A while ago I  received a forward from one of my Christian friends that talked about cause and effect. It was centered upon the writings of Edward Lorenze, a noted mathematician/meteorologist, that proposed; “Where a small change at one place in a deterministic system can result in large differences in a later state.

It was proposed that the flapping of a butterfly’s wings could produce a hurricane at another place at some distant time.” Or, more understandably; “That a ball placed upon the crest of a hill may run into one of several valleys, depending, among other things; slight differences in initial position.”

I am a lousy mathematician, and I have real trouble with the first option… the second seems reasonable.

The word “determinism” is used suggesting that everything, including every human act, is caused by something, and there is no free will. If it means that the butterfly had…