Re: [asa] Miracle healing?

> RC Metcalf responds:
>
> In the case of Frances Finn, God could have orchestrated the growth of new
> bone by stimulating osteoblastic activity at specific sites within the bone.
> The miracle would only be supernatural to the extent that God's will is
> accomplished when He so chooses. In other words, He provides the signal
> that "turns on" the osteoblasts. He uses physical processes to accomplish
> His will. And this brings me to my problem with Frances Finn. Osteoblasts
> don't "naturally" work at such a rapid speed. Had she been prayed for, and
> over the next two weeks noticed her leg slowly becoming normal, the
> "miracle" would have made more sense to me, the scientist. An inch and a
> half growth would require quite a lot of osteoblastic activity.

I get the feeling that this is really no different. Surely the
provision of the signal that "turns on" the osteoblasts in some sense
involves making molecules move around in an organised fashion that
wouldn't occur naturally, or at least is incredibly unlikely to do so.
 And although this is microscopic and invisible, it is nonetheless a
supernatural intervention (or an incredibly unlikely event that
otherwise could only be explained by appeal to massive coincidence or
the Many Worlds Interpretation). So I don't see why this makes any
more "sense" than the bone growing quickly. The only difference is
that the "orchestration", which is a superatural event is something we
can't see.

Iain

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Received on Sat May 24 14:54:51 2008