5.5 If God exists, he cannot intervene in natural Laws

Published by 1c15 on 14th December 201914th December 2019

If God exists, he is not stronger than the laws of nature, or he may choose not to act in the world. This might be the position of a deist and it’s also held by one who thinks God is unable to overrule his own laws. These aren’t naturalistic positions but someone with this view of God agrees with the naturalist that God does not act in history, so he did not perform Jesus’ resurrection.

There are a number of problems with this.

1. Where do these questioners receive their information?

This conclusion would not seem to be achieved through scientific means, since we are regularly told that science can know nothing about God. Therefore, these philosophical beliefs that God cannot supersede the laws of nature must be justified in some other way

2. If God created the universe, including the natural laws that govern it, what would prohibit such a being from suspending or temporarily overriding those same laws to perform a miracle?

God cannot perform logically impossible acts such as making a married bachelor or a square circle however there is nothing logically impossible about God suspending the physical laws he setup, especially if he wished to send a message. And if he acted miraculously to create the world, it would certainly seem that he can work further in nature. In the end, it does not seem there is any reason, either scientific or philosophical, why God could not intervene in the world he created if he chose. In the absence of any compelling reasons to reject this possibility, we must be open to it

3. Jesus’ resurrection is an excellent reason for concluding that God not only could act miraculously in the world, but that he actually did.

We wouldn’t be talking about this otherwise.