Sometimes
skeptics allege that, given the universe is 14.6 billion years old, God would
not have used such lengthy amounts of time to produce creatures who bear his
image (humans). They say such a thing is a colossal waste, and that God could
have (and should have) made the universe with man already in it,
instantaneously. This article is not going to quibble over the age of the
universe. Rather, I’m going to try to show that regardless of the length of
time it takes to “produce” humans in the history of the universe, God probably
has very good reasons for doing so.
What could those reasons be? First,
the relative length or shortness of the history of the universe might have a
profound effect on what kind of world humans create with their free choices. At
first blush this seems crazy. How could the length or shortness of the history
of the universe make any difference to my free choices now?
Consider Pete. Pete lives in
LongWorld, which is a world quite similar to ours (in which respects it differs
is not important). In LongWorld, evolution over time is either true or very
likely to be; this means evidence supports it strongly (whether it be the
fossil record or what have you). Now Pete is a contrarian, and he likes being
countercultural in a great many things. So he is dispositionally in a position
to reject evolution, and does so. In considering the alternatives, Pete comes
across the notion of God, and finds himself with a disposition to believe in
God (with saving faith). Suppose this is the only world feasible for God to
create in which Pete is saved, and it is part of God’s plan or choice that Pete
be saved. Therefore, only in LongWorld, where evolution appears to be the case,
will God’s plan be realized.
The application is clear.
Counterfactuals of Creaturely Freedom (CCFs) take the form, “If it were the
case that P, then it would be the case that Q.” Fleshing it out a little more,
it would be: “If it were the case that Pete were in LongWorld (his
circumstances, abbreviated C, at a particular point in time), then Pete would
freely believe and be saved.” The relative length or shortness of the history
of the universe informs the background C of the antecedents of CCFs. This means
that the counterfactual truth of one who believes will contain, as part of its
non-causal conditions, the history of the universe!
The age, or appearance of age, or
the youth, or appearance of youth, of the universe, as it is perceived by
varying people through various presuppositions and with varying amounts of
evidence, could even have a profound effect on whether someone accepts or
rejects God. A brief objection presents itself: but isn’t it the case that in
this world people reject God because of the perceived evidence? Yes, of course.
But many rightly see that God’s existence and Christianity’s truth hold
irrespective of the age of the universe, or its appearance of age, and their
faith is strengthened.[1]
Further,
since just every action, event, and choice form the background C of CCFs, we
just do not know what a world would look like, in terms of the number and
balance of believers. Perhaps only in worlds appearing as this one does are the
greatest number and balance saved. God will then create this world, with its
attendant time length (whether long or short) and evidences (and their relative
strengths), because God knows the relevant CCFs needed to accomplish the world
he wishes to create. Logically prior to decreeing the creation of this world, God used his middle knowledge, which is just a logical subset of his omniscience, to know the CCFs of the world.
[1] Their faith is strengthened because they see
examples of how science might be used to eliminate God, only to realize that
science cannot do so even in principle. In short, the age or appearance of age
of the universe shows a believer’s faith should not rely on science.
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