Science and the Sacred

Science and the Sacred

Does Science Have Room For Miracles?

posted by The BioLogos Foundation | 10:12am Saturday June 6, 2009

image-question11-large.jpg

If we accept a scientific view of the world in which fixed physical laws hold true, how can we believe in miracles?  After all, miracles are a suspension or interruption of these laws by God.  For example, is there a scientific way to explain the parting of the Red Sea?  If so, does it cease to be a miracle?

Francis engages the question in an interview with Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn of Closer to Truth.  He cautions against overuse of the word “miracle.”  For example, while beautiful and perhaps inspiring, the blooming of a flower is not miraculous, as a scientist can explain the precise genes and chemicals that cause the flower to bloom.  However, Francis reminds us that while the prior of a true miracle — in which the physical laws really are suspended — is very, very low, it is not zero.

Ultimately, Francis asks three questions.  “Do you believe in God?”  “Do you believe in a God who is at least in part outside of nature?”  “Do you believe in a God who is still active in modern times?”  If the answers are yes, miracles are only a short jump away.

The full interview can be found on Closer to Truth’s website, along with a plethora of other interesting and insightful videos.  For more on BioLogos and miracles, be sure to read Question 11.



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Your Name

posted June 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm


In life there are not only sciences, there are also the arts and the religions. If sciences don’t accept this, they are not sciences.
Einstein: “Religion without science is blindness; sciences without religion is shear paralysis.”
Askin Ozcan
Author of “SMALL MIRACLES” – ISBN 1598001000 (Outskirts Press)



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Albert the Abstainer

posted June 6, 2009 at 4:02 pm


If it leaves physical evidence, science will observe it, and try to model it. If no physical evidence exists which can be properly validated and verified, expect science to reserve opinion at best. If physical evidence exists but the event is unique, expect the science community to be uncomfortable and doubtful due to the non-repeatability of the event. If miracles that leave physical evidence become common, expect a lot of work to be done to research these events.
My own expectation is that science will not bow to a “God” which cannot demonstrate itself in a fashion which would enable the scientific method to be used.
Do miracles occur? Psychologically yes, physically no, in my opinion.



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Jordan Dillow

posted June 8, 2009 at 6:36 pm


When a body is sick and a medical doctor can confirm the sickness, if there is a miracle and the person is healed, the same medical doctor should be able to confirm the change, seeing as it is physical and quantifiable. However, since all things, including science, are created by and subject to God, the creator of miracles, then subsequently miracles are confirmable but not limited by science. If they are beyond human understanding, we can be sure that God has purposed it that way. There are more events and global happenings that science cannot explain, which are not considered miracles than those which are. God is not limited by science and neither are His works. Examples of miracles confirmed by science: http://scoan.org/healings_cancer.htm.



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Albert the Abstainer

posted June 9, 2009 at 10:57 pm


The day I see an amputated limb restored by faith and prayer is the day I accept that miracles occur.



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Your Name

posted June 12, 2009 at 1:39 pm


1- All research science makes, is being made in nature which is the creation of God (since it has an order, it has been created by some
power. If it didn’t have an order, we could say it happened by itself, as a result of co-incidences.)
2- The amputated limb:
In a world where there is death, “amputated limb” is a small matter.
Our prayers can not put a stop to the phenomenon of death. We are not the masters of life. God is. Prayers have their limited power.
But they have a certain power.



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Beaglelady

posted June 14, 2009 at 3:04 pm


Because science is limited to the natural world, it cannot address the question of whether or not miracles occur. This is not a flaw of science; rather, it is one of its strengths. I don’t even think it is proper to ask whether or not science has room for miracles. How could it?
As a believer, I think that miracles can and do happen, but they must be few and far between by definition. The greatest miracle of all time was, in my option, the Resurrection.



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