Posted by timo on July 15, 2005 at 14:25:34:
In Reply to: However- posted by Dave on July 11, 2005 at 23:16:40:
Let's face it: when an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia sent a tsumani racing across the Indian Ocean last year, wiping out hundreds of thousands of Asian and African peasants (along with a few Westerners), the determining factor as to who survived and who didn't appears to have been random chance; those who happened to be away from the beach when it hit survived, while many of those who were in the wrong place at the right time did not.
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I used to struggle hard with the line between chance and sovereignty, free will and predestination, etc. I read a book, (oddly enough about math) that put my problem to rest. It was called Chaos : The making of a new science by James Gleik. In it he talks about a new definition of chaos, order within disorder. There would be a picture of some random thing, like a leaf or something, and under the microscope, he'd zoom in and it would look like a bunch or random stuff, but he'd zoom again and it would be all these crazy shapes and shades of colors. He went into fractal geometry and completely blew my mind. I never did fully absorb the mathematical aspect to the book, but I certainly took a lot from it. It seems that some things can appear random from one angle or distance, and from another, some beautiful image.
Anyway, I still believe chance occurs to some degree anyway, at least from our perspective, but also that God knew everything that would occur before he set the world in motion.
Ecc. 9:9-11
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days are vainity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowlege or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
11 I returned and saw under the sun that-
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.