The Blind Watchmaker

First, you should know that my use of term ex nihilo was like that of a parrot ... I heard it used in the context of God creating the universe "out of nothing" and the term stuck in my head. Latin? I don't know how to spell the word.

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You asked several questions, all good ones:

1. Once the initial conditions, forces and matter in the Universe were settled upon, was what we see today always going to happen?
2. If so, then The Creator doesn't need to tinker with the machine at all. (emphasis added)
3. Does He?

The first question gets to whether God allowed for variation to work its way into his creation. Let's leave the question of life out of the equation for the moment ... what about natural formations? For example, if the whole of the universe could be reset back to the initial conditions, would the moon's craters be exactly as we see them today? What a great question! I honestly don't know. The Bible seems to speak of God being knowing even the tiniest of details ... even the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7).

The second question has a slightly different flavor to my eye ... is it that God set his universe in motion and then, as the trajectory of it became more evident, God was required to intervene and correct the path? To this I would say no ... things that limit God or suggest that God is somehow imperfect send up warning flags in my mind.

The third question is different again still ... assume that God provided for diversity and outcome, and assume that the path and direction of things are known to God. Does he still intervene in the workings of his mechanical model? And the answer to that is "yes" -- these are "miracles," properly defined. (As opposed to "miracle" meaning something that can't presently be explained.) The grand miracle of all time was the incarnation -- the intersection of our reality and the spiritual reality of God himself.

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Of course, I answered all those questions with a bias ... I am inclined to believe in the theological framework of God that I've come to understand. I didn't make it up ... it's the framework developed long ago and simply passed down and refined.

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What about you? What are your thoughts on those three questions?

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It's raining again in Tucson. :-)