Divine Fiat
by Drake Shelton
An article concerning the agent of the Godhead as the sole cause of all things and a denial of Aristotelian causality.
Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Aquinas, Summa, 1.2.14.13 Whether the knowledge of God is of future contingent things? [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.FP_Q14_A13.html]
"Objection 1:
It seems that the knowledge of God is not of future contingent things. For from a necessary cause proceeds a necessary effect. But the knowledge of God is the cause of things known, as said above (A[8]). Since therefore that knowledge is necessary, what He knows must also be necessary. Therefore the knowledge of God is not of contingent things...
On the contrary,
It is written (Ps. 32:15), "He Who hath made the hearts of every one of them; Who understandeth all their works," i.e. of men. Now the works of men are contingent, being subject to free will. Therefore God knows future contingent things...
Reply to Objection 1:
Although the supreme cause is necessary, the effect may be contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause; just as the germination of a plant is contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause, although the movement of the sun which is the first cause, is necessary. So likewise things known by God are contingent on account of their proximate causes, while the knowledge of God, which is the first cause, is necessary."
I reject this because the works of men are not contingent by reason of proximate contingent cause. As it is written, Acts 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. KJV There is no such thing as a fallible cause. God causes everything. Dr. Clark in his Lord God of Truth [Hobbs, New Mexico: The Trinity Foundation Hobbs, 1986, 2nd ed. 1994] says,
"Experience at best teaches us that one event follows another. It never shows that one causes the other. Experience at best gives sequence not causality. (pg. 24)...First of all causality is a relative term: That is, there can be no causes unless there is an effect. We say X causes Y. Omit either one of them and there is left neither cause nor effect (pg. 25)...a cause must be an event that guarantees the effect...There must be because the cause must produce its result. If in the time interval something happens, or even could happen, to prevent the effect, there is no cause...two objections. First, but illogically, he will say, 'But I mean X cause Y if nothing intervenes.' Stated thus baldly the fallacy is flagrant. However, it can be stated more covertly. Food nourishes us, if we do not get seasick, and if the stomach finishes its function, and if the juices are absorbed into the blood, and if the blood is brought to the muscles. But note well: We no longer have two event, X and Y. We have the definition of nourishment; and surely it is logical to insist that if we are nourished, it follows logically but not temoporally, that we are nourished." (pg. 26)
The context of this last section is the "spatio temporal" world of the empiricists and the Aristotelians. This view of God we reject. They will say that God causes all things because he is the first mover. This is not what a Scripturalist means when he says that God causes all things, because the Aristotelian view assumes that the subsequent motions are proximate causes. This Clark just refuted. Dr. Clark says,
"We now concur with the Islamic anti-aristotelian Al Gazali: God and God alone is the cause, for only God can guarantee occurrence of Y, and indeed of X as well. Even the Westminster divines timidly agree, for after asserting that God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes...' What they called second causes, Malebranche called occasions. But an occasion is neither a fiat lux nor a differential equation." (pg. 27)
When God said "let their be light" His command or divine fiat is a true cause of the light. This is what Clark means by a fiat lux. Nothing could have intervened and prohibited the light and in this is the true definition of causality. Does water or oxygen cause the germination of a plant? No. Water and oxygen do not cause life, God causes life. The water and the oxygen are occasions wherein God causes life.
by Drake Shelton
An article concerning the agent of the Godhead as the sole cause of all things and a denial of Aristotelian causality.
Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Aquinas, Summa, 1.2.14.13 Whether the knowledge of God is of future contingent things? [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.FP_Q14_A13.html]
"Objection 1:
It seems that the knowledge of God is not of future contingent things. For from a necessary cause proceeds a necessary effect. But the knowledge of God is the cause of things known, as said above (A[8]). Since therefore that knowledge is necessary, what He knows must also be necessary. Therefore the knowledge of God is not of contingent things...
On the contrary,
It is written (Ps. 32:15), "He Who hath made the hearts of every one of them; Who understandeth all their works," i.e. of men. Now the works of men are contingent, being subject to free will. Therefore God knows future contingent things...
Reply to Objection 1:
Although the supreme cause is necessary, the effect may be contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause; just as the germination of a plant is contingent by reason of the proximate contingent cause, although the movement of the sun which is the first cause, is necessary. So likewise things known by God are contingent on account of their proximate causes, while the knowledge of God, which is the first cause, is necessary."
I reject this because the works of men are not contingent by reason of proximate contingent cause. As it is written, Acts 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. KJV There is no such thing as a fallible cause. God causes everything. Dr. Clark in his Lord God of Truth [Hobbs, New Mexico: The Trinity Foundation Hobbs, 1986, 2nd ed. 1994] says,
"Experience at best teaches us that one event follows another. It never shows that one causes the other. Experience at best gives sequence not causality. (pg. 24)...First of all causality is a relative term: That is, there can be no causes unless there is an effect. We say X causes Y. Omit either one of them and there is left neither cause nor effect (pg. 25)...a cause must be an event that guarantees the effect...There must be because the cause must produce its result. If in the time interval something happens, or even could happen, to prevent the effect, there is no cause...two objections. First, but illogically, he will say, 'But I mean X cause Y if nothing intervenes.' Stated thus baldly the fallacy is flagrant. However, it can be stated more covertly. Food nourishes us, if we do not get seasick, and if the stomach finishes its function, and if the juices are absorbed into the blood, and if the blood is brought to the muscles. But note well: We no longer have two event, X and Y. We have the definition of nourishment; and surely it is logical to insist that if we are nourished, it follows logically but not temoporally, that we are nourished." (pg. 26)
The context of this last section is the "spatio temporal" world of the empiricists and the Aristotelians. This view of God we reject. They will say that God causes all things because he is the first mover. This is not what a Scripturalist means when he says that God causes all things, because the Aristotelian view assumes that the subsequent motions are proximate causes. This Clark just refuted. Dr. Clark says,
"We now concur with the Islamic anti-aristotelian Al Gazali: God and God alone is the cause, for only God can guarantee occurrence of Y, and indeed of X as well. Even the Westminster divines timidly agree, for after asserting that God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes...' What they called second causes, Malebranche called occasions. But an occasion is neither a fiat lux nor a differential equation." (pg. 27)
When God said "let their be light" His command or divine fiat is a true cause of the light. This is what Clark means by a fiat lux. Nothing could have intervened and prohibited the light and in this is the true definition of causality. Does water or oxygen cause the germination of a plant? No. Water and oxygen do not cause life, God causes life. The water and the oxygen are occasions wherein God causes life.
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