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Against Deism. Question. Let’s assume that Allah exists. Couldn’t He have created the material universe, input ‘energy’ into the system, and thereafter left it to operate on its own Implication of above: Phenomena can be attributed to nature (at least partly). An initial consideration.
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Question Let’s assume that Allah exists. Couldn’t He have created the material universe, input ‘energy’ into the system, and thereafter left it to operate on its own Implication of above: Phenomena can be attributed to nature (at least partly)
An initial consideration Putting aside for a moment the question of whether a deistic universe can exist, let’s consider whether it does exist The specified complexity in the universe points clearly to the fact that nature is not doing anything ‘on its own’ Consider the genetic code, and the ‘fine-tuning’ of the universe…
An initial consideration But might Allah have ‘set the parameters’, ‘done the fine-tuning’, ‘programmed the universe’ etc, then turned away? (A semi-deistic position) If the creation of matter is from Allah, and the input of energy is from Allah, and the programming is from Allah, how can we rightly attribute things to nature? Think of a man-made machine, or a clock Nonetheless, can even this semi-deistic scenario be true?
Inputting ‘energy’ into a system What does it mean for Allah to ‘input energy into a system’? Note: Energy is not some independently existing thing. It is just a term used to describe various phenomena that, at heart, involve ‘motion’ Therefore, Allah inputting energy into a system = Allah ‘willing’ things in the system to move Thus the ‘input of energy idea’ doesn’t help the deist
Motion Could Allah have started some initial motion, before turning away and letting the system run on its own? There is an obvious problem… Once Allah stops moving something, why should it continue to move? Why should one moving thing, move another? Deist is making the mistake of presupposing laws of physics here. But these themselves are the motions of particles, which also need to be moved
Creation of self-moving matter? Can Allah give matter its own ability to move? Does this question make much sense? Different senses of ‘ability’ Matter has no free-will to to act on any latent ability
Other Considerations If Allah exists, only He can possess power. Only He can create things, move things or actuate other states of affair Refer to our previous video discussion and article on this…