That's an interesting post. Too bad for Horner that there seem to be tremendous problems with an atemporal being causing something at some time, T, in the universe. Doesn't this seem contradictory? A Being which is outside of time causes an effect at some determinate time. But causing anything requires, as you said, that the cause have a temporal part. So now God both does, and does not exist within time. That puts Horner in an awful way. I wonder if he thinks God has some other neat properties, such as being both round, and square at the same time. Or perhaps he exists and doesn't exist.
If Horner was really on the ball there, he should have claimed that God is a necessarily existent being, if he exists at all. And what's all this about time not existing before the Big Bang? I know some physisists believe it, but I don't know if I would believe it. Anyone have an argument for that?
As for morals, Horner should be taken to task. He presents, like many other Christians, a false dilemma. Either a Divine Command Theory of Morality is true, or there are no objective moral standards. But that's false. He just rules out a significant portion of ethical systems, such as utilitarianism (my personal favorite...). And even if our lack of a suitable answer to his question doesn't show that he's correct. He /still/ has to offer argument for his Divine Command theory, or whatever else he might be pushing at the moment.
Is it just me, or does anyone else find these sorts of sloppy argumentation more than irritating?
--------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------Hylas@pacificrim.net--------------------- "Impiety, n. Your irreverance toward my deity."
--Ambrose Bierce 'The Devil's Dictionary' --------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------