Information, etc.

Jeff Wilson · 13 Apr 2006, 04:07 · from 2006-April.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:07:02 -0500
Subject: (urth) Information, etc.
In-Reply-To: <1f7617370604121518n1712fa59m2aed313a56c99fdb at mail.gmail.com>
References: <443C6A3A.1010304 at io.com>	<BAY102-F37D47C0D8B9608178F7D5686C20 at phx.gbl>
	<1f7617370604121518n1712fa59m2aed313a56c99fdb at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <443DCE66.2050701 at io.com>

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:

> I think Chris & I are in violent agreement here.
> 
> On 4/12/06, Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>There is a general problem with saying that the Christian *faith* is "based
>>on" miracles. Basically if you know, by whatever means, that the event is
>>possible, then it doesn't require faith at all. In its ideal form, faith
>>would admit that the event was rationally impossible, and believe in it
>>anyway.
> 
> 
> I think this is more-or-less true; the loophole in it is, "with God all
> things are possible." In other words: Event X is a miracle if it is
> outside the scope of physical-logical possibility, _and happens
> anyway_. (Some scientistic zealots have discussed the idea of
> a "thermodynamic miracle," in which something not quite impossible
> but wildly improbable occurs; I regard this as a non-miracle, since,
> if I'm not mistaken, the odds against any given state of the universe
> occurring dwarf the term "astronomical" -- yet the universe continues
> having states. Of course, the universe itself is a miracle, but that's
> another topic.)

The Resurrection would be a non-miracle in this sense, becasue there is 
nothing to prevent the atoms in a body from rearranging themselves into 
a pattern allowing that body to resume living. However, the *proportion* 
of living states to nonliving states is miniscule indeed.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >

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