"Name a Natural Explanation Later Replaced by a Supernatural Explanation"

Depths of Pentecost ^ | November 24, 2018 | Philip Cottraux

[pcottraux]

Absolute, irrefutable proof that God exists is that liberals don’t believe in him.

No argument.

I've noticed that at least the vocal internet atheist community tends to be far-left. Also true among big name atheists like Dawkins or Hitchens (I can't get over how much Hitchens criticized Mother Theresa while praising Che Guevara).

[pcottraux]

Let me try to sum it up shorter and simpler.

The atheist challenge is "Name a natural explanation later replaced by a supernatural one." It's a gotcha question trying to make it appear that religion is an ancient superstition (that used to believe disease was caused by evil spirits) while atheism and scientific explanations are solving the world's problems.

Before I could answer it, I had to unpack the false premises, and there were a LOT...hence all the paragraphs.

In the end, I presented scientific discoveries like the Big Bang, origin of life, and black holes as solid evidence for the supernatural (but I had to define what supernatural means first.

I concluded with a counter-challenge, that if one supernatural event has ever happened, even if the rest are fake, then all of atheism is a lie.

[Ezekiel]

"Name a Natural Explanation Later Replaced by a Supernatural Explanation"

I don't know what's going on in the realms of theological debates, but that statement has the Book of Esther written all over it.

Now supposedly the name of God is nowhere in the Megillah, but rather that His hand is plainly evident in the intricate coordination of all the seemingly random events that led to the miraculous grand finale. In a story about casting lots, there are no odds.

It was Mordecai the *Jew* sitting at the gate who had the bead on everything going on in the kingdom, and who was pivotal to the plot moving this way or that.

Which brings me back to natural explanation replaced by the supernatural.

Regarding the Hebrew letters, the letter hei is formed from the letter dalet and the letter yud. That's simply the tradition that's "out there", as is obvious from its form:

yud: י dalet: ד

hei: ה

So in the Megillah there's

1) a Jew as the central figure
2) God "never mentioned"

To say that God is missing from the narrative is as absurd as the storyline itself, because what's up with the letters:

Jew:

יהודי

YHVH (the Tetragrammaton)

יהוה

There are no coincidences. It goes a long way in explaining the visceral hatred certain types have toward Jews, regardless of the level of religious observance. Any Jew merely walking around is evidence for the existence of God. "Jew" = Divine Presence.

This particular Jew was named Mordecai, whose name etymology tracks to Marduk, Mars.

It "just so happens" that InSight is scheduled to land on Mars tomorrow.

Hmmm, thinking..

[Fester Chugabrew]

What could be more arbitrary than to determine, since a phenomena is consistent over a long period of time, it is either “natural “ or “supernatural?”

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I read The Case for Christ, in which journalist-turned-pastor Lee Strobel laid out the case, through numerous detailed interviews with highly educated Christian authorities -- true servants of Christ themselves -- as to why Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection were real. His book helped to lead me to accept Christ as my Savior on January 17, 2018.

Your article here helps to buttress my faith. Thank you.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

There is also a scientific study around that indicates, through examination of mitochondrial DNA, that ALL OF US were descended from a single human couple (one man, one woman) some 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. The same thing, according to them, applied to 9 out of 10 animal species currently on this earth. This study would certainly lend credence to the story of Noah’s Ark, meaning we could literally actually ALL BE DESCENDANTS of Noah and his Wife (or, more accurately, Shem, Ham and Japheth)! Praise the Lord!

[pcottraux]

Thanks. I enjoyed this essay, but he did meander about a fair amount.

Hi Philip. I see that you are the author. I’m glad to be able to chat with you directly.

Believe it or not, this was the heavily edited version. The original clocked in at 3,200 words...I managed to trim it down by a thousand or so (my usual blogs are at around 1,500). I think my subject for this week was more complicated than I anticipated. :)

This is awkwardly written. It makes it seem that Hoyle made his Big Bang joke after LeMaitre’ proposal (1916) but before Hubble’s observation which you state as 1918.

I think I got my dates wrong, too. Double-checking, it looks like the whole LeMaitres-Hubble thing didn't happen until the mid-20s. Well, that's what happens when you're really worked up about a topic.

[pcottraux]

Thank you for the interesting info...I honestly didn’t know that!

[pcottraux]

I read The Case for Christ, in which journalist-turned-pastor Lee Strobel laid out the case, through numerous detailed interviews with highly educated Christian authorities -- true servants of Christ themselves -- as to why Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection were real. His book helped to lead me to accept Christ as my Savior on January 17, 2018.

Your article here helps to buttress my faith. Thank you.

I am very glad to hear that! The Case for Christ is a must-read. You might notice a follow-up book by Lee Strobel, "The Case for a Creator," showed up in my sources. I've got a thick collection of his books that are tremendous resources. Also, if you haven't I highly recommend J Warner Wallace's works. "Cold Case Christianity:" He was a homicide detective and hardcore atheist who decided to apply everything he knew about the science of forensics to the gospels, treating them like eyewitness testimonies in a criminal case--and became a Christian because of it.

His follow-up, "God's Crime Scene," takes the same approach to creation (treating the universe itself as a crime scene and using detective work to figure out if there's a creator). Really good stuff!