Measuring The Supernatural: How can we know for sure that what appears to be a supernatural event isn't just a rare or unknown physical effect?

[Bradskii]

I’ll take that as a ‘No’ then.

In which case could you explain tbe process you go through to differentiate between that which is literally true and that which is not.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

I believe that all truth should inspire us to do something good and lead us closer to God.

The Bible says that homosexuality is wrong, That does not give me the right or the justification to go out and harm them. The opposite is the truth, I am commanded to love them as I love myself. If I perceive them to be an enemy, then I am still commanded to love and pray for them.

I believe Jesus made up stories to explain ‘truth’. It is not necessary for there to have been a real ‘Good Samaritan or Prodigal Son’; the parables are to help us understand morality and God.

I think we should search for truth in ways that help us to change ourselves for a greater good.

 

[Bradskii]

I believe Jesus made up stories to explain ‘truth’.

So Jesus can do that but nobody else can?

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Eric_Hyom:

I believe Jesus made up stories to explain ‘truth’.

So Jesus can do that but nobody else can?

The parable of the Good Samaritan does not have to be based on a true story, it was given to explain a moral good.

When the disciples witnessed Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead, these events happened.

 

[Bradskii]

Bradskii:

Eric_Hyom:

I believe Jesus made up stories to explain ‘truth’.

So Jesus can do that but nobody else can?

The parable of the Good Samaritan does not have to be based on a true story, it was given to explain a moral good.

When the disciples witnessed Jesus healing the sick and raising the dead, these events happened.

Now that’s not answering the question, is it Eric? I asked if was ok for someone else to make a story to make a point. If you think that Jesus can do it then someone else surely can.

And you need to be specific in what you say in these types of discussions. What is accurate is to say: ‘When someone wrote that the disciples witnessed…’.

Do you see the difference? It really means that Jesus might not have been making anything up. Because the accurate way of explaining the story of the good Samaritan is to say that ‘Someone wrote that Jesus was meant to have told this story…’.

And someone wrote it between 100 and 200 years after Jesus was meant to have said it. That’s like someone having a discussion in a church about how to be moral and the exact conversation being reported verbatim sometime in 2170.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

And someone wrote it between 100 and 200 years after Jesus was meant to have said it. That’s like someone having a discussion in a church about how to be moral and the exact conversation being reported verbatim sometime in 2170.

If God has the power to create the universe and life, he also has the power to edit the Bible. It makes no difference as to who wrote it and when it was written, the Bible I read today, is the Bible that God intends me to read. This is my faith.

I am going away on holiday, and I make a point of staying away from the internet. See you all when I get back.

 

[Bradskii]

Have a nice break.

 

[Dan_Defender]

At the end of the day, you cannot ‘measure’ the supernatural, you can only measure the physical world. If you wanna doubt, you can doubt everything except your own existence. Jesus said blessed are those who believe without seeing. At the end of the day, you have to decide for yourself whether you can believe in God or accept that the universe and all life happened by chance and is therefore meaningless.

 

[edwest211]

Well said. Thank you.

 

[neophyte]

How can we know for sure that what appears to be a supernatural event isn’t just a rare or unknown physical effect?

You can know for sure when it’s something that violates how things naturally happen. For example, a baby whose eyes were irreversibly burned with 50% silver nitrate has them healed (St. Mother Cabrini, 1921). Or a man with a malignant sarcoma of the left hip, which had received no treatment and had resulted in the total degeneration of the hip, was found to be totally pain free and able to walk after visiting Lourdes (Vittorio Micheli, 1963).