Does God Play Dice? Some thoughts on the “roll” of chance in understanding God’s design in the world around us.

Does God Play Dice?

Some thoughts on the “roll” of chance in understanding God’s design in the world around us.

Romans 11:33-36

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?“ 35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?“ 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Introduction to Chance

Uncertainty (Variability) Exists

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) said,

”nothing is certain in life but death and taxes.”

Is time of death known? Is amount owed in taxes?

Uncertainty (Variability) is Unavoidablereading from Denny & Gaines

Uncertainty Exists

James 4:13-15 13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow

we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.“ 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.”

Uncertainty in Nature

Location of atomic particles Weather Diffusion of Molecules Drift of Genes in a Population Spread of Disease Failure Time

Variability Exists

Results vary in repeated experiments under “identical” conditions

Instruments are limited to finite precision. Calculations made on measurements with finite precision will always have an associated error.

Disorder in Nature

Spider Silk Is it rubber or steel?

4X stronger than steelAbsorbs 3X more energy than Kevlar

Strength comes from order in the structure of amino acids (crystalline polymer).

Extensibility comes from molecular disorder (randomness) in the arrangement of amorphous protein chains connecting the crystals.

From Chance in Biology by Denny & Gaines

A negative notion of these ideas existed among Christians and scientists for many years

Uncertainty viewed as necessary evil that could be tamed by clever ideas and (as a last resort) inferential statistics.

Variability and disorder seemed to be in direct conflict with predictability.

The presence of uncertainty and disorder in nature was often thought to be holding back science and the discovery of truth.

Many Christians have struggled with how chance and disorder could exist in a world designed by God, the creator.

How does it fit with the providence of God?

Uncertainty, Variability, Disorder

Scientific View of Chance

• Determinism dominated scientific thinking for centuries Every event or action is the inevitable

result of preceding events and actions.

• Sir Isaac Newton helped establish it at the core of modern science.

Changing Scientific View of Chance

Albert Einstein said about the notion of chance in nature

“God does not play dice.”

Niels Bohr responded,

“Stop telling God what to do.”

Classical (Newtonian) Mechanics

If the state of a physical system (positions and velocities) is known at a given time, then its state at any other time is known.

Works well for most systems above the atomic level.

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle causes problems at the atomic level.

Quantum Mechanics

Superseded classical theory of mechanics. Quantum theory works well at atomic level Classical theory works well enough to use in many

applications above the atomic level, and is much easier and more intuitive than quantum theory

Presently, there is no unified theory. Problems handling all gravitational forces

Deterministic System

Knowing the exact state of the system at some time gives the ability to predict the state at any other time.

One ambition in mechanics is to describe (predict) how the universe evolves over the course of time, from the movement of the planets to the movement of atomic parts.

Stochastic System

Even if the exact state of the system is known at some point in time, its future state cannot be predicted. (Not Deterministic.)

Stochasticity is manifest in varying degrees Approximate predictability with minor overlay of

randomness. (i.e., light intensity under tree) Negligible predictability, governed by chance (i.e.,

movement of molecules in room temperature gas)

Determinism vs Chance

Can determinism and chance coexist? There is a dividing line between deterministic

and stochastic processes, but it is a bit “fuzzy”.• Deterministic?

Is it possible to know the exact location of the moon?

• Stochastic? Is the outcome of a coin flip random?

Determinism vs Chance Can a deterministic system be unpredictable?

How can the initial state be known exactly unless it can be measured with infinite precision?• Initial state can be thought of as random with a certain

probability distribution. • Any future state will also be random with a different probability

distribution, which can be deduced deterministically using the laws of mechanics.

• Systems like this which behave unpredictably are said to exhibit deterministic chaos.

Determinism with Unpredictability

Lack of precision in initial conditions of a deterministic system makes it unpredictable. How unpredictable?

• Motion of planets is predictable for centuries.• Weather is predictable for a few days at most.• Movement of gas molecules in diffusion is

almost immediately unpredictable.

Sensitive Dependenceon Initial Conditions

Story of wise man who invented chess. Can a pencil stand on its tip without falling?

Any deviation from equilibrium will grow at an approximately exponential rate.

This “sensitivity to initial conditions” exists in many physical systems for arbitrary initial conditions.

Exceptional state not necessary. Billiards Example.

Henri Poincare (1854-1912)

“A very small cause, which escapes us, determines a considerable effect which we cannot ignore, and we then say that this effect is due to chance.”

Chance in Science

• A chance event is one (not caused by the organism itself) which could not have been predicted even with knowledge of the initial conditions

• Chance is not a causal agency which makes things happen, but rather a description of the way we understand the workings of certain events in the world around us.

Christian View of Chance

• Many Christians are still uncomfortable considering the notion that things in the world can happen by chance. Partly due to the presence of chance in current

scientific theories like evolution• God uses chance and disorder in his design

of nature.

Nature Declares GodRomans 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Science Explores Nature

• Commonly defined as the investigation or study of nature through observation and reasoning, aimed at finding out the truth.

• The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge humans have gained by such research.

Proverbs 25:22 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;

to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Nature Declares God

Psalm 19:1-4

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Science and Religion

Truths of Nature Truths of the BibleNo

Conflict Here

Our Interpretation of Nature

Our Interpretation of the Bible

Conflict Exists Here

= =

= =

Search for Truth (Science)

Search for Truth (Bible Study)

From Don England’s Faith & Evidence

God’s Ways are Higher

Isaiah 55:8-9 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,“ declares the LORD. 9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those

who don't.”

Molecular Diffusion

• Transports molecules solely by the random motions of other molecules

At room temperature, each oxygen molecule collides with a neighbor about 6 billion times per second.

It is impossible to predict the location of a single molecule even a fraction of a second ahead of time.

Designed Uncertainty in Biology

• God’s design uses molecular diffusion to send signals across the junction between vertebrate motor nerves and muscles.

No direct transmission is necessary!!

Christian View of Chance

How can God can operate in a world where things sometimes seem to happen by chance? Events that appear random from a human

perspective need not be uncaused from a divine perspective.

God can determine the outcome of what man calls “random” events.

Christian View of Chance

• God created the world and set in place what man calls laws of nature An example is the law of gravity

• Some laws of nature are now thought to involve chance events An example is genetics

God Does Play Dice

God built uncertainty into the world around us in many amazing ways.

What seems like uncertainty to us is in fact certain to God. Proverbs 16:33

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

God’s People Cast Lots

Acts 1:23-2623 So they nominated two men: Joseph called

Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.24 Then they all prayed for the right man to be

chosen. "O Lord," they said, "you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen

25 as an apostle to replace Judas the traitor in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs."

26Then they cast lots, and in this way Matthias was chosen and became an apostle with the other eleven.

God is in Control

 Colossians 1:15-17 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.