Re: Signs of Scientism

David et al -

The short answer is that I haven't said that it's impossible to observe a supernatural event but I don't want to just take an easy out. However, speaking of "supernatural" events isn't very helpful. As I think Keith has brought out, belief that God is continually active in the world in cooperation with created agents involves a "supernatural" aspect. I think what you mean is an event in which God has acted directly, without the mediation of created agencies. & in fact scripture never says that the resurrection was an event of that sort. It simply doesn't tell us how Jesus was raised.

Having said that, I have no problem in affirming that the resurrection was miraculous in that strong sense - in large part because of the parallel with God's ex nihilo creation of the universe. But that's a theological judgment, not a result of observation.

The resurrection of Jesus meant that one who had believed himself to be in an intimate filial relation with God, who had proclaimed the kingdom of God, and who had died because of his faithfulness to God, was victorious over that death. It seems reasonable then, because of who he was and what he did and the events that led to his death, to think that this event was a special act of God - without trying to pin down the how. But if, for the sake of argument, we couldn't explain the evolution of the blood clotting cascade, what reason to we have to think that that particular phenomenon is a special act of God? There's nothing in the event itself that suggests that, as the fact that IDers can argue (disingenuously) that the designer could have been some natural agent shows.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Opderbeck
  To: George Murphy
  Cc: Pim van Meurs ; asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 6:48 PM
  Subject: Re: Signs of Scientism

  ..........................
  My main point / question, though, was this: I see (among others) two threads of objection to ID here. One is that ID'ers misread the evidence. The other is that ID is false as a matter of principle because it's impossible to detect a supernatural event. It's this latter thread I'm trying to understand against the backdrop of an orthodox Christian faith that accepts the Biblical witness to miracles. .................
Received on Wed Jan 18 22:44:51 2006