Re: [asa] God disproven by science?

 Somewhere in the Psalms it says, "the secret of the Lord is for those who fear him."  Experiencing God is a "secret" that can be known only by those who fear Him, and (by implication), is intentionally hidden from the rest.  This subjects the experience of Christianity to the charge that it provides only anecdotal evidence (and hence it is untestable and not subject to scientific scrutiny).  But so be it.  It was God, not us, who decided to make it a "secret".  "God hides from the wise and reveals himself to babes."  "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself" (John 7:17).  "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jer.29:13).  God consistently tells us that it is our desire to find him that determines whether or not he will show us that he is there.

Actually, I knew someone who was miraculously healed of a lethal heart defect.  His condition was confirmed by medical testing both before and after God healed him, and it was one of the most remarkable situations I've ever seen.  God was involved all through the lives of that family, not only in healing the boy, but in bringing the father to faith.  The elders of my church prayed for him and anointed him with oil in front of the whole church (and as a new Christian I was blown away to find people who really believed the Bible), and then God chose to do the mirac
le --- waiting until the last minute just before the boy was wheeled into the operating room!  I don't believe God heals everyone, but sometimes he does when he wants to.  "The secret of the Lord is for those who fear him."

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: Dehler, Bernie <bernie.dehler@intel.com>
Cc: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 3:55 pm
Subject: [asa] God disproven by science?

At my next meeting an atheist (former Christian) will try to
explain why the Christian God (not deism) can be disproved.  His main
argument is that if such a God really existed, we'd see the marks in real life,
but there is no detectable supernatural intervention.  For example,
studies show that prayer has no effect on healing what-so-ever (any study to
the contrary is scientifically flawed, he says).

And short comments to that (no essays please)?

The flip-side I see is that if there was scientific
evidence for God, then it would no longer be a matter of faith.  So
there's no way you can have both faith and science, unless science is unable to
test the hypothesis.  If the hypothesis is that God answers prayer, the
claim is that the statement can be scientifically proven false through studies.

RE:

http://www.meetup.com/sciligion/calendar/9503424/

I suppose there‘s the argument for changed lives- by
the power of God.  But
 still- what about prayer for healing?

RE:

(James 5:15 ISV) And the prayer offered in faith will
save the person who is sick. The Lord will raise him up, and if he has
committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

...Bernie

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Received on Tue Apr 21 21:25:17 2009