Posted by Ex-Instructor on August 14, 2002 at 10:27:37:
In Reply to: Re: Humility and Respect. posted by ? on August 14, 2002 at 09:48:29:
More great questions. FYI, I clearly do not have all the answers. I'm just trying to give you my (bible based) understanding.
I look at all of the man made philosophies (Nihilism, et. al) as just that - man made. Though they do a good job of explaining things, they typically fail on one or more levels to explain everything. Not that the typical Christian can explain everything, but certainly we must agree that to believe that mankind can eventually prove/disprove the existence of God via his own mind is a pretty arrogant view.
Why is it that God must have created everything from himself? You're scoping yourelf to the human view that matter must beget mattter (e.g., you can't have something from nothing). I would argue that this is a limit of our physical understanding of the world, and may not be the reality. Just because we cannot create something from nothing does not remove it from the realm of possibility with respect to God. If you follow the Taoist idea of creation, it was that a thought rippled across the void, and that thought became a word, and the word was action, and it created all that is around us. But it created it from the void. It's really a matter of semantics, anyway. Man comes up with ideas out of nothing (e.g., Newton's discovery of gravity). Even though gravity existed before, the concept of it did not, and Newton pulled it out of his very intelligent arse.
I do not think that we are capable of exceeding God's capabilities for a couple of reasons. One, we create machines, etc., that are capable beyond us (in some dimensions) but certainly not in all. If you can name one machine that is more capable than a human being in all respects, I'll be impressed. Aside from that, we create these things using tools given to us by God. We don't just conjur up matter (see the point earlier). I think that when God created us, he necessarily gave up a little bit of control over the universe (e.g., free will, etc.), but I don't think that it means that he is no longer in control. Yes, God is infinitely capable, but I'm not sure that's the reason why we will never exceed him. Certainly we won't in our lifetimes. :)
*; =qq(