Bible Problems? - Does the Bible Teach Things That Violate the Laws of Nature?

The Bible Is Not Consistent With Nature

Does the Bible teach things that violate the laws of nature?

THE CLAIMED PROBLEM: The Bible Has Teachings Inconsistent with the Laws of Nature

Many of the Bible’s claims are inconsistent with the laws of nature. Humanists believe that those claims are both wrong and harmful.”

First, who or what is the source of the laws of nature? Dr. Jason Lyle says it very plainly “Natural laws exist because the universe has a Creator God who is logical and has imposed order on His universe” - Dr. Jason Lisle

What we call "The Laws of Nature" are the power of God bringing order and holding all things together.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. - Colossians 1:17

Thus says the Lord, "If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established... - Jeremiah 33:25

So to say that God's word, the Bible, is inconsistent with the laws of nature, is to say God is inconsistent with Himself. However, I do not think that is what the humanists are asserting here. We will need more information to know exactly what they mean. Let's continue reading the humanist web page:

Science and the Laws of Nature

As a result of human observation and experience, a fundamental principle of science is that the laws of nature do not change, cannot be violated, and have acted uniformly over time. According to paleontologist Stephen J. Gould, this uniformity or constancy of natural laws is the “methodological assumption” making science practicable.

Indeed, without the assumption that the physical world operates according to unchanging natural laws, there would be no use studying the world, conducting experiments, or otherwise learning from experience.
In a world not operating under unvarying natural laws, those acts would be useless because knowledge of past events would not provide guidance about what will happen in similar situations in the future. There would always be the possibility of supernatural forces intervening to alter outcomes from what would otherwise be expected to occur based on past experience.

Overwhelming evidence shows that physical events occur according to immutable natural laws. And an increasing knowledge of those laws enhances humankind’s ability to predict future events and control human destiny.

We agree on something! God does uphold the universe so that it is consistent and unchanging. God is the one who enforces the what we commonly referred to as "the laws of nature,” making them consistent and uniform. As a result, we know they are the same in the past, present, and future, as well as everywhere in the universe. And, the humanists are right, we cannot do science unless this is true.

What Is The Issue?

It appears the problem is with supernatural miracles. The humanists are saying that if there is a God, and that God intervenes supernaturally in the world at various times, that means we never know whether we are looking at natural events or supernatural events. As a result, science is impossible. However, we live in an orderly and predictable universe where science is possible, so God must not exist.

There are so many problems with just this one accusation that I could write another book on just this topic. Here are a few:

I. If everything came from the chaos of the big bang, as humanists believe, and it organized itself through random chance, the result would be a universe based on randomness, with no assurance that the same “laws of nature” apply at every location in the universe, or that they were the same in the past, or will be in the future. An explosion and random chance do not generate order. Humanists are being disingenuous.

II. It was the Christian worldview, with our understanding that God is knowable and maintains order, which allowed science to first blossom and then explode. Prior to the rise of Christianity in Europe, the “gods” were thought to be capricious, fickle, and unpredictable. There was no reason to learn about the world because the “gods” could arbitrarily upset things at any time. The rise of Christianity created a stable foundation of truth on which science could build.

III. The humanists are employing circular reasoning. Notice they attribute the knowledge that natural laws do not change to human observation and experience. That is a good observation. What about the supernatural? It has been observed, reoprted and recorded. However, those observations are excluded from the humanist’s definition of “human knowledge and experience.” According to humanists, that means the supernatural never happened. That is circular reasoning! The record of the supernatural is excluded from the observational evidence. Then conclude, since there is no observational evidence for the supernatural, it never happened. Therefore, since we know it never happened, supernatural events are excluded from our observational evidence. Around and around we go.

In responding to a letter by Frank Nicholas published in the journal Nature, David Coppedge wrotes:

“If God did create life, all the efforts and funds to find a natural origin are doomed to failure. If evolution is false, then all the published papers about natural selection’s creating man from molecules are also false. By excluding intelligent causes, would Nicholas insist on a natural cause explanation for Stonehenge?”– Creation Matters, July/August 2017, page 10

We look at Stonehenge, and although there is no evidence of a builder, we know humans built it. Why? Because it has specified order. We can see it has a specified design. Is there any physical evidence revealing who built Stonehenge? No. So does that mean Stonehenge is the result of natural causes? Of course not. Why not? Because by looking at it we can know there was a builder.

It is the same when we look at the world around us. All life has specified order, revealing that there was an intelligent maker. The universe itself is so fine-tuned that it is obvious it had a designer… a designer who used supernatural means to bring it into existence.

In other words, when we ignore the supernatural (an intelligent cause) as a possibility, we have eliminated the object of our search. Instead, we should do real science and follow the evidence wherever it may lead. The observed evidence shows that, 100% of the time, when we see specified order, there is an intelligent cause. That is a “law” that cannot be ignored.

Correcting the “Laws” of Nature

IMPORTANT! Humanists, if you are going to make a statement that observations have resulted in a "law," then include all relevant observations. The laws of nature should be as they are now stated, but with the following added: "Except when God determines, in very limited circumstances, it is necessary for Him to do something different."

"Oh no!" the humanists lament, "Now it will be impossible to do science! The universe is no longer uniform and consistent!"

That is a very low view of God. It relegates God to the status of an imbecile, and that is no god at all. God wants the universe to be uniform and consistent so we can live in and understand the world. God has designed a universe we can study and know, and He maintains the uniformity and consistency of the universe. The fact is, God is the source of the laws of nature.

Our Supernatural God

Yes, God has intervened supernaturally in the past. However, those occasions have been rare. There have been just five major periods of time when God has supernaturally intervened in the world in ways that violate what is normal (violate the “laws of nature”). During those unique times His intervention was been nec-essary.

Two unique periods of supernatural intervention were during the creation week and during the time of Noah's flood. The other three were when God worked by performing miracles through peo-ple during the days of Moses and Joshua, the time of Elijah and Elisha, and the time of Christ and the apostles.

Why was it important for God to act through people supernaturally during the time of Jesus' ministry? Because He was demonstrating that, He (Jesus) is God. Jesus did things only God can do. Through His supernatural miracles, Jesus demonstrated His deity and the truth of what He was saying that to be saved, you must believe in Him. The most common purpose of supernatural miracles was to authenticate the messenger or the message.

There are also two periods of supernatural intervention that are coming in the future. one during the seven-year tribulation and the return of Jesus; and the other at the end times when evil and the physical universe is de-stroyed and everything created new.

What about today? Could God act supernaturally today? Yes, He could, and does . However, not by giving people the ability to bring about supernatural miracles. In most cases miracles today are providential miracles in which God uses people and events to accomplish His purposes.

Atheists often tell me, "If God would only give me a sign... write 'Dear Fred, I Am God' in the sky. Then I'd believe." Do they realize what they are asking? They are asking God to demonstrate He is real by doing a supernatural miracle for every person on the planet. That certainly would disrupt the natural order and produce a world filled with confusion. God does not do that. He is not a God of confusion.

Instead, God has created the universe so that we can learn about Him through what He has created. That means He has created an orderly, consistent universe that we can study and understand.

Is There Proof the Supernatural is Real? Yes!

“Most New Testament scholars now believe that Jesus did in fact perform healings and exorcisms. Even many liberal scholars would say that Jesus drew large crowds of people primarily because of His ability to heal and exorcise demons” – Dr. Daniel Morris and Michael Greghorn, ”What Do Modern Historians Think?”

The strongest evidence that Jesus’ miracles are real are the Gospel accounts themselves. One of Jesus’ most incredible miracles was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. Buried long enough that his body had started to decay and stink. There was no question Lazarus was dead. Then Jesus raised him from the dead, and did so in front of a large crowd that had come to the gravesite to mourn.

When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped with cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus had done.” – John 11:43-46

The Gospel of John, with the above record of Lazarus’ resurrect, was circulated during the lifetimes of the people who were at this funeral. The Jewish leaders in particular wanted to destroy Christianity, and would have gladly accepted and publicized anything that showed Christianity to be fake or a lie. If the resurrection of Lazarus was a made-up story, that would have quickly been publicized. However, it was true. Jesus’ miracles, including this one, were public, seen by thousands. The written reports (the four Gospels) were publicly circulated during the lifetimes of eyewitnesses who could have refuted what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reported… if what they wrote was not true. The miracles of Jesus are solidly grounded in historical fact.

CONCLUSION: There is nothing in the Bible inconsistent with the laws of nature. God established the laws of nature, and He maintains them as unchanging. It is because of Christianity that Europeans realized the world is predictable and consistent, and that it can be studied and understood. The result was the birth of modern science.

NEXT: the humanist go on to explain: The Bible and Supernatural Events

By claiming that supernatural beings intervene in the world, the Bible opposes the scientific principle of natural laws operating uniformly and unvaryingly. As a result, the Bible discourages a scientific approach to problems.

Ahhh... so that's the problem. Humanists don't like the supernatural... because... well, it reveals there is a God. And if there is a God, they are accountable for their actions to that God... and that is not acceptable. Click here for more.

THE GOOD NEWS

Before you get the good news, you need to know the bad news. It's about you. God says:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. - Romans 3:23

Sin means disobeying God, aka breaking God's law. God is perfect and perfection is required to enter heaven. It's a standard none of us can achieve. We all fall short. For example, compare yourself with just one of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever told a lie?

All liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. - Revelation 21:8. Or what about:

Have you ever taken something that does not belong to you, no matter how small? Have you ever looked at another person with lust? In Matthew 5 Jesus said:

Everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' Have you done that?

You have broken God's laws. You have sinned. There must be justice, and that means eternity in hell, the lake of fire, the second death. Unless...

Unless there was someone willing to pay that penalty on your behalf. Someone who will take on themselves the consequences you deserve. And there is. There is one person who can and will do that. That person is Jesus Christ. If you trust this is true (believe), and repent (turn away from disobeying God), Jesus' death is applied to your account and you are freed from the penalty of sin to be with God forever.