Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Advaita Vedanta and Quantum Physics

Mankind’s first forays into physics, the understanding of the physical world, has always been led by the desire to find the most fundamental elements from which all others can be derived.

The first forays into physics, the understanding of the physical world, were made by the Vaisesikas of India, who formulated the concept of ‘anu’, the atom. Pythogoras after his visit to India formulated a similar concept in Greece, the concept of the atom.

This concept continued unchanged into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries till Rutherford broke up the atom into nucleus and electrons.

This finally has been broken down by quantum physics. Unlike the previous theories, the quantum theory has a far more solid base. Its equations and theories have always been supported perfectly by experiments. There is hardly any other theory which has been experimented more and which has achieved such absolutely perfect results.

Quantum physics breaks down the protons, neutrons and electrons of the atom into further subdivisions, called sub particles. This arrangement of sub particles is called the ‘standard model’. The sub particles and their interactions in the standard model has been proven irrevocably by numerous experiments.

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Graham Oppy on the Kalam Cosmological Argument

Graham Oppy has emerged as one of the kalam cosmological argument’s most formidable opponents. He rejects all four of the arguments drawn from metaphysics and physics for the second premiss that the universe began to exist. He also thinks that we have no good reason to accept the first premiss that everything that begins to exist has a cause. In this response, I hope to show that the kalam cosmological argument is, in fact, considerably stronger than Oppy claims, surviving even his trenchant critique.

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Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Don’t Underestimate the Doctrine of Providence

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, conscious of the tension in the little room. I'd guessed this conversation was coming, since the people now sitting in front of me had seemed unhappy with my pastoral leadership for a good long time. I wasn't sure what would happen now, but I was afraid it might end badly, with hurtful words spoken and their bitter departure from our church. I mention this moment not because it's unusual in pastoral ministry—every pastor experiences such meetings sooner or later—or because it had a miraculous and uplifting outcome, but because I recall my own heart in that conversation. I claimed to be Calvinist, but I wasn't living like one. I was thinking little of God's role in this conversation—and much of the people sitting across from me.

A Doctrine to Cherish

In the years since, I've come to cherish the doctrine of God's providence and to draw strength and encouragement from it. I've begun learning what a difference it makes in the Christian life. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin underscored the high stakes of believing or rejecting this doctrine: "Ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries; the highest blessedness lies in the knowledge of it."


http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/dont-underestimate-providence#When:05:00:00Z