Chapter 8
Miracles are Not the Miracle
I just wanted to briefly discuss a
topic that many people take equally as many positions on. This will be a brief
discussion encompassing only one short chapter. If you want an extremely
detailed discussion of this topic, there is a really great book by C.S. Lewis,
called Miracles. C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on this subject are extremely insightful
and probably are the source for the bulk of my beliefs that I will discuss in
this chapter.
So let’s jump right in to it. If the
universe operates off of certain rules, and everything behaves based on these
observed rules, then wouldn’t God be breaking his own rules to do something
contrary to what He has determined? Let me ask you a question. Which miracles
defied the course of nature? “All of them!” you might say. Well, let’s take a
look at a few and see. I want to propose to you before we start this study of
the Miracles of God, that God does nothing without obeying the laws He has set
in place, and that every miracle is following the nature result of the laws of
nature, with only slight deviations. The miracles of God happen every day! They
are not reserved for single points in time, but occur on a giant scale every
single day.
God created the entire universe so
that we could experience who He is. Everything in existence was created for the
express purpose of interaction. God created reality so that we could understand
Him, thus his interactions are almost always through natural processes. This
does not limit God; the idea that God limits himself by using natural laws is
self-defeating. If God created reality for the express purpose of interaction
then why is it limiting of him to use it for it's intended purpose? It defies
logic to think in such terms. Thus, if studied out fully, we would probably
find that all miracles, small and great, have a natural cause. Existence itself
is the true miracle. The very fact that life happens and that existence thrives
is evidence of THE miracle. Let’s look at a few miracles found in the Bible and
see if my theory holds true.
Let’s start with the foundation of
Christianity, the virgin birth. Did not God destroy the natural in interfering
and making a virgin conceive? Isn’t this breaking His own law? Let’s look at
this from a different perspective. How does conception normally happen? A man
and a woman each provide a piece of themselves, the man provides sperm, and the
female an egg, and a baby is created. How is this possible? It seems impossible
when you actually think of it. How is it possible for two to be made one, and
for something as complex as a human to arise out of two single cells? It seems
like a miracle, that is why it is often called, “The miracle of life.” With the
virgin birth, God did not break his law, only continued on with what He has
been doing all along. It was nothing more than supplying what was needed for a
baby to be conceived, and then nature followed the results of nature and a
virgin conceived and bore a son. God did not break His law, He simply extended
what was already a miracle of nature and Jesus was born.
Let’s choose another one, take the
withering of the tree, I’ll quote it for you,
“And
when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon,
but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for
ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.”[1]
Magic! That is what it seems like to
us. Does God have magic that he can curse the tree and at his command it dies?
Well, I want to ask you, is this any different than what happens every day? Trees
in the forest die, and wither away. The withering of the tree in the Bible was
nothing more than what we observe every day on a huge, worldwide scale! Go out
in to a forest and look around you, trees with vibrant colors, different shaped
leaves, and different kinds of bark, all grow up from a single seed, they grow
tall and reach for the sky, and then they wither, their leaves fade and fall
and the tree begins to decompose, it falls over and gives life to the next
generation of animals and plants. This is the natural process of life. Which
one is more a miracle, the withering of the cursed tree, or the beautiful, self
sustained forest? Are they not both, one in the same?
How about the feeding of the 5,000
people from 5 loaves and 2 fishes? Surely that miracle is beyond any natural
cause. There is nothing in nature that speaks to that great of an actin. Let’s
look at a single seed of grain, one grain seed produces dozens of other grains
seeds. It is the natural “law” of multiplication. The fishes in the sea
multiply by the thousands. This miracle of life is so vast that it supplies
every living soul on the planet, man and animal alike are fed buy the miracle
of multiplication. On the mountain, God did nothing more than that which
happens every single day, and has been happening from the beginning of time! I
do not share this to diminish the miracles of God, only to show that the true miracles
of God are the miracles of everyday life. Our life is one giant miracle,
reality is a miracle, existence is a miracle, conception is a miracle, and time
and space itself are miracles.
Even take Jesus’ very first miracle
ever performed, turning water to wine. You might think at first glance, “Aha!
We caught God doing something that doesn’t normally happen, turning one thing
into another.” Well, let me ask you this, how is wine made? The roots of a
grape vine take up the water and absorb the sunshine, and produce flowers,
those flowers swell and become grapes, and in those grapes glucose, starches,
and antioxidants are formed, making up the grape juice. It is a miracle that
water is turned to grape juice inside the grape, but it happens every day on a
massive, worldwide scale. The only difference between Jesus’ miracle and what
happens every day is that Jesus did the miracle on a much smaller scale, and he
did it much quicker than would normally happen inside the grape. So which
miracle is more astounding to you then, turning 6 pots of water to wine, or
turning water to wine in billions of grapes every year? Just because it is
ordinary and we observe it every single day, does not make it any less of a
miracle.
God is in the business of miracle
making. It does not break the laws of nature for Him to perform miracles
either. These so called “laws” we refer to are extremely limited in what they
actually explain. As mentioned in previous chapters, the “laws” of nature
describe everything in the universe after an event has occurred. They describe
how a ball in motion will act as it is thrown, they do not however describe the
throwing of the ball. The laws of nature, in short, describe everything but the
event, they cannot make things happen. An object at rest will stay at rest
until acted upon by a force. This is a law of nature; the force by which the
ball moved is never actually described. Let’s say that a person then comes
along and pushes the ball, ah, now we can calculate it and describe its motion
by the laws of physics. It took free will, however, for the person to move the
ball, they chose to push the ball and that choice science can never explain.
C.S. Lewis had another masterful example that I
will use to make this point clear. Say there is a ball on a spaceship in outer
space. The ball is at rest with its surroundings, there is nothing to interfere
with it, but suddenly the ship lurches and the ball rolls relative to the ship.
“Aha!” you might say, “The ball moved without freewill acting on it!” but did
it? The ball moved because the ship lurched, but what caused the ship to lurch?
Waves hit the ship, perhaps in the form of gravitational disturbance, or some
such thing, and what caused that? As you keep going farther and farther back
you eventually come to the big bang, and what caused that disturbance?
Something with free will had to choose for it to happen, indeed, the free will
agent had to make it happen.[2]
So you see, we are a crucial part of miracles
every day; the miracle of involuntary action by the voluntary actions of a
being with free will. We have the ability to choose which objects we move and
which we don’t. Science will never be able to explain the cause of the event
they study. These “laws” of science that people hold to so strongly, are not
laws at all. They are a description of how things move once they have been
caused to move. The laws of nature do not take into account that free will
plays a role in the turning of the universe. We humans, as free will agents,
shape the universe around us. We decide how it is going to act, and what is
going to be produced by those actions. How much more can God do?
If we, as created beings, can shape the universe
around us by the gift of free will, how much more do you suppose God can shape
our universe through so called “miracles”, as the giver of free will? Remember
the example of the pool table and the scientist? Science is studying the pool
table with great skill and accuracy, but they have forgotten to take into
account that free will agents may alter the path of the pool balls at any
point. God, standing outside of time and space itself, can, at any moment,
change the circumstances of their study and “ruin” their perfectly constructed
experiment, we would call these miracles, science would call them
impossibilities.
In my view, the universe exists inside the mind
of God. Perhaps picture the matrix, but with the one difference, it is not
created machines that we exist inside of, but a loving God, who has given us
the ability of free will. Yes, as we have studied, reality may just be our
imagination, things are relative to the observer, and time and space can be
twisted and distorted in ways that we are just learning to understand through
relativity and quantum physics. Instead of despairing and desiring to be in the
realm of God, which in the next chapter you will learn is impossible, we look
at this universe in awe of the God who created it, and not only gave us the
gift of life, but gave us the gift of free will. There are no “agents” going
around making sure no one learns the truth. God has given us every bit of truth
possible for us to know, and his given us the ability to discover truth for all
eternity. He has made himself known through the miracles He performs around us,
He has nothing to hide.
God created reality around us for the express
purpose of knowing Him. All things in existence are to point us to our creator.
It is our duty to study, to search out, and to question the things around us.
This miracle of existence is THE miracle. So often we ask for signs to prove to
us that God exists. We desire to know for a certainty that God is real and a
part of us. This desire is a human one. We want God to be like us, and we are
frustrated when it turns out He is not. Yet we can know something about God, by
studying the world around us we can gain a deeper knowledge of what God is. As
David said, “The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth
His handiwork.”[3]
So often we demand of God a sign, but in so
doing we miss the whole point of life. We live our lives from one “miracle” to
the next, always looking for that “big break”. It is like a person who desires
to get rich but instead of working towards his goal sits back and waits for
opportunity to come to him. To such a person Jesus said, “Why does this
generation seek after a sign? I say that there will be no sign given to this
generation.”[4]
We need to wake up. After studying this amazing universe we live in, how can we
still live a mundane life? God has given you abilities beyond your wildest dreams;
it is your choice to take control of your own destiny. What will you do with
the Miracle God has given you?
Prolog To Part 1
Here ends a brief study of the created universe
we live in. I have not even gone into depth of all that science has taught us.
I did not speak of M-theory, or the reason why the electromagnetic force is
millions of times stronger than gravity itself. I did not discuss biology and
the irreducibly complex cell. Nor did I discuss the mystery of the human intellect.
This book is not meant to be a science textbook; I only wish that you gain a
deep understanding of the mystery of God. God is not like us. He is not an
elevated human, created in the image of our imagination. God is beyond our
ability to understand.
I have written about these things because I
believe it is safer to view God as an impersonal force, or the essence of
things, than it is to see him as just an elevated human, for if God is an
elevated human, than He is no longer God, and if He is not God, than why should
we say He exists at all? After all, through all our scientific research, we
have seen no proof of an elevated Human out there anywhere. Science has rightly
rejected such a God, and I plead with you to reject Him as well. Learn to see God
as He is, as the intellect that crafted this universe, which created it, and is
the sustainer of it. The creator of time and space itself, his wisdom can be
seen in the stars, and his mind and character can be found by studying His
creation.
As we traverse into the next section of this
book, I want to ask that you once again, put aside your ideas of who you think
God is, and what you think His character is like. Kill the God of contemporary
religion. Study with me as we explore the character of this imaginary God. A
God so great, that He created such a complex universe dependent on massive
distances that are beyond our comprehension, and built it on such small
particles of energy that we cannot imagine them. Yet, while He is great enough
to do all of that, He still cares for you and me, and is intimately involved in
our experience, as you will learn to see in the next section, God is love, and
His goal for you and me is happiness and peace forever.
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