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Donald S. Robertson, Ph.D. Chairman, Dept, of Science, Biola Bible College
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Be Reconciled? eighth chapter of Romans, he says, “ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son . . . . Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justi fied, them he also glorified” (vv. 29, 30, italics mine). Yet in the 10th chapter we find, . if thou shalt con fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (v. 9), and then in Romans 10:13, “ . . . whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Are these not apparently conflicting statements? Yet, if you study them closely one thing is obvious: the first statements are describing salvation from God’s point of view — . . whom he did foreknow . . .” while the second statement is describing salva tion as man views it — “ . . . if thou shalt confess . . . .” It is the same truth but two different viewpoints. Just as the physicist is not able to formulate concepts that will incor porate two aspects of a natural phe nomenon in one theory, so does the mind of man find it impossible to form concepts that unite the sovereign ty of God and the free will of man, although the Bible tells us that they operate simultaneously. An understanding of the principle of complementarity should encourage the Christian for it demonstrates that the existence of apparent paradoxes in theology cannot be used as argu ments against Christianity, for the physicist has shown that such para doxes are found right at the heart of modem physics. It should also serve as a warning. For too many times, the Christian has attempted to solve these apparent contradictions of the Bible by retreating from the full rev elation of Scripture so that some em phasized the sovereignty of God at the exclusion of man’s free will where others have emphasized man’s freedom of choice while ignoring God’s sov ereignty whereas, in reality, the Bi ble plainly teaches both. END.
Can Paradoxes I n recent years as the physicist has I pressed ahead in his attempt to dis c o v e r the basic principle governing the operation of nature, he has been confronted with what has seemed to some to be a major obstacle. He finds that his mind is not capable of formu lating the pictorial concepts required to explain all he knows about nature. This has necessitated the use of what appears to be two mutually conflict ing concepts to describe the same thing. These are complementary sets of concepts which cannot be applied to nature at the same time. Under one set of conditions, one will be most useful, while under other conditions, the other will be useful. For example, electrons under cer tain conditions behave as though they were discrete particles, while under other conditions they have wave char acteristics. This principle is called complementarity. Since the principle of complemen tarity seems to be so basic to the un derstanding of modern physics, some scientists have wondered if it could not be used to gain insight into para doxes that face men in other realms. For example, some have suggested that free will and determinism in man might be complementary concepts. It can be shown experimentally that con ditions which are necessary to confirm the existence of determinism would automatically rule out the exercise of free will and vice versa. This is analogous to the difficulties that the physicist encounters when he tries to measure the position and momentum of the electron at the same time. Ex perimental conditions under which it is possible to find out something about its momentum will not allow an ac curate determination of its position and vice versa. Christian theology also has para doxes which show a striking resem blance to some complementary con cepts of physics. For example, how can the sovereignty of God and the free will of man be reconciled by the human mind? This apparent conflict involves the very act of salvation it self. Paul saw it very clearly. In the
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The King's Business/May 1957
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