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Tuesday, August 05, 2014

God's bookie


Atheists, as well as many Christian philosophers, attempt to calculate the probability of miracles. Atheists lay odds to make miracles incredible while Christian philosophers lay odds to make miracles credible. 

I must say, I've always found this approach ill-conceived–on both sides. It reminds me of a gambler who's discovered a system to beat the casino. This may involve collusion with one or more fellow gamblers. They pretend to be perfect strangers, but they've devised subtle ways of signaling each other. As a result, they win at a higher than statistical average.

Of course, there's a catch. The casino notices their improbable success. And the casino has hidden cameras trained on the table. The casino replays footage until it recognizes the coded signals. The gamblers may wake up inside the trunk of an unmarked car, headed for a watery destination. 

Assuming someone works out a system for predicting God's choices, I can't help supposing, with all due reverence, that God would take special pleasure in not doing what the odds said he was supposed to do, or vice versa.  

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