe. As G. I. Williamson has written, "Because God controls the universe, chance is ruled out; because it is God who controls the universe, fate [blind mechanical necessity] is ruled out" (emphasis in the original).
Tomorrow: God and secondary causes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment