Secular
Fundamentalism Pillar-3: "Miracles Are Impossible"
Happy Easter! Every holiday season millions of Christians around
the world will celebrate, the “miracle” of Christmas and the cornerstone of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. For the Christian Christmas represents the arrival
of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who came into the world because God miraculously
fertilized the ovum of the virgin Mary in order to bring forth his Son Jesus
Christ—sinless! Given that the
sin-nature passes on to every generation of human beings through the seed of
the man, God chose to intervene miraculously, therefore, bestowing upon Jesus
two natures united; thus, making Him 100% God and 100% sinless man. Jesus, the God-man, became sin for us by dying on the Cross for our sins, satisfying God's justice while at the same time demonstrating His love for us. Easter is the evidence of this fact and promise of eternal life when Jesus resurrected from the dead as promised in the bible.
Now it should be obvious that both
of these events assume that two things are true: (1) God exists, and (2)
miracles are possible. Consequently, both holiday celebrations are meaningless
if God does not exist and miracles are impossible since the heart cannot really
rejoice in what the head rejects. Now the secular "spiritual" person
will grasp the Secular Fundamentalists false dichotomy between faith &
reason and "believe by faith" in these events which means that they
do not really believe it at all.
However, this should not be the case, and the biblical definition of
faith does not support this "blind faith" approach to life. This post
is going to demonstrate that there is good news in that both the head and the
heart can rejoice together because recent scientific discoveries have provided
enough evidence that God exists and therefore miracles are possible. This is
FAITH & REASON working hand in hand so that you can really celebrate this
year--enjoy!
Recent Scientific Evidence
Supporting
The Teleological Argument
[Click the image above to watch
this engineering marvel]
The teleological argument can be
stated this way:
(1) Every design needs a designer;
(2) The universe and life
have highly complex design;
(3) Therefore there is a designer.
The reality that the universe came into
existence at a single point in time also provides us some information about the
cause of the universe itself.
Since space, time, matter, and energy—the four dimensions of our
universe—come forth at a single point in time, the cause of the universe must
lie outside of the universe itself.
This is exactly what Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking sought to prove
when they formulated their space-time theorem of general relativity. Astronomer and physicist Hugh Ross
points out that this theorem proved “that an Entity transcending matter,
energy, space and time is the cause of the universe in which humanity
lives.”[1] Additionally, utilizing
the principle of uniformity we can reason from the effect—the universe—that the
cause must be an intelligent personal Being and not an impersonal force given
that intelligence and design are part of the universe.
The topic of design fills many
scientific books and has been formulated into what is known as ‘The Anthropic
Principle.’ This principle of
science states that the universe appears to have been designed for the sake of
human life from the very beginning of the Big Bang. Astronomer and physicist Hugh Ross points out that, “By the
end of 2001, astronomers had identified more than 150 finely tuned
characteristics.”[2] Every one of
these characteristics of the universe is necessary for human life to exist on
earth. For example, one of the
fine tuned characteristics is tied to the very beginning of the universe itself
showing that if the rate of expansion of the universe had been smaller than one
part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have immediately
recollapse on itself. Arguably, science
has shown that the universe was created out of nothing by an intelligent being
for the purpose of human life. A
purpose or a plan is yet another characteristic of a mind, in this case a
divine Mind.
In the fields of microbiology and
biochemistry, it has been determined that the living cell is highly complex and
shows signs of intricate design. In Darwin’s day, the cell was considered quite
simple, nothing more than a simple blob of protoplasm. With advances in
microscopic technology that can look intently at the inner workings of the
cell, scientists have discovered that the cell is incredibly complicated. As
biochemistry professor Michael Behe states:
The result of these cumulative
efforts to investigate the cell—to investigate life at the molecular level—is a
loud, clear, piercing cry of ‘design!’ The result is so unambiguous and so
significant that it must be ranked as one of the greatest achievements in the
history of science. The discovery
rivals those of Newton and Einstein.[3]
If we assume intelligence with
simple orders of information in everyday life, how much more so should we
assume intelligence when we find volumes of information located within a single
cell? For example, if you were walking in the woods with your friends and you
saw “Jim loves Sharon” written on a tree, what would you immediately assume:
Rain damage? A termite came and did it?
Naturally, you assume that an intelligent being must have made the
inscription. Hence, for an evolutionist to claim that a single cell with all of
its complexity came into existence by random processes would be like claiming
that we got Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary by an explosion in a printing
shop. What is most intriguing is
the fact that the December 2008 issue of Science magazine has a cover story
celebrating the 2008 scientific breakthrough of the year “Reprogramming
Cells”. Now, does it not seem
rational that if one can reprogram a cell, then there must have been an
original program? If the scientist
used their mind to discover the program, are they not engaged in the task of
trying to think the thoughts of the original Programmer after him?
Mind Over Matter?
Since the effect contains minds
with the ability to discover laws, mathematical formulas, design, and
intelligence, does this not obviously point back in time beyond matter itself
to an immaterial Divine Mind in the cause? Neurologist Michael Egnor lists six salient characteristics
of the mind, generally accepted by materialist and non-materialist scientists
and philosophers.[4] They are intentionality, qualia, persistence of
self-identity, restricted access, incorrigibility, and free will. These are all properties of the mind
that make up what is known as the mind-body problem in philosophy. With the new evidence that the all of
the matter of the universe had a beginning, and it was further designed from
the beginning to produce life, we already have established the amazing
scientific fact that of mind influencing matter in a similar way that our minds
influence us. Each of these six
salient properties of the human mind, which is evident in the effect are by
definition implicit in the cause.
Since these properties are immaterial, could it be that this is evidence
that there is an immaterial part of us as dualism contends? Nobel laureate and the father of
neurophysiology Charles Sherrington, the father of epilepsy surgery Wilder
Penfield, and Sir John Eccles Nobel laureate and pioneer in the study of
neuronal synapses are all dualists who believe that the evidence is clear—there
is!
Miracles Are Supernatural Events That Are Discernible
Since overwhelming scientific
evidence demonstrates that it is reasonable to believe that the universe was
created ex nihilo by an intelligent cause, David Hume's famous argument against
miracles simply does not stand.
Hume's argument against the possibility of miracles can be summarized as
follows: (1) miracles by definition violate natural laws; (2) natural laws are
unalterably uniform; (3) therefore, miracles cannot occur.[5] Hume’s argument falls short because the
ability to create something out of nothing is obviously the greatest miracle of
all. What’s more, if it is true
that a theistic God exists then his argument violates the law of cause and effect
because only those in this space-time continuum are bound by the laws of
nature. The law of cause and
effect that flows out of the principle of causality which simply states that
the effect can never be greater than the cause. The universe had a cause, thus, the universe is an
effect. Consequently, the cause of
the universe, God, has sovereignty over the laws of nature as its Lawgiver and
governing authority. Hence, the
Lawgiver has the authority to intervene any way that He sees fit without violating
natural laws, since He is the one who put those laws in place and governs
them. In Hume’s argument, he
reverses the roles given that he has God, who is the cause, subject to the laws
of nature, which is the effect.
More to the point, this use of the term ‘laws’ when speaking of nature
is disingenuous given that these supposed laws simply state how nature operates
not how nature must operate.
A recognized authority over the
law intervening at times is something that we experience in everyday life, yet
we never view this intervention as a violation of the law. For example, every
Sunday I approach a stop sign while exiting McLean Bible Church onto Route
7. As I approach the stop sign, I
see a police officer waving his hand directing me to continue through the stop
sign, without stopping, onto Route 7.
Is this a violation of the law?
Does this now mean that I can speed through every stop sign that I
approach from now on? I recognize
that the answer to both of these questions is—no! This was simply an intervention by a recognized person of
authority who had the sovereignty to intervene at a specific point in time for
a specific purpose. The same
principle holds true for God who is the recognized authority over
creation. He has the authority to
intervene in His created world any time that He sees fit, and for whatever
specific purpose He has for doing so.
Since the weight of the evidence
points to a God who exists and has the ability to create the world out of
nothing, then the greatest miracle has already occurred—creating something out
of nothing. A God who created
something out of nothing can certainly create something—that is miraculous to
us—out of something.[6] In addition, given the fact that God created the world,
He has the authority to intervene without violating His laws that He placed in
nature. In short, because a God
exists who can create something out of nothing miracles are not only possible
but actual.
Conclusion
Seeing as we cannot apply the
scientific method to the cause of the universe, which lies outside of the
universe, we are left with an interpretation of the evidence in the effect to
best explain the cause. Therefore,
both atheistic and theistic views of reality require faith and the debate has
always been which view requires more of it. In light of the scientific evidence
many astronomers, physicists, and philosophers are concluding that they no
longer have enough faith to be an atheist. Furthermore, in a theistic universe one should expect a God
who acted in times past to miraculously bring about something out of nothing,
to do something that is miraculous to us with the purpose of sending us a
message. Given that human life was
part of the original design at the very beginning, and given the fact that we
have minds that discover laws and order, we would be able to discern the
miraculous when it occurred for it would have to temporarily suspend the
natural order. In doing so, the
Divine mind would be once again influencing matter intentionally, with
free-will, for a purpose and possibly with the expectation that we have the
mind to discover this message.
So during this holiday season when
someone gives you the ‘weird eye’ for believing in miracles, remind him or her
of the facts above and boldly proclaim "I do not have enough faith to be
an atheist!" As a bonus, you
might want to provide this quote by Agnostic Astronomer Robert Jastrow:
“For the scientist who has lived
by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance:
He is about to conquer the highest peak: As he pulls himself over the final
rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for
centuries.” (God and the Astronomers, p. 107).
May your heart receive God’s
miraculous gift of Jesus Christ this Holiday Season.
God’s gift was wrapped on
Christmas morning,
Offered on Good Friday and,
Is ready to be received today
Building men of virtue in a culture of
vice,
Peter P. Lackey, Jr.
Founder, Man's Ultimate Challenge
"It is essential to a virtue to be about the difficult and the
good" - Thomas
Aquinas
Footnotes:
[1] Hugh Ross, “Anthropic
Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity,” Facts for Faith, Qtr.1, No. 8 (2002):
29 [emphasis in original].
[2] Ibid., 26.
[3] Michael Behe, Darwin’s black
box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1996), 232-33.
[4] Michael Egnor, “The Mind and
Materialist Superstition,”
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/11/the_mind_and_materialist_super.html,
(accessed November 26, 2008).
[5] Geisler, “Miracles, Arguments
Against” in Apologetics, 458.
[6] Ibid.
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