As the Director of PleaseConvinceMe.com, I get lots of email
from skeptics. Much of this email is related to miracles. People want to know
why Christians are so quick to attribute an event (or healing) to the
miraculous intervention of a supernatural God, especially when it appears that
a natural force may be offered as an explanation. After all, even Moses reported that a “strong
east wind” blew all night prior to the parting of the red sea (Exodus 14:21).
Maybe this natural occurrence was simply interpreted as a miracle after the
fact. In a similar way, Thallus (the 1st Century Roman historian)
attributed the darkness at the crucifixion to “an eclipse of the sun”; another
reasonable natural occurrence that may have been misinterpreted as a miracle by
those who were inclined toward the miraculous.
Modern day Christians also make claims about the
supernatural intervention of God, and to many skeptics, these claims seem
unwarranted. When someone claims that God healed them from cancer, but admits
that they underwent a year of chemotherapy and radiation, it’s difficult for
non-believers to credit the healing to God. It seems just as likely that the
“natural” interaction of the treatment was responsible. See the problem? When
skeptics find evidence that “natural” forces or laws are in play, they quickly
dismiss any claim of supernatural activity. But the involvement of “natural”
forces does NOT preclude the activity of a “supernatural” God.
Can God Use the “Laws of Nature”?
My dog, Baily, occasionally begs for a chew toy or dog
treat. When one of these coveted items is sitting on the dining room table, she
is frustrated beyond words (or barks). Bailey’s Corgi stature prohibits her
from making the necessary leap to the tabletop. Her incessant whining will
usually provoke one of us to come over and knock the treat from the table so it
can fall to the ground for her. Without our intervention as a free agent, the
natural force of gravity would never be able to deliver the treat to Bailey.
Strictly speaking, it could be said that the force of gravity provided the
treat. But we know that our personal intervention was necessary, even though
this intervention utilized the force of gravity as a means to an end.
God most certainly works in the same way. God always engages
the environment He created in a manner that employs the physical laws that
reflect His nature. Over time, we’ve observed and identified these divine
characteristics and given them a title: “The Laws of Nature”. But the laws that describe the interaction
between material objects don’t preclude the existence or intervention of a free
agent who intercedes to “knock something from the table.” God’s free agency actively
engages the laws that reflect his ordered, unified and consistent nature.
A “Supernatural” God in the “Natural” World
But how can we, as reasonable Christian observers, tell the
difference between a series of “unguided,” “natural” occurrences, and a series
of events that have been guided by the hand of God? How can we differentiate
between a purely “natural” event and a uniquely “divine” miracle? Well, I think
we begin by recognizing that ALL “natural,” physical processes in the universe
are sustained by God (Hebrews 1:3, John 5:17). The physics of the universe are
simply a reflection of the active participation of God in his creation. It’s
easy to separate the “divine” from the “natural” and think of the world in
categories and boxes. Yet, this is not how the Christian Scriptures describe
God’s creation. When we fail to see the forces of nature as the hand of God, we
end up justifying all of God’s divine interaction as some form of “natural”
coincidence. If we do this long enough, we’ll eventually fail to recognize
those moments when God’s free agency is evident; those times when God clearly
had to act dramatically to “knock something from the table.”
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