Make God the peculiar object of your praises. The doctrine [of election] shows what great reason you have so to do. If God so values you, sets so much by you, has bestowed greater mercies upon you than on all the ungodly in the world, is it too little a requital for you to make God the peculiar object of your praise and thankfulness? If God so distinguishes you with His mercies, you ought to distinguish yourself in His praises. You should make it your great care and study how to glorify that God who has been so peculiarly merciful to you. And this, rather, because there was nothing peculiar in you differing from any other person that moved God thus to deal thus peculiarly by you: you were as unworthy to be set by as thousands of others that are not regarded of God, and are cast away by Him forever.
Jonathan Edwards

Antropic Cosomological Principl

Antropic Cosomological Principl

Anthropic Cosmological Principle

WAP, SAP, FAP…those of you who have jumped into Frank Tipler and John Barrow’s 700+ page volume The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986) know what these acronyms stand for: the Weak, Strong, and Final Anthropic Principles, respectively. Those of you wanting a less daunting introduction to this philosophical side of cosmology (and origins) should read “A ‘What You See Is What You Beget’ Theory,” by Tony Rothman, Discover , May 1987, pp. 90-99. Rothman gives a good introduction to some of the relevant terminology and debates, and concludes:

It’s not a big stop from the SAP [Strong Anthropic Principle] to the Argument from Design. You know the Argument from Design: it says that the universe was made very precisely, and were it ever so slightly different, man wouldn’t be here. Therefore Someone must have made it. … When confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it’s very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am sure many physicists want to. I only wish they would admit it. (p. 99)

Origins Talk RBBS * (314) 821-1078 Missouri Association for Creation, Inc. 405 North Sappington Road Glendale, MO 63122-4729 (314) 821-1234 Also call: Students for Origins Research CREVO BBS (719) 528-1363