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Despite the fun apps, a computer does not have and cannot have a random number generator without external help. Why? Because computers rely on an algorithm and use a starting point called a “seed” to produce the “random” number. If you’ve minecrafted (I recently did some landscaping at our house and my daughter got home and said, “Dad! Wow! You minecrafted!”), you’re familiar with seeds. As long as a user has access to the same seed, the same “random” number will always result. 

Surprisingly, if one does not believe in the supernatural, the same is true of humans—nothing about them is random, as every action is merely an equal and opposite reaction. One atheist I was listening to at a symposium called it a great, predetermined chemical fizzing, but nothing more than the result of a grand equation still in the process of running. This means that everything is part of the “seed” of the Big Bang, and because the universe is determined by physical laws, every outcome was determined the moment time began. If you were to re-run it all again using the same “seed,” you’d get the same result.

I of course reject this. Everything that exists is either matter or mind. I know that mind exists, as I have thoughts and intentions. These thoughts and intentions cannot be touched, tasted, seen, smelled, or heard. They do not exist at all in the physical world. They are in an unseen cloud over my head, or even physically in my brain. They are mind, external to the physical world and disconnected from it. They are not natural, but rather above the natural—thus I, and they, are supernatural. 

Because mind exists external to matter, it is not subject to the physical laws thereof. This allows not just for true randomness, but for free will. For intentionality, personhood, and self. This allows me to be responsible for my actions, rather than the Big Bang. It allows for me to have choice, and ultimately, the choices we need to make have been consistent for a very long time:

“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,  loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days.” (Deut 30:19-20)