What Is Chance?
Renewing Your Mind
Ligonier Ministries
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s absurd to claim that the universe was caused “by chance.” This idea turns chance into a magical force with the power to create reality. Today, R.C. Sproul reveals what we’re actually saying when we assert that something happened by chance.
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Meet Today’s Teacher:
R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Growing in God's Word is a new curriculum from Ligeneer Ministries to help you guide children through an overview of the Bible in 52 lessons. |
| 0:09.2 | Learn more and pre-order yours today at growingin God's word.org. |
| 0:14.7 | I don't know how many otherwise brilliant people I've heard use this formulation for creation. |
| 0:24.2 | Space plus time plus chance equals the universe. |
| 0:29.4 | What this amounts to is nothing plus nothing plus nothing equals everything. |
| 0:43.3 | Christians can have a tendency to fee a scientific inquiry, as if science and the Christian faith are at odds. But we have nothing to fear as Christians, for all truth, ultimately, is God's truth. |
| 0:49.3 | It's good to have you with us today for renewing your mind, as we conclude three days in R.C. Sproles series, creation or chaos. |
| 0:58.5 | As it's the final day, you'll hear from this series, don't miss your opportunity to own the six-part series on DVD, along with the study guide, when you give a donation before midnight tonight at Reningyourmind.org or when you call us at |
| 1:12.9 | 800 435-4343. What is chance? What is time? As you just heard from Dr. Sprawl, they're nothing. |
| 1:22.7 | They have no being. Here's Dr. Sprole to explain. As we continue now with our discussion of cosmology |
| 1:33.0 | and the relationship between theology on the one hand and science on the other, which has |
| 1:38.0 | given rise to so much debate and so much controversy, I think it's important for me at this |
| 1:43.7 | point to make something clear |
| 1:45.7 | that should be clear already, and that is that I am not a physicist, nor am I an astronomer. |
| 1:55.0 | My field is the field of theology and apologetics, but I dare to speak on these subjects for two reasons. First of all, |
| 2:03.3 | is in spite of our living in a time of intense specialization in fields of academic discipline, |
| 2:11.4 | one cannot study any particular area of investigation for very long without bumping up against other fields of inquiry, |
| 2:23.3 | because that's just the nature of the whole scope of knowledge. And as a theologian, |
| 2:28.9 | I'm profoundly interested in theories that are set forth about matters such as creation, questions of the nature |
| 2:38.0 | of the cosmos and of the origin of the cosmos. So my interest in physics and astronomy is pretty |
| 2:46.3 | much limited to that place where these disciplines bump up against theology. |
| 2:52.7 | The other concern, however, that gets me engaged in this is as incompetent as I feel |
... |
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