正如我们在上一个视频中讨论的，神是科学研究对象的源头。 As we discussed in our last video, God is the source of what science studies.
无论科学发现什么，受造物所具有的因果性永远不会与 神对世界及其中每个存在的超越性第一因果性相竞争。 Whatever science discovers, the kind of causality that a creature has is never in competition with God's transcendent first causality of the world and of every being in it.
这意味着神能以与任何受造物完全不同的方式使事物发生。 This means that God can bring things about in a radically different way than any creature can.
当受造物是次要因时，神总是作为第一因站在它们背后。 When creatures are secondary causes, God is always standing behind them as the first cause.
在受造物的参照系中，现实可能是不确定的，但这并不意味着它是无因的或完全随机的。 Within the creaturely frame of reference, a reality might be indeterminate, but this doesn't mean that it's uncaused or absolutely random.
神仍然是它存在的源头，是它实际性的源头，也是它因果力量的源头。 God is still the source of its being, of its actuality, and of its causal power.
例如，在受到辐射后，我们可能会在动物细胞的DNA中发现不可预测的基因突变。 So, for example, it may be the case that, after exposure to radiation, we'll discover unpredictable genetic mutations in the DNA of an animal cell.
即使我们假设产生的突变是不确定的，并且源于一个真正偶然的事件，托马斯 圣人仍然认为，神作为超越的第一因，能够引导这个偶然过程达到其结果。 Even if we posit that the mutation that results is undetermined and results from a truly contingent event, St. Thomas would still hold that God, acting as a transcendent first cause, is able to guide this contingent process to its result.
换句话说，随机性指的是在这个世界的框架内，在受造物或次要因的框架内的不确定性。 To put it another way, randomness refers to indeterminacy within the framework of this world, within the framework of creaturely or secondary causes.
但神是整个框架的源头，是整个现实中所有秩序、对称、关系和因果结构的源头 ，使一切事物实际存在，神可以通过不确定或所谓的随机过程激活特定的事态。 But God, who is the source of the entire framework and of all the order, symmetry, relations, and causal structures of reality as a whole, and who makes everything have being in actuality, God can activate a particular state of affairs through indeterminate or so-called random processes.
这意味着神作为第一因站在世界之外，有可能引导整个现实及世界上每一事 物的展开，无论是亚原子粒子还是原子、分子、有机体，甚至是小行星。 This means that it's possible for God, standing outside of the world as a first cause, to guide the unfolding of the whole of reality and of each thing in the world, whether it's a subatomic particle or an atom, a molecule, or an organism, or even an asteroid.
神可以按照神圣的治理计划或神圣的眷顾来引导它们。 God can guide them all according to a divine plan of governance or divine providence.
他这样做的同时，在受造的参照系内，可能没有决定性的原因使任何特定事件成为必然。 He does this while it remains the case that within the created frame of reference, there may be no determining cause that necessitates any particular event.
从受造物内部来看，这些事件是不确定的，是偶然发生的。 Seen from within creation, those events are undetermined and happen by chance.
但尽管如此，它们仍然按照神无误的眷顾计划发生。 But nonetheless, they happen according to God's infallible providential plan.
根据阿奎那的观点，这对物理事物和自然现实也是如此。 This is true even of physical things and natural realities, according to Aquinas.
但这对更高层次的不确定性领域也是如此，我们称之为自由。 But it's also true of a higher realm of indeterminacy, which we call freedom.
自由不仅仅是缺少物质上决定性或必然的原因。 Freedom is not just the absence of a materially determining or necessary cause.
事实上，阿奎那并不认为量子不确定性能解释我们的自由。 Indeed, Aquinas doesn't think that quantum indeterminacy explains our freedom.
相反，自由源自更高的源头。 Rather, freedom emerges from a higher source.
它属于超越物质的领域，因为它是属灵本性的行为。 It belongs to a realm that transcends matter because it's the act of a spiritual nature.
我们是由物质和灵组成的受造物。 We are creatures made up of matter and spirit.
我们有受物理定律支配的物质维度。 We have a material dimension that's subject to the laws of physics.
例如，我们的身体受重力影响。 Our bodies, for example, are subject to gravity.
但我们的存在还有另一个维度，那就是我们的思想和自由选择。 But we also have a dimension of our existence, our minds, our free choices.
这些并非身体器官的行为。 And these things are not the act of a bodily organ.
它们超越了物质的限制。 They transcend the limits of matter.
因此，受造物的自由从根本上不受物质原因的决定。 As such, then, creaturely freedom is radically undetermined by material causes.
即使你用石头击打我的头部，或剥夺我的食物，或向我的大脑注射化学物质， 从而影响我使用思维的能力，我思想的自由行为仍然不是由物质原因引起的。 Even if you could hit me over the head with a rock or deprive me of food or inject chemical substances into my brain and therefore affect my ability to use my mind, even so, the free act of my mind is not caused by material causes.
它源自灵的领域。 It emerges from the realm of the spirit.
正如我们在之前关于神的眷顾、自由和邪恶的视频中所解释的 ，神能够推动自由的受造物，包括天使和人类，做出真正自由 的行为，使神能够通过人类真正自由的行为带来特定的结果。 As we've explained in earlier videos about divine providence, freedom, and evil, God is able to move the free creature, both angels and human beings, to make a truly free act, such that God can bring about a specific result through the genuinely free acts of human beings.
因此，在受造物的参照系内，这些人类自由行为确实是不确定的。 So, within the frame of reference of creation, those free human acts are truly undetermined.
事实上，这正是我们说行为是自由的部分含义。 In fact, that's a part of what we mean when we say that the act is free.
然而，因为神是人性的创造者和每个人的创造者，并且他赋予每个受造物 行动和意愿的能力，所以神能够按照他的神圣计划推动我们自由地行动。 And yet, because God is the author of human nature and the creator of every human person, and because he gives to every creature its very power of acting and of willing, God can move us to act freely according to his divine plan.
这意味着，最终当正确理解时，神的眷顾与关于大 爆炸、量子力学和进化的科学理论之间并无冲突。 This means that in the end, and when rightly understood, there is no conflict between God's providence and scientific theories about the Big Bang, quantum mechanics, and evolution.
神引导一切存在的展开，因为他是万物的源头和终点。 God guides the unfolding of everything that is, because he is the source and the end of all things.
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