"Attempts to prove his (God's) existence through gaps in nature, or
his nonexistence by filling gaps miss the point that God is fundamentally
separate from nature, so we only know of Him what He chooses to make
evident.
There IS a test for the presence of a spiritual influence:
"If any man's will is to do His [God's] will, he shall know whether
the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority."
(John 7:17)
The point here is that God's spirit does have a powerful influence,
but this influence is not directly physical, such as spirits as
portrayed in movies, by new age charlatans, by illusionists, or
by natural scientists who, like the scribes of old, are looking for
some kind of a 'sign'.
There is one reliable kind of 'Spirit detector'. It is the human
spirit, or heart, or will. Jesus claims that if our hearts, or our
wills, are aligned with God's will, then we will know it. We will
achieve verification of Jesus' claim of authority directly.
Too bad if this doesn't fit our modern expectations of verification
in the philosophy of science. Too bad for philosophy, that is."
The only change I'd make to it, Paul, is in the closing sentence! "Too bad
for the
guy having that expectation." Or words to that effect.
May I quote this on Compuserve?
Burgy