Re: [asa] Of motes and beams

David,

Thanks for your clear presentation of MN. But what is your take on the biblical passages I've quoted? Are they really of no consequence, in your view?

Vernon
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Campbell
  To: Vernon Jenkins
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 6:37 PM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Of motes and beams

    I am wondering what the purpose of these precious revelations might be if not to refute methodological naturalism - which all here appear to accept as a valid basis for practising science. Clearly, these extracts suggest that the _natural_ is, and always has been, open to supernatural activity - in God's wisdom, and at His discretion.

  What is methodological naturalism, and what is it good for?

  The name implies that it is a method, rather than a philosophy, though people are not very careful about defining it as such. I would define it as the assumption that ordinary, "natural" explanations are likely to work most of the time. This assumption is well-supported Biblically. Genesis 1 highlights the fact that everything is part of God's creation. There aren't other gods, chaos monsters, Titans, etc. that might disrupt things, contrary to the beliefs of pagans. Also, God created us to rule over creation. Being a competent ruler requires ability to predict the consequences of our actions. This implies both that God has made creation to work in a fairly predictable manner and that He has given us the ability to understand enough of this to do our job.

  Also, we see in Scripture that miracles (defined as events that apparently violate the laws of nature) are relatively rare, function for a specific purpose, and seem to be minimally used. This also agrees with everyday experience, but sharply contrasts with things such as apocryphal writings, tales of the saints, mythology, Harry Potter, etc. An example of the minimal use of miracles even when they happen comes in the events in Acts when supernatural means are used to get a human evangelist and audience together. Surely angels could give basic teaching of the gospel, instead of telling people to go find other people to get the message. Similarly, the axe head floated but still had to be picked up and fastened on more securely; the water turned to wine but still had to be served in the ordinary way; thousands were fed from a few loaves and fish, but at least thirteen were fed on leftover loaves and fish afterwards.

  Thus, although supernatural events are certainly possible, they are rare enough that it makes sense to try other explanations first.

  Also, science can't address most supernatural actions. Claims of magic-like regular manipulation of physical things can be tested scientifically. E.g., you can get a horoscope and confirm that it does not correctly describe the experiences of people born at a certain time better than the experiences of people born at another time. However, Biblical miracles are unique, exceptional events that happen at a particular time and place because God chose to do so, not because reciting the right prayer (etc.) automatically gets a particular miracle in response. To take up the ghost example, I can examine the place where the ghost was supposedly encountered and see if I can find natural causes for the experience (a local practical joker, for example). However, there's no reason to expect a genuine ghost to comply with my experiments, nor is it clear what sort of experiment would be appropriate. With a time machine, I could have some sort of fancy chemical analyses running on a water pot in Cana, but all that would tell me was that an abrupt change had taken place, which we already know from the Biblical account anyway.

    --
    Dr. David Campbell
    425 Scientific Collections
    University of Alabama
    "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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Received on Thu Jul 13 15:46:35 2006